Kincsem Adventures

Isla Contadora, Las Perlas

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We spent seven days in the Shelter Bay marina, waiting for our transit of the Panama canal. The World ARC group of 32 boats was split into three groups for the canal transit. The transit window for our group of 11 boats was February 3 to 5 but it took until February 6 before it was our turn and others were not so lucky. Overall, the fleet was delayed by several days crossing the canal which meant people had less time in Panama City to provision for the long treck across the Pacific and fix any issues with their boats.

There was plenty to do in Shelter Bay. Guglielmo and Elaine left and Almut, Rainer and Achim – who were part of the “Dream Team” from the 2023 ARC - joined the boat for the trip to Galapagos. Udo stayed on for the trip through the canal. Three big shopping runs were executed and a lot of care was taken to stow all provisions. For example, all paper packaging had to be eliminated because of the danger of cockroach eggs being embedded in it. All items stored had to be reflected in the stowage plan, etc, etc.

We also hauled Kincsem to touch up the bottom paint, which meant spending one night on the hard. And then there were the various tours organized by WARC. My favorite was a tour to see a traditional village of the Embera Indian tribe, which required us to take a dug-out canoe for about 1 hour, first through a lake where the trade wind kicked up quite a bit of chop and then up a river. Luckily the canoe had an outboard engine and we did not have to paddle. The canoe was leaking quite badly but our guides were unfazed and thanks to their constant bailing, we did not sink. Additional comfort factor: There were no crocodiles in sight.

Big welcome with drum sticks whirling and voices singing. It is a bit strange to watch these Indians sing and do their traditional dances for us, with children and the elderly joining in. But then they’re really just performers – they perform their traditional lives for us. I only wonder whether they bring out the TVs, iPads, motor cycles and hot tubs once we’ve left? We didn’t see any evidence of that, however. In response to my question regarding electricity I learnt that there was none except a solar panel for the school. The school is provided by the Panamian government and all children are required to attend. The government pays the parents for the loss of their children’s labor as a result of time spent in school! All Indians are exempt from income taxes as long as they live in one of the traditional villages! There is one cell phone for emergencies but making a connection with the outside world requires a long hike up a mountain.

The Chief. The tatoos are just painted on and need to be renewed every week.

The plastic tubes are not authentic ….

The medicine man

Note the bag made from banana leaves which serves as a bowl for meals

These kids willingly posed for a picture because they wanted to see themselves on the iphone!

We were served a meal of Tilapia and fried plantains for lunch, in a basket woven from plantain leaves. Novel for us and not bad. The fresh pineapple was spectacular. Of course there was the usual tourist stuff for sale but better buying it here in the jungle than in Panama City from a store. I bought a monkey mask made of straw, which now adorns Kincsem’s salon.

The obligatory dance ….

I also enjoyed the “jungle walk” which wasn’t, because, technically speaking, there is no jungle around Shelter Bay, just forest. Shelter Bay is located on a former US army base which was vacated when the canal zone was handed over to Panama in the 1999. We did see some interesting flora among some dilapidated bunkers and concrete structures left behind by the US army. There were also some howler monkeys and other creatures to be seen.

Howler monkey

Bats in an old US Army bunker

Castillo de San Lorenzo, another excursion

February 6 was the big day of our canal crossing. The evening before we received four, 40 meter long, floating docking lines and 3 large ball fenders from the canal agent WARC has hired for the group, which we were to use in the locks. We left our dock in Shelter Bay at 0445 to anchor just outside the marina. Our advisor Daniel showed up before the allotted 0530 and we were off to the first set of locks at Gatun. We were to go through in a “raft” of 3 WARC boats tied together as a unit: Nakula, a massive, 60 ton, 70 foot catamaran owned by a syndicate of Japanese, Mulan, a 45 foot cat owned by Jan, a German, and us. Both Mulan and us had “advisors”, which are only permitted to guide boats less than 65 feet long, but Nakula had a “pilot” for big ships since it was more than 65 feet overall.

The advisor/pilots decided hat Nakula was going to be in the middle, Mulan on the left (windward) side and us on the right (leeward side). Nakula was to move the raft into and through the locks using its engines and the pilot on Nakula was in charge of directing the maneuvers. Our raft was overall less than 20 feet narrower than the locks and there was a bit of wind blowing left to right, so precision was going to be required. Mulan and us were to use our docking lines to tie the raft to the sides of the locks so that the raft was in the middle of the locks. On each side of the lock there were going to be two line handlers ashore - one for bow and one for stern lines - who would throw a thin throw line with a “monkey fist” at its end onto the decks of our boats and after we had tied the throw lines to a large loop in the dock lines, would haul the dock lines ashore and place the loop on big pollards on the sides of the locks.

Approaching the first of three locks at Gatun

We shared the first three locks with MV Graciela; Nakula on our left. The ship high above us is in the parallel lock going down

First signs of trouble appeared when we saw Mulan come alongside Nakula, drifting sideways with the wind towards the first lock. Two attempts were needed for this simple maneuver. When we joined in, it became evident that it was very difficult to maneuver this raft, in not insignificant part because the advisor/pilot trio did not coordinate well and apparently did not understand how the wind affected the raft. The pilot on Nakula who was calling the shots maybe didn’t have the experience with small craft, being used to large ships whose lines are held and adjusted by large locomotives on both sides? By contrast, once the dock lines of Mulan were placed on the pollards, there was no easy way to shorten them to get the raft pulled to windward so the raft was in the middle of the lock – all had to be done by engine power. Of course, it would have been advantageous to enter the locks close to the windward wall but our advisor trio directed the raft so we were coming in on the leeward side, and then tried to get to windward by turning the raft to the left to get back to the middle. Luckily, Kincsem has a strong bow thruster and engine with a powerful prop so this could be accomplished and our fenders protected us from the rough concrete of the lock walls. Unfortunately, Mulan was not so lucky because in one of the maneuvers orchestrated by the trio they got squashed at the windward wall (!!!) and suffered a long gash on their port side because their fenders were not well positioned. The disarray/incompetence of the trio was exacerbated by the fact that Nakula had only one English speaking crew which was not the skipper.

After Mulan’s damage in the Gatun locks, the trio caucused and decided that Nakula was going to be dropped from the raft for the locks on the Pacific side of the canal. This eliminated the pilot but the two advisors didn’t do much better. They decided that the 45 foot Mulan, weighing only 14 tons vs the 26 tons of Kincsem, and its advisor was going to be the lead and maneuver the raft of us and them because its two engines had 150 HP rather than 110 HP for Kincsem. Another, big mistake! The props of Mulan, made for a 14 ton boat, were whirling at full revs but still had difficulty maneuvering the 40 ton raft of Kincsem and Mulan. This time we were on the windward side and again, Mulan’s advisor directed the raft to enter the outer locks on the leeward side. To make things yet more distressing, the line handlers on the windward side did not have throw lines! (What is the use of line handlers without throw lines one might ask …..). So Mulan ended up on the leeward wall but this time its fenders seemed to work. After much screaming in Spanish and a few minutes, one of the line handlers managed to produce one throw line (not two) which was used to haul Kincsem’s bow and stern lines to the windward side of the lock. Now, of course, the question was how to tighten these dock lines to haul the raft into the middle of the lock as required. Our advisor Daniel – a big macho individual - tried his best to pull our lines by hand but no dice. So our bow thruster, engine and an electric sheet winch had to come to the rescue. I had suggested that we could use the anchor winch as well but that suggestion was rejected by Mulan’s advisor. On to the next lock! Again, the same game but this time there were no line handlers at all on the windward side! Once two finally showed up, again the raft had to be maneuvered free from the leeward wall but this time, Mulan’s advisor gave a patently wrong command and Mulan suffered another gash on the wall. Unbelievable! One understands completely why all owners and captains of boats using the canal have to sign liability waivers!

Get out of my way!

The Kincsem crew in the last lock before the Pacific!

THE way to curl up those docking lines so that they can be returned to the agent

It came as quite a relief to pass the last lock to the Pacific in the late afternoon and drop off our advisor Daniel on a launch. It took a while for the launch to appear and I joked with the crew that maybe the canal authorities didn’t want him back. Daniel was not amused! After passing through the unimpressive “Bridge of the Americas” we tied up in Marina La Playita on a narrow peninsula off the impressive skyline of Panama City.

Bridge of the Americas

Panama City

There was a shortage of dock space in the marina so we could stay only two nights to make room for other WARC boats crossing the canal after us. We did not mind as it was hot in the marina and the facilities were run down and dirty. We made the best of the one day in Panama City and managed to do one final shopping run before leaving Panama City a couple of days ago. At the suggestion of one of the yellow shirts, rather than anchoring outside the marina we anchored at Taboga Island, a beautiful island just six miles away, for the night. To get there we had to weave our way through tens of anchored commercial ships waiting for their passage of the canal.

Taboga Island

After a short stop outside La Playita the next day to clear out of Panama, we sailed here and anchored among other WARC boats. Contadora is the most developed of the Las Perlas Islands and it has a small air strip. A sign next to the runway informs that it costs just $50 for the hop to Panama City. The number of luxury homes under construction was still surprising.

Walking Contadora Island

The fleet at anchor at Contadora

Tonight is the farewell party and tomorrow at noon is the start of the leg to the Galapagos. Yet as of mid-day today, only 12 of the 33 boats have arrived in the Las Perlas. Some people apparently have lots of work left to do! We are ready, I think. Last thing on the to do list: This morning, Rainer cleaned the bottom of Kincsem one final time to ensure we meet the strict environmental entry requirements of the Galapagos islands. We are crossing our fingers that it will be enough!

Ready for the Pacific?

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Before you can leave Colombia you have to check out, which is not as simple as it sounds. At the skippers meeting the “yellow shirts” from World Cruising told us to file a request for Zarpe – essentially a request to clear out – with the marina at least 2 days before departure. Unlike some other, obviously smarter skippers, who did nothing until the last second, I did as instructed and put down 8 pm on January 21 as the planned departure time on the 19^th as it would get us to San Blas in the morning of the 23rd. As it turned out in the days after I filed the request, the forecasts got worse and it appeared that 8 pm was the worst time to leave Santa Marta. Vicious gusts would race down from the mountains after sun down each evening, which would make the docking maneuver very difficult. The weather files I downloaded on the 20^th also indicated that an 8 pm departure would mean we would encounter gusts of more than 45 knots. So I decided to change our departure time to the afternoon on the 21st, 1700. But no, senor, marina staff opined, that’s not possible as immigration already has your request for Zarpe. Really? Well, with the help of Leslie from the yellow shirts and after hanging around the marina office for 2 hours, our stamped passports magically appeared and the Zarpe came with it – duly stamped and embued with officiality! So we left Santa Marta in benign conditions just a bit later.

Leaving Santa Marta

The sail to Kuna Yala (San Blas) was not as bad as threatened by the various weather models. We saw 37 knots in one gust but mostly it was 25-30 knots all the way, no problem for the experienced Kincsem team. A double reefed main and the staysail initially, and then a reefed main and the poled out reefed genoa gave us a quick ride to San Blas.

Local Kuna canoe sailing in over 20 knots and 2 meter seas

The San Blas islands are not very well charted – our normal C-Map charts don’t have sufficient detail to get to most anchorages and are reputed to be inaccurate as well. So I have a separate tablet PC running the Open CPN program, which enables me to use satellite charts (Google Earth, etc) and most importantly, digitized versions of the charts included in the superb Bauhaus guide to Panama, to chart our course in San Blas. The courses made on the table can then be uploaded into the Furuno chartplotter so we can follow the waypoints on the helm. More technology is not always an unconditional plus, however, so I was a bit concerned charting our course into the first San Blas anchorage on the West end of the Coco Bandera island group. Well, the charting worked flawlessly, Elaine on the bow with the intercom headset gave great instructions how to avoid the reefs and Udo on the forward looking sonar was another safety factor. So all went well, the anchor went down in a fantastic place right next to a sandy island with towering palm trees on it!

The Kuna are a very enterprising people. It didn’t take long after our anchor was down that we were offered fresh lobster from a dug-out canoe full of smiling faces. We purchased a few for our lunch.

Look at these colors but where are the eyes?

Later another canoe came by from the little island asking us to charge a number of cell phones and a power bank – who could say no? The next day a large canoe appeared with two 200 liter barrels in it, containing molas, the local fabric designs. Mola upon mola hit the side deck of Kincsem, making selection very difficult. Elaine was excited to see that the molas were made by Venancio, a woman who apparently is quite well known for the quality of her designs. While Elaine and I bought 2 molas each, Guglielmo, at the telephonic direction from his wife bought something like 8 of them!

Here is Elaine inspecting molas being offered and Guglielmo on the phone with his wife doing the same!

Molas are made from several layers of fabric of different colors

We spent two days at our first island anchorage with only a small number of other sailboats none of which were from the WARC. On the third day, we moved a couple of miles to another anchorage in the Coco Banderas archipelago where there were several WARC boats anchored. The entrance was equally tricky and the setting just as spectacular if not more so. Here another Kuna boat appeared, asking for us to fill their 30 liter water container. So they don’t have fresh water but have cell phones. Interesting choice! And yes, it was one of the guys’ birthday (so he said) and he asked whether we maybe had a “regalo” for him! A couple of cold beers made him and his mate smile!

Coco Banderas East anchorage

Traditional dugout canoe sailing outside the reef

Snorkeling off the reef in Cayos Holandais

Our last anchorage in the Kuna Yala was called the “swimming pool” in the Holandais Keys, called that way because of the color of the water in full sunlight. A bit tricky for us to get into the anchorage as it gets shallow very quickly but it was worth it! Here, we were among many other WARC boats with whom we could chat. We also had a couple of primitive restaurants to chose from – the food was surprisingly good. The only problem – if you can call it that - was that they had no ice – the beers and wine were cool but the rum drinks were warm!

At anchor in the Swimming Pool

At the restaurant; we were told there were crocodiles on the island where the restaurant was but we did not see any.

Our swimming pool anchorage ironically was difficult for swimming because a strong current ran through the anchorage. So after one day we moved to another area in the same area where there was no current. This enabled us to clean the bottom of Kincsem in preparation for Galapagos. The Galapagos require a totally clean bottom with no growth or one is sent back out to see to clean the bottom 60 miles from the islands!

We have a “hooka,” which is a dive compressor with a long hose and a scuba mouthpiece attached which works very well for diving the boat. I had discovered earlier that the boatyard in Grenada, SIMS, had left one side of the rudder gudgeon (a piece that holds the rudder to the skeg) totally unpainted although I had expressly instructed them to paint it with antifouling. So there was already some growth. Unfortunately, I now discovered two additional areas where they had apparently not painted, resulting in strong growth on that area. I will try to get this fixed in Shelter Bay – i.e. pull the boat and paint the missed areas. Grrrrrrrr!

These guys watched us for a long time

Not all is good in paradise.

Our sail to Shelter Bay (a marina in Colon) was uneventful although overnight since WARC had discouraged us from stopping because the stops are supposedly not safe. Arriving in Colon was interesting given all the ship traffic to and from the canal. But it seemed no worse than Gibraltar and we made it to the marina under sail without encounters with commercial shipping.

Colon breakwater

So now that we are in Shelter Bay waiting for the canal transit, you may wonder: is Kincsem ready for the Pacific? Once we leave Panama for the Galapagos, it will be many thousand miles before we will be back in an area where we can get helpful men to work on issues we cannot tackle ourselves. We’ve had a few such issues over the last several months but – knock on wood - so far, there is only one minor one that appeared since Rodney Bay: our chart plotter doesn’t show bearings. This isn’t much of a problem since we can see all bearings on the laptop down at the chart table and can put, for example, bearings to waypoints on the B&G instruments. And our missing antifouling paint on Kincsem’s bottom was fixed yesterday with a quick overnight haul at the Shelter Bay Boatyard. So yes, I think Kincsem is as ready as she can reasonably be expected to be. Pacific watch out, here we come!!

Santa Marta

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The leg from St Lucia to Santa Marta, Columbia, was billed as a straight downwind run in beautiful trade wind conditions. But the routing showed that it was going to be a bit tricky, with all three weather models running on the Expedition program suggesting a big detour from the rumb line (direct route) to the South close to the coast of Venezuela. It looked like the program wanted us to go South among other things to pick up the strong currents near the coast for the best ETA. If three models suggest that you go into the same direction, in my experience one should not ignore that, even if it’s a big detour. So we followed the Expedition routing.

It seemed that only 2 or 3 other boats out of a fleet of 30 were going the same way. The good news was that we had benign conditions to begin with but the bad news was that there was less wind than predicted by the grib files and we were going much slower than many of our competitors on the direct route. In addition, after a couple of days, we had to contend with rain squalls and many wind shifts from a thermal low over Columbia and Venezuela. So we headed north a bit more to get away from the thermal low, which gave us more wind and sun shine! Everyone worked hard: many sail changes, gybes, reefs in, reefs out, pole up, pole down; every sail in the inventory was used (other than the new mizzen staysail), even the staysail in over 30 knots of wind. In the end, we arrived pretty much as forecast after 4 days and 20 hours.

The good times!

Squalls threatening

The third day at sea was my 70^th birthday which was duly celebrated, with champagne and a cake that had been stashed away out of my sight. Big surprise!

We did not know what to expect from Columbia. The approach was certainly scenic with the high, snow covered mountains as a backdrop and the city looked modern from afar – but what about the fact that Columbia until recently was ruled by drug lords?

Windy approach to Santa Marta

Our first encounter with Colombian officials was of course for check-in. Being part of the World ARC group, it was a lot easier for us to clear into the country than is normally the case. Instead of having to hire an agent to deal with the formalities, we walked up to the local officials sitting around a table in a shaded corner in the marina and a few minutes later, walked away with our Zarpe, the permission to stay in the country.

The marina is a fenced-in enclave situated among a number of high rise hotels and apartment buildings, in beautiful surroundings. It has very good facilities except that the water is not drinkable so we had to preserve the water in our tanks and had to take showers ashore. Unfortunately, those were a bit iffy so that I never had warm water in 5 days. But there was always cool music in the shower facilities and the electricity on the dock worked…. So who cares, really? There is a nice bar and restaurant right in the marina which provided a nice setting for conversations with fellow WARC sailors.

But it was time to get out of the marina! WARC had organized a jeep tour for us which was interesting. Think about the presidential motorcade – we were a convoy of some 20 SUVs driving in formation through the streets of Santa Marta. Our jeep, albeit old, even had air conditioning.

If you think power poles in the US have to carry heavy, just look at this!

The WARC motorcade

It took quite a while to get through the city to the mountains to the South. First stop: La Victoria, a coffee plantation formerly run by a German couple who immigrated right after WW 2. Now, the wife of the couple’s son is running the place. The plantation is huge and covers steep mountain sides.

Only the red bean is good – the others have been ripened for too long

According to our guide, a bald American who did not hold back on his socialist views, only 12% of the plantation is planted with coffee beans – he did not explain what else is planted except for some fruit trees! In a sign of the times, he explained, the plantation is now operated at much reduced capacity because it is impossible to hire the necessary number of workers. Everyone prefers to drive tourists around than to scale perilous hills to harvest coffee beans! And the money is better, too! So the plantation was now operated just to supply the coffee needed for the restaurant and the tourists visiting like us. This area of Columbia is in government control but there are many other areas which are controlled by various armed factions. If you turn off the main highways, you’re likely to get to an area where government forces are not present.

The second stop on the tour was a couple of waterfalls which were nice to look at but nothing special. We had expected a walk through the jungle to get there but ended up walking a rocky road with not a bird or other animal in sight.

More interesting for us was a visit to the “old” city of Santa Marta. There are not many “old buildings” at all – the most prominent being the “Gold Museum” which is a misnomer since it’s really a history museum.

The Gold Museum

We learned that while Cartagena, some 200 miles away, was the center of the Spanish colonial power, Santa Marta was mostly struggling by pirates. Since the 1500s, there were some 50 instances where pirates tried to or actually took over the city.

The most interesting place in the “old” city for me was the huge market. There was music blaring everywhere, the wares were sold on the streets from push carts, from shops on the streets and in a number of dedicated market halls, an attractive cacophony of sounds and frenetic activity. When they saw my camera, many vendors offered me to take their photo although I declined to send it to them by Whatsapp …..

Impressions from the Santa Marta market

Santa Marta commercial harbor

At the end of our stay in Santa Marta WARC threw a nice prize giving party and dinner. To our surprise, we scored third place in our group even though we had chosen a longer route. It seemed that a lot of boats were using their engines too much, which incurs a heavy penalty. Our friends and fellow St Francis YC members Guillemette and Adam from Saltair - whom we had beaten across the Atlantic in the 2023 ARC - came in first – congratulations!

After a couple of days in Santa Marta the discussion among the WARC boats turned to the next leg: to the San Blas Island - or Kuna Yala as they are called in the indiginous language. It had been very windy in Santa Marta ever since we arrived and it appeared that those “enhanced” trade wind conditions with gusts over 40 knots and 3+ meter seas would have to be negotiated all the way to San Blas. This leg is a “free sailing” leg without a scheduled start so boats could leave when they thought best. The leg is about 280 miles – an awkward distance because it was likely impossible to leave in daylight and get to San Blas in daylight. So the plan of most for us is to leave in the evening and spend two nights at sea in order to get to San Blas in the morning. But more about that in the next episode!

Scuba diving trip for the boys on Kincsem on our day of departure

We’re Off!!

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My trip back to the boat began with a surprise: the nice lady at the American Airlines check-in counter asked me whether I had filled in the immigration form and gave me the link. Oddly, it was a form for St Lucia, not Martinique where Kincsem was moored and I needed to go. After some investigation I found out that my “return trip” to Martinique was booked to St Lucia rather than Martinique and missing a key leg: St Lucia to Martinique! Kathy from my travel agency – who had not booked the “return trip” - informed that there are no flights from St Lucia to Martinique on that day, much less flights from the US to Martinique. Well, I decided to board the flight anyways and work on the St Lucia to Martinique connection while on the plane. My friend Adam put me in touch with a guy with a motor boat who would drive me to Le Marin for a hefty sum. But with the help of OCC port officer Alisdair in St Lucia, I found a pilot who was willing to take me from St Lucia airport to Martinique airport by a one engine plane – for a smaller fee. No brainer!

Flying up the East coast of St Lucia to Martinique

My two pilots and the Italian plane

So I ended up arriving at Martinique airport at the same time as the 3 crew for this leg! There is Udo from Germany, Guglielmo from Italy and Elaine from Canada – all experienced offshore sailors. We shared a first round of beers while waiting for the last one of us to clear customs and then a taxi to the boat.

Arriving on the boat there was some bad news off the bat: the carpenter had done none of the varnishing work he had promised to do and Amel had not done one of the jobs albeit a less important one. On the positive side the new sails had been installed and Amel had serviced all the main sail and mizzen furling motors and mechanics and reinforced the supports for the davits. And Pochon had replaced the seals in the leaking autopilot/steering ram and I was assured by the boss that “it works.” So after two massive shopping runs, introductions to the boat and a few little jobs around the boat, we called the marina staff to get us off our bow mooring. As the lines were being taken off, I noticed that the steering seemed to have an odd feel. No, correction, not an odd feel, it wasn’t working!! Turning the wheel did not result in the rudder turning! So stop, lines back on and call Pochon to get the technician back on board. I know a thing or two about Kincsem’s hydraulic steering so before the guy showed up it had found the cause – after emptying the entire lazarette: the on/off valve for the steering had not been properly put in the “on” position after Pochon had finished its work. So another try: call the marineros and cast off. All seemed good for a few minutes as we were exiting the humungous Le Marin anchorage on autopilot but then: “Alarm, Alarm” – check the steering” was the message. When I took over from the autopilot the steering felt very light and turning the wheel didn’t result in much change in the rudder. And the alarm never went away. But then, we managed to limp back to the dock where the Pochon technician waited already. I asked him whether he had refilled the hydraulic system after servicing the ram and he confessed he didn’t even know where to refill the system!!! Well, I knew and the reservoir was totally empty so what we were experiencing was a hydraulic system with no oil! We were lucky that we had made it back to the dock. It took only a few minutes to refill and off we were for the third time, which turned out to be a charm!

The sail from Martinique to Rodney Bay on St Lucia was a pure delight and the new sails looked good except for a few details that we can fix or do without. Checking in at St Lucia is old hat for me – but then that St Lucia immigration form I had learned about at the San Francisco airport reared its ugly hat, again: it is required for arrival by sea as well and takes 10 minutes plus to complete per person! But I made it 7 minutes shy of closing time and even had time to check in with World ARC to get my WARC flag and other goodies. Successful day!

We had a great time in Rodney Bay, catching up with old friends and making new ones among the WARC fleet. There are 31 boats entered for the World ARC most of which are already there. They include Saltair with our friends the Spiegels from St Francis YC and Pelican, an Amel 50 we have met several times before. There is frantic activity everywhere, if only pushing contractors to finish important jobs before the start on Saturday January 11. In our case, the key thing was to get Carlos to replace the membranes of the watermaker which finally happened a couple of days before the start. We immediately left the marina to anchor outside to do the test. Success! We now have a watermaker that is producing good fresh water again and has no leaks! I was now sleeping better, suddenly. But there were many other jobs to be done and the entire crew was busy at work day after day.

Guglielmo splicing the new mainsheet

Elaine at work in the galley

Udo sorting the bread baking supplies

Last minute rig check – found a few shackles that had not been secured properly!

The crew ready for the start

For the start, we executed a good old “Vanderbilt” start which involves running away from the line for a set time, gybing and sailing back to the line. You have to time all this so that 2 times the time allowed for sailing away from and to the line plus an allowance of a few seconds for the gybe is equal to the total time you have when crossing the line to begin the process. If timed well, it results in the boat hitting the line at speed right as the starting gun goes off. We were 10 seconds late and amazingly there were two boats which crossed the line ahead of us! It seems that this “cruising” fleet has a few racing sailors! To prove the point, spinnakers went up behind us a few minutes after the start before we had our Parasailor ready.

Nice view shortly after the start

But as we were rounding the turning mark to the West, it sank in: we’re off in the World ARC, an amazing adventure that will take us around the world back to St Lucia in April of 2027 if all goes according to plan.

To see where Kincsem is at any time, check out this tracker https://my.yb.tl/Kincsemadventures.

Le Marin, Martinique

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The last four weeks have seen a whirlwind of activity on Kincsem. I arrived at Grenada on November 14 with a to do list a mile long, both for me and for several service providers: SIMS, the boat yard, Turbulence, the rigging shop and others. Kincsem survived hurricane Beryl in June completely unscathed but nonetheless, there was a lot to accomplish before she was ready for the World ARC in January.

When I arrived, one week before the scheduled launch date, much of the work to be done by SIMS and other service providers had not even begun. Worse, two days before launch the SIMS team had not started to polish and hull and deck – a job that typically takes at least three days! Not unusual in the boating industry, but still a bit disconcerting. But then I’m a semi-professional “baby sitter”, very experienced and skillful in cajoling reluctant service providers into action! So all got done eventually, but it required a five day stay at the SIMS dock after launch to permit the work to be finished.

Jonny, the SIMS foreman, steering the launch cart around other boats with Kincsem on it

At the SIMS dock; note no sails ….

I had my own to do list, of course. I wanted to take a scuba course and get PADI qualified as an open water diver. Done!

Waiting for my first dive lesson at Scuba West Indies

And then there was the long list of boat work I needed to tackle myself. For example, when I left the boat all sails and running rigging was taken off and all moveable parts on deck were taken off and stowed below. I was very happy that my friend Iain Wright arrived a few days after me to help me getting Kincsem ready and sail her to Martinique for more Amel spa treatment.

One serious problem emerged quickly: I had ordered new sails from Incidences Sails in France and before I left Grenada in May, I had asked a local sailmaker to take away the old sails and dispose of them: big mistake! Even though the new sails were paid for in June and supposed to get to Grenada no later than October, they had not arrived at SIMS when I got there mid November – in fact, the ship on which they were loaded had not even arrived in Grenada! But as luck would have it the local sailmaker had been unsuccessful selling the old sails and delivered them back to the boat! As I am writing this on December 15, the new sails have finally arrived in Grenada and are in the hands of the SIMS shipping agent after spending 3 full weeks in the port waiting for customs to empty the container. They are scheduled to arrive in Martinique by air freight on December 23 and supposed to be installed by the local Incidences loft before we all get back to the boat on January 3 …….

In spite of all the hard work Iain and I did since arriving on the boat, there are still some additional, significant items on the to do list before the start of the World ARC on January 11, including the following:

· The water maker didn’t survive the layup well – the membranes need to be replaced. Charles Egbert in ST Lucia has agreed to do this on January 7 when we arrive in St Lucia. He worked on the water maker last year after the ARC and did a good job on time. So fingers crossed!

· The primary autopilot acted up during the sail from Grenada to Martinique – the seals in its hydraulic ram need replacing. Pochon in Le Marin are on the case!

· Amel is servicing all the furling gear for mainsail and mizzen – no problems expected here!

· Amel is reinforcing the fiberglass stringers for the davits – again, they have done this before on an Amel 55 and know how to do it.

Well, I’m quite confident that all of this will happen in a timely manner and Kincsem will be ready come the start of WARC on January 11.

All the challenges with the boat notwithstanding, Iain and I had a great sail from Grenada to Martinique. We were curious how the islands we were going to visit had faired in hurricane Beryl which scored a direct hit on Carriacou and Union Island. Our first stop was Sandy Island off Carriacou where we had stopped in May before Beryl. Luckily, the island is still there albeit with a lot less vegetation than before.

Sandy Island before Beryl

and now

We even had dinner ashore at a restaurant that was completely rebuilt since Beryl – the owner said it was the first restaurant on Carriacou to open again. The customs office at Tyrrel Bay on Carriacou survived the hurricane well – although the umbrellas on the tables outside have lost their tops!

Union Island, where we checked into St Vincent and the Grenadines, is quite another story. It seems time has stood still for long since Beryl and recovery is still very much at the beginning. A lot of roofs are still missing and only one store is open in Clifton – without refrigeration and without any bread on sale. Some people still live in tents. Where all the fruit stands were in May there is now a big field of grass.

Clifton town square before Beryl

Clifton now

We had a great time in Tobago Cays which seemed largely unchanged. The snorkeling is still awesome with turtles, rays and thousands of fish on display. Mandy Man’s lobster barbeque has opened again, although Mandy Man’s boat now is much smaller then in May.

Kincsem at anchor in Tobago Cays

Bequia was again our favorite like in May. There is little evidence of Beryl’s destruction and the islanders seem cheerful and are back to work. We climbed Mt Peggy in the early morning – a challenging climb as much of it is straight up a steep river bed. We were rewarded with the best views of the island.

Amazing views of Bequia from the top of Mt Peggy

Some wildlife we encountered on the way to the top!

A little restaurant next to the ferry dock in Bequia

We also met another WARC boat – the Amel 50 Pelican with owners Dave and Susan from Boston. They plan to do the entire rally without stopping with varying crews – 15 months around the world – while we intend to break from the rally in Fiji in July of 2025 to visit New Zealand.

We bypassed St Vincent and from Bequia sailed directly to Marigot Bay, St Lucia. Marigot Bay is as pretty as ever although the moorings are in disrepair. Nothing to do with Beryl, I think, but we anchored safely outside the inner harbor. Regular readers of this blog will recall the challenging customs officer we encountered in May. I encountered a different officer but he was also challenging. If you check into St Lucia and leave within 24 hours as we had planned, one is supposed to be able to check in and out at the same time. So I told the officer that this was my plan to which he replied sternly: “I will be the judge of that”! The selection criteria for customs officers in Marigot Bay seem to include an offensive personality and the ability to forego any smile for hours! Well, in the end I got my stamps and off we were for Martinique!

Marigot Bay from the customs dock; Kincsem anchored outside is just visible

Here we are overtaking another Amel 55 – Tatiana from Russia; his sail trim is terrible and he has too little sail up; he did not respond to our VHF calls

The Le Marin marina is always a good place to be. For one, there is the bakery for fantastic baguettes and croissants and several great French restaurants, all right at the harbor. And then one always meets other Amel 55 owners. This time, among a sea of older Amels, there was Dan Simoncini’s Amel 55 Santo, just in from crossing the Atlantic. I have communicated with Dan a lot in the Amel 55 owners group over the years and it was great to meet in person. It was also interesting to see all the modifications he’s done on his boat. And the Amel 50 Pelican came in as well – everyone is getting work done by Amel like we are. The hiking was a bit challenging though – we couldn’t get to the lookout point Iain had scoped out on the first try and Iain tried again by himself using a different route only to find that the lookout was closed in the early morning!

After a few days in Le Marin, I’m now back at home in Marin County/San Francisco for the holidays. I will be back to the boat on January 3 for the great adventure! Stay tuned!

Spice Island Marine

Thu, 16 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I just closed up Kincsem for the hurricane season. She is as well prepared as she can be. The last hurricane that caused significant damage in Southern Grenada was in 2004 – Hurricane Ivan and before that, Hurricane Janet in 1955. I asked the office lady at Spice Island Marine Services how the boatyard fared in Ivan. The answer was that there was a lot of destruction and it took months for boats to be able to be untangled, repaired and relaunched. But: in those days, boats were not on steel cradles – rather only supported by standard stands which can work loose from the vibration. Also, there were no tie downs to concrete blocks like there are today. So there is hope, even in a direct hit.

Getting ready for the haul; the topping lift of the mizzen boom had to come off

Powerwash of the bottom; after that, the water supply for the whole boatyard shut down because Grenada is in an acute water shortage currently

Impressive steel cradle with 5 supports on each side; there are also additional stands on each side

It was a grueling nine days getting Kincsem ready for the hurricane season. I have a long list of “decommissioning” items that involves things like taking the sails, halyards, sheets and all other removable items on deck off, flushing the engine, generator and AC with fresh water, pickling the water maker, putting on winter covers for the masts and winches, etc etc. But then there are always the special items like vacuuming and cleaning the engine room, treating all rusty items on the engine and generator with rust converter and repainting them in the nice white Volvo paint, derusting and repainting the hooka (the dive compressor I use to clean the bottom of the boat), etc, etc. This year there was also the service of the Amel drive which involves taking off the prop, emptying the oil in the drive, pulling out 3 lip seals around the shaft and replacing them and filling up with oil again. And a long list of other "special" items.

It is done! The oil is out of the Amel Drive and I’m now pulling out the bronze piece on which the three lip seals run. Next: coax the old lip seals out with a screw driver, install new lip seals and replace the bronze piece.

And then there is a parade of helpful men whom I have to instruct what to do during my absence. At SIMS, unfortunately I had to cancel a bunch of the work because the helpful men seemed clueless what to do and how to do it. However, many of the important items seem to be in good hands and for the rest, there is always Amel in Martinique!

The cabin as I left it. Dehumidifier is running. I can monitor the batteries and the dehumidifier remotely.

So after launch in December, Kincsem will sail to Amel in Martinique for some final items to be dealt with before the big adventure: Kincsem Around the World 2025-2027! Initially, we will participate in the World ARC, an organized rally. The start is in St Lucia on January 11. The plan is to split from the rally in Fiji and end up in New Zealand by the end of 2025. Stay tuned!

Here are some stats for the 2024 season:

Distance sailed: 1,466 nms

Number of days under way: 61

Caribbean Islands visited: 28

Number of Friends and Family who shared the fun: 19

I hope everyone enjoyed the time as much as I did!

AC cooled air hits the Grenada air – no cause for concern!

Flying into SFO over the California coast near San Gregorio

Tour of Grenada

Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We took a taxi into St Georges, the capital of Grenada to do some shopping and sightseeing.

Nicely done waterfront includes many placards explaining the history of Grenada

Some impressions of St Georges.

We also booked a tour of the island by taxi for the next day which was very enjoyable. Grenada is an island that has it more together than many other independent islands. It has a relatively stable democracy (since the US invasion in 1982) and seems to have a broad middle class that is educated, can afford to go out and lives in nice houses. And the local chocolate is excellent!

Wild monkeys at Grand Etang Lake

The old airport which was used for the US invasion in 1983

River Antoine Rum Distillery – the driveway

Here is where the sugar cane goes into the press

Sugar cane – this is what it looks like!

Here is where the sugar cane is pressed to extract the sugar sirup

The distillery also distills sugar cane provided by others – and they get back the gallons of distillate shown on this board

Here is the actual distillation process

Here the rum gets put into bottles – very much by hand. They have two grades: 75% alcohol for locals and 72.5% alcohol for export to the US. To get from 75 to 72.5%, just add water!

The Admiral preferred the 72.5% rum – the bottle (on the left) is just plain prettier! I asked whether it is safe to consume this rum undiluted. The answer was absolutely! Since it is made without any additives, it might knock you out but when you wake up, you’ll be fine! We didn’t give the theory a try!

At the Belmont Estate chocolate factory – here is a selection of tropical fruit

Cocoa pod pulled apart revealing the beans

Cocoa beans before and after initial fermentation

On the drying board – only women get to turn the beans with their feet on these boards where they are typically 10 cm high. These boards are on rails and can be pushed below the building if it starts to rain

Sorting the cocoa beans by size – by hand!

Here the chocolate is aged

And here chocolate bars are packaged – not an industrial process to say the least!

Last stop in our tour of Grenada – Concord Falls

Le Phare Blue Marina, Grenada

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Once the kids had departed, Nicki and I could have a little time to relax and do some sightseeing before my cousin Rainer and his wife Almut arrived for the final leg of the 2024 season. We explored Fort de France and visited the Jardin de Balata botanical gardens close by.

Hotel de Ville, Fort de France

The Admiral on the high wire!

We had a great sail to our first stop, Rodney Bay in St Lucia. The main purpose of stopping there was to check in and to acquire duty free diesel. At $1.34 per liter, this is the best price in all of the Caribbean and I didn’t want to miss that opportunity. Unlike in January when we wanted to fill up here as well, this time they actually HAD duty free diesel to sell. But Rodney Bay did not deliver on one front, albeit to no fault of Rodney Bay: I’ve been trying to get some Eastern Caribbean Dollars from an ATM for some time and again, the Bank of St Lucia ATM gave me another error message. Same for the card of the Admiral. So again, I called Wells Fargo who had previously told me all was fine with the card, it must be the fault of the local bank. This time, I told them specifically to check whether the ATM card was authorized for foreign withdrawals. After some back and forth, the agent reluctantly admitted that it was not and that all ATM cards the bank sends to customers, by default, are NOT authorized for use in foreign countries. Really? I tried to withdraw money again 12 hours later – again it didn’t work. Grrrrr! So we kept using the Bank of Koewing – Almut & Rainer had no problem getting money out of the ATM with their German cards.

The crew for the last segment of 2024, the Admiral, the Vice Admiral, yours truly and Rainer, the First Officer and Chief Mechanic

Our next stop was Marigot Bay on St Lucia. A beautiful bay full of moorings and a lot of activity. Here, I had to visit immigration. St Lucia permits you to check in and out for customs at the same time if you stay for less than 72 hours. I had done that in Rodney Bay. However, you still have to visit immigration for checkout and that’s what I did – by paddle board to boot. Immigration opens at 0800 it says on the door, but when I arrived at 0805, the door was locked. Someone told me to check back at 0830 and that’s what I did. There he was, the customs officer, sitting there in full regalia and questioning a poor soul from a German yacht. “When you arrived last night, why did you not come and check in? When you arrived there was another boat that arrived as well and they checked in right away. Instead, I saw you take on water when you came in. What did you do after you took on water?” Poor soul: “Well, sir, we went ashore and had dinner at the restaurant.” Officer: “Really? Going ashore before checking in is a US $5,000 fine!”

At that point, I was readying myself for a longish spectacle but the officer luckily interrupted the session with Poor Soul and asked me what I wanted. When I told him he said immigration wasn’t there today and I could depart without the stamp from them. I quickly left so missed the rest of the conversation with the German guy….

On the way to checkout at Immigration

The next island in the chain going South after St Lucia is St Vincent. It has a very bad reputation for safety although if you check the website of the Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN) which reports all incidents involving yachts, it is no worse than some of the other islands, notably St Lucia. Dinghy theft is the key problem, like everywhere in the Caribbean. We tried to make it all the way to Bequia but it was just too far for the conditions and we had to stop at some port of entry on ST Vincent and decided on Wallilabou Bay. This bay is famous for having appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean and is truly spectacular. It is also a check-in point for St Vincent and the Grenadines, which includes the neighboring islands such as Bequia. We took a mooring rather than anchor to make sure that the locals would be favorably disposed to us and there were 3 other yachts on moorings. Nonetheless, we did not feel very safe but nothing happened and we had a quiet night.

The West coast of St Vincent is spectacular

Leaving Wallilabou Bay; someone is burning trash at 7 am!

The next morning had us leave early and head for Bequia. Interestingly, the cruising website Noonsite discourages people from visiting Bequia because of its poor safety record but again, if you look at CSSN, there is no apparent reason for this advice. When we arrived, the anchorage was quite full of yachts but we found a nice spot not far from the Princess Margeret beach. We really loved Bequia as it has a bit more to offer than the poorer independent islands. There are places where you can buy high end food items, there is an elevated walkway along much of the bay, the Princess Margret Beach is terrific and there are some good restaurants. And the water is clear and relatively calm for swimming. What’s not to like?

Arrived in Bequia! Rum punch is the staple …

We would live of Doris’ offerings for many days!

The Ocean Cruising Club of which we are members runs several Facebook and Whatsapp groups for its members devoted to specific regions of the world. On the OCC Whatsapp Group for the Caribbean I read that there are two places not to be missed between St Vincent and Grenada: Tobago Cays and Sandy Island on Carriacou. True!

When we left Bequia, we first headed for Charlestown bay on Canouan which was quite deserted. The few boats there seemed to have seen better days and were anchored very far apart. We went ashore and immediately felt unsafe. The whole place looked closed and run down. Another instance of the Doyle guide telling us about “charming town with brightly painted houses” which turned out far from the truth. We now call it the “Märchenbuch”, which is German for fairy tale book! We voted with our feet (or rather sails) and left for Tobago Cays where we arrived shortly before sundown. What a difference! After taking a mooring on the West side of Petit Rameau island in the evening, in the morning we moved to a mooring off the little island of Baradal where there is a turtle refuge. We could snorkel and watch the turtles and many tropical fish right from the boat. Phantastic! In the evening, we treated ourselves to a lobster feast which was spectacular!

At the mooring in Tobago Cays

Water taxi on the way to dinner

After Tobago Cays we had to sail to Clifton on Union Island to check out of St Vincent & Grenadines. We stopped first at another recommendation from the OCC Whatsapp page: Chatham Bay on the West side of Union Island. Quiet, calm waters and a lovely beach bar – we had such a good time that we came back for another night after checking out in Clifton which is not a place I would recommend.

Clifton on Union Island

Our favorite bar in Chatham Bay on Union

The island of Carriacou belongs to Grenada and Tyrrell Bay on Carriacou is the place to check into Grenada. It is also just a few miles from Sandy Island. The Märchenbuch said one had to take a mooring at Sandy Island but then none were available. So we anchored just like every other boat there over 45 feet, including an Amel 50 from New York. The scenery is really quite extraordinary and the snorkeling on the Southeast side of the island was excellent!

Sandy Island off Carriacou

The last sail of the season was a beautiful reach along the East side of Grenada to Marina Le Phare Bleu on the South side. The marina is located just two bays over from Prickly Bay where we will put up Kincsem for the hurricane season.

Last evening with Rainer und Almut at the restaurant at Le Phare Bleu

Martinique en Famille

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

For a short week, Daniel, Marla, Sophie and Lucas visited Kincsem – and even the Admiral threw in an appearance! Kincsem was transformed into a playhouse in no time. Little shoes were dropped down the hatches to hilarious laughter, the swim platform was heavily used and Opa had to do “Speed Mode” on the dinghy often to get the crew to full shreaks! We probably spent more time on the beach than at any other week during Kincsem’s existence! Certainly more sand castles were constructed than in weeks before!

What a great game!

Thanks to fellow Amel 55 owners Bruno and Elaine Cotte for the sand toys!

I picked them up in Rodney Bay, St Lucia. Here we are sailing over to Martinique!

Keeping up with feeding 2 hungry kids on a boat is a big challenge!

Arrived in Anse Meunier, Martinique

New playgrounds are constructed everywhere in Kincsem!

Kincsem in beach trim

The anchoring process is very interesting for Sophie and Lucas!

Le Marin – encore !

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

For Amel owners in the Caribbean, getting back to Le Marin is like an addiction: very hard to shake but usually a pleasure. So instead of going to Fort de France for picking up the Admiral and Daniel’s family, we’re in Le Marin for only one reason: repair facilities. This time the freezer 2 is getting a new evaporator to fix its leaks. Or should I say that is the plan?

A good week ago, Kincsem left Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe for the shortish hop to Martinique, which left us some time to explore places in between. Tom Struttman and I were joined by Iain Wright, a Brit who’s interested in joining Team Kincsem for the World ARC next year. Before departing the marina, we explored Point a Pitre a bit more, including a visit to the slavery museum Memorial Acte. Interesting factoid: there are 35 million slaves today, almost all of them in Africa!

Memorial ACTe

If you want to order this jacuzzi, contact me!

Multi-use church steeple!

Point a Pitre market

They take the dead seriously in Guadeloupe – they build them houses – with a view of the cruise ships if you look carefully!

Our first stop was Marie Galante, an island flat as a pancake just a few miles to the South East from Point a Pitre. To call it sleepy is a bit of an understatement and most of the places described in the handbook seemed closed. Nonetheless, and surprisingly, we did not get into the one restaurant that looked intriguing and was open without an advance reservation!

We found the one open bar in Marie Galante!

Next stop was Les Saintes, Marigot Bay. Another beautiful bay in the les Saintes islands – a winner.

Marigot Bay, Iles de Saintes

The West Coast of Guadeloupe is very dramatic and we wanted to hike the Soufriere Volcano, some 1400 meters high. So we sailed Marina de Sud, Bas de Terre, on the SW corner of the island. The anchorage is very tricky as it is very deep except for a very narrow shelf and the winds and currents push the boats around in unpredictable ways. With some difficulty we found a spot between other anchored boats and all looked ok. Yet the morning after when I made my usual espresso at 6 am and headed for the cockpit to enjoy it, I found that Kincsem was floating about 2 meters away from a somewhat delapidated, rusty steel yacht! The espresso was put aside and the engine was on in 5 seconds. The anchor came up in no time but of the 50 meters of chain down, only the last 10 meters moved the boat at all – the rest of the chain was obviously piled up below the boat! This time we anchored well away from other boats ½ mile away from the harbor. Nothing like peace of mind!

Hiking Soufriere on Easter Sunday was definitely an experience. Half the island of Guadeloupe seemed to be on the trail with only a very few tourists thrown in. At the top, we could view some sulfur fumes escaping from the Earth – but only briefly when the fog cleared.

When we were in Portsmouth, Dominica, in January, there was no time to explore. This time, we had some time and hired a guide – Lawrence of Arabia – whom Iain knew from his last visit her in 2017. Lawrence, whose name is not Lawrence and who’s never been to and has no relation to Arabia, unfortunately farmed out the land part of the tour to his somewhat speechless son who was not very forthcoming with information. Nonetheless, we saw a lot of the Northern part of the island, most of it spectacular.

Farmland in Dominica!

The mechanical condition of Junior’s van was on par with his skills as a tourist guide!

You guessed it: Red Rock!

At the end of the day, LoA showed up in person and rowed us up and down the Indian river. A phantastic excursion topped off by visit to the jungle bar!

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was filmed here

Lawrence of Arabia

Easter Monday celebrations in Dominica

We visited Sainte Pierre, Martinique before, in January. What a difference this time! Last time, it appeared dark, and even threatening when we first set foot ashore in the dark of the evening. This time, we found our old friends Bruno and Elaine Cotte on Amel 55 Tertio already anchored there and arranged to meet them for dinner in the Alsatian restaurant we had spurned last time. The restaurant serves also as the check-in for Martinique so you can use the customs computer onsite while enjoying an aperitif! We had a great time and the food was excellent – even without Sauerkraut! Walking back to the dinghy in the dark, there was light in the streets and people around!

The next morning we explored the museum of the eruption of the volcano Mt Pelee in 1902 which was fascinating. Unlike the eruption of Soufriere in Montserrat which was slow and covered the island in relatively harmless ash, the eruption of Mt Pelee involved a violent explosion and a cloud of 600C hot gases racing down the mountain destroying everything and killing everyone in seconds. Some 28,000 people died in an instant!

Damage done by the volcanic eruption in 1902

Life is not all peachy in St Pierre …

Habitation Ceron, a botanical garden cum restaurant in the North of Martinique recommended by Bruno

Before Le Marin, we anchored overnight in St Anne, a lovely town right next to Le Marin with a popular beach and anchorage. Definitely better to anchor there than be at the dock in Le Marin …..

Bar boats in St Anne bay!