Down the Coast of Nicaragua
By sailthec • Jul 18th, 2007 • Category: All Stories and Articles, Video StoriesDownload Pacific Coast of Nicaragua
We departed Barillas Marina in El Salvador and cut across the Gulf of Fonseca. We’d been warned that the Nicaraguan navy was conducting raids on Salvadoran shipping in the gulf. We’d had enough of men with guns while in El Salvador so our plan was to make all haste down the Nicaraguan coast to Costa Rica.
A hot tropical wind blew off the mountainous shoreline–southeast at 20 to 30 knots. We took in a deep reef and stayed close-in where the seas were still manageable and found ourselves making 7.5 to 8.5 knots. After a few hours we sighted “Babe”, with Adam and Maru aboard. Their little 32-footer was no match for our 42 feet, and we were soon overtaking them. Joel, only 12 years old at the time, drove the boat hard and fast and passed them in a blaze of glory.
Soon after passing Babe we discovered that Songline was flooding with several inches of saltwater already over the cabin sole. For a terrifying moment I contemplated beaching her and the status of our insurance. Seconds later I regained my wits and tacked hard into a heave-to. We immediately checked all of the usual suspects–thru hulls, packing glands, anti-siphon valves. Next we formed a bucket-line to start moving our cruising gear from one cabin to the next in order to conduct a full investigation. Luck was with us because the first cabin we emptied was the V-berth. We discovered that the bulkhead between the forward cabin and anchor well was leaking through the windlass cable hole. Although the hole is at deck level, the drain holes in the well had become plugged with mud from our stay in El Salvador. The sum total of our damage was a shelf of paperback books on a forward shelf.
If you watch closely at the end of the video clip, you will see Monica and Joel on the foredeck with Costa Rica in clear view up ahead. They are digging through the anchor well to clear the drain holes!
Lesson learned: Stay calm. Don’t asssume the worst. Get things settled down. Take a deep breath and think though the problem. Then make a plan and execute the plan.
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