by Judy Handley | May 13, 2006 | Passage To French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 208, Year 1: Procyon’s Sea Rescue a Success–Day 22
Date: Saturday, May 13, 2006
Weather: Blue Skies Dotted with Puffy White Clouds—More Than Usual
Air Temperature: 80 degrees F now—89 degrees earlier in the day
Water Surface Temperature: 82 degrees F
Latitude: 10 degrees 18 minutes S
Longitude: 136 degrees 57 minutes W
Location: Passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas, Day 22
Miles to Go: 114 (~127 miles last 24 hours)
Miles to Date: 2905
The saga with Procyon goes on but we are now into a new chapter. The evacuation happened last evening and everything went well. Checkmate and Necessity, the Norwegian boats near Procyon, did a fantastic job of making the transfer happen without Manet, the large ship, having to come alongside Procyon. Sheri and Randy will be forever grateful for their kindness. Randy was able to call into our radio net this morning from Manet to talk to Sheri one more time before Manet is out of range. He actually sounded great this morning, but I thought I heard him choke down a tear as he asked Sheri if she was okay. This must be incredibly hard for him. He will be in Papeete on Monday and then we will find out if he has to have surgery again. Sheri has a satellite phone, so we are hoping Randy will be able to call her that way and let her know how he is doing. After the evacuation last night, Sheri changed course and is now headed to Nuka Hiva. There is an airport there and she will be able to get to Papeete if needed. She has parted ways with the Norwegian boats who are headed to Fatu Hiva, so she really is out there all alone. We hope we will hear her on the radio morning and evening so we can track her progress. Since she is motoring, I’m actually glad the wind has died. Hopefully, she will have calm seas and an uneventful passage from now on. A catamaran with friends aboard is leaving Nuka Hiva in the morning to come out and meet her to give her fuel and crew. We will all be glad when they rendezvous and when Procyon makes it into port. That will not be until later in the week as Sheri has almost 700 miles to go. Our most positive thoughts are with her.
The “landscape” here at sea is beginning to change as we near land. It is definitely getting warmer. It was 89 degrees in the cockpit today and that is the highest we have seen the thermometer go since leaving Panama. The water temperature is up another degree, now at 82 degrees F. And although it was a beautiful day, it was much cloudier than we have had and we had two different storm systems following us, one on one side and one on the other, most of the afternoon. We finally got a few sprinkles and now it is clear once again. We have had very little rain, almost none, and only one little squall that we managed to avoid. But Fatu Hiva is so beautiful because it is so green, so I suspect we will be having more rain now that we are closer to land. We have had birds close by all day. They are beautiful little white birds and they play around the boat like the dolphins play with us in the water. They fly toward us and then dip, soar, glide, and dip again. I think they are White Terns. These birds feed over the open ocean and fit the description of what we have been seeing. They are supposed to be extremely graceful, and that they have been. Fish have been jumping in the water all day, but none has decided to take a bite on our lure. These fish are silverfish when they jump out of the water, but when I watch them by looking straight down into the water, they are a pinkish-purple. They are small, probably only a foot long. What could they be?
The wind angels have abandoned us and we are now motoring. The wind went from 15 to 12 to 10 to 8, and has settled out at 4 to 8 knots. That plus the fact that we have a half to a full knot current against us convinced us that it was time to turn on the motor. We have been motoring since 0115 last night and will probably have to motor the rest o the way in. If things continue as they are now, we will arrive tomorrow afternoon. Our friends Patrick and Margaret on Aqua Magic will be arriving tomorrow as well. They left three days before us, but we have had better wind conditions and have made up the time. Our friends Doug and Silvie are in Fatu Hiva and we are anxious to see them once again. The activity level aboard Windbird has accelerated today. We have been running the water maker non-stop to fill up the tanks now that the engine is running. I have washed every piece of dirty clothing I could find, including the towels, which have been hung out on the life lines to dry. Mark has been working all afternoon on charting software and checking and rechecking waypoints. And we just raised the courtesy and quarantine flags for French Polynesia. As the full moon sets in the morning and the sun rises, we should be able to see the mountains of Fatu Hiva. Wow! It didn’t really seem real until now, but 24 hours from now we should be sitting in one of the most beautiful anchorages in the world watching a South Pacific sunset. I’m ready.
There are 12 islands in the Marquesas. We will be visiting five of them in the following order: Fatu Hiva, Hiva Oa, Tahuata, Ua Pou, and Nuka Hiva. We’ve read and reread all of the cruising guides and we have a spreadsheet that outlines our itinerary. I have this one last night to complete it and then we begin our explorations. And it is right now time to get ready for our last night of watches for this passage under a full moon. What more could you ask for?
by Judy Handley | May 12, 2006 | Passage To French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 207, Year 1: Rescue at Sea for Procyon–Day 21
Date: Friday, May 12, 2006
Weather: Blue Skies Dotted with Puffy White Clouds (just doesn’t change)
Air Temperature: 84 degrees F
Water Surface Temperature: 81 degrees F
Latitude: 10 degrees 18 minutes S
Longitude: 134 degrees 48 minutes W
Location: Passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas, Day 21
Miles to Go: 238 (~112 miles last 24 hours)
Miles to Date: 2778
The saga here goes on with our friends on Procyon. The diverted ship, Manet, contacted Sheri this morning and wanted her to divert north to meet them. They thought if she did this, they might have a daylight rendezvous. But Sheri said she could not do that and still get to the Marquesas on the available resources. She would also be leaving the Norwegian boats that are traveling with her, and she needs their support for the rest of the trip. So until the afternoon net, we thought the rendezvous would happen around 1:30 am in the morning local time. And even though there is an almost full moon that will provide some light, this could be very dangerous in the dark. When Procyon checked into the evening net, however, Sheri reported that she and the Norwegian boats that are accompanying her all decided to divert north and that the exchange should hopefully happen in the daylight. We will all be on pins and needles waiting to hear, but we might not know until the morning net. We do monitor 8291 which is the ship’s emergency communication channel and hopefully we will hear that Randy is safely aboard Manet and headed quickly to Papeete, Tahiti, to a full health care facility. The ship does have a passenger aboard who is a doctor and they have the IV capabilities that Randy needs right now. When Sheri found this out, you could hear the relief in her voice. Making the decision to stay with the boat and let Randy go on alone could not have been an easy one, but knowing that he will have the care he needs is the important thing. Mark and I discussed this yesterday and we decided that we would do the same. We would send the injured or sick on the ship and the other would stay with the boat. In our case, we would call Heather and Justin and ask them to fly to wherever the transport would be landing. Not an easy decision, and one we hope we never have to face, but we do understand and support Sheri’s decision to stay with the boat. Like us, their boat is their only home and it would be very hard to lose it at sea. She will fly to join Randy as soon as she gets the boat safely to the Marquesas and we will all be waiting for the happy ending.
This morning Manet told Procyon that they would come alongside to get Randy, but we all know that is very risky. A sail boat can be destroyed in seconds by a large ship. It appears that Checkmate and Necessity, the Norwegian boats, have offered to put a dinghy in the water and to make the transfer that way. Much safer. They will also get the extra fuel to Sheri this way. Sheri will then start motoring to keep up with the Norwegian boats and will meet with friends aboard a catamaran, Endangered Species, which is leaving the Marquesas and coming back out to bring Sheri additional fuel and crew. She has about 750 miles to go and they will meet her 200 to 250 miles out. She still has 500 miles to go alone, but she sounds ready to do this. And believe it or not, she has one more complicating factor. This morning, a squall came up and damaged her mainsail. This leaves her with only her headsail, but since she is going to be motoring she should be fine.
We are trying to enjoy our last few days of the passage despite the sadness that we feel for Sheri and Randy. Our little wind angel returned today and is pushing us along at better than 5.5 knots, wing-and-wing. We are sailing wing-and-wing as it lets us stay directly on course. This morning the wind virtually died and we made the decision to poke along and not come into port until Monday. The option would be to motor in from here, but having to replace about $250 in fuel caused us to make the decision to sail if at all possible. Now that the wind has come up, our chances of a Sunday landfall is once again possible. I’ll go back to my mantra . . . We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
We have just had another time change. Actually, we should have made the change a day or so ago, but we waited as it affects our radio net and watch times and we just didn’t need anymore excitement in our lives. We are now five hours earlier than Eastern Standard Time and four hours earlier than Eastern Daylight. When we reach Fatu Hiva, we actually have another 30 minute time change. We don’t quite understand why the half hour, but that is just the way things are. At that point our time will be minus 9.5 UTC (Universal Time).
It is so beautiful and peaceful out here. The seas have been calm for days, the sun shines all the time, and now an almost full moon lights our nights. There is a gentle rhythm to the rise and fall of boat as she forges ahead through the deep blue sea. I can’t smell the flowers yet, but I can “see” the turquoise waters, white sand beaches, and the tall mountains gracefully draped in green. It is really only a weekend away.
by Judy Handley | May 11, 2006 | Passage To French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 206, Year 1: Procyon’s Medical Emergency Escalates–Day 20
Date: Thursday, May 11, 2006
Weather: Blue Skies Dotted with Puffy White Clouds (just doesn’t change)
Air Temperature: 84 degrees F
Water Surface Temperature: 81 degrees F
Latitude: 09 degrees 43 minutes S
Longitude: 133 degrees 08 minutes W
Location: Passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas, Day 20
Miles to Go: 340 (~ 125 miles last 24 hours)
Miles to Date: 2666
WHAT a day! Mark and I are both emotionally exhausted. We, and many other boats, have been on the radio almost all day today dealing with Procyon’s medical emergency. I will tell that story below, but first I will give a quick update on Windbird’s progress.
All is well aboard. We have less than 350 miles to go. It is still possible that we will arrive in Fatu Hiva by Sunday evening, or we might have a Monday landfall. The wind hung in there for us all of last night and all day today. As evening is approaching, the winds are dying down, so we will have to see how tonight goes. Just a few minutes ago, Mark started the engine to charge the batteries. The engine ran for a couple of minutes and then started sputtering. All I could get out was, “Engine-fuel-out-stop.” We have been using our center tank for this whole trip and the sound I heard was the sound of a tank out of fuel. If you don’t catch it quick and turn off the engine before it stops, you then have to bleed the lines. That is one thing I didn’t want to do tonight. Mark understood my feeble attempt at communication and turned off the engine just in time. We then switched to a second tank of fuel and we were on our way.
The moon will be full on Sunday, but for all practical purposes it is essentially full now. Last night when I was on watch, our ocean world was lit up almost as bright as day. You don’t see as many stars when the moonlight is so bright, but it is a beautiful sight to sail at night by the light of the moon. My time to sleep is now from 1:00 to 5:00 am, so when I came back on watch, the moon was still lighting the world. It then set just before sunrise. When the sun came up this morning, the sky was painted with “baby shower” colors. The lightest pinks, baby blues, and hints of yellow colored the sky. What a show we have every morning out here.
We are technically in a new time zone but we are not going to change our clocks until tomorrow. We can’t take any more excitement today and since changing the clock changes our schedules; we will leave things alone for another day.
Now here’s the update on Procyon and the amazing story of cruisers coming to the rescue. The immediate problem has been keeping Randy hydrated since he cannot hold anything down. It is now pretty obvious that he has a bowel obstruction, probably caused by swelling in the area of his recent surgery due to his fall, and this means he can take nothing in orally. Late yesterday, those of us who have been in close contact with Sheri decided that it was time to make plans in case things worsen. When I sent yesterday’s log, I also sent an e-mail to four different boats that I know are in the Marquesas and for whom I had e-mail addresses asking for help. One of those responded immediately and another checked in with Mark on the Pacific Seafarer’s net last night. By this morning, they had a network of people working on the problem. They contacted other boats that are in the Marquesas with physicians aboard and got those physicians in touch with the hospital in Nuka Hiva to assess what can be done there. They also contacted the French Navy trying to find out what options there might be for medical evacuation. One of the boats that I e-mailed got in touch with the folks on Endangered Species who are very good friends of Randy and Sheri. They are readying themselves to come out to meet Procyon with extra fuel if needed. Two Norwegian boats that are in our net are very close to Procyon and they have adjusted their courses so that they can stay within VHF range in case Sheri needs something. In fact one of those boats has 40 gallons of diesel that they can get to Sheri in cans. This will extend her range for motoring. Another boat that is very close to us has lots of extra fuel and they are willing to back at least 250 miles to meet Sheri and share their fuel. If need be, we can do the same thing. The story just goes on and on.
In less than 24 hours after an e-mail was sent out by us and a radio request from Patrick on Aqua Magic to a New Zealand boat that is making landfall today, it feels like the entire fleet of boats that are in the Marquesas are working on this problem. Nationality plays no role here. Everyone is pitching in to help. It is really amazing . . . and very comforting to see people who don’t even know each other willing to do whatever is necessary for the health and safety of a fellow cruiser. We had hoped that we were just gearing up “just in case” but things accelerated this afternoon. Randy’s condition is worsening. Graham from Minaret out of New Zealand contacted Lynn on Shine who is in port in Fatu Hiva. She contacted a fellow Australian boat, Sea Bird, that is in Nuka Hiva. Sea Bird has a physician aboard who contacted the hospital there and got the French surgeon to come aboard and talk to all of us on our evening net late this afternoon. The surgeon listened to the report from Dr. Tom on Quantum Leap and made the decision to contact the French Navy to see if medical evacuation would be possible. At first, no go, as the ship that would make the rescue is in Tahiti and would take longer to get to Procyon than it would take Procyon to get to the Marquesas. Our entire radio net was tuned in as the surgeon asked us to hold on while he made another radio call. He came back with the news that there is a ship that can come alongside Procyon and take Randy off and on to Papeete, Tahiti. We talked to Sheri and she agreed to this.
So a ship named Manet will divert to rendezvous with Procyon within the next 24 hours and take him to Papeete, Tahiti. Sheri will have to continue sailing to the Marquesas alone, but the two Norwegian boats are within sight of her and will stay with her. One of the boats, Checkmate, will get the extra fuel to her if needed. She is one tough lady and all she could say tonight on the net was, “I can do it. Randy needs to get to a doctor.”
It is heart wrenching to go through all of this. We are so grateful that the French surgeon was able to find a ship that can help. But we know Randy is not going to want to leave Sheri out here alone to sail another 900 miles alone. But she will do what she has to do and all we can all hope is that the ship can get Randy to a full medical facility in time to save him. He’s doing okay right now and it should take only four more days to get him to Tahiti. I’m assuming Sheri will fly from the Marquesas to Tahiti to be with him once she arrives, and we will all make sure she does arrive safely.
This is the kind of high drama a sailor could do without. Having to be rescued at sea is one of the things that you have nightmares about and that you hope never has to happen. But it is going to happen and we just hope the exchange goes smoothly, Randy gets to the medical help he needs, and that Sheri makes it to the Marquesas safely. Sheri, our hearts are with you. Hang tough. We all want a happy ending to this story.
by Judy Handley | May 10, 2006 | Passage To French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 205, Year 1: Less Than 500 Miles to Go–Day 19
Date: Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Weather: Blue Skies Dotted with Puffy White Clouds
Air Temperature: 84 degrees F
Water Surface Temperature: 81 degrees F
Latitude: 08 degrees 50 minutes S
Longitude: 131 degrees 08 minutes W
Location: Passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas, Day 19
Miles to Go: 463 (~112 miles last 24 hours)
Miles to Date: 2535
3,000 – 2,500 – 2,000 – 1,500 – 1,000, 500 . . .Yeah! We have under 500 miles to go. My day started at 0500 in the dark with a threat of rain, and by the time the sun came up, the skies had cleared and we were sailing under a beautiful rainbow. Today was a bit of a slow day, but as I write this the winds are starting to pick up. Hopefully we will have another good night of sailing. Other boats in front of us are having a period of almost no wind, so it is hard to tell what we will have tonight and tomorrow. At least two other boats will make landfall tomorrow or Friday morning, and a couple of others will be in by Saturday. We are hoping for a Monday landfall, possibly Sunday depending on the winds. Mark is now the net controller for the morning Fatu Hiva radio net as we are the boat in the middle of the pack. It will be exciting to arrive and pass that duty off to someone further back.
Mark is down on the radio right now conferring with Quantum Leap and Aqua Magic about the medical situation on Procyon. Things with Randy are not worse, but they are not better, so we are trying to look into options in the case that things do deteriorate. Between e-mail, the satellite phone, and the radio, we do have good communication and for that I am very thankful. Just hope with us that things start to turn around for Randy or at least not worsen. I will keep you posted.
There is a flock of birds hanging out near us this afternoon. They are very noisy as they go about their fishing. I can actually see the fish jumping and just a bit ago we had a bite on our line, but when we reeled it in the fish had gotten away. We are not giving up. I’m still looking forward to fresh fish for dinner.
by Judy Handley | May 9, 2006 | Passage To French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 204, Year 1: Spinnaker Weather–Day 18
Date: Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Weather: Blue Skies Dotted with Puffy White Clouds
Air Temperature: 84 degrees F
Water Surface Temperature: 81 degrees F and rising
Latitude: 08 degrees 03 minutes S
Longitude: 129 degrees 29 minutes W
Location: Passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas, Day 19
Miles to Go: 569 (~129 miles last 24 hours)
Miles to Date: 2423
The thermometer has only gone up a couple of degrees, but inside the main cabin it is much warmer than it has been. It is 88 downstairs right now and 84 up here in the cockpit. The water temperature is still around 81 degrees. The only thing not in the eighties is the humidity. It is 69 per cent today, and varies from there to 79 per cent on some days. It was another beautiful day today with calm seas, but the boats in front of us are reporting squalls and rain. When they had rain earlier in the passage, we did not, so we shall see what happens this time.
Today was a spinnaker day. We had been sailing wing and wing for two days and heading further north than we would have liked, so we put up the asymmetrical spinnaker and we are able to be much closer to our desired course. And we are speeding along at six to seven knots with about 10 to 15 knots of wind. Our seas were calm all night and day, but just in the last hour we started getting a large swell from the south. It is gentle right now, but I can tell that we will have a bit of a romp tonight..
Two of the boats in our radio net, Vol and Invictus Reward, arrived in Fatu Hiva yesterday and Shine and Shoestring arrived today. But then two boats left who had been with the earlier radio net of about 45 boats have now switched to our net. I think they are the only two of the 45 that are still out and one of those is headed to Hawaii, not to Fatu Hiva. Our friends, Doug and Sylvia from Windcastle arrived in Fatu Hiva yesterday-a 30 day passage. They were certainly glad to reach land. We are still gaining on boats that left before us and other boats that left after us have gained on us. It is like a chess game out here.
Randy on Procyon is stabilizing somewhat, but he is still not back to normal and is not eating yet. He is starting to be able to hold down some fluids. Dr. Tom on Quantum Leap talks with Sheri, Randy’s wife, three times a day on the radio. They can often not hear each other because they are so far apart, so Patrick on Aqua Magic relays and we listen in just in case we can be helpful. Things are still in a holding pattern, so I’m hoping that by tomorrow he will be much better. Tom says he will turn around and come back to help if need be, but right now the two boats are about 800 miles apart. Let’s hope that is not necessary, but it is nice to know that people that you have only met a couple of times are willing to do whatever is necessary to help in an emergency. We are so glad that we have the services of the World Clinic. They are literally just a phone call away and we have never had to wait. And we don’t have to worry about poor radio connections. We call on the satellite phone and within a couple of minutes we have a doctor on the line who can help us. We’re also glad that we have a very well stocked medical kit. We bought the kit already stocked by the Wilderness Medical Associates sponsored by Ocean Navigator, and then the World Clinic supplied the prescription medications. We’ve only had to use a couple of different medications, but it is a nice feeling to know that whatever we might need is waiting in the blue bag. It may seem like Randy’s illness is getting a lot of attention from us, but the fact is that even non-serious problems can be a crisis when you are more than 1000 miles from a clinic or hospital.
I continue to fill my days with reading and research about the South Pacific and trying to outline our itinerary for the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, and the Society Islands. It completely consumes my days right now and I have had little time to even return e-mails. But I am just about to get the itinerary set. Mark then puts in all of the waypoints in the GPS. By the time we arrive in Fatu Hiva, we will have the next six weeks planned. Of course, plans change on a daily basis, but a national consultant in the field of education made this quote famous, “If you don’t have a plan, you’re planning to fail.” So we will have a plan!
by Judy Handley | May 8, 2006 | Passage To French Polynesia - Marquesas, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 203, Year 1: Procyon’s Medical Emergency–Day 17
Date: Monday, May 8, 2006
Weather: Blue Skies Dotted with Puffy White Clouds
Air Temperature: 80 degrees F, minus a degree or two at night
Water Surface Temperature: 81 degrees F and rising
Latitude: 08 degrees 12 minutes S
Longitude: 127 degrees 29 minutes W
Location: Passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas, Day 17
Miles to Go: 683 (~130 miles last 24 hours)
Miles to Date: 2294
Today’s big decision was whether or not to make brownies for watch snacks. I had to laugh as I tried to think back to a year ago this time when Mark and I were making daily decisions that certainly didn’t have anything to do with whether or not to cook something. But out here, today, that was the big decision. I did make the brownies and they will help the night watches to go much more smoothly. Chocolate in the middle of the night does wonders.
Every morning when we check into our radio net, the first thing the net controller says is, “If there is any emergency or medical traffic, come now.” There has not been a response to that on this passage or on any net we have been on since leaving home. But this morning there was a response from Sherri on Procyon. I think I stopped breathing momentarily, afraid to hear what she would say. If you have read prior logs, you might remember that Randy, Sherri’s husband, had to be air-lifted out of the Galapagos to mainland Ecuador for an emergency operation. That was about six weeks ago. He returned to Puerto Ayora after having stomach ulcers removed and spent the next four weeks recuperating. Randy and Sherri left the Galapagos five or six days after we did, and everything seemed to be going fine, but evidently last night Randy fell and hurt his back. Then later in the night he started having pain in his upper abdomen and was quite nauseas. Tom of Quantum Leap is a physician and Sherri talked to him this morning. We are all hopeful that he just has a case of mild food poisoning and that the fall had nothing to do with the nausea, but we just have to wait and see. When on a passage like this, so far away from land and any help, there are about three things that you don’t want to happen. You don’t want to hit something that might put a hole in your boat, you don’t want to fall overboard, and you don’t want to have a major health problem. Hope with us that Sherri can hold things together until Randy is better and that this is not a major health problem and that he will get better quickly.
We are still sailing wing and wing and heading a little more north than we would like, but we do have wind and that is good. It is amazing how quickly the days and nights pass. And it is truly a gift to be out here and to be able to enjoy nature at it’s finest. Last night when I came on watch at 9 PM, the half moon was shining brightly and the sky was filled with stars. When I come on watch, I sit in the dark for about 20 minutes just looking around and watching every carefully. Last night, I noticed a strange ruffling of the water near the front of the boat. I kept watching this to starboard but couldn’t figure it out. Then I went to port and look and saw the same thing, but on that side I could see what was causing the disturbed water. It was dolphins playing with us in the night. They were following along side Windbird and diving under the bow of the boat and coming out the other side. About that time, I saw a falling star. I then sat back and put on my headlamp so that I could read, but as I did so, I felt a great satisfaction of being in harmony with nature.
