New Crew, Engine & Anchor.  

     After being in Puerto Ayora for six weeks we decided it was time to leave. Adrianna & Daniella had a plane to catch in Isla Isabella about 50 Nm from here and Shelly, who had taken some extra time to be here for another two weeks, also wanted to see something new.  So, off to Isabella we go with our new Crewmates. In the official papers for clearing out at the 'Capitania' I labeled Shelly as the ships cook and Adrianna and Daniella as maids. This has no practically meaning but boy is it fun to see the faces of the officials when they learn that me and Darryl in our small ship of 29 foot have our own cook and personal maids.

     In addition to the usual shopping for water and normal maintenance, we had an engine to fix. The engine had been idle for five weeks now and we had almost given up on it. It was time to get some professional help.  I went to a car dealership and asked for the best mechanic that they had, and the best one I got. I got to ride in his car (see pic.) and thought to myself that if he can keep this car running it should be no problem for him to fix my engine.  He worked systematically and fast, just the way I like it.  After about two hours the top was taken off and boy was it ever dirty in there. A new seal had to be ordered from the mainland but to make a long story short I think we can conclude with the fault being too much carbon on/around the vents and a timing flaw in the ignition system. (285$ total).

     We had just begun talking about how to get the anchors up (we were using both front and stern anchors) when one morning the stern one was gone!. I was walking on the pier when I noticed the boat floating in an awkward position and therefore not surprised at all when Darryl came in with the dingy and told me that the stern anchor was gone.    Time to scuba.  I suited up and with what was left of the rope in my right hand I swam on the bottom stretching the rope as far as I could until I found the other torn off end. The other end was lying under a newly arrived boats anchor chain?. They had tossed their front anchor on top of our rope and it had gnawed it off.  (*£% Idiots!!!)   After six weeks in the sand the anchor had dug itself so far down that even after twenty minutes of digging with my fingers and nails I had to give up, the sand was just too hard and it was too deep down.  When I was digging I swirled up sand and could not see a foot, just feel so I went back up.  We waved down a taxi boat with a 40 Hp engine and after giving it full throttle 4 or 5 times it came loose.   Finally...    Retrieving the front anchor with all its dirty chain went much smoother. Darryl pulled it up inch by inch and cleaned as he went. Then when it was pointing straight down he waited and let the waves lift the boat and anchor before pulling in another inch. This procedure was repeated until it was almost loose and I could put the newly repaired engine in gear and drive it out of the sand.  We were ready to sail again...

     Since we were not sure if we could make the 50 Nm in daylight, we had decided to do a night sail. This would be good for our new crewmates too because then they could sleep and the possibility of having sick people on board was eliminated. The wind was strong all night long and we only pulled out a little bit of sail. In the end we actually had to turn around for an hour or so to slow us down even more. As usual we did not buy any charts and arriving on Isabella with all its reefs and big swells in the night was something we were not prepared to do.  After a perfect setting of the anchor and one or more anchor-dram's we noticed that we were not alone. For the first time in what feels like ages we met other cruisers who were just as late for the pacific season as us. There was a French solo sailor and a South African man with his girlfriend. I am sure we will bump into them again in the pacific somewhere. When it comes to meeting people you have met before the world is not as big as one would think.  

     Our next sail is about 3000 Nm or about 4500 kilometers. Driving a car day and night one could probably do this in three days but with our maximum speed being somewhere around 8 km/h it will take us from 25 to 30 days depending on how tough we are. We don't like to race but this is a long stretch so maybe we will have to speed up a bit. I am not sure when we set off but it will have to bee soon because I want to be on land again on my birthday which is Oct. 12. For sure there will be one or two more letters before we go so don't stop checking out the webpage.  If anyone has a request for pictures or stories/explainations on something please feel free to drop us a line   :-)

Kjell O. Stave.