Change of Plans

Two days ago I got a visit from Dieter. He had his 36-ft cruiser "Florin" at Radio Bay in Hilo. He had sailed to Ala Wai Harbor a day or two earlier and saw Pachuca as he motored in. Even though we had been anchored near each other for a brief time of less than two weeks I was very happy to see him because it was like seeing an old friend again. He had been given only two days' berthing at the state marina and he wanted any information that I could provide about our tenure here.

We then began to discuss each other's plans. When I told him about our plan to sail from Seattle to Mexico and Costa Rica in July or August he was emphatic that the plan was extremely ill advised because we would be passing through the southern coast of California, and west coasts of Mexico and Central America during the hurricane season. I got the book (Bowdich) out and sure enough the hurricane season extends from June through November. He said that he left his home port of Vancouver, BC, Canada one October for his second rounding of the Horn. A storm started to brew and soon he found himself in a difficult position. His only option was to sail like hell and get past it before it crossed his track. He made it and the hurricane crossed his track two days later packing winds of 200 miles an hour. I was convinced.

The interesting thing is that I knew this and factored it in during my planning for the trip. When we talked about our sailing down the California coast in late summer Brenda expresses concern and said that we should be through there in May. I asked her why but she couldn't give the reason though she knew that there was a constraint. She must have remembered things that I had said before our departure from Fremantle. I got caught in the trap of thinking only of California and probably engaged in some wishful thinking.

However, the ramifications were enourmous. If we were to leave Seattle in November to miss the hurricane season the only way we could make the rounding of the Horn at the end of 2009 during the best time of Dec or Jan would be to basically sprint from Seattle to the Horn. The only other option that I could see was to round the Horn one year later. I discussed the new development with Arnold and he agreed that (1) we must avoid travelling through those areas during the hurricane season and (2) even if we could execute that heroic lunge for the Horn we really didn't want to because we would be bypassing visits to the Sea or Cortez, Costa Rica, Galapagos, and various parts of South America that we had set our hearts on.

The only realistic option that we could see was:

1. Depart Seattle in November 2009 to make sure that we pass through the Hurricane areas after the danger has passed
2. Depart Costa Rica and Central America no later than June 2010 which is the beginning of the next hurricane season
3. Spend the next six months working our way down South America to round the Horn in Dec 2010 or Jan 2011.

This means that Pachuca's return to Fremantle will be one year later than that on my arm chair "bus schedule" plan.

When I discussed these ramifications with Dieter I told him that now I understood why people take 5, 6, ... 10 year to circumnavigate the world. He agreed and said that the key to successful cruising is to be in the right place in the right season. If you violate this principle you are asking for trouble.

Some advantages have come from this: (1) We will probably depart Honolulu for Seattle closer to May, the best time, rather than March, which is better than the dead of winter but still presents some rough weather. (2) We will have a lengthy 5 months in Seattle. The good work that I am able to do on Pachuca here in Hawaii will give us more time in Seattle for sailing around Puget Sound and up to Canada and the San Juans (3) We'll have 5 or 6 months to explore the Sea of Cortez (the vast inland sea between Baja California and the Mexican mainland), Costa Rica, and Panama (4) We'll then have six months for working our way down South America. (This is somewhat problematical because we'll have to deal with the prevailing southerly winds and northerly Peru/Humboldt current - but that will be worked out later.)

Dieter told me about his first rounding of the Horn in another boat. He successfully made the East-to-West rounding then ran into a severe gale. He was forced to turn his boat and run before the wind. After a few hours of this he went below to cook a meal. He opened the hatch, closed it, and went in. Not long afterwards the boat got hit by a wall of water which from his description sounded like he had been hit more by a brick wall than water. He said that the impact on the boat was incredible. He almost got rolled. The mast was in the water far enough for him to wind up with egg on thecoach roof. The boat righted itself but he said that one side of the hull had fracture lines all over it and the deck had been compressed.

Anyway, we exchanged email addresses and I hope to see him in Victoria later in the year. We will arrive in Seattle earlier than him because his plan is to sail in May to the southern part of Alaska then work his way down the inland passage.