Paul's Nautical Adventures

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The Pacific Run

From the Caribbean to the Pacific

Isis report 7th February 2000

The end of phase 1 was greeted with a mixture of emotions for the crew of Spirit of Isis: elation for being joint winners of Phase 1 from Portsmouth to Trinidad and Tobago and winners of the Caribbean series of races between the islands, sadness at the departure of crew members Amanda Jones (Squirt) and Ian Ledward (Noddy) and delight at greeting family and friends on the sunny shores of Tobago.

On arriving in Tobago most of the crew left at the first opportunity to seek out families and friends; those crew members left on the boat were treated to the sight of Skipper Dughall jumping over the guardrail into the sea almost at first light. No he hadn't had enough of the race so far - he was to be applauded as a result of trying to retrieve a clothes peg which have become rare commodities around here. However he ended up losing a $150 pair of designer sunglasses which he had forgotten were hung around his neck. Luckily Father Christmas bought him a new pair.

The hilarity didn't end there. Four new crew members were welcomed at a joint leaving / arrival party: Jenny Hawkes, Fiona Harper, Chris Inglefield and Hayley Wildmore and former crew member Dave Passman (Yorkie) re-joined the crew for the remainder of the leg. Isis partied as only they can throughout the two week stopover, including the spectacular Millennium New Years Eve Celebrations.

Phase Two Trinidad to Aruba
Following extended Christmas and Millennium celebrations in Tobago attention was turned to preparing the boat for the next phase of the race. Isis set sail under Spinnaker for the benefit of friends and family on the shore for the sail back to Trinidad.

Race preparations began in earnest in Trinidad for the start of Phase 2 to Aruba, one of the Dutch ABC Islands. Isis began badly being third over the start line but soon overhauling the others to take the lead. This continued until Isis sailed into a hole and the daily radio schedules on the third day revealed that Minerva had overhauled us and were several miles in front. Despondency on board soon turned to elation as strong winds appeared and soon the Spinnaker was full and speeds of up to 23 knots were being recorded. All hell soon broke loose with a rain squall appearing at the approach to Aruba and the kite needing to come down before Isis ran out of sea at the end of the race.
Julie (original nickname of Princess) is now known as Arnie having managed to bend the wheel at the height of the squall.

Having arrived in second place in Aruba most of the crew were ready to celebrate and Woodie, the boat Recce Man, had soon identified the place to go. It is rumoured that others are vying for this role - on the basis that the Recce Man is supposed to come back to tell everyone else the information. Others remained on board having developed Isis ' own brand of rum punch (a new lime squeezer having been purchased in Trinidad especially for such occasions.) A celebratory breakfast the following morning with crew members from Juno, Diana and Minerva soon established the pace of life for the four day stopover in Aruba.

All crews were well looked after by Henk, the local Marina Manager, and by the Aruba Tourist Department who jointly put on several welcoming drinks parties and evening functions, the last one of which marked the start of Carnival. A number of crew members took advantage of the excellent diving to be found in Aruba and explored the wreck Antilla, the largest wreck in the Caribbean. Invited dignitaries spent an afternoon aboard enjoying strong winds and a fine sail with many comments being made about how fortunate we all were to be sailing such fast boats. The final day began with a tour of the Island, the highlights of which were seeing the incredible coastline and natural ridges formed as a result of coastal erosion and earth movements and amazing weathered rock formations.


ARUBA TO PANAMA

The partying over the crew returned once more to the serious task of racing to Panama. Again Isis got off to a good start with the Spinnaker up and found strong winds to get moving. Misfortune however quickly struck with a serious burn to Father Ted's hand which was supposed to have kept him in bed for a couple of days. Those that know Ted will know that this is impossible and he still managed to direct boat operations from his sick bed. Once away from the shelter of land high winds and big swells were experienced and Isis began sailing like one of the new rides at Alton Towers. A similar pattern to the previous race followed with Isis soon at the front of the fleet. However several broaches later a catastrophic period was to follow: the kite blew and the main sail incurred damage to several of the battens. Morale became low as the crew realized that this could seriously damage their chances of remaining well placed within the fleet. However they stuck in there and arrived late at night in Panama in third place behind Minerva and Juno.

A few days stopover in Colon, on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal provided the opportunity to carry out repairs to the boat as well as see something of the sights, including the less salubrious areas of Colon. Having been warned of the dangers outside of the Marina those crew members that ventured into town did so by taxi. Numerous accounts followed of security guards with pump action shot guns everywhere you turned. However all crew returned successfully, bringing with them new crew wardrobes of incredibly cheap shorts and T shirts.

The day of transiting through the Panama Canal finally arrived and with great expectation all four boats set off together. As required, a local Panama Canal Pilot came aboard. Isis' was called Jorge, one of the senior canal pilots having worked on the Canal for 10 years. The journey through was an incredible experience, with Isis rafted up to Diana for the trip through the sets of locks, and rope handlers on either side guiding the boats through. The hairiest moments came when we were required to share a lock with an almighty ship, concern being expressed about whether they would stop in time and possible escape routes if they didn't. 10 hours later, having traveled through one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th Century all boats anchored at Bilboa Yacht Club, close to Panama City. A return visit from Jorge followed later in the evening, accompanied by his wife, having left his mobile phone aboard Isis. The evening proceeded with a Spanish
lesson for the Isis crew members and an English lesson for Jorge's wife. Isis again doing their bit for international relations!

As usual there was the usual exodus from the boat, partly to secure hotel accommodation and to check out the local night life. Panama City proved to be the complete opposite to Colon, with a mixture of wealth and poverty. The last evening ashore was spent as only Brits abroad can by a number of the Isis crew finding the only 'Typical English Pub' in Panama City and meeting up with crew members from the other boats.

For some the final day was spent on the most mammoth shop to date for provisioning the boat through to Tahiti. Three shoppers and a man with a credit card (aka the Skipper),12 fully laden shopping trolleys, a dozen local helpers and five hours later the food was returned to the boat where it took nearly three hours to find a home for it all. One thing is certain: the crew of Isis will not starve!

Fond farewells were said in Panama to lapper crew member Big Bob who decided that racing across the big oceans were not for him and that he missed his family too much. Having crossed the Atlantic he had achieved his ambition to sail across an ocean. He will be sorely missed on Isis, not least for his inimitable opinions of life, but as much for his very tasty rice!