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Pacific Run
Panama to Galapagos
The race to Galapagos began in ideal conditions but the following day the winds dropped and Isis began its journey through the infamous doldrums, on its way to the equator. Boat speeds of 0 knots were recorded on the dials as Isis floundered in the Pacific. To make matters worse our expectations of blue, cloudless skies and hot weather did not materialize and the crew found themselves in cold, damp conditions in full foul weather gear. Again the daily schedules revealed that Minerva and Diana had had better luck and had found more wind than we had and were ahead.
This fact did not however dampen the enthusiasm of the 'Virgin' crew (in terms of crossing the equator) for their meeting with King Neptune. For three days Dughall had been laid up with an infected elbow, being attended on board by Isis' resident Plastic Surgeons Chris and Fiona. However this did not stop him from hatching plans for the ceremony along with crew members Velcro, Herbie and Jenny who allegedly had crossed the equator previously. Thus all virgin crew were ceremoniously interrogated, given the opportunity to confess their sins (which no one appeared to have) and adorned with what appeared to be the remains of the previous weeks food, along with significant quantities of new provisions. Watch out future virgin crew members on the Sydney - Mauritius and Recife - Portsmouth legs!
The ceremony took minds away from the monotony of the doldrums and soon Isis was again making good progress. Knowing that Minerva and Diana were having a close battle in front for first position gave Isis further incentive to finish close behind and we sailed into Academy Bay at about 7.00pm on Sunday evening. Crew Members anxious to find out about 'Church services' went ashore immediately. Others stayed on board to relax and imbibe yet more of the infamous rum punch.
The Galapagos Islands are unanimously considered to have been the highlight of the trip so far. Whilst the usual social activities have taken place, the majority of the crew have made the most of the extended time to take in the sights by way of organized pick-up and yacht tours and snorkeling and diving expeditions. Diving has even been undertaken by virtual non-swimmer, Father Ted, who has only just discovered that he needs to be able to swim 200m for his PADI qualification. Swimming amongst sea lions, dolphins, penguins and hammerhead and white tip sharks has been almost a daily occurrence, with blue-footed boobies and other types of boobies regularly being seen around the island.
The last evening ashore was spent with the other crews, an extra evening courtesy of Juno losing their anchor at the start of the race across the Pacific to the Marquesas Islands. The thought of nearly 3 weeks at sea made certain that all those little luxuries normally taken for granted such as toilets that flush and proper showers were made good use of before crews reported back to the boat for the long stint.
Galapagos to Marquesas
After the abortive race start of the day before, Isis prepared to leave for the Sunday morning start only to find that one of its crew members - Doctor Chris - was missing. Having discovered that half of the crew had gone down with Galapagos Belly he had gone ashore to buy gallons of coconut water - believed to be a cure for this infamous complaint.
All crew present, Isis motored out towards the start line some five miles away. The extended stay in Galapagos had obviously not done the crew a great deal of good. Some crew members, forgetting how to hoist the main sail, meant a twist in the halyard and the main sail needing g to be brought down for the problem to be sorted. At this stage it was well past the 10 minute gun and Isis were nowhere near the start. It has to be said that only Minerva was anywhere near and both Diana and Juno were in a similar predicament to ourselves.
Isis finally crossed the start line approximately 21 minutes and 50 seconds after the official race start to begin the 3,000 mile race across the Pacific to the Marquesas Islands. The light winds made leaving the remarkable scenery of the Galapagos behind difficult and frequent tacking was the order of the day, still with Isis in last place. However by the time Father Ted had retired to his bunk (for 17 hours) with a serious bout of Galapagos Belly Isis was in a better position. By the following morning Isis was the most southerly boat, with Diana being the next nearest to us. Both Minerva and Juno had opted for more northerly routes and were out of sight. For a couple of days Isis and Diana were within sight of each other, before Diana took a more southerly route and picked up more favourable winds to take the lead.
For those who have read the brochures and think the Pacific is all about blue skies and hot temperatures read the small print carefully. Isis have spent several days in full foul weather clothing, including boots, with continual cold heavy rain. Down below the boat looks like a Chinese laundry and smells like something else.
The expected south easterly winds did not materialize and visions of a repeat of days in the doldrums were at the back of everyone's minds. Watch leaders are strictly enforcing hot bunking and all crew are sitting on the downwind side during watches. This despite the now blue, cloudless skies and searing heat. To relieve the boredom and tension, with race positions changing daily, the crew's attention became focused on food, with the various mother watches trying to outdo each other. Yorkie's infamous crumbles and Ted's Chocolate Cornflakes are currently in the lead. However the cornflakes from Gosport have finally had it and the remaining half a ton were thrown over the side this morning.
Velcro is still attempting to catch a fish but despite the fish swimming all around the boat and teasing him nothing has materialized. However sardines did appear in his bunk (the leftovers from lunch) and some cruel crew members and Skipper did suggest that they would be the nearest he would get to catching anything. Watch this space!
As of writing this report Isis have now just under 2,000 miles to go and are eagerly looking forward to arriving in the Marquesas.
6th February 2000
Currently lying in 2nd place after Diana with Juno and Minerva following. Recent schedules indicate that we have made up a little ground on Diana but have approximately 100nm to go. Yesterday we cracked the 2000 distance to go with a celebration of Millennium bugs (sweets!). Now doing on average9/10nmph with SE trades, better than first few days when at times we were doing 0.00nm. Morale OK, better now that we have wind and the end almost in sight. We should be able to make it by 15/16th Feb. which gives us a few days rest in Marquesas. The Pacific is relatively calm with occasional sighting of Orcas, flying fish and the odd squid landing on deck (not Orcas). During 24 hours of rain last Thursday some small birds dropped in for a rest. Boat/sails coping well with only minor problems being dealt with daily. Most of the crew had stomach problems from Galapagos, thankfully we have two plastic surgeons on board so at least we look OK anyway. Paul (Mega)
Galapagos - Marquesas 7th - 13th February, 2000
From a sailing point of view Isis have had a frustrating time with light winds in the wrong direction forcing them away from their preferred route. With more than 2000 miles to go at the start of the week and a week at sea already under our belts Isis were anxious to record some good daily mileages and eat into the 100 mile lead established early on by Diana. This did not happen and the daily schedules found Diana maintaining her position and Juno eating into Isis' 100 mile lead on them on a daily basis. At the end of the week we are now lying in third place with 550 miles or so to the finish line.
This hasn't totally dampened the spirits of the crew and there have been a number of notable highlights. Velcro has finally caught not one fish, but two, the first an enormous king fish, the second a tuna. And of course there were the two even bigger ones that got away. Rest assured that the fish were humanely killed with a liberal sprinkling of alcohol in their gills - the lengths a dry boat will go to for alcohol!
Now experiencing hot, cloudless blue skies the crew are also suffering from the effects of the heat. Woodie's driving being a bit erratic has prompted him to reply that he is dodging the submarines; Herbie is relieving his hippie days of the 60's by singing John Lennon's Imagine using a winch handle as a microphone - while driving - and Hayley is looking forward to re-joining the rat race.
Jill has conclusive proof that the Skipper has definitely got it in for her. With showers restricted to once every three days they have become something to look forward to. Only three spinnaker changes have taken place since leaving Galapagos. Of every occasion these have happened within hours of her shower and she has been dispensed to re-pack the spinnaker with the result of smelling little different to before. Revenge will be sweet!
On a brighter note Isis held a party, complete with a single glass of wine, to celebrate the boat's first 10,000 miles. There was some debate as to whether a glass of wine constitutes a party but no one got tipsy, not even after 13 days of abstinence.
Everyone is now looking forward to arriving in Marquesas and hoping to improve on our position in the meantime. Jill Franks
Arrival into the Marquesas
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