The broken flexible gearbox coupling
Being towed to Balboa Yacht Club 
The view of the Bridge of the Americas from our mooring
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Panama Pics
The Easter Bunny did call at Sal Darago!
The broken flexible gearbox coupling
Being towed to Balboa Yacht Club
The view of the Bridge of the Americas from our mooring
The broken flexible gearbox couplingBeing towed to Balboa Yacht Club The view of the Bridge of the Americas from our mooring
Still in Panama
The best news of all is that our son-in-law, Ben, returned to work after Easter and also started his leisure activities again, such as racing dinghies and horse riding. Thank you to everybody who prayed for him or held him in their thoughts. It was a great support to know so many people cared.
We have had some success resolving our mechanical problems. Frederico, our taxi driver was great. He found an engineering workshop for us the day after we arrived in La Playitas and three days later he collected the refabricated coupling and delivered it to the marina. It fitted on the propeller shaft and both forward and reverse gears operated at very low revs. Unfortunately, the prop shaft was bent. We looked at the four options open to us for being lifted out, but only one was viable, so we booked to be hauled out at Balboa Yacht Club on 26th April, which was 3 weeks away.
Meanwhile, all the other outer boats left the anchorage leaving us isolated and at the mercy of passing pilot boats and all the Panama Canal traffic, which created lots of wash. One calm morning, we tied the dinghy alongside and used its 2.5hp outboard engine to move us very slowly towards the distant anchored boats. I was able to use reverse gear on Sal Darago to stop us and we dropped the anchor in a safer place. Here we stayed for a week, during which an out of season southerly swell came in and lifted the anchor on an old schooner. Within minutes she dragged towards us. We thought she was going to hit us but her anchor held her just alongside. The owner was ashore at the time. I tried to get some help by calling fellow cruisers on our VHF channel 74. There was no response. I called the marina and they alerted the coastguard and the signal station for the Canal. No-one came and as the wind rose the schooner started dragging again towards two yachts and the rocky shore beyond, which had surf breaking on it big enough for serious surfboarders to ride. The skippers of Clara Katherine and Arctic joined us aboard the errant schooner and soon the stern anchor was removed from its locker and deployed as a second bow anchor, which held the boat until the owner returned. How vulnerable are the engineless!
We needed a tow to take us 3 miles to Balboa Yacht Club. A Briton in a fishing boat was able to oblige. We are now secured to a mooring buoy waiting to be hauled out on Monday. We are quite close to the Bridge of the Americas and adjacent to the shipping channel for the Canal. Free water taxis pick us up when we want to go ashore where there are hot showers, a laundry, a restaurant and a bar. We can walk into Balboa or we can take a bus into Panama City. We have been told that there are engineering workshops that can make a new prop shaft for us so we are in a much better position now. Obviously, there are worries about whether there is more damage and will there be problems removing and then replacing everything? We’ll let you know.
We have had some success resolving our mechanical problems. Frederico, our taxi driver was great. He found an engineering workshop for us the day after we arrived in La Playitas and three days later he collected the refabricated coupling and delivered it to the marina. It fitted on the propeller shaft and both forward and reverse gears operated at very low revs. Unfortunately, the prop shaft was bent. We looked at the four options open to us for being lifted out, but only one was viable, so we booked to be hauled out at Balboa Yacht Club on 26th April, which was 3 weeks away.
Meanwhile, all the other outer boats left the anchorage leaving us isolated and at the mercy of passing pilot boats and all the Panama Canal traffic, which created lots of wash. One calm morning, we tied the dinghy alongside and used its 2.5hp outboard engine to move us very slowly towards the distant anchored boats. I was able to use reverse gear on Sal Darago to stop us and we dropped the anchor in a safer place. Here we stayed for a week, during which an out of season southerly swell came in and lifted the anchor on an old schooner. Within minutes she dragged towards us. We thought she was going to hit us but her anchor held her just alongside. The owner was ashore at the time. I tried to get some help by calling fellow cruisers on our VHF channel 74. There was no response. I called the marina and they alerted the coastguard and the signal station for the Canal. No-one came and as the wind rose the schooner started dragging again towards two yachts and the rocky shore beyond, which had surf breaking on it big enough for serious surfboarders to ride. The skippers of Clara Katherine and Arctic joined us aboard the errant schooner and soon the stern anchor was removed from its locker and deployed as a second bow anchor, which held the boat until the owner returned. How vulnerable are the engineless!
We needed a tow to take us 3 miles to Balboa Yacht Club. A Briton in a fishing boat was able to oblige. We are now secured to a mooring buoy waiting to be hauled out on Monday. We are quite close to the Bridge of the Americas and adjacent to the shipping channel for the Canal. Free water taxis pick us up when we want to go ashore where there are hot showers, a laundry, a restaurant and a bar. We can walk into Balboa or we can take a bus into Panama City. We have been told that there are engineering workshops that can make a new prop shaft for us so we are in a much better position now. Obviously, there are worries about whether there is more damage and will there be problems removing and then replacing everything? We’ll let you know.
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Panama Delay
On Sunday at 1445 we set off from Shelter Bay Marina for the Flats. Joe, Louis and Perry were our line handlers. At 1545 two other boats, “Last Stall” ( a sixty two foot fishing sports boat, owned by a Texan Millionaire) and “Zenitude” (a forty two foot cat, owned by Oscar and Gabriella {friends}) received their advisers and set off for Gatun Locks. At 1615 our Adviser turned up and said we had to be at the lock by 1700. We set off at top speed and just managed to arrive in time to raft up to “Last Stall” with “Zenitude” lashed to the other side. “Last Stall” has twin 1400 HP engines, so it would control our raft. We pulled in behind a ship called “Seaboard Reliance” Monrovia. Everything went well and we passed through the three locks and attached to a buoy in Gatun Lake, where we spent a quiet, but hot night.
At 0550 the new adviser arrived and told us we had to be at the Pedro Miguel Lock, 27.4 nautical miles away, at 1000. This is an average of nearly seven knots, “Sal Darago’s” top speed at 3100 revs per minute. We arrived at the lock at 1004. “Last Stall” overtook us in the last couple of miles, but the large catamaran was a long way behind. The lock operators decided to let a big ship come up through the locks, so we were told to wait for over an hour. We rafted up as before and all went well through the remaining three locks. Kathy was brilliant helping with the lines and producing food for the six persons aboard “SD”.
We waved madly at the internet cameras and hoped someone saw us. At about 1300 we passed clear of the locks and our second Adviser was picked up by a Pilot boat. Everyone set to tidying up the four 125 foot lines and one of the tidied lines knocked a Dorade ventilator cowling overboard. Jeremy reacted instantly slamming the engine into reverse and thus smashing the gearbox to propeller shaft flexible coupling. SAL DARAGO WAS DISABLED. We had no power. Fortunately we were rescued by “Zenitude” and taken to Balboa Yacht Club to pick up a mooring. Our request for a mooring was denied by Balboa YC and we were sent to the harbour mouth to an anchorage at La Playita. “Zenitude” continued to pull us alongside despite wicked wakes from vessels speeding closely past us. We dropped anchor and here we remain, disabled in a tidal “river” – not quite as fast as Knott End, but a couple of knots at mid tide.
The part which is shredded is a Vetus flexible coupling and is unobtainable in Panama. We are trying to have one manufactured. However, we think the propeller shaft itself may be bent and the gearbox may not be happy either. If either of these is the case then SD must be lifted out of the water for some serious repairs.
We are in the Pacific and Kathy and I are well. The dinghy gives us access to a marina dinghy dock ($30 per week) and we are hiring Frederico, a taxi driver ($10 per hour) to help us try to sort out “Sal Darago”. IF we had broken down in the canal, we would have lost our $891 refundable deposit. “Always look on the bright side of life tee tum tee teee.”
Our mobile phones still will not pick up a signal. And we can’t get WiFi out on the anchorage, but we are the boat which is out the farthest – have you ever tried steering a catamaran with a big old Westerly attached through an anchorage?
HASTA LUEGO BABY.
At 0550 the new adviser arrived and told us we had to be at the Pedro Miguel Lock, 27.4 nautical miles away, at 1000. This is an average of nearly seven knots, “Sal Darago’s” top speed at 3100 revs per minute. We arrived at the lock at 1004. “Last Stall” overtook us in the last couple of miles, but the large catamaran was a long way behind. The lock operators decided to let a big ship come up through the locks, so we were told to wait for over an hour. We rafted up as before and all went well through the remaining three locks. Kathy was brilliant helping with the lines and producing food for the six persons aboard “SD”.
We waved madly at the internet cameras and hoped someone saw us. At about 1300 we passed clear of the locks and our second Adviser was picked up by a Pilot boat. Everyone set to tidying up the four 125 foot lines and one of the tidied lines knocked a Dorade ventilator cowling overboard. Jeremy reacted instantly slamming the engine into reverse and thus smashing the gearbox to propeller shaft flexible coupling. SAL DARAGO WAS DISABLED. We had no power. Fortunately we were rescued by “Zenitude” and taken to Balboa Yacht Club to pick up a mooring. Our request for a mooring was denied by Balboa YC and we were sent to the harbour mouth to an anchorage at La Playita. “Zenitude” continued to pull us alongside despite wicked wakes from vessels speeding closely past us. We dropped anchor and here we remain, disabled in a tidal “river” – not quite as fast as Knott End, but a couple of knots at mid tide.
The part which is shredded is a Vetus flexible coupling and is unobtainable in Panama. We are trying to have one manufactured. However, we think the propeller shaft itself may be bent and the gearbox may not be happy either. If either of these is the case then SD must be lifted out of the water for some serious repairs.
We are in the Pacific and Kathy and I are well. The dinghy gives us access to a marina dinghy dock ($30 per week) and we are hiring Frederico, a taxi driver ($10 per hour) to help us try to sort out “Sal Darago”. IF we had broken down in the canal, we would have lost our $891 refundable deposit. “Always look on the bright side of life tee tum tee teee.”
Our mobile phones still will not pick up a signal. And we can’t get WiFi out on the anchorage, but we are the boat which is out the farthest – have you ever tried steering a catamaran with a big old Westerly attached through an anchorage?
HASTA LUEGO BABY.
Friday, 2 April 2010
Photos from the Panama Canal
We were line handlers for our friends Frans and Lucia. They hired a professional line handler as well, called Alphonso. We shared the lock with the ship!
When Gatun Lake was created many trees were submerged. You can see the tops of them in the dry season.
A typical raft. Note the track on the right. This is for the electric mules that pull the ships through the locks.
Jeremy and Kathy, on their Wedding Anniversary, at the end of the Panama Canal with the Pacific Ocean in the background.Panama Canal
We have our date to transit the Canal. We start on Sunday 4th April at the anchorage on the Atlantic side. We go up the Gatun Locks and spend the night in Gatun Lake. On Monday we transit the rest of the Canal. There is a webcam on the last locks called the Miraflores Locks. We should be going through about 6pm UK time. You can watch us on your computer by going on the Panama Canal website and clicking on the webcam link. We'll have 6 people on board, 3 line handlers, us and an Advisor. We might be rafted up to other yachts or tied alongside a tugboat. To give you a preview of the Canal, I'll try to post some photos on the next blog.
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