Saving A Boat

The saving of the Steel Ketch

When one hears a call on the radio “A boat is dragging!” one must assist if at all possible,
That is what I did.I had heard that the boat was drifting on the northern side of the causeway, but the wind felt like it was blowing from the south, so I figured the boat would be drifting away from the rocks. when I arrived at the Las brisas I could just make out a white hulled ketch slowly drifting towards the break water. Looking out for a few minutes I sized up the situation. The wind was blowing the boat on the rocks. Waves from the same direction where not helping the boats cause either. I could not see any dinghies going over to help. That is when I made up my decision to try and save the boat.
Flaging down a taxi took only seconds, and with the look of determination set in my eye, the taxi knew exactly where I needed to go, and set off with a clip at once. Without asking for a dime he dropped me out infront of the grounding vessel. I said my thanks,a nd gave him the few cents I had in my pocket as appreciation. He asked if I needed any help, I told him it might be nice.
I could see the situation was not improving. The boat had obviously grounded itself on some rocks just off of the causeway. The wind was still blowing, and the waves had increased in size.I took off the weather jacket, a red one, from the 2008 round the world race; took off my shoes, and wedged them under a small palm tree, In the nook between a rock. Descending the rocks to the breaking wave’s edge took only a few seconds. I stared at the waves waiting for my chance to dive, without hitting anything. When that moment arrived I pounced on it like a cat after a ball of yarn. Swimming out to the grounded boat was not hard, nor far; in a minutes time I had closed the gap between us, and the battle had commenced.
I could feel in my feet and body the grinding and banging of the boat against the hard rocks undernieth the water, and knew that the boat was on the rocks. I had to decide what to do. Without a dinghy and outboard I could not just tie a line and try to pull. No, no, this was something new. If this boat was to be saved it would require a lot more then that simple procedure to save it.I began to asses the boat, and see what I had to work with. No sails on the fore stays and no halyards in good working order to hoist the mainsail. Moving back across the wet, rolling, grinding, the slamming deck, I made for the cockpit. The steering seemed to be working, and engine controls where there. But, was there and engine? Could it be used? How would I start it? These and more question where racking my brain; It seemed as though all things led to the cabin, I must get inside. For from inside the boat I would be able to see if she was holed, and sinking. If so, how much time I would have to transfer valuables to the shore. Maybe there would be and engine, I would then need to try and start it.
Looking at the companion way I saw a bad sight, a padlock… a quick look at the construction showed that with a little force this hatch could be opened quite quickly.after three trys pushing against it, the old screws let go of their hold on the wood, and allowed me passage into the depths of the slamming hull.
The mess within the boat was like none that I have ever seen before! It was as though the mighty hands of some great god of havoc and chaos had swooped inside, and up heaved ever last item and scattered them around into every orifices of the boat. Not only items, but also oils, and water, and many other liquids that I don’t even wish to know what they are.
I saw battery cables going under a floor board, and decide that this one would be a good start for the search.
Imidiatly some of my questions where answered.
Yes, there was an engine.would it run? It did not look good. The engine was half underwater, and by the tools sitting on top of the enigine, it probly wasn’t going to work. I wrote the engine off.
The water, where was this water coming from? Sea water, or rain?I could not tell. I left the cabin, and went back on deck.No engine, no dinghy, no tow. This was going to be a challenge to get off.the slamming was now getting worse. I could feel the boat being picked up by the swell, then thrown against the stones with a violant crash; followed by the rest of the wave pouring itself over the deck.any items that where not dislodge by the slam, and sudden angle; where washed form the places by the waves. Did I mention the this “Havoc God” did not only reside within the cabin, but also ruled the decks too… the decks littered with anything you could think of looked more the ground floor of some neglected storage room in a marine salvage yard. Nuts, bolts, even broken glass could be found jammed in a crack, or being washed around. For all the dangers that nature over looked, man took good care of making sure they were not left out of the picture.
I went forward to the anchor winch, and rode. With handle in one hand, and rode in the other I made to get the boat off the rocks. Inch, by hard inch I took in the line. The boat rolling, and slamming as it was gave a moment of movent in my direction, and I had to make sure not to waste that precious second by not hauling in its fair amount of slack.
After afew hard minutes I had the boat at a slight angle to the rocks, and with the one great wave the nearly made me lose my firm footing, and that drove the dinghy with a great force to the end of its rope. The boat rode up on the wave and I could feel my chance for success as though it were standing next to me, and all I had to do was grab it. I pulled hard and that line, and winched with all my might. With a groan, and a grunt the heavy yacht lurched off her perch on the underwater hazard and moved up and over the first wave of freedom from certain doom.
But all was not over, I had gotten the boat off the rocks, and pulled in sufficient rode to keep her that way for the time being. I still had to get the boat to safety, and with wind, and waves increasing, time was running out.I ran back down into the cabin, and looked at the water in the bilge, still having not change a noticeable amount from the last time I looked I shrugged it off for now.
I grabbed a knife and went on deck to see about the sails.the mizzen boom seemed to be broke, so it was off the list form the start. I could not see a headsail anywhere, so they were out too. That left the mainsail, with its cover, and confused lines.I cut the small lines holding the awning to save time, and by the looks of the lines holding it, they were bound to go soon anyway.with the awning out of the way, and no longer trying to be a sail driving the boat back against the rocks, I could open the sail covers, and hoist the mainsail.the mainsail looked like it was in good shape, and functional, however, the halyards where clearly tangled up.I found that there was a halyard for the foresail which was not caught up in the mess of the others. I flipped this halyard aft, around the spreaders so it could be used temporally to hoist the main. I fastened the halyard to the sail, and got the other end, wrapped around a working winch on the mast. The glass scattered on the deck made for careful walking as to not get cut up.I went forward and brought in some more anchor rode, to get the boat a bit farther off the rocks so I might have a better chance with the first tack. The anchor winch had a problem, when the strain on the line would get past a certain point the winch would no longer hold fast, but begin to rotate the wrong way – easing the line.
With the boat off the rocks a safe distance to attempt to sail back to the anchorage with out hitting the rocks again, I went back to the helm, to make sure it was centered.I then went to the halyard and began to haul on it. This is when I noticed out of the corner of my eye, two boats coming towards me, fast.Releasing the halyard from my grip I brought down the small section of sail which had risen up the mast, and awaited the fast boats approach.
As the boats came over the waves I could that one boat, the larger one, was the AMP. The other, Mar viva.When they got close they offered to tow the boat back to the anchorage, so I would not have to sail there. I accepted their tow, and secured the nice line.Mar viva tried first, but without success. The AMP took the line next, and we started the tow.
Because of the waves, and the broken windlass I had to cut the anchor line. If I wasn’t being towed I would have had the time to pull it in, but now I had to just let it go, with a red buoy.
Once the AMP had pulled the boat quite some distance off the rocks they began to hook up the tow rope to the stern of the boat. While doing so the got the line under one of the outboard motors.
This caused some delay, and sence there boat was rolling and getting pretty wet in the waves it wasn’t to easy to get the rope dislodged.when the line was finaly safe from the propeller of the outboard the tow continued.The AMP guys must have really been enjoying towing the boat, and they felt no shame in really laying on the throttle. With this big old heavy steel ketch getting pulled up and over the waves we must have be doing 7 knots at least. The deck covered in spray from the boat cutting threw the oncoming swells.
We got back up the anchorage in no time at all, and pursued a place to re-anchor the boat.While I got together a new anchoring system for the boat, the AMP pulled me slowly through the anchorage to a spot that I pointed out, just back from a small break water where it was good and protected.
When we reached the spot, I tossed over the side, the first anchor, and chain. I paid out the chain as the anchor sank to the bottom. When the first chain reached its end, I passed over the rail the second anchor which had fifteen feet of chain on it. The second anchor started its decent as I paid out the finally long piece of chain. I tied the bitter end to the deck cleat, and passed the anchor chain over the anchor roller. The boat was now anchored safely, and off the rocks, saved from further harm.
AMP dropped me off on a friends boat, and after giving my name, and afew details for their report, I went back over to the steel boat, and put away the sail, closed the cabin, and bettered the anchor system.
The boat is now still lying safe at anchor three days later, no holes, and not in pieces.

Josh
Live Your Dream!
S/V Elusive

FUNGI BE GONE!

Hello, everyone.
WOW, what a job it was taking out all the meldue, and cleaning the whole boat down to the bilges. but now I have a good clean boat (dispite the mess). Once the meldue was all removed, and the wood good and dry, I painted most all the the boards under the beds, and sette. so hopefully next time there will not quite such a mess to clean. the boat looks better to, with all the painted white. aswell the wood is protected form water and moister.

well, beside lightening the load, that is about all that is new.
I will keep you pòsted.
Josh,
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

Dont we just Hate the Tropics?

I have just gotten back to my boat this morning, and instead of stepping down into the nice clean boat that I left; I walk into a place that has had a ful on invasion of fungy!!
I have never seen such a mess, it was really bad. the hatches must have never been opened once sence I left the boat.
the heat and humdity was so bad inside that the pictures I had on my wall ran, and are now not recognisable!
so my day has consisited of ALOT of cleaning, airing out, and moving back in. It will still take a little time, but this gives me a better reason for a very deep cleanign of the boat.
I am tired and have a headache,
I will update probably tomorow with more of waht is going on with this adventure.
I am sure that some of you think I am not moving sufficiantly, I am waiting for the propper time to cross the pacific, having missed it almost a year ago. so you will be seeing alot more action when the crusing season starts up again. for now it is alot of work, and preperation.
Josh
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

Long time no post.

Hello everyone.
I am sorry for not having put up a new post in so long.
I have been incredably busy down here in Panama.
I have been doing a ton of work on my fathers boat, replacing some of the deck, and alot of the interior flooring and such. that is just a couple of the big projects.
I have to move my boat form the place she is currently in bond with, to somewhere else in costa rica. so that will be another adventure in paper work.
I am also trying to buy a steel hulled sailboat, so if any one is interested in buying a really "ready to go" sailboat cheap, let me know soon.
so that is all the time I have to write at the moment.
so til next time.
Josh
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

The boot, Inpound, or in Bond.

hello,
I am now in Panama, having just taken the buss. I am visiting some amily, and friends whoa re here, and getting afew essentials for the boat.

The boat, after the fiasco at the customs office, and the new laws they laid down, is sitting in Bond at Banana Bay Marina.
After hours and hours of trying to get a extention on my boat papers form the customs offcials it was just not going to happen. The are being really hard on all forgien boats, and it does not look like it is going to end soon. I was left with the options of leaving the country, or bonding the boat. If i could not do either, they would inpound the boat, and if i wanted it back I would have to pay two thirds thier assesed value to get it back. for my case that would be $20,000 more or less to get my boat back. I asked her if they would really do that, and kick me off the boat to start living on the side walk outside the customs office, her answer was ¨Yes¨. so no matter how desperate you are, do not count on gettng a break, not even if the boat is broke. I tried that one too, but would only be granted a fifteen day extention - not a day more.
I had to put the boat into Bond, but got a very clear understanding that if anything happend to my boat while she is in bond, that it would be fully made up to me with new items. In other words, if my boat sinks, or somehting is stolen - I get a new boat, or a new piece. with that I have a feeling of complete ease while traveling away form the boat.

when I return, and remove the boat from bond, I will have to sail away imidatly, and not return for a minimum of six moths, if my memory serves me right.

so thats the way of the Banana Republic as of late- real friendly.

Cheers,
Josh
Live Your Dream!

Has Costa Rica Gone MAD?

Has Costa Rica gone MAD? that is the question!
I have now arrived at Golfito. The trip here was nothing like the blissful sailing that it was while going up north. sense leaving herradura I had the wind on the nose, and had to tack to get here.
I managed to do it in about two tacks. the first day I did 65 miles made good. and arrived at golfito late at night on the tenth. but not after getting hit with one of these fierce winds that swoop out of now where.

over all the trip went well, longer then I would have liked, but well.

Now I have a new problem. Like I said in the last post, my papers need to be extended so I can have time to get my electronics working, and then sail to Ecuador.
while I was blissfully cruising the coast, some costa rican politians got to getheer and started to talk. well, as can be expected the conclusion was not good. It resulted in costa rica no longer giving any forien vessle more then three months in the country. They will no longer allow people to extend their crusing permits to six months, something that every one has always done, or at least counted on being able to do. so here i sit with this new news in my lap, and papers the expire tomorow. I have one day to come up with something to do about this problem.
there are three options that one can do.
option one, go to one of the expensive marinas and pay a fee ( I hear it is a large one) to bond the boat, and keep it at the marina. I dont know aswell how much it costa to take the boat out of the bond. more over, while the boat is bonded, you can not move it.

option two, Leave the country. They are literally throwing cruisers out of costa rica, and into the hurrican season. If you do not leave, they will inpound the boat, and make you pay an astronomical percntage of the boats value (they determine the boats value, so saying it is worth two grand won´t fly).

now that I look at it, there are only two options.
I am going to try and persuade the customs to give me a extension, hopefully it will work.
if not, it looks like I will be sailing south soonner then I thought, like day after tomorow!

so there is the current update from the Banana Republic.
A quote from a man who is trying to make a living here running a cruisers facility says " Costa Rica is being harder on sailors then murders, and rapests!"
I would have to agree.

Cheers,
Josh
Live Your Dream!

update from latitude 9

So here is the update. I am currently siting on deck in complete darkness hoping the rain gives me a break long enough to write what is going on.
The Electronics on Elusive have not been going to good, so in light of that i have decided to leave them here with my friend who is working on them while i do other things.
unfortunatly my visa for costa rica is expiring and i need to get it renewed before sailing to Ecuador. That meens that i will be taking a bus trip down to Panama city for a while. this trip on the bus also gives me a great opertunity to check out a couple of steel hulled boats that are forsale. with luck i might be able to shift the wayward odyssey into a steel hull, and sail off of the guide book paradise next cruising season. along with my electronics being left with the hands of my friend, will also be left me laptop. so my, sad to say, speratic posting will be even more speratic untill i am re-united with my computer. but i will try and post when ever possible. so thats where it stands now, and the plan is to sail to the Tortugas Islands before leaving the boat. I will update next chance i get, unitll then,Cheers!
Josh
LiveYour Dream!

Cabin Work

Hello,
Today I did some more work in the cabin. TheGalley to be specific. I had a uncomplete deep shelf behind the stove that was not finished, and was looking pretty bad. So today along with afew other projects I got out the hard wood, tools, screws, and paint. The Galley looks alo better now that I have that part nearly complete. II got some food from the super marcket today, put a nice thick piece of Almond wood as trim, and then paineted the rest of it glossy white to the hight of the counter. I also painted the well where the stove hangs white. all inall it looks alot better, and the boat is one step closer to being complete.
The other day I did some welding on the bowsprit to be able to have wood planks to walk on, instead of net. Sense i will be goingback to panama with the bus how ever, I think i will wait to finish it up when i get back. primarly because i will be able to get better material there.
I still have been unable to get the sat phone to hold a signal long enough to send an email, or to receive weather information. I moved the antena onto one of the backstays, but it seems no better, maybe a bit worse accually. So that is another thing i have to work on.
I got some food from the super marcket today. Those are always interesting trips. One good thing about these store over pricing the food is tht it all does not normally sell before the expiration date. The stores are then forced to put alot of the food on discount before it goes over the date. :D you can imagine that that is where I will normally be found! MUAHAHA I love a good deal!
That is todays update, now to check the weather and see about a good day to depart for the Ilas Tortugas!
Cheers, and good deals!
Josh
Live Your Dream!

Bodged up Oars

Hello,
Well I got my oar fixed for the moment so can go ashore. I had to take a chunk of wood I had on he boat, and turn it into a dowling with my Machete. Then taper the end to fit inside the broke blade. All in all, it worked alright, and passed the surf test yesterday. So I am slowly getting the boat provisioned up, and shoulg be sailing to the Tortuga Islands soon. Provisioning takes a little time sense I can only take what I can carry for the mile walk back to the beach. but it works out alright. but at least it does not require going up and down a mountain like the place I was at near quepos.
I finished the owrk on the Autopilot yesterday, and it seems to be working fine. We will see how it handles with the day and a half sail.
so thats the update,
Cheers, and coconuts!
Josh
Live Your Dream!

Been Meaning to Post These

Hello every one,
I am still anchored in Herradura.
My WIFI conection is not to good, so this will be a quick update.
I have been working on my engines raw water system the past few days, and now it is better then ever!
I am going to re-install the rudder sensor for the autopilot tomorow, then test it.
The weater has been crappy lately, but hopefully i will get some good weather to take of again, and with all systems go!
I am also working on a online photo album, and will let you know when it is up and runnning!

Cheers,
Josh
Live Your Dream!
Elusive possibly for sale! Contact for details.

For Sale!

Elusive may be for sale soon, if you have any interest, or questions, feel free to email!
Joshhi53@gmail.com

Broken board, broken oar, and no raw water ..

Well today I coninued the hunt for the raw water problem with the engine. I had taken the pump off yesterday and opened it up, beliving it to be a bad impellor. but that was not the case.
when i put the ump back on the engine it seemed as though the belt was just to big. so having to taken off and such I decided that it was the day to fix the water pump belt problem, once and for all.
The steel bracket that holds the engine mounts has been giving me problems with tensioning my water pump belt, from day one. the bracket comes in contact with the pump, at what seems to be the perfect tension. It is not possible to make the belt any tighter then what the distance to the bracket allows. usually after afew hours, or more of running. the vibration of the pump against this bracket moves it sufficiantly to loosen the belt a bit.
I have allways meant to cut a pit of the bracket off, to allow the pump to pass, but never got the will power up to do it.
yesterday was the day. I got out the grinder, and discs, and cut away a piece of worthlss, no good steel, that was unstructing my water pump!
but sadly, the water still was not flowing through the engine.

so, today i did afew tess, and checks, but still can nt find why there is very little water making it to the engine pump. tomorow i will continue, with a simple check from under the boat, for a clogged through hull fitting. If that does not fix it, I will just have to keep hunting!

went for a surf today, had aewnice waves, but sadly broke an oar on thedinghy getting in. aswell broke my old board in the waves. none the less, it still was fun. but, now i have to track own another oar!

Cheers,
Josh
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

Wind and Rain!

Hello everyone,
It was quite the nasty weather yesterday! the morning was nice, I could do some interent out on deck. speaking of which, I was on a forum the other day, it gets your location throug your IP address. It said I was at Palmarta Rica! ha ha I suppose thats why WIFI navigation is not going to catch on!
any way, we had quite alot of wind. which turned into waves and swell, we had 3 foot white caps in the anchorage! of course that is not a very large wave, but does not make it a comfortable place to be anchored! with all the waind we had I saw quite alot of boats pull in to get out of the weather. if anyone who is reading this is going to come and anchore here, I strongly suggest NOT anchoring right behind the island. with this stron S SE wind it would come in between the island,a nd the mainland, and create water spouts! thats right, water spouts - tornados on the water! i saw no less then three, and i was not sitting on deck watching the weather so long. just periodic check ups. the funny thing was that the spouts would only be right around the island. as soon s the moved away, they went away.

The salvage plan to try and find a missing mooring did not go to well. we used a whole tank of air searching a little area fora fifty five gallon drum. could not find it.
the water had so much silt in it you could not see the end of you arm!

We still have th swell of yesterdays wind coming in here, the swell is not as big as yesterday. but at least it is not that terribly un comfortable three foot chop! hope fully I will get some nice waves to surf on later.

oh as for the new features. I could not find a map i could place on here, then simple put a dot, or trail so people can visually follow along. but i will start posting on every, or nearly ever post the Latitude, and Longitude. then if you have google earth, or a nautical chart of the area, you can see exactly where I am. Google earth works very well, I have it now on my computer, simply type in my Lat, Lon, into the search box, and you will fly right into where I am.
I hope that will help for the people requesting better loations.
as for poeple requesting the planned route, I am still working on that.

Cheers,
Josh
S/V Elusive

new features

Hello every one,
I am sorry for the postng delay. I am working on afew new features to add to the site, and it has been taking my time.
Every thing is going good here, I am still at herradura 9 38' 49 N 84 39' 37 W

I will post again when som new features are up and running.

cheers,
Josh
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

White Water Dinghy Ride, and screams of drowning people...

last night was quite the night.
I can sum it up, but the words won´t do it justice.
I leave my dinghy, high and dry on the beach, chained to a palm tree.
every day i cross a little creek to go to the bus that heads into town.

Last night, upon my return, with some rain form the big down pour still coming down.
The little creek was no longer a 20 foot wide, waid accross- but a hundred meter wide, boiling river filled with white caps, and such. I thought i would give a walk accross a try, and fouind the shallowest spot i could. just ten feet out it got quite deep, and i decide it wasnt worth the risk. that current was so swift i would have been out in the breakers and swimming accross in no time. no big deal, but i didnt feel like swimming at night in that bloody fast current, and mess of waves. when i turned to leave, and nearly tripped over this poor drowned dog, I decide i made the right call. So i took the one mile hike thought town, all around, over the bridge, and down the hill, back down the other side of the beach, to a point just one hundred meters form where i began.
It must have really rained there, the whole area was flooded, and my high and dry dinghy, was no more. it was floating in about knee deep water, in the grass, still chained to the palm.
well, getting the dinghy out was easy, just floated it right out of the area i had dragged it through before. and jsut a bit farther to the endge of the river, which chose to make a snake like turn and cut me off form the calmer beach. but no worries, me and my rubber raft will just get to do a bit of white water rafting, fun!
sence i was on the other side of the river, it was very aparent that it was a wise decision not to waid, or swimm accross, for there was a five foot cliff of sand on the other side. good judgement prevails shorts cut a suprising lot of the time.
I pulled the dinghy to the endge of the river, at a low bank, and pushed out into the current.
WOAH! what a ride down stream! up, down, up, down, and through the surf, the fastest time i have left a beach, and the easiest in months! i didnt even have to row!
when i reached the boat, i could see, and feel that the current was clearly making it all the way out there. all the boats where facing bow to the river, against wind, and swell. My boat had a nice bow wave, and i had perfect steerage onboard. the current was strong enough to ever operate the windvane!
afew minutes on the screams started... someone must have fallen in. the sounds of people screaming for help lasted for at least an hour. ambulances, and cars kept coming. the screaming for AYUDA! kept being screamed. it wasnt a pretty sight. and i dought i will get those screams out of my head soon. I could not help against the current with my rowing dinghy. so all i could do is look for bodies floating by, and if i saw one, pull it aboard. none came by, but it was a long night.
today the creek is back to itsa small trangual state, just very wide. pieces of house, are spread like tidla rosa all over the area. pink flamingos were mingling in the river.
so that was last night, and a bit of today.
now i got to go and get back to life, with the shops all closing at different time at mid day, it makes it quite confusing.
Cheers, and R.I.P to last nights victums, who ever they were.
Josh
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

( I am getting sick of the spell check not working, so sorry for any errors.)

Big Whales, Berlin Brass, and Bahia Herradura!

Hello every one!
the other night was my last in a while in Quepos. tahts right, I headed out this morning at six A.M. for Herradura. I arived here at three P.M. so I figure I did it right on schedule, suprisingly.
I saw the most amazing thing along the way, a HUGE whale jump out of the water right in fromt of me! It was incredable! one moment completely calm flat waters, and sailing along wondefully, then, BOOM! out of the water shoots a gigantic animal the size of a bus! big and blue! I am telling you this guy was HUGE, at least twice the size of my boat! he made one heck of a splash!
If that wasnt enough of a thrill already, not two minutes of shock later he does the same act again! This giant whale jumping almost completely out of the water, and sending a splash as if a meteor just hit the earth!
I got out the camara after that second one, thinking ¨man if this guy does it a third time i will have one incredable photo!¨ but he did not show himself again.
Last night i went to see a concert right before i left. I was eating a piece of pizza and thumbing through the news paper when i saw it. I had to kill some time in order to get my laundry from a friends house, so what the heck. I walked down the demon hill, this road that runs strait down the side of a mountain to get to the place. then watched, and listened to an hour of the German band Berlin Brass. It was not quite what i thought it would be, but all in all it wasnt to bad.

So now i am anchored off of the Herradura beach, near the entrence to the Los Syños marina.
Los syños is lets say ¨not the most cruiser friendly¨. to leave the dinghy there they want an ASTOUNDING forty dollars a day! there ¨discount rate¨ was a whopping two hundred dollars for a week! ¨OUCH!¨ I said i would happly deflate my boat and sttuff it into a cleaning locker if they make the price resonable, but they are real hard ***es and wouldn´t budge.
so I hauled the dinghy up this really long beach, and flipped it into the bushes, and tied it to a tree. tomorow i need to get a chain so i can lock it.

The sunset was ultra spectacular! Half of the sky was filled with purple and pinks, and every color in between! the whole horizon all around was royal purple.
well thats about it for today! tomorow will come hopefully, and wiht it for sure new discoveries,. and hopefull some security measure for my dink!

Cheers,
Josh
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

A Beautiful Day

Today is turning out to be a great day.
There is a nice breeze blowing over the anchorage, it is sunny, and in the shade is nice, and cool.
I painted a bit of the foredeck, form the anchor windlass to the very bow. it looks allot better, and i think this paint will work good for the whole deck, and coach roof. maybe even the hull?
I bought some more of it in town today, and i think i will start to paint the deck in Herradura, sense i plan on leaving in the morning.
Also today i added some nice new clean oil to my engine, cleaned the prop, and allot of the hull. so from the deck down, i am all ready to go.
I should have nine knots of wind form the stern, and four to six foot swell. so hopefully i will have a nice run to my next spot.

well that is today, nope fully we will have a nice sunset here, and get a good nights rest before the daunting hand steering tomorrow.
Cheers,
Josh
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

Sashimi!

Hello every one!
Yesterday I caught a wonderful ten pound fish while spear fishing along the rocks!
I got two great fillets out of it! one I used for a huge plate of Japanese Sashimi, the other one i saved to cook for dinner. That great fish gave me two filling meals.

After that sadly I broke and oar going ashore. coming back out in the night took along time with only one oar, acting as a paddle. I had quite a few waves and some wind last night. there was a three foot swell, and some of the wavelets had white caps on the top, which did not help make my dinghy trip any faster.

so that is it for that day and night.
cheers,
Josh
S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

Time To Go Again

Yes, after so long here it is finally time to move on.
I have had a wonderful time in quepos, and I am sure i will come back here one day.
I will hopefully leave to herradura on Monday, or Tuesday if all works out.
Quepos has been really great. the anchorage pretty good, and the dinghy landing is never boring.
I did get my chain wrapped pretty good around a coral head, several acually. I had a really bad time with the chain short snubbing. if i wasnt on the boat it really could have done some damage.
I couldnt get the chain un-wrapped because the water is too murky here to see. but with a little time i got it undone with sheer brute force. then re-anchored in a new spot.

I have started som new projects on the boat. I am re- painting the insides, they look great.
as well the windlass is getting a couple of coats, the pedistal, and i am going to try and re-paint the cockpit again.
if that goes well, Maybe i do the decks. but i will see.

I lost my big anchore the other day. yes, sadly it is true. my fifty pound bruce boy is gone. and i miss it already. it also took with it my short section of chain. so my stern anchore system is gone.


well that is the update for now.
I am provisioning at the Feria soon,a nd have to go get some lemons and such.
Cheers,
Josh

Live Your Dream!

More Time in The Bay

With the overly priced internet racking up at two dollars an hour, this is going to be quick post.

I am still anchored off the beach about 3/4 miles from quepos pier. It is a lovely place, and i have been having a pretty good time.
Sence taking the dinghy though the surf is about as chancy as russian rollet for staying dry, i didnt take the camara to give you any photos.
I got some provisions the other day and should be sailing away in afew days, if all goes well. or maybe another week?

chears,
Josh

S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream

Filling in Some Gaps

I left Drake on the 13th and sailed for Bahia Uvita.

There was a little wind, but not to much. the skyies were clear, and the water blue.

I was planing the trip to be about 26 miles, and thought it would take about six hours.

along the way the wind picked up enough to turn off the engine, not hearing the engine noise was welcome.

I sailed not directly for uvita, but rather just strait out across the wind, with the idea of then running with the wind into the bay, for a nice down wind sail.

the plan worked flawlesly, i got a marvelous down wind sail strait to uvita. with poled out forsail, and the boom on the other side the ride was marvelous. If that is anything like the Pacific crossing, or Atlantic i cant wait! with the wind and swell dead astern, and sailing about six knots the ride was wonderful!

however the arival point was far less the friendly.

the first glance at the area is nothing like what the charts say- it is simply HELL.

all around the area are rocks awash, rocky coastline, no shelter area to speak of. not a good sign for someone who is handsteering with out a crew member. I saw an island called Bellina, and noting the direction of the predidcted ten foot swell that was running into the rocks and making incredable breakers, i decided behind the island would be the safest place.

getting around the reefs was intersting, big breaking waves all around.

when i got inside i found the going behind the island wouldnt work, it was to shallow and the waves were breaking all around it.

so i anchored in as much of the lee as i could, but still had alot of swell. the boat was rolling more that night, then anyother moment. from gunwale to gunwale.

next morning, I woke up and sailed to Quepos, all was wonderful. a perect sail here.

afew breaking rocks at the entrance, but over all quite nice.

cheers

Josh

Live Your Dream!

signal problems

Hello,
due to signal problems i have been un able to write lately.
I have sailed from Bahia Drake, to Uvita, and am now anchored in Quepos.
The internet here is through the roof over priced, so this is just a short update.
All is well, and Uvita is the worst anchorage i have even seen in my life!
cheers,
Josh

S/V Elusive
Live Your Dream!

On the Road Again

It was 6:00 AM when i raised the anchore at Golfito. The rain from last night was still pouring down, it looked as if it was going to be a long trip. As I was hiosting up my anchor the chain got really heavy. when I got the heavy spot to the surface i could see clearly what was the matter. I had snagged another anchore that was lying on the bottom, and it had come up on my chain. The anchore was one used by the comercial fishing boats that depart golfito, one of them must have dropped it overboard right where i was.
After a seemingly long while of pulling, prying, twisting, yanking, winching, and anyother manuver i could do, i finally got the monster off my chain, and hung it off my bowsprit.
I finished raising my anchor, and headed out for the passage to get to the golfo dulce.
I passed a few small fishing boats on my way, and finaly got one to come over and talk. I tried to give him the anchor, but i gues he had to many already. so i dropped the beastie over the side, because i did not want this anchor either.
The rest of the trip was fairly unevent full, twenty LONG hours of hand steering the boat sixty one miles to Bahia Drake.
I had orignaly planned trip to take about twelve hours, but there was a knot and a half current against me, and NO WIND!
The only stronger wind i got on the trip was short lived, and came from a squal near by. but for that time i was able to turn off the engine, and do some real sailing (FINALLY! it only took five hundred miles!)
I started to enter the bahia at about two o'clock in the morning. the bay was pitch black, except for afew lights on shore, and some flashing things that seemed to be on the water. hearing the surf thundering away at the side of the bay i aproached with caution to the flashings lights. when i was right at them i could see they were coming from little pangas on moorings.
I went below and turned on my depth finder, It read forty feet! Forty feet, and we are just off of this thundering surf and rocks, with little pangas on bouys!
"This cant be the right anchorage!" I told myself, and put the boat back in gear, and drove deeper and deeper into the dark bay. It is interesting and little stressing to be heading into deeper darkness, hearing surf thundering all around, and not being able to see where you are going really. all i could see was few lights up ahead, and to my starboard, the dark shapes that can only be the edge of the bay. with the moon covered up by clouds, and the stars the same, there was no natural lighting that would have made this aproach easier. there was only, drive ahead, check the sounder, drive some more. hear the surf, check the chart (yeah how acurate has it been before? at least we werent in the middle of costa rica yet, like we were when at golfito!)
putting along into the darkness, then WHAMM! some guy turns on this ultra bright spot light right at me! geezs thanks buddy! now i cant see even the compass!
I grabbed my flash light and beamed it right back at the guy. It seemed to be some body out in a panga fishing. I shown the light around, and it bounced back an image of a sport fishing boat anchored right near by.
I checked the sounder again, I cant rember now, but it was eitehr 32, or 25 feet. I dropped the anchor, and let out a ton of chain. I wasnt sure if it was high tide, or low tide. so i wanted to make sure i wouldnt drift away.
I went back to the cockpit, and put the engine into the reverse gear, then went back to the bow. I could feel through the chain what the anchore was doing down there. Slip, Slide, Oh theres a jump! Whack! I could feel it dig into something. the bow pointed around, and the chain came taught. I put the bat out of gear, and watched the chain slacken.
I shut down the motor, and stowed the handle for the windlass. Trip over! now i could relax, sleep, and wake up in the morning and find out where the heck i was anchored.
Cheers,
Josh

Live Your Dream!

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The Dead Can Come Back to Life!

The maricle man has done it again. together we have brought back a outboard that had died after taking a plunge at Isla Cebaco!
The poor motor was siezed up, and a real mess. but in 24 hours we got that motor to run again!
hurrahh! many praise to him!
It looks like tomorow will be the day for departure number two I hope. I have the dinghy up on deck, the motors too. I ran the engine today, it looks fine. the weather should be alright, hopefully I will get a bit more wind then it says so I can try the windvane. which will hopefully work.
The seas should be about four to eight feet, so no problem there, unless the are really together and a mess.
well thats todays update,
cheers,
Josh

Live Your Dream!

The Little Bugger VRrmmss...

I have spent another day here, I found out about a wizard who fixes outboards, wonderfull!
so thirty minutes of hocus- pocus later the little guy came to life! my outboard is back!
today I took a dinghy trip down, and around the bay here, I am really amazed at how gorgeous this bay really is! I would have never thought that just around the bend would lay such a beautifull place. I am considering hauling anchor and staying there for the night before i leave, it is just so pretty. there were about 25 howler monkeys playing in the trees, and i saw a huge veriety of birds, and some really exotic flowers.
I will have to lead-line the depths before sailing down there to make sure there is enough water.
It is so calm over there it makes the anchorage in front of land and Sea look choppy. I could paint my hull over there, and i am giving that idea some thought too.

well we had some pizza tonight. but other then the things above, that is about it for today.
cheers,
Josh

Looks like another day

well what can you do, I didng get all that i needed to get done today in order to leave tomorow.
so it looks like one more day here, if all goes well it will then be back to the seas heading to bahia drake.
I have no new photos to post, but things dont really change much around this bay. but the roller furling makes the boat look alot better, i like it, it is eye apealing.
hopefully it will be a perfect day tomorow so i can finish up whats needs to be done, then sail away.

Live your dream!
Josh



If anyone is interested in contacting me, for question comments, or a lil chit chat, you may reach me at
Joshhi53@gmail.com

if your intention os to spam me, dont bother, thats not my normal email, its only for the site.
cheers mates,
Josh

4th of July

So today is the fourth of July. Hurahh! we of course had a celebration here, Katie, and the rest of them worked really hard in the kitchen and we had a marvelous dinner! with homemade apple pie! I dont hink i have ever tasted a better apple pie! it was unbelievable!

The moring started out fine, i had to wait untill high tide to move the boat to the sea wall that Juan operates for drying the boats out. i had to go over there to pick up the roller furling profile sence it would be to risky taking it by dinghy, or panga.

the whole process was done in the rain, but i guess what can you expect from the rainy season!

after getting the furler on board, i went and re anchored. then atached the furler to the mast head, and the bowsprit.

then i went ashore with my dink, and ammo for the fourth of July Party.

the rest of the evening was quite relaxing. i fired quite afew rounds from my homebuilt canon (quite loud! made every dog in the whole of golfito bark!)

the smoke is impersive, and the flames coming out the end! ugh really cool, i got alot of aplous form the rest of the crusiers here. its really loud, if your fairly close your ears ring for a bit.

well thats the day,

Live Life to the Fullest!

Josh

Rolling sails, and bodged up props -.^

Lots of stuff been going on in the last few days, we had are share of catastofies, and recently some great rewards (well not to bad).

It is always amazing, and never fails, that when one trys to tackle a small project on a boat, it turns into a big one. usually kind of like a tree. meaning that you start with one thing, that leads to another, or you have to stop and do some thing else, if you were to see the problems, and their fixes from above, writtin out as a picture on paper. it would reseble a Tree.

I was having a transmition problem, whe i would put the boat in forward it seemed to work alright. however, when i would put the boat in the reverse gear, all heel came sounding from the direction of the trany, clunks, clanks, skipping noises/ the whole nine yards.

so that is always not a good sign. I believed it to be that the cable was not giving enough swing to the shift lever.

the next day, i took out all the sails and then the sound panel from the engine area.

here was my first mistake- I saw the sea strainer when i was taking off the cover, and got the idea to check the strainer, a simple routine procedure. ( the mistake was getting side tracked form the orignal goal of removing the cable from the shift lever, and manualy shifting gears directly on the tranny to see if the cable was the problem.)

so i shut the sea cock, no problem, i cleanned the strainer, no problem, i went to open the valve again, CRACK! It broke! now i got a whole new bundle of problems, a broken valve leaking in the ocean. The valve being broken in the off position which doesnt permit me to run the engine. and still not knowing about the tranny.

it took a while to relise that i didnt have to dry the boat out against the sea wall, but that i could use a plug to stop the water long enough to change that valve. that was relief.

once i got the vavlve changed i went down under the boat again to pull the plug. while i was down there i figured it a good idea to check on my prop. NOT GOOD, the prop key was gone without a trance. so i thought here is another project, and one that still impared me from trying out the transmition. next day, I removed the prop and put on a new key. but another problem showed its self. the prop had been freewheeling on the shaft for who knows how long.... that made the bore on the prop larger then what was excepted with my current mounting hardware... urrr.

another two days of thinking out a solution later this being today. I finally got my prop back on, and gave it a spin, it didnt fly off so it must be on there. but i want to put on a second nut just in case. I tried that tranny, it seems to be fine without the cable. i put it back on, only with the nut on the bolt that holds the cable to the arm, a bit looser. this seems to have fixed my tranny problem. HURAHH! lets hope it keeps working.

I bought a roller furling head sail today aswell, i am going to try abd drive my boat over to the sea wall to load it onboard. then that will be next project. putting up the roller furler, should begin tomorow.

well thats whats new. in my free time i have just been doing some internet, and shearching for a spare autopilot. today i got to fire off a cannon!

so ARRR!!

Back to me peace, Nd me sunset!

Josh

the cabin went through a cleaning faze aswell durring the pondering.

I had just lost a really long good post that i wrote, so i will take another day or so to re write one. alot of things going on onboard right now, only problem is that they are all serious.
the autopilot came back, no go. so it is back to the vane and the arm.
well i will write something better in time, but i am still in Golfito, and working hard to leave again, and head south, below the equator to Ecuador.

Josh

Yet another day sitting in the bay.

well the past days have been for the most part, un-eventful. other then revealing the ugly truth to myself that it REALLY is the Pacific hurricane season, afew boats have already nealry been lost. More over I would be beating (never a good word when said involving a sailboat) against the trades to the Marquesas and beyond. so I have left myself with about two options. One is to sail up the coast, to Mexico, probably Puerto Vallarta and wait for the right time to leave. The other option I have given myself is to sail south. That being to Ecuador, maybe Peru, and Chile. That is the one that I am leaning towards. Some of the Facilities sound quite good, as well as the climate. But of course first thing first, and that is to get out of Golfito, with most systems working. The Autopilot is looking up, Robert a localy based electronic guy has come to the same conclusion as I had origanly come to. That the problem is the rudder indicator. The unite is damaged, and it is almost 100% certain it is from over angling it. In other words, BAD instalation, I guess it pays to really pay close atention to people and what they are doing when someone other then yourself instals something. Live and learn, hopefully the sensor will come back O.K. Now is a time when i really wish i had a spare pilot, then such a faliure wouldnt be so catastrofic, untill i get good wind and get my Aries working propore, it is of little to no use. The Aries is going through a referdishing. I have taken the head off and taken most of it apart. I have installed roller bearings in the airvanes pivot, and that seems to be a great improvment. I also removed the play from the Pendulum so that is a million times better. next things are finishing up with the rollers, and then working on the Pendulum shaft. I would really like to put in roller bearing, I think they would give very good preformance, but I think i will try and get the bushings to work better first.


well it was just another spectacular sunset out here so that means time to wrap this up.
cheers, Josh

Welding rods, and Mashed patatoes.

Today after the free-zone adventure came the decision. after trying to get Robert to come down to the boat and take a look at the autopilot, the call to the sea, and passing days (and passing money) is telling me its long since been time to go. I have set to work constructing my various components for my windvane. mainly a tiller system. I am quite happy how it is turning out. except that tubing material seems to be hard to find here, and i am using one inch since that is all i have on-board that i think will work.
so after hooking up the welder the process began. all went quite smoothly and the welds came out alright, some better then others. but for a first try on the rocking elusive with this welding machine i am quite pleased.
I installed a cassette player on the boat, and now i am really missing my three hundred cassettes that i left back in Panama.

To night at the Land and Sea was a cruisers put luck, everyone from all seven of us boats out here showed up.The main thing was the stir-fry. Land and Sea is a really nice place, thye got a lot of the old nick knacks hanging up, and my favorite part i think is the "Honest Bar" that is great. you can take whatever you want to drink. they are not a bar, and don't have bar tenders, nor people holding out hands to collect the cash. just set your pay in the can, or make a Tallie next to you boat name on a board. every things a dollar, and that might just be the best deal in town for a cold drink.

well that was this evening. now it time to hit the bunk.
Josh

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Herradura he we co... well thought we were going.

Lately I have bee just holed up here in Golfito. My autopilot gave out on the way to bahia herradura. along with it went the shaft support bearing, so no motor. and i may have had a possible sea water leak; aswell maybe a diesle tank leak. so i thought it wise to turn back to Golfito. the trip out was going great. I had good wind, and it was looking promising for a nice reah with fifteen knots to bahia herradura. my boats ideal conditions. but i didnt want to run the risk of it.
It took me not so long to get back to the entrence of Golfito, but here i sat for hours, like 4 getting inside. I was against the tidal current watching the palm trees slowly pass me, then me them. and the swells being met by the outflowing current making so interesting looking wavelets.
well all went well while i saild the quarter mile for unknow hours tell i drop the hook outside of Banana Bay. I gave my self a good ten to one scope at high tide, giving me about twenty to one at low. I used the engine cautously to set the anchor.
then it was up to get a nice cold drink, and relax.
a good night sleep soon followed.
Josh
afew days ago.

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Cebaco to Golfito. Good bye Panama, Hello Pura Vida!

Woke up early, made breakfast. recaculated how much fuel i needed to put on, sence costa rica was said to be more outragously priced.
I started up the engine and let it warm up.
the morning was nice, a sleek breeze mad its way into the bay, and without many clouds around it looked as to be a wonderful day.
I cast off the two large moring lines from the bouy and motored over to Cebaco Bay to get my fuel, and Water.
After saying good bye, i head out and around the westren tip of the island and head towards the shore side of Coiba.
the wind was from the after quartor, but not strong enough, so i had to leave the engine running.
the time pasted quikly, and perfectly while being sucked into the tales of Henry Morgan, while being propped up under the make shift awning over the after cockpit.
having shade on a passage is a wonderful thing, having a place to sit and not have the sun beaming down upon you. the swells were rolling by, the forcast called for ten to twelve feet, i would say they were there. making five knots i soon got under Coiba. the water changed darasticly, obviously i lost the swells, but unfortunatly i also lost most wind. The water was an unbielivable red, a red like never before! then it stop, a solod line out there. it must have been a river pouring into the ocean, but i never saw such a red. after passing that red water i got hit with the fifteen knots i was expecting. with the main, and staysail i took off towards costa rica.
I am very luckly with my boat, but my luck is caused by a problem. I am very glad about the sea kindly feel of my boat at sea, she doesnt get shaken by waves easly, she rides over them gracefully, not like the typical knocking around thirty footer that i have heard so much about.
the bouncing crazy movement caused my the light rounded boat. but my seakind movement is caused by my over tendencies to be a packrat. my boat is horrably over loaded. but sometimes, such as when the wind is getting stronger, aor the waves a rolling by, it is really nice not to be thrown around like a paper cup.
along my route i wasnt planing on being near anyships untill the corner. nor any island chains that were on my chart. so that called for trying to sleep in the cabin. the wind picked up more before the night fell, but with good sails set, and my easy movement in the twelve foot swells and chop i didnt even need a leeboard on the windward bunk, what a joy! to set the glass on the table and id doesnt slide away, these are traits people crave in a boat.

I slept ten minutes then would sheck the Horizon for any obsticals. if i got a notion to check before the bell rang i would pass it up. I saw one ship, and it was far off.
around two i the morning i woke up to check the horizon, doing my scan i saw nothing new, or theatening. then i looked forward. what the heck is that! i spoke outloud. there in the up coming distance came the sure apearence of an unlit island. I went below and checked the charts i had, nothing in my vacinity, i checked the cruisng guide, nada. I went outside and looked again, yes no mastaking, it was an island. I made hast in changing my course to put this island well to leeward. close hauled and powering along it took afew hours to put this uncharted island behind me. happily that was the most excitement of the night.
dawn came and with it the turn towards the golfo dulce. the weather was calm, and good sunlight for the solar panels. most of the moring to about noon was spent sitting around, and watching movies on my new found wealth of power.
I soon entered the golfo dulce, and with this came some good wind, blowing in from the stern came some swel and wind!
running before it with the main, staysail, and yankee i made good time doing about six to seven knots. speeding along i would be picked up, the surf a bit, then slow, the start again.
all around me were trees and longas of all sizes. some as big as the boat. it took some evasive manuver to get around afew.
I got withing afew miles of Golfito before the rain, and wind really hit. visibilty was greatly redused, but when your out there, there is nothing to do but take what comes.
sence i had such a large speed gain from running down the golfo dulce i got into Golfito two hours before i thoguht i would when making my best time. ( quite happy about that)
after dropping the anchor off of Banana Bay Marina i bagged the sails, and made dinner.
so another good trip logged behind me. tomorow, the customs, and infumagations (immagration).
next hopefull stop, Bahia Herradura!

Good sail, and new cuntries!
Josh

Naranjo to Cebaco Bay

I woke up and without much rush made a nice breakfast, and cleared the decks.
the trip to cebaco wasnt to far, but it is still best to have a clean deck, and a good breakfast.
I hauled up the anchor and headed out of the bay. I had a nice sail over to Isla Cebaco, I saw Sea turtles, and dolfins.
I arrived in the after noon, and picked up a moring from the Cebaco Bay fishing guys.
the bay is gorgious, palm trees, and dense jungle all around. with a nice beach, and surf.
I got cold drinks from Cebaco Bay, and relaxed watching the sunset from the deck.
This is what people invision when they think cruising. oh those days of sunsets over a tropic jungle with a cold drink in hand.
Josh

Taboga for Ensanada Naranjo

June third
It was after I got the boat sufficiently tidey to sail that i left for ensanda Naranjo.
I awoke in the early morning to the feling of a nort wind, and didnt think twice of it. I jumped up but on cloths and haulled the dinghy onboard, followed by the anchor. And i was off, heading for punta mala, which was going to be my first night sailing alone. heading for, well the name says it all punta mala, or bad point, and it is just that. A good friend of mine once said "punta mala doesnt make the bad weather, it only amplifies it." how right he was, but with out seeing a weather report in over a week, it would be a roll of the dice, and take what you get.
The sailing was lite wind all the way there. after awhiel of seeing dolfins, and listening to the say old music over and over again a black cloud started forming on my stern. nothing to worry about, i was making good time towards my destination.
whe i got to punta mala it was really dark due to lack of moon, and lights on shore.
I was crawling along sence the current had moved against me now.
suddenly out of the blew i saw this wall coming at me from the stern, then up piped the wind! Like a wham from the back wind over taking everyting, sending all bits of whatever wasnt secured over board. after i nuetralled the engine i went forward and hauled up the storm jib.
the noise of the wind threw the mast was defining, and the waves were getting larger and starting to break against the stern. once i sheated in the jib it was like a whole new boat, she picked up hull speed darasticaly, and was sailign really well. i only had afew things fall in the sudden shock of wind, and picking up imediatly, and lashign down the cabin kept it nice inside.
we were sailing down wind, with rain, and lightning, heading around panamas punta mala, but the boat was going well, and all in all a good passage. I arrived at naranjo the next evening, with cebaco in sight, and a good bight int he bottom, a good nights sleep was welcome.

Panama to Taboga

May 31st 2008
I left Panama on my adventure , heading only afew short miles to isla Taboga. but still a great moment, one i have been waiting for, for years. the feeling of sailing away, not turning back, not needing to sail back the same day. the end of the panama bay daysailor, the dawn of the hopefull blue water cruiser and sailor. maybe onday joining the circle of the circumnavigators.
the trip to taboga was uneventfull, the boating being heavly over loaded with stuff felt liek ailing a world war 2 duck, but golly not tossing around like a corck is kinda nice.
anchored in the bay and watched a beautifull sunset.
Josh