Papagayos

We had 300 miles between us and Costa Rica when we waved goodbye to our pilot after steering us through the labyrinth of deltas to exit El Salvador the morning of December 19th. We cruised with steady wind the first day logging 110 miles and catching a couple Dorado. On the trip down to El Salvador, I had carved a wooden lure after a marlin took my only other surface plug. I colored the new plug red white and blue, and named it “The American.” The Result:




The evening after a strong day, we entered the Gulfo de Papagayos. We had no idea what Mother Nature had planned for us the next two days. In an age of modern technology, man can still not accurately predict the weather or the winds the locals call Papagayos. The first night, we hit 3.5 knots of current pushing us out to sea. Day 2: The waves. Swells picked up to about 10-15 feet with very short intervals. With every inch forward, we slammed into waves pushing us miles away from Costa Rica and straight out to sea. The second night and 3rd day were a blur. Walls of waves crashed over the boat. We surely would have been swept overboard without tethers. Determined to see our family for Christmas, we clawed forward as Mother Nature displayed her power. There are moments in time that stand out:

-The rigging on the port side holding the mast up broke in heavy winds. Angels must be looking over us, because the mast bent at what I can only guess to be 35 degrees and did not break. Running on no sleep for 30 hours, Bret had a brilliant idea to ratchet it down. Two 900lb break load ratchets later gave way simultaneously under the strained conditions and the backup rope attachment salvaged our mast once again.

-The night we were repairing the rigging and nearly immobilized, we had a close call with a tanker. Turning on all lights and in high swells, Bret ran down to hail the “Large vessel close to 11.10 N Lat, 87.31 W Long” on the VHF radio. The captain radioed back and informed Bret that we were not on his radar, but after the call, had seen our lights off his starboard bow.” Assured we would not be plowed over by the tanker, Bret came back up to continue the fight against the papagayos.

-Our jib sheet lines became tangled against our rigging (again jeopardizing the mast). In 30 knot winds a battle ensued to free the lines. The wind tossed the first knife over my left shoulder into the sea. Remembering my knife fighting lessons, (Thanks Mark Bradley) The second attempt was successful.

-The wind ripped through two sails and we turned to our engine for salvation. The engine immediately overheated after requesting more than 1500 RPM’s. (We would later find out monofilament fishing line had tangled around the propeller). We sailed on a ripped mainsheet as wind, waves, and current pushed us away from our destination for hours.


We limped the last two days on a strained engine, ripped sails, and wrecked sailboat. All said and done, we were blown 100 miles off-course. With our wind gauge, we recorded up to 50 knots of wind with a consistent blow of 30-35 knots. We took on thousands of gallons of water and everything not ratcheted down on deck was washed overboard. December 24th we have safely arrived in Costa Rica and look forward to spending Christmas with family.