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11
March 2001 Departure, Los Perikanos, Panama
Making
ready for transit, the Panama Canal
I didn't sleep through the night so when the sun rose everything was ready for
departure. At 7 a.m. I sailed towards the marina. I had written a letter for Nat
and wanted to deliver it(/hand it over) to Nat and see her one last time before
the trip.
On my way to the marina I sailed close to(/by) Bill's boat and woke him up with
my compressed air horn. A little "shaken" he quickly got up and made some
coffee. He is waiting for his(/a) girl friend and we'll e seeing each other on
the Galapagos Islands, I hope.
No one was on board. I made the boat fast(/moored) to(/at) Beacon and put(/laid)
it on her bed. I sailed over to Willy and Anni's boat to tell them so long(/see
you later). After that I went to Buggi and Carol's boat and had a sip(/cup) of
coffee. I'm not going to see them anymore, since they're going (up) to the East
coast. Afterwards I sailed to the bridge to wait for Nat.
Here I met David. He told me that Nat was out running and soon after she
returned. She had been out to see me, but my boat wasn't there. She
figured(/expected) that I would come by to say goodbye so she set a new
record(/personal best) getting back and was happy when she saw little Trojka
moored at the bridge. We drank some tea and talked for about an hour. After that
I departed. Apparently there are no winds(/is no wind) out here. Nat had
listened in(/to) the net that(/in the) morning, but now I wanted to go(/depart)
and so wanted David. There's no guarantee when there's any wind. Often that's
not a bad thing as long as you're clear of land.
I went by engine for a couple of hours until getting a breeze then I dismounted
the engine and got the wind steering to do my steering. It's incredible how
little wind I need to go 3-4 knots. And my windpilot(/wind steering)
wants(/would) do the steering all (the way) down to 1½ knots.
Clear of land I saw two whales arriving at the surface. They surely are (very,
edit) big.
The sailing turned out to be much better than I had feared and after some hours
I was back into he rhytm again. But still there was only a
little(/insignificant) wind. Wen I woke up he nex day, there wasn't any wind
whatsoever and I drifted around the whole day.
I had a line out and got many rises, but every time I lost them. I was going
about 4 knots so I rolled in the foresail and trimmed (the sail, edit?) so the
speed came(/was) down to 1½ knots and soon afterwards I got a rise, and this
time it didn't fall off.
I pulled a 6-7 kilogram octopus(/cuddlefish) aboard. It's the first squid I have
caught and(/so) I didn't know how I should(/ought to) kill it. But don't hit its
head with a club, it makes a terrible mess with blood, ink and tentacles all
over the place. Actually it didn't really die before I cut through it with a
knife. I cut off all its legs and threw the rest overboard. I poured lots of oil
into a pot(/casserole), cut all the legs into small pieces and cooked/roasted
them (in there). I cut a couple of onions and garlic ino small bits and threw
them in, a can of mushroom also along with a couple of handful fusilli and it
tasted heavenly. |
