assessing our options on what to do. our research showed we would have the much better accessability to qualified mechanics to have a thorough look at our unreliable engine in curaçao than in the dominican republic. observing the weather we decided to take the next weather window to sail accross the caribbean sea once again.
and within a day it was decided that we would leave the following morning. whisper was ready. paperwork done within a day. off we went on our next sailing adventure at dusk… last glimps of dominican republic and goodbye sy wind of change – fair winds and see you back in europe sometime soon. we are already looking forward to seeing you and hearing more of your exciting stories to come.
we were on a good run. within one day we did over 138.5 nm, our best etmal. averaging 5.77 knots an equivalent to 10.69km/h. we were stoked! to put this in perspective our normal average was around 4.5 knots (8.34km/h), to compare it with slowly cycling a push bike. to get to our next destination curaçao it is about 777km, sounds somewhat insane at this speed. a gorgeous day of sailing, super smooth with very little waves. this is how I pictured sailing to be…
it was going too good to be our journey… the wind slowly started to drop and the current was pushing us further west than we wanted. the wind died. the engine wouldnt start. ufff. nothing could shock us anymore, we remained calm. we were in the middle of the caribbean sea, no engine, no wind. so we waited. we had two options either drift south/west or north/east. we decided to try if we could fight the current with the light breeze we had and opted for north/east. we were afraid that if we went too far south/west that we would miss curaçao and would have to go back to colombia or even panama. and this would have taken ages!! yes, it worked! we went north and eventually east, what a huge relief as we knew the wind would blow from the east again, eventually. we only needed to be patient.
luckily the sea was dead calm below the almost full moon, no waves and so quiet we could barley believe we were in the middle of the caribbean sea. waiting as hard it was for the mind was at least easy on the body. we listened to music, sang, cooked, ate, chilled the hell out, rested, we even considered to go for a swim but decided that this would have been too dangerous without a motor… we constantly observed our slow motion on our gps tracker in order not to miss a change in direction. sometimes we had to steer to keep us on track when the autopilot could not handle the randomness of the light wind. same as driving cars, it is much harder to keep a boat on track going slowly than going fast. we thoroughly inspected and explored the neighbourhood, did some circles and loops, turned left and right. even went back to where we were before.
without a functioning engine we had to be extra careful for container and cruise ships… and promptly there it was a cruise ship called aida la luna heading straight for us at dusk… unknown vessel this is sailing yacht whisper do you copy? a nice gentleman responded we informed him that our engine wasnt functioning. he promptly adjusted his course. asked if everything was alright on board and wished us a pleasant journey. to keep us entertained I captured all the sunrises and sunsets from our journey and they kept getting better and better…
aaaaand we waited and waited…
finally, after 2 days there was a light breeze steadily increasing and also from the right direction – woooohooooo! what a bliss. I never in my life enjoyed wind as much as I did in this moment. what a relief! suddenly we were sailing again at 6knots. joy and happiness on board! I started to make calculations at what speed we had to sail in order to arrive at the curaçao marina on time… the reason for this is a pedestrian bridge, which needs to be opened to pass through with strict closing hours after 6pm. with 20knots of wind from the side it even gets cold in the mornings in the caribbean – mo cosy and nicely wrapped.
as we were scooping down south we could not believe it, another boat on collision course with us. unknown sailing yacht this is sailing yacht whisper do you copy? hi, this is mike choice from england, how are you? we had an euphoric chat in the middle of nowhere. we exchanged recommendations for colombia and panama, we wished each other fair winds and off they went east to cartagena, colombia, and we headed south straight to willemstad, curaçao.
we sailed super fast and with the perfect course straight to curaçao. the forces were with us. king triton and poseidon treated us well again. nevertheless, this was nerve wrecking also, will we make it on time? will the wind die on us again? we managed to reach the island within the needed time frame and got to the harbour entrance around 3:30pm. halleluja!
luckily we pre-informed the curaçao marina about our unreliable motor and that we might need towing assistance. via our inreach satellite device we were able to stay in contact with the outer world. we received weather forecasts and were able to organise our arrival in curaçao. we were so happy. the towing maneouver went smoothly, I was in the helm, mo sorted the lines. we were safe again. a huge thanks to the curaçao marina for pulling us into safety and even capturing the moment!!
the unconditional support and thoughts we received from the sailing community is just overwhelming! thank you to the moon and back! we are greatly thankful and highly appreciate every bit of it!!
within 5 days and 19 hours we sailed 514 nautical miles which is about 954km. sailing like in the old days without an engine. amazing but also exhausting, a challenge for the mind and nerves. pure force by nature. almost 1000km moved just by wind. freaking huge!! wow, what an experience.