The day had arrived! The wind seemed a bit calmer overnight, which was nice since we knew the first hour would be bashing into the wind/waves. After coffee, we fired up the engine and were on our way. It took half an hour to get out of the bay. Once looping over the top it was a bit rough but not bad. Making the turn south it continued and while slow and the waves reduce the boat speed, it was fine. Reaching the channel that leads to Luganville the waves were behind us and smaller now. I started cooking my breakfast and was nearly done when Carl let me know that he thought we should stop to fill the Gerry cans of diesel since the forecast was for lighter than ideal winds over the passage.
A bit of a rush to figure out where we should anchor and the logistics. Ultimately, we opted for anchoring in front of the Beach Resort (very popular spot for cruisers). Anchor down, we had to reinstall the dinghy engine, get the fuel cans, and hustle off to shore. A taxi came straight away and was happy to shuttle us to get fuel, the ATM, and back. Arriving at the gas station we learned it was cash only. Off we went into town and after some confusion with how much we needed we acquired the necessary cash and back we went for our fuel. A short drive later, we were hauling the eight heavy cans through the resort and onto the beach. I had a meeting with the software development team which I just barely made. I helped load while on the call and it was a funny sight, a full dinghy, me on mu phone, and Carl navigating us back to Sky Pond.
It couldn’t have gone better with less than two hours from anchoring to being back on our way. The passage had now officially begun! The “Second Channel” is a narrow waterway between the main island of Espirito Santo and smaller islands to the south. It is notorious for having fast moving currents depending on the tide, and with a recent full moon and less that ideal departure timing we fought a very strong current peaking at 4.7 knots, making our forward progress only 1.7 knots. No bueno. At that point we raised the sails to give us an extra knot of speed. Still the first ten miles of the passage was painfully slow. Once out into open water the speed improved, while the ride got bit rough. We were able to sail all afternoon and into the evening
The big drama came when the engine alarm sounded for low coolant. Ugh, I didn’t see anything obvious and quickly Carl realized the issue. A few days ago he was running the heating system as a test and in the process, one of the valves was bumped partially open mixing the coolant loop of the engine with the heating loop. No bueno. The coolant drained from the engine and filled the overflow tank for the heating system dumping gallons into the saloon storage lockers, and later I noticed also into a kitchen cabinet. Fuck. It took over an hour to do the majority of the clean up, while in pitching seas, and a hot cabin. But we got it cleaned up, the coolant refilled, and the engine back to operational. It was a good things I had dinner mostly cooked in the late morning so it was easy to finish preparing dinner as soon as the mess was dealt with.
Around 8pm we went to reef 1 on the main sail but otherwise no sail changes were needed overnight. And while the sea state sucked, we were happily sailing along at a good clip using Mother nature to push us along.
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