Last blog, we left Turtle Cay Marina to go to Sweden to spend summer with friends and family.

During the summer we also looked for crew to be with us on the long voyage over the Pacific Ocean from Panama to the Marquesas. We got quite a few who were interested but most of them did not realize how fare it was, so usually the female part of the crew did not want to be that long time on an ocean. But one couple were really interested, she had a dream of transiting the Panama Canal and the husband, of a longer voyage over the Pacific. It was nice to have a face time call with them, and they claimed they were in good shape. I was a bit hesitant as they were a bit old, but not older than us, just in-between me and Kerstin, and they were keen out door people. Stephen had just sold a Kajak Adventure company that he has had for over 15 years. It looked good so we decided to go with them, another plus was that she was very interested in cooking and wanted to have an active part in provisioning, excellent as we too take food very seriously.

But before we get to the crew experience, a short recap of what we did in Sweden the whole summer.

We arrived in Sweden just before midsummer and left in October, so it was a long time we spent there. We had a few important things to address, some maintenance not for Kerpa but for us, the milage take some toll on us as well. Our youngest daughter was getting married, and a few other things.

We had the joy of sailing in the Stockholm archipelago a few days with our youngest daughter Linnea and future husband Jesper.

We spent a lot of time with our oldest daughter Emelies family, we lived most of the time with them, as pay back I helped to build a floating dock for them, which was very popular by the children

They liked to be on the floating dock, and I show them how I used to fish when I was a small child and luckily I manage to catch a few fishes.

My son Kristoffer needed help to make a new fence on his terrass, so again I had to be a carpenter, it was very fun to work together with the kids and grandkids.

That was not the end of the hard work, our family summer house needed some TLC.

To just mentioning a few, a lot of weed here and there, the entrance was full of grass that needed to be removed.

One of the small house’s roofs needed new tar. Luckily the hight was not very high, the ladder I used started to slide and I fell down from the roof, no major damage luckily but some tar ended up on me instead of the roof.

But it was not only hard work, we had some wonderful summer days out at the cottage.

The main event was of course that Linnea got married.

We are so happy for them, they live in Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden, the summer had been really poor, but the day they got married they had a fantastic weather, everything was so beautiful, a good omen fort a bright and happy future.

This is the boat they had their honeymoon trip on and the whole week they were out they had fantastic late summer weather.

Back to Kerpa

In November we flew back to Panama and to Kerpa at Turtle Cay Marina, there were a few things to fix, before our friends Hans and Sussane came for sailing with us.

Turtle Cay Marina is situated in the jungle and our friends where very happy just to be at the marina, as it was a lot to explore just around the corner. The Marin has a small restaurant with rather decent food, and drinks

We did not only had drinks it was a few things to fix. When we left St Marta; Columbia earlier last year our bow-thruster broke down, and now when we opened the thruster, we found all the gears just broken including the shaft. I had bought a spare kit including everything I thought. But the wedge for the cogwheel was also damage and not included in the kit. Just put it together and fix it later when I could get hold of a new wedge. In the men time we went to San Blas, and when we got back, we finalized the rebuilt of the bow thruster.

Lucky my toolbox is rather comprehensive, we had some threads that was damage, but we managed to “repair/fix” it.

The wedge was a bit to large but was fixed with elbow grease and emerald cloth

Taking most of the jetty for repair, it was hot, humid and not the best ergonometric for “old” men, but we rewarded us after completion with a few drinks. Always nice to have professional help from a friend when doing boat job.

San Blas again

We took our friends to the nice places we had been to before flying to Sweden, and they liked it very much. It was less humid this time and a bit of more wind so more pleasant this time. As an extra bonus, we got a very nice Wahoo on the way to San Blas, Wahoo is a very tasty fish, one of my favourite fishes.

Hans is very good at cleaning fish, so he got the task.

A whole pot full of fish, I think we got over 20 meals out of the fish.

Including some delicious sashimi, we just mixed the wasabi and soya sauce in a bowl and added the raw Wahoo, delicious

Life is good, together with good friends

They enjoyed San Blas very much

On one of the islands we found this very nice little restaurant which served plain but very nice food for only 20 USD including a beer, if one wanted wine one could bring own wine. We were three boats from last year’s Viking Explorer rally, nice to meet up again.

Even in paradise there is maintenance, this time we replaced the old membranes in the water maker with new ones.

It took some time to get things in order, but finally the water maker was almost good, I noticed that the new electric motor that drives the high pressure pump got very warm, had a lot of contact with the supplier Desalator, they were very helpful I tried all possible causes they could think of, but nothing helped, now we only run it for 30 minutes, and that is sufficient for us if we run more or less on a daily basis.

Time goes fast when fun and our friends went home, and we continue to Shelter bay to prepare for the canal transit and the long trip to the Marquesas.

Shelter Bay Marina

At Shelter Bay Marina, we arranged to get up on the hard the day after we arrived.

We wanted to have a forward seeing sonar installed, pressure wash the bottom and replace the wear out prop shaft bushing.

I must give credit to SBM they were very serious lifting and blocking Kerpa, they had a man in the water to make sure the lifting sling was correctly placed not do damage anything. Also pleased with the installation of the transducer, the cost was rather reasonable but some of the other services was very expensive.

Everything went smoothly, except that the forward sonar I brought from Sweden was faulty, what an anti-climax.

While on the hard we turned the anchor chain so we have the least used part of the chain towards the anchor and marked the chain and cleaned out the chain locker.

Lucky for me, Kerstin is small enough to reach into the chain locker.

When back in the water I inspected the rigg, nice view from up there

We have had a oil leak on a oil hose from the oil cooler, I tried to replace the hose myself, but was afraid I might damage a copper tube it was attached to, so ask SBM to do the job for me.

The mechanic had to crawl in behind the engine in a very cramp position in the hot and humid engine room to replace the hose. Replacing an oil hose is rather messy and one gets oil here and there, but they left everything nice and tidy, again good job.

Our water pump for cooling the AC did not work, it needed a new capacitor, of which I had spares aboard so a quick fix.

There were a few social gatherings at the Marina, so time went very fast,

waiting for our crew, Cathy and Stephen to arrive to Kerpa. They know Panama rather well after several trips to Panama, and it was since long on Cathys bucket list to transit the Panama Canal.

To make a long story short, they had rented a car to get to Shelter Bay Marina, and asked if they could do some provisioning while they had the car. They called me several times a day about different prices and available items and other nitty gritty things, so already at that time I got some bad vibes about them.

When they arrived to Kerpa, the car was full of food, over half of it, things that we never eat, such as a large variety of prefabricated sauces in glass bottles taking space and adding weight. Two gigantic bags of nacho ships, it was probably 8 litters ( 2gal) each, taking a lot of valuable storage space, they will get soggy just a day after opening the bag as well. The list can be made longer , but I stope there. Stephen then wanted to buy a chair to be able to sit on the deck on passage, I said you can use a cockpit cushions as I use, his replay was, easy for you to say! Then he wanted to get a mattress so he could sleep on deck also during passage, he did not either liked to make coffee in our presso coffee maker, he wanted filter coffee. I became a bit upset and said to him you need to adopt to the way we do things aboard and respect our home. Later we had a talk about the situation, and of being aboard another couples boat. We thought we found a good understanding and had a nice and pleasant evening meal after that. So we thought maybe they got the message and things will run smother after this discussion. But not, more about that later.

It was still a lot to do, especially provisioning, we made a few trips with them and the rental car, and also with the bus that SBM provide. Provisioning is a major undertaking on such a long voyage, especially as in French Polynesia there are very limited assortment and very expensive. So many loads was brought aboard fruit and vegetables was cleaned, labels removed from tins, etc. we manage to get ready in time.

The Canal Transit

Finaly it was time to transit the canal, we were lucky to do that together with our friends Peter and Catharina on the HR 46 Blue, we know them well from the Viking Explorer rally.

We went out from the SBM in the afternoon the 22 of December and anchored at the place we been instructed to anchor at, to wait for the Pilots to come aboard. We had one “professional” line handler to complement  our crew aboard, as one need to have 4 line handlers aboard.

The pilots arrived maybe an hour or so before dark. I have heard and read many times about Pilots giving strange orders causing trouble and damaged to the boat. Both Blue and we were very pleased with our Pilots, very professional and friendly, the same goes for our line handler and the line handlers of Blue.

Just before dark we rafted up with Blue

And then into the lock

A bit nervous and fully concentrated I enter the first lock.

Making sure all lines are attached, only two for us as the other two lines are deployed from Blue.

In the first lock and on our way up. Now our crew were to show that they could handle the lines and to be alert.

A big moment for us, but to be honest, there is no drama at all to transit the canal as long as you follow the instructions from the Pilot. The water when both going up and down is not very turbulent, not more complicated than normal locks in Sweden or in Holland. But in the first lock I was a bit nervus.

But still it was with some relief we exited the first lock.

Rather late that night we reached the area in lake Gatun where we should sped the night, I have also heard about rough buoys that one should tie up to and wonder how that would be. No big deal at all, the Buoy  we and Blue tied up to was not rough at all.

We end the evening with a whiskey on the buoy together with Blue

Next day we have a new pilot aboard before we left the buoy.

On our way to the last locks, we got a bit ahead of Blue and the Pilot ask if we wanted to go through the last locks together with a passenger boat it would save a few hours. He said is a bit more complicated but no big deal, we said lets go for that. He calls the planner and got permission to transit with the passenger boat. After that he gives instruction to our crew how to handle the lines etc when rafting outside the passenger boat.

He explains very thoroughly, but Stephen asks again and again what he should do. So after a while the Pilot call the planner again and said not safe to transit together with the passenger boat with this crew,!! so instead we waited for Blue top catch up and raft up with them before the last locks.

In the last lock we had a big freight vessel just behind us, and the Pilot instruct us that when we leave the lock there will be a push of water from the big vessel so be alert, and it was, one had to have a very firm grip on the steering wheel.

We felt rather small infront of the big vessel.

In the last lock our Pilot and crew

Finally the last locks opened, and we could get out of the lock and into the Pacific, it was not as expected, in my inner picture the horizon of the Pacific should be just outside the lock and one could see the vast ocean end the sun setting in the distance, but not, it was still some way out until one could see the horizon of the Pacific.

We motored to the Balboa yacht club where we took a buoy and the Pilot and our line handler left Kerpa, now it was only Kerstin and me with the crew.

Time to celebrate with Cava

We had decided with Cathy and Stephen that we should evaluate the relation and decide if they should continue with us or leave Kerpa. Stephen was tiered and went to bed early so we had the discussion only with Cathy. Kerstin and I had decided during the transit to continue without them. Cathy understood and said that it was a pity, but agree the best for both parties. I will stress that it was no problem whatsoever with Cathy it was Stephen we had problem with both concerning competence, fitness and social skill.

The morning after, we made up the financial between us and Cathy, that went very smoot, we felt no hard feelings, even though  we also said we did not wanted to pay for all strange sauces, Nacho chips, soda drinks etc, they had brought aboard, they could leave it or take it with them. They decided to take it with them, so they had a massive amount of bags to bring a shore. We hurry them a bit as it was Christmas eve, the day we celebrate Christmas, and we had decided to celebrate together with Blue at the Pearl Islands about 40 N m from the Balboa Yacht Club, we were in a bit hurry. We parted and I thought no major hard feelings between us. But was I wrong.

The Crew Stephen

The day after we parted from our crew, I got this message on WhatsApp

During the following days we found out that Stephen had destroyed a lot of items aboard Kerpa.

Scratched the binocular they had borrowed for bird spotting on the canal trip.

Stabbed a hole in my jacket

As well as in one of our inflatable life wests

First we thought it was only the out cover, but the bladder was punctured as well.

Later we found that he had stabbed hole in the cushions in the fore cabin as well, it was a few other minor items destroyed too.

We are very pleased that we decided not to sail further with them, no one knows what could have happened out there on the Pacific sea

Now we had the decision to make, sail on our own or try to find another crew? Kerstin was very clear we sail on our own. I was a bit surprised as I suggested that we should do the Atlantic crossing on our own, but Kerstin did not liked that idea at all, and for this very long journey I was a bit hesitant myself if we really should do the crossing of the Pacific on our self. After a cup of tea as we usually take before an important decision we both agree to sail away on our own.

Next blog will come soon, about Christmas New year and final provisioning