Crossing the Papagallo

To sailors along the Central American Pacific Coast Papagallo Bay is as respected as Tehuantepec Bay for its strong winds driven by the weather in the Caribbean Sea. We set out from Bahia del Sol in El Salvador with a predicted wind peak of 24 to 29 knots in the center of the bay. We were given good advice to keep within five miles of the shore to avoid the worst winds. This advice squared with the wind pattern shown on BuoyWeather.com. It appeared that the strongest winds formed a sort of vortex in the center or the bay. I did decide to cut the corners a little with results you will see as you read on.

First we had to deal with an equipment failure. Luckily, Bill Eddy was doing an inspection of the rig before we were due to head out from Bahia del Sol. He noticed that the toggle that holds the headstay to the stemhead of the boat had been bent. In any serious wind, this fitting would have failed and jeopardized the entire rigging and perhaps the ship itself.

Headstay Toggle Failure

We tore down the entire furler so we could remove the broken toggle for repair at the local boatyard.

Murray of Island Marine promised to repair the toggle the same day and good to his word he delivered it to the boat in the early afternoon.

First we had to cross the bar at Bahia del Sol. This was not as exciting as the crossing on the way in, but still it gave us a little thrill. The small buildings to the right are high at dry at low tides and are a popular place for the locals to enjoy the beach and some food.

The first part of the trip across the Papagallo was a wonderful smooth sail. We enjoyed a fine sunset although the drops on the window were a little fore taste of what was to come. Later, we even had a couple of small hitchhikers along for the ride.

 

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As the day went on, though, we began to feel the true nature of the Papagallo. Buoyweather.com had predicted a maximum wind of 24 to 29 knots. We thought that we would be far enough from the center that we would not feel the full force of the winds. Instead, we had two days of 25 to 30 knot winds first to beat against and then to reach with. It was an exillerating experience, but very uncomfortable and tiring for the crew. We got the boat rig "dialed in" with about one quarter of the sail out and doing 8 to 9 knots steady. (Remember that Virago's hull speed is only about 8.4 knots--so we were partially surfing without any following sea!)

You can see Bill watching through the open center windshield, Harry sleeping on the starboard seat, and the captain (although not seen) was taking photos. Maybe not comfortable, but for dedicated sailors just another part of why we sail.

Early on the third day after two long nights of sailing and one of motoring, we saw Puntarenas. It is several miles up and estuary to the Costa Rica Yacht Club, so we had to wait for high tide and for a pilot from the club to lead us in. Even then, we ran aground and spent about fifteen minutes motoring and being towed to get us back in the channel. Once we were tied up to a floating dock we enjoyed a fine lunch at the club restaurant. (The fuzzy spot in the photos is a little left over from the photo taking done in wind and seas—a drop of salt water.) Unfortunately, Virago is somewhat obscured within that fuzzy spot.

 

Finally, we were tied up almost exactly 72 hours after leaving Bahia del Sol and having traveled about 360 nautical miles. That meant we had averaged about 5 knots. Not bad given that we sailed about 250 miles of the trip and had to wait at anchor for nearly four hours in the estuary for high tide.