Well… sometimes we come across interesting stories out here that are not our own. This is two such stories I thought I would share with the sailors out there… because any of these sailor stories could easily one day become our story.
“There but by the grace of God go I…”
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Panama
Last weekend in Panama there was a cruising couple going along the coast. They had left a marina and had planned a 24 hour passage to another place. At one point they went to kill their engine and it would not shut down, something was wrong with the kill switch. So they pulled into a bay to effect repairs. By the time the problem was fixed it was an hour before sunset, so they decided to stay the night in the bay and get a fresh start in the morning.
Armed thieves boarded their yacht after dinner and stuck guns in their faces. The short version is nobody was killed, they were going to rape the wife after tying up the husband but at the last minute didn’t. They left with electronics and valuables. Calls for help on the VHF went unanswered by passing ships a nearby marina and local police.
See recent cruisers forum website for more details
Maybe Panama is no longer cruiser safe anymore. I was thinking of cruising central America this winter Colombia to Panama and Belize and up… but not anymore.
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Tequila Tango…. First meeting
About two weeks ago brother Mic and I were at Wendy’s bar relaxing and chatting with other cruisers. When these three guys we had never seen before come walking into the bar and sat across from us. I know that I am a very emotionally sensitive girl but the stress radiating from these three heavy smokers was apparent even to brother Mic. My brain was exploding with the body language and facial expression and tone of voice radiating stress from these three strangers, I just wanted to hug them and help them feel better.
It seems this Texan guy Steve had decided to buy a hurricane boat in St. Martin a few months ago. With the help of his good friend Bryan they got a new mast shipped in from France and Bryan went down to St. Martin 2 weeks previously to supervise and assist repairing Steve’s new yacht Tequila Tango.
With the newly resurrected Benneteau ready to sail 5 days previously Steve flew in from Texas to join his friend Bryan on the boat. The thing was… neither of them actually knew how to sail….
All problems in life generally have solutions and their solution was to hire a delivery Captain to help them get the boat to Florida (US waters) before hurricane season, and later they would find a way to get her back to Texas. They hired the guy on the right in the above picture (sorry I do not remember his name). He had agreed to deliver their yacht safely to Florida with them on board to learn and help. Money exchanged hands and the deal was set.
So the interesting question is… why were they in Wendy’s bar in Luperon Dominican Republic in July? How did they end up sitting across the table from me? Why were they so stressed out…? what had happened…?
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Tequila Tango … the first delivery
After a few beers to calm down and friendly conversation to help these guys get their bearings eventually the story came out.
So it seems they had left St. Martin 3 days earlier to make their easy downwind run to Florida. At first everything seemed to be going well. The yacht was performing well, and running downwind is easy. They were making miles north and west. Benneteau’s may suck on a beam reach but with their nice wide rear ends they do great running.
It does seem that their Captain had picked a good weather window to leave and even the conditions across the Mona passage were good for them (very rare to get). On the surface of things everything was going according to plan and they had gotten very lucky with uncharacteristically good weather for those 3 days, the day before was the calmest I had ever seen the bay here in Luperon harbour.
I guess there were problems with the Captain though. He was very stressed out all the time. There was great tension and conflict between him and the crew, the boys were not getting along. With each passing day the tension on the yacht was increasing until finally off the coast of the Dominican Republic the captain cracked and said he would not continue the delivery, he brought the yacht into Luperon and was abandoning the boat.
I spoke with each of them to get a better idea of what had happened and to try and be fair and balanced… The captain’s version of the story is that 70% he felt the boat was unsafe and 30% these two guys had no clue as to what to do and were driving him nuts.
After speaking with Steve and Bryan for a while, it is true that they do not know how to sail, they did not hide that, it remained true from the beginning, they did not pretend that they did know how to sail. So that condition did not change.
After inspecting their boat myself and examining all the safety issues that had so concerned the delivery captain, I concluded those excuses were not valid. The boat is not new but it is basically fine, and with a new mast and new rigging easily able to make the passage. So either the delivery Captain had over sold his qualifications and abilities… or it was just personality conflict.
In any case… their first attempt at getting their yacht delivered back to the US had failed pretty badly.
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Stranded in Luperon
So this left the yacht owner Steve in a very bad position. Him and his boat were now stuck in Luperon with Hurricane season fast approaching. The stress and tension I could feel radiating from them in the bar that afternoon were caused by the bewilderment from the predicament they found themselves in. They were at Wendy’s because the Delivery Captain was catching a taxi and abandoning them. They had no real idea where they were or what they should / could do.
After much heavy smoking and many beers eventually they began to calm down. I reassured them that were actually okay, they were safe, and they could not have landed in a better place for hurricane season. I promised to do anything I could to help them, we will figure this out.
I had only been in Luperon myself for about 2 weeks at that point and I certainly did not have my own feet firmly planted yet and I was still quite lost myself, but I had figured out that this place is great for sailors and the local cruiser community here is just awesome. For sure there would be people around who could help them with anything.
We introduced the guys to the 2 local men who take care of us Sailors in the bay, Handy Andy and Papo. Steve was able to pre-pay his mooring fees for the next 8 months thus giving him time to figure out what he was going to do. He also prepaid 8 months of boat service work and maintenance like getting the bottom scrubbed and the engine started once a week. Steve now had time to figure out what he was going to do.
I was spending time with the boys trying to help them understand more about where they were and calm Steve down, he was still in shock for a few days. As much as Tequila Tango was now safe and secure for hurricane season it really seemed like Steve was just focused on getting the boat home, he just wanted to get her back to Texas where he felt safe. I had offered to help them get her home AFTER hurricane season, but there was no way I was crazy enough to deliver a boat across the Gulf of Mexico DURING hurricane season.
But the world is full of options… Luperon is full of excellent sailing captains, the bay is just full of them. It was at the fourth of July party on the beach the next day and I decided to introduce them to Captain Andre. Captain Andre is a guy here I had briefly met only a week earlier but you could tell he was the real deal, a no bullshit sailor who had already crossed half the planet and seemed to still love sailing.
After introductions the men all hung around talking to each other and hatched the plan that Captain Andre would take the job and deliver Tequila Tango back to Texas between July 28th and about the middle of August.
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Delivery take 2
So yesterday I was hanging out with the guys again (Andre and Bryan) over at Las Velas. It was a farewell dinner. They left today, just the two of them, to deliver Tequila Tango home to Steve in Texas. Captain Andre expects the adventure to take about 12-13 days, of course always weather dependent. It is a long 1800 nautical mile sail mostly all downwind.
Personally I am curious, how many of you Captains out there would do this journey.. at this time of year..? Would you sail for 2 weeks in the trade winds and the heating waters of the gulf of Mexico so near the opening of hurricane season…? for some money… risk your life making this trip at the height of summer. The other Captains I have spoken with all say it is way too crazy and dangerous a gamble to take, but Captain Andre, a very seasoned sailor seems to think, meh… it’ll be fine.
A hurricane just brewed up in the Gulf of Mexico 10 days ago and formed within 6 hours, BAM right there off the coast of Louisiana. Not all hurricanes form off the coast of Africa and give us 2 weeks notice before they get here… just the big ones. The small ones can form right here or anywhere along their intended route, and can form very fast. And when I say a small hurricane… they are still easily enough to destroy a sailboat and kill her crew… don’t kid yourself… 80 knots of wind is always horrible.
Here is to hoping my friends have a safe journey and mother does not get into a mood. Here is to hoping they have nothing but fair winds and following seas. Here is to hoping they don’t have crew conflict like the last time.
If you are curious you can go to this link to check on their progress… see where they are over the next two weeks.
https://us0-share.inreach.garmin.com/tequilatango
Let’s all pray for them.
All love and kindness…. Captain Lexi