Location: Underway to Colon, Panama
This morning we woke up to our final (and unplanned) day in San Blas. I arose from the main companionway to a beautiful view of the many small islands around us and Tally Ho in the distance (more on her later).
Breakfast was served by Head Chef Doctor (soon-to-be) Captain Nacho around 7:30 or so, and immediately after, we began passage prep for our short motor to Colon, Panama. I was put on sewing duty with Rachel and Shane (YAY), as we currently a couple areas of the sail that need to be reinforced. I helped to cut the other half of the patch before going up and beginning to sew. Everyone around us was setting up jack lines, bringing in the dinghies, and prepping the main and forward staysails, along with various other small tasks.
About a quarter of the way through sewing, in the near distance, we could see Leo, the owner and reconstructor (not sure if thats a word) of Tally Ho, rowing his way over to Argo.
To give you all a brief summary:
Tally Ho is a historic wooden sailboat that Leo bought for just $1 to rebuild with the hopes of getting her sail-worthy. In 1917, she won the Fastnet Race in Europe (I fear only because she was the last one standing), and Leos goal is to get her back up there to race in the Fastnet 100 years later! After 7 years of work, she was finally put in the water in 2024, and through Leos YouTube channel, Samson Boat Co., his subscribers were able to follow the whole journey or reconstruction to current sailing adventures (and as he told us: Like and Subscribe)
Now back to the regularly scheduled (late) blog:
He climbed aboard around 9:30 while we all gathered in the cockpit. He began by introducing himself and giving a background on himself and Tally Ho (more thorough than the one I gave, of course), before we got the chance to ask questions. The inquiries ranged from what made you want to do this to how much did it all cost in the end to does your oven work (and of course his did *eyeroll* @Argo).
After Leo left (having taken a group picture with us, of course), Rachel and I got back to sewing the mainsail. I think other people were either studying or finishing up passage prep, but I was so locked in on our sewing that I didnt pay much attention. We sewed and sewed and sewed until Head Chef Doctor (soon-to-be) Captain Nacho finished lunch for us all. Everyone ate a wonderful chickpea stew situation while I enjoyed my delicious spaghetti (I cant have beans rip). Aaaaaaaand drum roll please our NEW WATCH TEAMS WERE ANNOUNCED! I have been moved from Watch Team 1 to Watch Team 3, so my new leaders are Head Master Bilge Boy, Captain Charlie, and Doctor (soon-to-be) Captain Nacho.
Once lunch was complete, we cleaned up and got ready for Shanes class, Seamanship. Were currently doing our NavMaster coursework, and so far, so good. Compass deviation and variation (the lesson today) was a lot of numbers, but overall wasnt too bad, and I actually quite enjoyed it. I worked with Nacho on the galley floor, as that was where the most space was for our chart. We worked on our problems and successfully got our answers correct! Eventually, class ended, and I attempted to get my homework done, but my eyes were assaulted by onion chopping in the galley, and I had to evacuate immediately. Thus, I decided it would be best to complete the last bit of sewing, aka four stitches, before we got ready to leave San Blas.
Watch Team 1 was up first for the 2-6 (which was only 1 hour long because we left at 5). They helped to raise the anchor while the rest of us studied or hung out. At about 5:30, people began gathering in the cockpit for dinner made by, guess who, Head Chef Doctor (soon-to-be) Captain Nacho! By 6, dinner was ready, and we were underway to Colon! Watch Team 2 took the helm at 6 for the 6-8 watch. At exactly 6:26, dolphins were spotted off the starboard side of Argo, and people ran to the lifelines to watch the show while we ate. There were so many dolphins it was impossible to count, and they were doing the most incredible tricks; I wish I could upload videos because my video would definitely be on the blog.
After dinner and cleanup, I went and sat with Watch Team 2 for the end of their 6-8 watch and planned Rachels Survivor audition tape, which we were going to film in Nuku Hiva, the filming location for season 4. I debated internally whether I should film one, still trying to figure it out, but you know what YOLO.
At 7:50 pm, my watch team met at midships for our pre-8-to-12-watch debrief. Since were only motoring, its pretty straightforward and no sail handling. Of course as were sitting there, were missing people on our team come to find out there was a head incident that Head Master Bilge Boy Captain Charlie had to go help with (see excerpt from SkylEr below).
Our watch was mostly uneventful, so heres a brief overview:
Skyler squared off with Skyler to argue whether Skyler could beat an anaconda in a fight; Skyler disagreed.
At exactly 10:15pm, I made a mostly cooked chicken ramen
I unfortunately was falling asleep the whole time, so I went on the 11 pm boatie to keep myself awake bad idea, heres why:
the engine is on, so its very hot so when I nearly launched in there because I timed the waves wrong and the water tight door swung inward, I nearly hit my head on some poles. I then almost fell on the engine when we rocked back the other way off to a great start. While in there, I managed to slam my stupid toe incident toe (yes its me that everyone has been speaking about) into the metal floor while crawling around. Great run of events.
Once I finally finished, it was nearly time for wake-ups, aka almost sleep time!!! Watch Team 1 members slowly began to appear from below, and I became more and more excited to finally go to bed. In my last few minutes of watch, I attempted, and epically failed, 2 TIMES at clipping Shane with the clothespin I was ready and equipped with for that very moment it was tragic, to say the least. At just before midnight, our watch team was relieved and permitted to finally sleep (thank god).
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this totally not late blog by the not-skipper-of-the-day Colbie. Signing off for now, but you should hear from me again in like 15-20 days (aka my actual skipper day)