Catch up 4

I want to keep adding media from over the past 3 weeks especially about Cuba but in the meantime, I have a list a mile long of boat chores.

I got tired of adding bungy cords to all my cupboard doors before setting sail so I found a door latch at Home Depot that I can use instead. They are not stainless steel but neither are the original ones that have lasted over 40 years.

I thought I would add some photos today of Cuba that I took on the streets of old Havana last Sunday. The first one shows Kurt so you can see how incredible this place is. I have not altered or cropped any of these shots that I took with my Canon sx40 in auto mode.






Some of these scenes are so amazing.

Catch up 3

When Kurt and I were in Hemingway Marina in Havana, we had to flake our genoa sail to put it away. Now anyone who has tried to fold sheets from a bed knows that you need a system and more so for a huge sail. There are a couple of ways to do it but here is a good one demonstrated by Kurt on a video clip.

Also I have been working on my paladar project on the restaurants of Havana. As part of my 3300 permission permit to enter Cuba from the USA government, i had to agree to check out the casual dining scene, the bars and watering holes there and write a review. I don't know what I have done to deserve this tough assignment and one downside is that I have put on about 15 extra pounds to my waistline. Anyway, it is a work in progress and I have posted a draft which will be added to over the next few weeks at

http://www.onapua.com/p/paladares-of-havana-cuba.html?m=1

Catch up 2 - hoisting and dousing a spinnaker

While Kurt and I were sailing downwind from the British Virgin islands to Cuba, we felt it was important​ to be able to douse the spinnaker quickly if squalls we're to pop up. Take a look at the video we took to document our efforts.

Catch up 1

I have so much catching up to do with all the media I have stored up from my last 3 weeks so I will start with a photo in old Havana that I took with my SX40 Canon. Does anyone know what kind of model it is? Plymouth?

I wanted to leave the color of the car intact and have the rest of the photo in grayscale so ran it through Photoshop, selecting the car, copying it to the clipboard, using a black/white filter to change the photo, then pasting the car back over the top. I had seen this effect before, but I didn't realize how easy it was to do.

Another photo in Havana, this time of another Westsail like mine called Alaya.

Onboard was a young 20 something year old Mike, who had bought the boat in Mississippi, repowered it with a new 38hp Beta, thrown caution to the wind and headed off to chase his dreams.

It was a lot of effort for me to go to Cuba so I asked him whether or not he had filed a 3300 form to get permission from the USA government to go to Havana but he said he had no intention of ever going back to the USA. The next morning, he left on his way to Isla Mujeres in Mexico.

Finally, I wanted to show you a photo of the effects of that weather crossing from Cuba last Monday.

Remember how I lost my staysail clew and had to go up on my foredeck in the night with pouring rain and jury rig a new sheet? Well the old one was attached to the staysail boom and you can see from the photo, that it had ripped the metal right out of the boom. Phew! I don't want to do that again.

Back in the USA

Well I am an hour outside the Port St Lucie Inlet in Florida and I am sitting here contemplating my Caribbean cruise, sipping my coffee. I have a lot of media to post over the next few days but having just eaten a plate full of mahi-mahi, I shall post a photo of the 45" giant here.

Florida Bound Day 3

Had such a pleasant evening and got my sleep bank stocked up. Had to tack back out into the Gulf stream and I have the engine running.

I can see the skyline of Miami in the distance under blue skies and sea state not too bad considering it is the Gulf Stream.

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Florida Bound Day 2

It has been blowing like stink all night, with lightning and right now a squall is passing over with lots of rain

Lost my staysail and had to reattach the clew so now I am drenched. Lightning is scary when it's so close

Have tacked back towards the gulf stream to hopefully get a lift. I only hope that this terrible weather goes away

Boat is drenched inside. No wonder so many Cubans die trying to get across this horrible waterway. And this wx was supposed to be good

I tacked back north again because it was getting too rough out there even though I was nowhere near the Gulf Stream

I just tacked again and am hoping that this time I will be able to endure the washing machine effect of the Gulf Stream

My sea temperature gauge just went from 76 to 77 so I have just entered the west wall of the gulf stream.

Have switched off the engine and you wouldn't know I was on port tack. The GS is pushing me north at about 3 knots. What a great ride

When the gulf stream is good, she is very, Very good. When she is bad like last night, she is awful.

Strange that the GS has done a complete turn around. Even at noon it was horrid.

I tacked at the Gulf stream axis and have headed so far upwind that I am at a virtual standstill in the water but going 6 knots

Ride is comfortable and I am on the rhumb line. If I fall off and start sailing I will go out of the gulf stream and slow down

No moon tonight but it is not cloudy so the starry night is quite picturesque. What a world of difference from last night.

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