December 19,2020
My dad has always been very supportive of my projects even if sometimes they could sound a bit crazy. He grew up in Bogota at an altitude of 2600 m and has lived there for all his life, 74 and counting!! He had no interest in sailing until 2008 when I decided to go on a sailboat in the middle of the Pacific. In 2014 we sold “Thira” (our first boat ) and delivered it to Colombia for its new owners. At that time my dad came to Cartagena for a weekend to see Thira and we had a short sail around the bay. Years later, when I mentioned the new boat, I insisted that this time he must come and sail with us. He was a bit reluctant but agreed to the plan.
When making the first itinerary for Happy Days, we thought my dad and uncle could come with us from Colombia to Panama. Not a long crossing but some real interesting sailing to do as Colombian waters can be quite hard to sail. Both my dad and uncle were thinking about it and making plans. And here comes COVID again so this plan was no longer possible. Not giving up, after a lot of thinking we came up with another plan. My dad could come to Santa Marta and sail with us for a week. At that point we didn’t know a trip from Santa Martha to Cartagena could also be included.
So many factors were in place. One of my biggest concerns was that he had to go out of his safe bubble where he had been for 8 months. But he said he will take the risk, he said he would be extremely careful on the trip because he really wanted to come, see the boat and try some sailing.
It turned out he is probably a stronger sailor than even he could have imagined. We did a couple of “day sail”. Due to the pandemic we were not authorised to spend the night out of the marina. So we went to Taganga and el Rodadero, both times having some strong winds in the afternoon on the way back. He handled the whole sailing perfectly.
That was all good. Two days in a row we had an early wakeup, breakfast, aneasy morning sail, nice lunch at the anchorage, a bit of swimming and sail back to the marina.
An this was El Rodadero, my dad is not a swimmer but we convinced him to go for a refresh!
The following day we had too much wind plus we couldn’t really go too far out because we had to be back by 5pm, so we did various jobs on the boat. I have to start planning and preparing for the Pacific crossing, so he helped me with the inventory, lifting all the cushions, taking all provisions out, cleaning, counting them all,good fun.
After, the big question was: Are you sailing to Cartagena with us? We had to take Happy Days to Cartagena for antifouling and engine repairs. It is a 24 hr journey. Without a moment of hesitation, he said yes. Cedric as a captain and also a sailing instructor has a lot of experience understanding people and their behaviours while sailing and he said my dad would do just fine.
Crossing from Santa Marta to Cartagena
This has been so far the hardest crossing I’ve done with Happy Days. Probably the hardest weather Happy Days has taken (expect a test ride in Spain, in front of Valencia, done by Cedric with Antoine and Andre). Obviously, I couldn’t say anything during the passage because my dad was there. And I didn’t want to get him scared.
In those 24hr, we had all kinds of weather patterns. We started with a little bit of breeze with some choppy waves and dolphins came along to greet us. Later we had almost no wind for a few hours so we had the engine on. And the crazy part started after 11pm. Big waves and winds up to 30knots all the way until 3am. Cedric had to work really hard. I was fine, not my ideal sailing weather but I managed well, I didn’t get sick and had time to rest. Cedric woke me up at 3am, he was tired and needed a break. So I got ready and went outside. My dad handled the full trip perfectly, he went to bed at midnight or so and woke up at 5am ready to watch the sunrise -as he told me-. Some pygmy whales, which are almost like big dolphins, came to welcome us before we arrived in Cartagena.
Now it is time for me for some land time, so I will be going to Bogota and Cedric will stay with Happy Days to give her a new coat. Everything needs to work out perfectly so he can be in Bogota before Christmas.
But before, make sure you read the “crew” page with my dad ‘s view of the trip.
Happy Days 