0300 hours. Looks like the forecasters and models are all wrong. Yesterday afternoon we picked up a squall line on radar. Expanding range to 48 miles it was apparent that this was more of an air mass boundary line. The radar echo stretched across the entire screen, giving it a length of over 100 miles!

Being prudent mariners, we rolled up both code zero headsails as the black mass of clouds drew near. But there was little wind. The usual drop, then rain, and then a swing in wind at around 15 to 18 knots. The showers were great for the rig, which has been very dirty from sitting on land, and got the decks nice and clean too.

As we popped out through the boundary, the breeze began to build back and we were soon sailing along again. An hour later we were greeted by another similar radar image. This cloud mass had less wind and rain, and a persistent shift to the NW. With a light reaching breeze now on starboard tack, we proceeded on our way, only this time motorsailing.

Couple of hours later and the wind is back from the east to ESE – but now at just five to eight knots. The good news is we have picked up a knot of favorable current, in an area where there is supposed to be a counter current.

None of this jives with any of the official weather data, but along this coastline with unsettled weather that is to be expected. Be interesting to see what the GRIB files show in a couple of hours.

We’ve been having problems picking up SSB fax broadcasts from NMG New Orleans. After 0100 through 0500 GMT seems to be the best bet – and even these faxes are tough to read. The synoptic chart shows a stationary low off Central America to our north. That is what has messed up our lovely tradewind sail. The good side is that it also caused an overcast, which makes the warm days much more tolerable.

As we are out of data range for Globalstar, we’ve fired up SailMail. Happy to report the new installation went without incident. We loaded the file we’d brought down from Arizona, imported one file from the previous computer, and…it works! Always amazed when these things go as planned.

1000 hours

Quiet night. Mostly motorsailing with differing wing strengths and angles as we push through various squall systems. At least it has not been dull, and the batteries are going to be very charged when we get to Panama. NOAA Faxes indicate more of the same, i.e. light and variable, which is in agreement with the AVN and Oceanic Experimental models which we are now downloading with SailMail. At least we got in two really pleasant days of sailing. Covered just 255 miles in past 24 hours.

1900 hours

It is looking like a pure powerboat ride for the rest of the trip – now down to just 132 miles. Winds have been light all day, switching between NNW and SSE, allowing help from sails. But now the wind has gone light and on the nose. To make our motoring more efficient we’ve dropped the mizzen – which reduces air drag. We’ve also stowed the two roller furling code zeroes and stripped the decks of the running rigging associated therewith. Seas are almost calm.

Checked in with the Panama Net (8107 USB – 1300GMT). Lot of boats hanging out in this part of the world for the summer hurricane season. Word is that the canal is not busy for yachts, and best fuel price – US$1.25/gallon – is available at the new Flamenco Marina on the Balboa (Pacific) side.

Big issue now is what to fix for dinner. Menu choices are more limited than normal as we only spent a few hours provisioning in Virgin Gorda. It will probably be some exotic form of chicken. Wonder what’s on the Monday Night Movies?