As we leave San Diego, the sun's out and it's pleasantly warm. There's a small price to pay though - the wind has come up, and once again we're in following seas. So we're clawing our way up the waves, and careering down them. At least it's less painful than battering slowly through head seas, and we're still making good speed. And Alan is now feeling a little better after intense stomach cramps yesterday.

As we follow the coast of Baja California, we're looking forward to our two Mexican stops, but for us, the next major milestone without doubt is the Panama Canal, probably about a week away. We've been wondering how we're going to tackle it. The locks are 110 feet wide, and we're required to have four 125ft long inch-thick ropes with which to tie up. Funnily enough we don't have stuff like that on board, so we'll be paying a visit to Rent-a-rope rather than Ropes 'R Us. Lines that size aren't cheap, not even to hire.

We'll be sharing the locks with ships which are going to positively dwarf us, and we're bearing in mind the fact that an American round the world powerboat record attempt four years ago came a cropper in the Panama. "Revolution '98" was caught in the wash of a large cargo ship in one of the locks, and one of its outer trimaran hulls damaged. One good thing about a RIB is that the boat is surrounded by an enormous fender. It's times like this where it could prove extra useful!

In the meantime, something else which we've been looking forward to for many weeks is about to happen. Our rendezvous with the round the world trawler cruiser "Nordhavn" will take place in the next twenty four hours. We've been in touch with each other, swapping positions, headings and speeds. It'll be a meeting at sea, so we're keeping our fingers crossed the weather is fine.

Clive Tully

Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
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