O Y S TER NEWS
By the end of January it was time to head for Panama in readiness for our transit to the Pacifi c Ocean. We leſt Road Harbour at the end of January and had a great start to the journey with a broad reach at 10-15 knots. However, this was not to last and on the second day disaster struck.
It occurred as I was putting out the spinnaker pole to stop the yankee fl apping, one instant I was hauling the pole-liſt and the next I was coming round draped on the saloon window in a pool of blood. T e children, who were helping from the cockpit, raised the alarm when they saw the spinnaker pole become unattached from the mast track and swing down onto my head. Sheila (thankfully an ex nurse) leapt into action and was there helping me come round before guiding me, delirious, back to the cockpit where she could bandage the six inch gash through to my skull. Fearing skull fracture, or worse, the family was simply amazing as they took control of the situation. Annie (9) looked aſt er me while Sheila, Charlie (12) and Freddie (11) went to retrieve the spinnaker pole, which was dangling beside the boat and threatening to damage the hull. Having lashed the pole down, Freddie found that the nearest port to us was in Puerto Rico, some 50 miles away and Charlie took the helm. Sheila went below to contact the US Coastguard on the SSB while Annie fed me ice cubes for hydration and chatted to me to keep me awake.
It took eight or nine hours motoring against an increasing sea in winds of 20 to 25 knots to get into Ponce in Puerto Rico and we arrived in darkness around 0100. A local pilot, Coqui, had heard our radio transmissions and off ered to come aboard to pilot us into the local marina. Sheila was very thankful as the entrance was tricky in the dark. When we arrived there were emergency services and wellwishers standing by as I was carried off by stretcher to a waiting ambulance. Coqui’s wife, Maryln, took our children for the night as Sheila accompanied me to the hospital. Aſt er a scan they confi rmed no skull or brain damage and stitched up my wound leaving me bald with a very worthy scar! Everyone in Puerto Rico was incredibly good to us including offi cials such as Customs and the Police, the US Coastguard as well as individuals from the yacht club marina we stayed in.
Being a head wound it healed quite quickly and we were soon ready to set out again so we didn’t miss out on
cruising in the San Blas islands. We prepared Miss Tippy well, since we had been told conditions could get rough near Columbia. T e area is eff ectively a mirror of the Bay of Biscay with a swell from a prevailing trade wind coming into a large bay formed by Central and South America. Wave heights double for any given wind strengths and are both frequent and steep. About half way into the 1,000 mile trip the winds increased to 30-40 knots and the seas steepened. We had coincidentally arrived in the area at the same time as a number of rally yachts that were coming around from Bonaire. A lot were having a tough time with several knock-downs being reported. We had a bubbling green sea in the cockpit and decided it was time to go below and let Miss Tippy look aſt er us. T is she did admirably. Rigged with only a reefed Yankee we surfed at over 12 knots at times but always felt snug and secure in our Oyster. Aſt er several days of this, the winds eased and we arrived at Porvenir in the San Blas islands just fi ve days aſt er leaving Puerto Rico.
T is little-visited archipelago on the northern coast of Panama is inhabited by the Kuna Indians who remain semi-autonomous and live a simple life true to their ancient traditions. T e men harvest coconuts, fi sh and do some subsistence farming on the mainland while the women (who rule the roost in this matriarchal society) stitch decorative molas, which are used in clothing or as artwork. Despite their obvious poverty by western standards we rejoiced in their happiness wrought from
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