Two days ago Jerry’s crew, exhausted after three days of project completion, provisioning, and stowing, undid numerous chafed cleat hitches and bowlines to free Jerry from his marina bonds! It was just in the nick of time, too, as the docklines were threatening to pop all at once.  Jib unfurled, motors humming, Jerry bobbed in joy through the Bay of Panama despite the minimal wind, passing numerous tankers and cargo ships awaiting their Panama Canal transits to the Caribbean. Unfortunately, his playtime was brief, as one hour later the Burnetts dropped the hook in an anchorage at Taboga Cay, just a little south of Panama City.

Why did Jerry stop?  Why is he not making his way to Pitcairn Island, in the middle of the Pacific?  There’s a massive CAPE out there in the sky, and it’s scaring all the boats away.

CAPE is a new vocabulary word for Mel. She has no idea if this is a new thing to the world, or just her. Because it has to do with weather. Despite numerous attempts over the years to familiarize herself with meteorology, Mel has failed to acquire much knowledge of the field.  For whatever reason, reading or watching a video about shifting and interacting air masses has a soporific effect on her, to the extent that after her perimenopause started, one of the more fail-safe ways to finally fall asleep was to take a melatonin and read about the weather. It is akin to the soothing vibrations of an airplane engine: “Fronts are boundary lines between warm and cold air masses, where rising, turbulent air causes shifts in temperature, wind, and precipitat….ZZZZZZZZZZ.”

But CAPE keeps her up.  Since Mel is married to a pilot, who gets excited about weird-ass things like Skew-T Log-P diagrams, Mel now knows what CAPE is. It is all about energy! A high CAPE means the air mass has the potential to generate thunderstorms of great power.  And right now a big, fat CAPE is sitting between Jerry and the Trade Winds, like an oversized pimento stuffed in an olive of no wind.

Not exactly interested in undergoing hardship if it can be avoided, Jerry’s crew is hanging out in the islands of the Pacific side of Panama for now. After the frenzy of prepping over the last few weeks, it is nice to rest.  Weather and provisioning aside, we are telling ourselves that we a doing a “Hudson’s Bay Start”.  Historically, this was a smart way to begin your fur trading expedition. You finish provisioning and then take your canoe a little bit into the stream for the night, giving your brain the opportunity to run its own list when you are still able to go back for your forgotten keys. Speaking of that, we should probably get some more oranges…

 The earliest we leave for our crossing to Pitcairn Island, which is about 4000 nm away, or 24-30 days sailing, would be this Saturday. Or maybe Sunday. We’ll keep you posted!  For now, enjoy some pics of prepping!