After a mild disappointment (yes we sailed well, yes 4th is a great result and still and improvement, and we had a nice time but I’d be lying if I wasn’t disappointed to be pipped out the placings right near the finish! Especially after making it 200miles ahead to the next finish gate in 2nd place!!
Once the wind died we started the long slog of a motor 680 miles to Flamenco Island Panama.
This gave us an opportunity to get ahead on the few maintenance tasks needed to keep Betty well oiled and running well, including servicing the jammers and winches, some whipping (sewing) lines and of course servicing the most important Jabsco5000 heads(toilets) – keeping every crews behind happy!
In order to keep everyone cool we set up a paddling pool (thanks to Rich for acquiring this one in Airlie beach!) On the foredeck, used the storm sail as a nice base and filled using the firehose. The gentle rolling of the boat gave a nice whirlpool effect (that and the copious beans on the menu!)
For a couple of days the whole crew became very suspicious of each other in our murder mystery game. Each crew member was given another’s name, an object and a location on the boat (picked out of a cup) and the aim was to kill them using the object in the location.
Hence everyone become suspicious and unhelpful! No I can’t pass you the tweaker line, or follow you to the foredeck when you have a winch handle in your hand 😂
Once you have tagged the person in the location with the item, you take on their mission.
It was great entertainment, seeing people’s competitive side coming out whilst getting sneakier and sneakier, sometimes even employing others to help coerce their victim to wherever they need! Dan used his skipper role to call Steven to the foredeck on pretence of chatting about the food, only to kill him with the rubber duck, much to sevens relief as he had a tricky one… me, in the heads with the storm sail. Now the heads part is fairly easy I hear you thinking, however the bulky, heavy and slightly smelly bright orange storm sails represent a tricky object to wrestle to the heads surreptitiously! In true Dan resourcefulness he saw his opportunity at breakfast when I went to use the heads, running off to wrestle the sail into the galley and waiting to kill me as the door was unzipped- bit of a shock as I opened the door and nowhere to run!
By the morning only 2 remained- Kaz and Dave. By now each of them knows who their murder is, just not where or with what! Kaz became sneaky and employed the help of other crew to get Dave to Dans bunk area and win the game with a roll of gaffer tape!
After a few more days motoring, fuel was getting a bit low and the call came for all boats to go to Costa Rica to refuel. Initially this was met with some groans at missing out on an extra day in Panama, but on arrival at this secluded bay surrounded with Palm trees, a small marina with bar, restaurant and gentle reggae playing we were hooked!
It was also excellent timing to arrive into such a beautiful place to be able to celebrate Ben’s birthday there too (lucky as I don’t have a present on board 🫣)
A few beers, a good meal to refuel us and the next morning at the crac of dawn we were (mostly) ready to refuel, check out (and in) with immigration and then continue the 48 hours or so to panama.
Deep clean was initiated on the boat to make Betty clean again and give some TLC – look after the boat and she’ll look after you! Every cubby and area of the boat, including the garage (Lazarette) and Sail locker are emptied, cleaned and reorganised, leaving just the floorboards to be lifted and the bilges cleaned once in Panama.
Low and behold final evening before arrival into Panama and the engine fuel system stopped working, so we had only 30L left in the tank to get us to Panama. These boats use 5-15L per hour when motoring (around 8knots) so that wasn’t going to get us the 100 or so miles left to go! Large amounts of swearing and time spent in the engine bay couldn’t solve the issue, thankfully Bermuda came to our reduce and gave us a tow the rest of the way and we motored in the last 20 miles to the marina. This was probably the best nights sleep – no engine, nice cool boat with a breeze blowing through and only a 2 hour towing watch each!
The last few miles into Flaminco Bay was a truly spectacular sight weaving our way through a field of active, drifting and anchored ships, making our pretty large yachts seem like children’s toys amongst theses giants of 200m+ waiting for their turn through the canal.
After a half day of finishing the deep clean (something that had to be done despite some crew not pulling their weight and disappearing- always bad for team morale!) we were free to enjoy a couple of blissful days off in Panama. We went to explore the lovely Old town, a very quaint area of the city with strong Spanish vibes. Feels very safe and plenty of nice bars and restaurants and a lovely climate at that time of year.
Also managed a boat tour to Monkey island to view the native 4 species of monkey that inhabit Panama, as well as some crocs (no swimming in the canal!) and lots of wonderful bird life.
Next stop… Panama Canal and THE ATLANTIC!!!
Rachel's Race around the World 
Great blog 😍
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