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Captain´s Diary #7, 8/27/02, by Paul Harmon

It has been a little while since I wrote. We expected to leave on the 10th but all kinds of things happened. Almost every member on the team got sick. We had 3 crews join us for the return trip, and then back out before we ever started sailing. There was a tremendous amount of fear that we cannot yet account for. Some of it is superstition. Some of it is simply that they believe this leg of the trip to be very dangerous. The water is extremely deep, and the locals claim that anchors will not hold. The land consists of really steep cliffs with no place to beach. And the winds and waves are the strongest in this area. Even Justino, our second boat builder, backed out for fear of this section. On top of everything else, we have had electrical storms every night up until tonight.

We were going to set sail with or without any local help. Obviously we preferred help, primarily for safety reasons, but also for their expert knowledge of the lake. From Copacabana to La Isla del Sol, we usually only have favorable wind for 3 hours of the day. This means that we will have to try and anchor and continue the next day. If the anchor does not hold, we will need the additional help to use the oars to keep us off the rocks. Fortunately, earlier today, we found 2 expert fishermen, sailors of the small wooden boats, that wanted to sail with us. I set up an interesting pay structure for them. If we arrive in Santa Rosa in 3 days or less, I will pay triple...4 days or less, I will pay double...more than 4 days, I pay normal wage. They did not believe we could make it in less than a week, but accepted the terms.

I have observed these winds for too long now. I know that it is possible if we sail smart. I know the water is deep, almost 600 feet in the places where we will be sailing. I have enough anchor rope, and I know an anchor will hold in almost any terrain if you do it properly. My team agrees. Alexei, Rebekka, Kenji and Chris all believe that we can do it in 3 days or less.

Tonight's sky is absolutely amazing, as if it is on fire. "Red at night, sailors" delight..." is the way the saying goes. We will set sail tonight. Everything is ready, especially us. We cannot wait to leave Copacabana. It has been good to us, but we have been trying to leave for 5 days now. We have nicknamed her "Hotel California", like in the Eagles' song. "You can check out, but you can never leave."

We all ate a nice dinner tonight, waiting for the wind. I am sitting in my hotel room because a little while ago the wind started in our favor, much earlier than expected, around 11:00 pm. At the same time I have been struck with a severe case of food poisoning. Chris has been too. Rebekka brought a doctor from the hospital who gave me an injection to stop the vomiting. I thought I was still going to set sail with the others, but I was wrong. There is no way, and even though it hurts me emotionally, the boat has to set sail without me. We may not get another chance like this. The wind has started much earlier than normal. The last time this happened, we had favorable wind much longer than we were supposed to. The Qala Yampu may have enough wind to take them all the way through this stretch of difficult sailing. After this, the wind remains in our favor most of the time. Even as I write this, the Qala Yampu is setting sail without me. It is the right decision.

Alexei, Kenji, and the 2 sailors from Copa are sailing right now. Kenji has learned a lot fast and I have a tremendous amount of trust in him. As with any sailboat, no matter how good a sailor you are, if you are on somebody else's boat, and a boat you do not know, you will have problems sailing her. Our 2 sailors will not know how to sail Qala Yampu correctly. I received a call an hour ago from Alexei and Kenji from the boat, asking me how to set the sail properly. We walked through it. They are sailing beautifully. Chris, Rebekka, and I will have a motorboat take us to the Qala Yampu as soon as possible in the afternoon.