New Mast, New Conquest: Vandal's gearing up to depart Ft Lauderdale
Vandal on her way back in after some new bottom paint.....and feeling a little naked without her mast.
Vandal naked, shhhhh!
After many yard periods and refits, more test sails and several seasons between Maine, Bahamas, and the Caribbean, we decided to beef up our mast before taking Vandal to the Pacific! We just got her back in the water after a week at Lauderdale Marine Center, and are now awaiting a few final fixes before heading down to Panama. We can't wait to spend a little downtime in San Blas before going through the canal and maybe a pit stop to Las Perlas, before trucking south to Galapagos. If you've been to San Blas, we'd love your suggestions as we never made it further than Provenir? And what's the deal with surfing down there.....I read it's illegal, but I also surfed just a few meters from the customs office??
Last time we were in Panama we had sailed Falcor, a friend's Gunboat 48 to San Blas. We caught this incredible Mahi as we passed Cuba, and then had the most gorgeous walks on the shores of the San Blas Islands before having to depart on the tiniest over-loaded helicopter for Panama City (we were literally hiding our heavy bags under the seats and saying Conrad weighs 120lbs just to get a seat on it, I would not recommend that!). Let's see if we can catch another nice fish on the way down! So many great memories (and hairy passage stories) from our last sail to Panama, looking forward to seeing how Vandal will fare this time around!
Travis nailed a gorgeous Mahi. We photographed its skin and made it into wallpaper for our daughters' berth on Vandal. And then, of course, we ate ceviche and fish tacos for days. Fun fact: Mahi is one of the most sustainable pelagic fish for eating because of their rapid reproduction and growth cycle!
Some fond memories of our last sail to Panama aboard G 48 Falcor!! Evan and I enjoyed a beautiful dip in what we called "the San Blas lazy river" as the current would drift us floating around the entire island. Falcor behind us, looking all cleaned up post passage.