Cruisers in lockdown
Vloggers Elena Manighetti and Ryan Osborne (pictured above) from Sailing Kittiwake hit the headlines when they revealed their shock at the scale of the pandemic after a 25-day Atlantic crossing in March. When they left Lanzarote on 28 February, the World Health Organization hadn’t yet declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, and the pair, who ask family and friends not to send bad news while on passage, only found out when they switched on their mobiles phones on approach to Bequia.
They are now sitting out the pandemic in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Like other cruisers, their sailing plans have been put on hold. Monika Thomae and Didier Betuel are experiencing lockdown in the fishing village of Jacaré, Brazil, aboard their 1976 UFO 34 sloop, Harmoni. They managed to “slip into” Brazil the day before the sea borders were closed. Initially they were sailing from St Helena to Grenada but decided to divert to Jacaré to be with friends.
German national Monika, 49, said most non-essential services were closed in the country although supermarkets remained open and well stocked.
“Most people wear masks, both in the marina and outside. Within the marina we try to be careful and observe social distancing rules, but that’s voluntary, not a requirement,” she explained.
The disruption has put their planned circumnavigation of the world in doubt, as they are running out of funds and had aimed to spend a season working in the Caribbean before continuing west.
Julian and Patricia Morgan now plan to spend the rest of their year in New Zealand, subject to visa extensions, having locked down at Marsden Cove Marina near Whangarei. The couple were planning to sail their Allures 45.9 A Capella Of Belfast to Indonesia, but with the lockdown and the fast approaching Southern Hemisphere winter, they’ve decided it would be best to stay put.
Self-isolating has given them time to install new bilge water and intruder alarms and power consumption measuring devices, as well as make new cloth fender covers.
“The lack of time pressure has encouraged us to be more meticulous in how we approach jobs on the boat and allowed us to develop some new skills. We have excellent internet access here so research is not an issue,” noted Julian.
For more on the pandemic and its effects on cruising, see Letters from page 10.