Sampson Boat Covideo
High winds, midnight engine work, and storm sails – through Central America by wooden sailboat
January 3, 2026 · 34 min · 315K views · Coast of Nicaragua
Tally Ho sails stormy seas under full canvas
What this video covers
Leo Goolden and his partner Marat sail the 1927 wooden gaff-rigged cutter Tally Ho from Mexico's southernmost port through Central America, skipping Guatemala and El Salvador to reach Nicaragua and then Costa Rica, navigating two regional katabatic winds: the Papagayo and a second unnamed consistent blow off the Costa Rican coast.Watch
On night watch in light air, Leo discovers a raw water impeller overdue for replacement and changes it underway at midnight rather than risk another day of motoring.1:37 Opening the engine cover also reveals a leaking pencil zinc that had been depositing salt on the engine block for weeks, undetected from the engine room.2:40 At the marina Puesta del Sol in Nicaragua over Christmas, he changes Rekord diesel filters and o-rings and scrapes accumulated salt off the engine.8:40 He also repairs stiff wooden blocks by chiseling clearance between sheave and cheek where rope had jammed.11:09
Anticipating 50-knot gusts in the Papagayo despite 20-knot forecasts, Leo rigs storm sails made by Routsey and Lapthorne for the first time, fabricating improvised parallel beads from a broken broomstick to keep the storm trisail's luff tracking the mast.14:22 The crossing produced no extreme winds.25:33 Tally Ho anchored in Santa Elena Bay, a Costa Rican national park, before checking in at Playas de Coco.25:42 Practicing storm-sail rigging before conditions demand it proved the right call for a two-person crew on a gaff-rigged wooden boat.
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