We were going to leave this morning and head out to explore the nearby islands, but things did,'t seem quite ready so we will leave tommorow instead. One of the nicer aspects of cruising is that you can do things at your own pace.
Besides it is pretty nice here at Marina Costa Baja, although the beach club and pool have been busier this week.
We also now have good internet on the boat rather than having to haul everything up to the lounge, we have been watching Netflix as I signed up for a month free, trouble is that a lot of the titles are dubbed and we get them in Spanish, it's could for my burgeoning language skills though and I am very adept at translating Thomas el Gran Tren.
So Heather is in town shopping leaving Liam and I to our own devices, which will probably mean improper tooth brushing, grilled cheese sandwiches (quesadillas) , ice cream and swimming.
Our next post should contain pic's of the spectacular islands.
Michael
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Active restraint system
Dry Chemical Mess
Thursday, December 22, 2011
A Post from the Boatwife
We're still hanging here in La Paz and will stay at the beautiful Marina Costa Baja through Christmas. After that, we'll start exploring nearby Isla Espirtu Santo. Juvenile whate sharks are in the area, and we can't wait to see them. I've been sick since I got to La Paz, just started feeling better recently, so I don't feel settled in yet. I want to find a dentist for teeth cleaning and a pediatrician for Liam.
It took me three trips to town to get the grocery supply back up. The best trip was to the local market, which had very fresh meat and fish. (The whole chicken I brought home came with feet.) I took me a long time to get home, and I was worried about the pershiables not being refrigerated, when it dawned on me that they weren't refrigerated at the market. Fruits and veggies are scarce and of middling quality. Liam has been eating very badly--he won't touch anything Mexican, except quesadillas. I'm worried that he's going to stop growing and have delayed mental development.
We are very far from downtown (all downtown marinas are full for the winter), which is a big bummer, since I had visions of Liam attending preschool while I went to the market, cleaned the boat, etc. If Liam does go to school (and so far he's adamantly opposed to it), Michael or I will have to stay in town until school lets out for the day. It will be an hour commute each way.
So, it's two and a half months that we've been out. I would say, as a mother, that it's pretty difficult for me. My daily life is basically the same: I take care of Liam, cook, clean, do laundry, all of which is much harder to do while cruising. There are rewarding moments: see marine life, relaxing in the hot tub, getting a good taco, but we pay for them. Sailing with Liam basically doesn't work. He just lies on the cabin sole and vomits, which seems like an unproductive way for a toddler to spend his day. We're cutting way back on the sailing (we probably won't go to mainland Mexico) to address this problem.
Ok, Liam's waking up, must run.
It took me three trips to town to get the grocery supply back up. The best trip was to the local market, which had very fresh meat and fish. (The whole chicken I brought home came with feet.) I took me a long time to get home, and I was worried about the pershiables not being refrigerated, when it dawned on me that they weren't refrigerated at the market. Fruits and veggies are scarce and of middling quality. Liam has been eating very badly--he won't touch anything Mexican, except quesadillas. I'm worried that he's going to stop growing and have delayed mental development.
We are very far from downtown (all downtown marinas are full for the winter), which is a big bummer, since I had visions of Liam attending preschool while I went to the market, cleaned the boat, etc. If Liam does go to school (and so far he's adamantly opposed to it), Michael or I will have to stay in town until school lets out for the day. It will be an hour commute each way.
So, it's two and a half months that we've been out. I would say, as a mother, that it's pretty difficult for me. My daily life is basically the same: I take care of Liam, cook, clean, do laundry, all of which is much harder to do while cruising. There are rewarding moments: see marine life, relaxing in the hot tub, getting a good taco, but we pay for them. Sailing with Liam basically doesn't work. He just lies on the cabin sole and vomits, which seems like an unproductive way for a toddler to spend his day. We're cutting way back on the sailing (we probably won't go to mainland Mexico) to address this problem.
Ok, Liam's waking up, must run.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Hanging out in the Costa Baja
This is the calmest place we have ever been, there is absolutely zero motion in here, take that Pier 39 Marina, there are also no all night disco's or early morning sport fishing startups, in fact the only noise is the predator fish chasing the bait up against the hull, it seems that there is a near constant feeding frenzy going on. There are even s Sea Turtles inside the marina.
Liam and I have often been the sole patrons and the very nicely appointed beach club, lovely infinitiy pool, hot tubs , towels, nice showers and a decent beach, it's a beautiful place for a beach club with sweeping views of Bahia La Paz and the distant desert,if one could somehow overlook the nearby Pemex tank ship terminal it would be perfect, the resort also has a huge golf course with lavish landscaping.
But the odd thing is that the place is practically deserted, the marina is only about 70% occupied and for what you get in terms of ameneties it's almost indecently cheap, so how does the place stay open if it's not making money? The rumour of course is that it is narco money, but who knows what the truth is is.
We checked out the local Montesorri preschool, Liam immediately knew what was going on and promptly climbed back into the stroller and buckled himself in. It wasn't as nice as the one in Cabo.
Heather has a cold, when she get's better we will head over to the islands and probably spend Christmas over there.
M
Liam and I have often been the sole patrons and the very nicely appointed beach club, lovely infinitiy pool, hot tubs , towels, nice showers and a decent beach, it's a beautiful place for a beach club with sweeping views of Bahia La Paz and the distant desert,if one could somehow overlook the nearby Pemex tank ship terminal it would be perfect, the resort also has a huge golf course with lavish landscaping.
But the odd thing is that the place is practically deserted, the marina is only about 70% occupied and for what you get in terms of ameneties it's almost indecently cheap, so how does the place stay open if it's not making money? The rumour of course is that it is narco money, but who knows what the truth is is.
We checked out the local Montesorri preschool, Liam immediately knew what was going on and promptly climbed back into the stroller and buckled himself in. It wasn't as nice as the one in Cabo.
Heather has a cold, when she get's better we will head over to the islands and probably spend Christmas over there.
M
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Great News!
Marc has graduated from the University of Oregon! He now has a BS Political Science, with minors in Business Administration and Geography.
He called me this morning with the news, I'm a proud and somewhat relieved father.
He called me this morning with the news, I'm a proud and somewhat relieved father.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
La Paz
Well here we are in La Paz, arrived around noon and easily found a relatively inexpensive slip in marina at the edge of town. It's called Marina Costa Baja, designed for high end clientele and megayachts, but now forced to accept riff raff such as ourselves.
It's always nice to get into a snug a marina after several days at anchor, for one thing it makes getting Liam ashore a lot easier.
We had spent a couple of pleasant days at Ensenada de los muertos, ( Bay of the Dead), an attempt has been made to develop the area into a golf/beach resort and the developers changed the name to Ensenada de los suenos,(Bay of Dreams). It's not exactly thriving so the standing joke is that the new name is now Ensenada de los Muerto Suenos, dead dreams. But it is a beautifull place with great mountains crashing down into the sea, and an excellent north wind anchorage.
Leaving Muertos and going north to La Paz means transiting the Ceralvo Channel, basically a large windfunnel with a ripping current, I was a bit intimidated by this, particularly having heard hairy stories about cross currents and large confused seas, bashing 35 miles to windward in those conditions does not really appeal to me, and Heather and Liam would not be happy. But I figured out the tides by talking to a local fisherman who also told me that the wind tended to drop at night , something that I was already aware of but he added that Saturday night would be light and then it would start blowing again. So as a result I was up and weighing the anchor ( it's 25kg by the way) and underway with a reefed main and the engine running at 0230. And it was flat and easy, in fact a light sourtherly came up and we motored all the way to La Paz.
From which you may deduce that the engine is running well and you would be correct, we can now motor at close to hull speed instead of clomping along at 4.5 knots, I have to run in the rebuilt motor for the first 100 hrs, even so at 1600 rpm in flat water we can now go about 6.25 knots, it's all very exciting and scary fast.
Our digital camera has malfunctioned, so no new pictures until I can figure out what to do with it, it overexposes everything and the manual settings don't seem to work.
Aside from that we are all well and look forward to exploring the beautiful Bahia de La Paz.
M
It's always nice to get into a snug a marina after several days at anchor, for one thing it makes getting Liam ashore a lot easier.
We had spent a couple of pleasant days at Ensenada de los muertos, ( Bay of the Dead), an attempt has been made to develop the area into a golf/beach resort and the developers changed the name to Ensenada de los suenos,(Bay of Dreams). It's not exactly thriving so the standing joke is that the new name is now Ensenada de los Muerto Suenos, dead dreams. But it is a beautifull place with great mountains crashing down into the sea, and an excellent north wind anchorage.
Leaving Muertos and going north to La Paz means transiting the Ceralvo Channel, basically a large windfunnel with a ripping current, I was a bit intimidated by this, particularly having heard hairy stories about cross currents and large confused seas, bashing 35 miles to windward in those conditions does not really appeal to me, and Heather and Liam would not be happy. But I figured out the tides by talking to a local fisherman who also told me that the wind tended to drop at night , something that I was already aware of but he added that Saturday night would be light and then it would start blowing again. So as a result I was up and weighing the anchor ( it's 25kg by the way) and underway with a reefed main and the engine running at 0230. And it was flat and easy, in fact a light sourtherly came up and we motored all the way to La Paz.
From which you may deduce that the engine is running well and you would be correct, we can now motor at close to hull speed instead of clomping along at 4.5 knots, I have to run in the rebuilt motor for the first 100 hrs, even so at 1600 rpm in flat water we can now go about 6.25 knots, it's all very exciting and scary fast.
Our digital camera has malfunctioned, so no new pictures until I can figure out what to do with it, it overexposes everything and the manual settings don't seem to work.
Aside from that we are all well and look forward to exploring the beautiful Bahia de La Paz.
M
Saturday, December 10, 2011
At anchor in Los Muertos
Quick update, we have bashed our way north from the Los Cabos area and we are now anchored in Ensenada de Los Muertos, we are about 60 miles from La Paz via the Cerralvo and San Lorenzo channels.
We will leave for La Paz very early tommorow morning
M
We will leave for La Paz very early tommorow morning
M
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Thursday, December 8, 2011
Onwards
We got into San Jose del Cabo after a bumpy 4 hour motor sail, it's a large uncompleted marina development, we got a slip in the unfinished part of the marina for a lot less the Cabo.
We took the bus into old San Jose, a quaint town with a thriving art community.
It has been very windy and yes cold!. But the Norther seems to be diminishing today so we will push on to La Paz.
M
We took the bus into old San Jose, a quaint town with a thriving art community.
It has been very windy and yes cold!. But the Norther seems to be diminishing today so we will push on to La Paz.
M
Monday, December 5, 2011
Ready,set, oh wait a minute
We completed provisioning at Walmart of all places, I hate Walmart but honestly it was very well stocked and surprisingly cheap.
Today I replenished the water, easy you may say, just drop in the hose and done, but this being Mexico it's not quite that simple, despite the advertised potable water at the marina nobody will drink it, in fact I was told again in no uncertain terms that if you drink the water it will "fxxx you up", that`s a loose transliteration from spanish.
So Heather and I dragged our water jugs into town about a quarter mile to the place that sells purified water to try to rent some water jugs, but they won't rent them so we bought 2 and filled them up, I then made 5 roundtrips between there and Grace before we had the tanks full, we carry about 260 liters, we can't use the watermaker in the harbour as the water is polluted so we were getting pretty low.
So the engine seems to be running very well, it sounds like a new engine compared to before, and in a sense it is a new engine, with the engine out of the way I was able to take care of some other issues at theat end of the boat, such as the shaft packing and the shaft log, which was a little loose.
So we are ready to set off once more but now there is a weather issue. A strong Norther is blowing down the Sea at 30 plus knots which means we would be bashing into a steep sea for about 80 miles once we round Cabo Pulmo, so we are going to wait for this to die down before we sail for La Paz, we may leave tommorow anyway and go to San Jose Del Cabo, only about 20 miles and probably a good reentry.
Liam, believe it or not,likes school, at least that is what he said today, the Montesorri approach seems to work with him, so when we get to La Paz we will probably find another school for him.
We spend the day ( yestersday ) with Hans and Kathleen at their condo about 5k east of here, it was nice to see some familiar faces, and to see Hans without his hat, Liam loved Kathleen, in fact we were thinking about kidnapping her and bringing her along to play with Liam.
M
Today I replenished the water, easy you may say, just drop in the hose and done, but this being Mexico it's not quite that simple, despite the advertised potable water at the marina nobody will drink it, in fact I was told again in no uncertain terms that if you drink the water it will "fxxx you up", that`s a loose transliteration from spanish.
So Heather and I dragged our water jugs into town about a quarter mile to the place that sells purified water to try to rent some water jugs, but they won't rent them so we bought 2 and filled them up, I then made 5 roundtrips between there and Grace before we had the tanks full, we carry about 260 liters, we can't use the watermaker in the harbour as the water is polluted so we were getting pretty low.
So the engine seems to be running very well, it sounds like a new engine compared to before, and in a sense it is a new engine, with the engine out of the way I was able to take care of some other issues at theat end of the boat, such as the shaft packing and the shaft log, which was a little loose.
So we are ready to set off once more but now there is a weather issue. A strong Norther is blowing down the Sea at 30 plus knots which means we would be bashing into a steep sea for about 80 miles once we round Cabo Pulmo, so we are going to wait for this to die down before we sail for La Paz, we may leave tommorow anyway and go to San Jose Del Cabo, only about 20 miles and probably a good reentry.
Liam, believe it or not,likes school, at least that is what he said today, the Montesorri approach seems to work with him, so when we get to La Paz we will probably find another school for him.
We spend the day ( yestersday ) with Hans and Kathleen at their condo about 5k east of here, it was nice to see some familiar faces, and to see Hans without his hat, Liam loved Kathleen, in fact we were thinking about kidnapping her and bringing her along to play with Liam.
M
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
If It's Not Scottish It's Crap
Sandra (Owner of Los Milagros) and Liam
Los Milagros
Monday, November 28, 2011
Cabo Submarine
It's really just a glass bottom boat, but it was pretty cool, it was quite a windy day and the Capt' was having a hard time keeping close to the reef without actually hitting it. It was getting quite rolly too and before long all the kids and some of their parents were getting seasick, so they took them topsides where they were all promptly drenched with spray, some crying ensued.
But we both enjoyed it, this fine craft was a sistership to the one I ran into on Catalina, I had met the owner when he had it hauled out in the boatyard.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
All the parts are here
Arrived as advertised much to my surprise and only about twenty minutes late, so these are parts from Japan that were shipped from Seattle to Chula Vista, CA, carried across the border to Tijuana, flown to La Paz and then couriered from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas, actually the courier drove a very old and beat up pick up truck. The whole process took a week, which is actually pretty good by local standards.
We may get back in the water on Wednesday!
M
We may get back in the water on Wednesday!
M
More non traditional dancing
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Pack mule across the Andes
A little slowly to say the least but the parts should be here on Thursday, time to start putting things back together.
Meanwhile we are enjoying the Hotel Los Milagros, it's going to be hard to get back on the boat.
M
Meanwhile we are enjoying the Hotel Los Milagros, it's going to be hard to get back on the boat.
M
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Parts is coming!
But slowly I gather,they left Seattle yesterday and are probably in Chula Vista by now just north of the border, however Monday is Revolution Day in Mexico and a public holiday so nothing will happen until Tuseday, I had to go through an agent who will then figure out the best way to get these things to the boatyard.
Michael. Nice and warm here though.
Michael. Nice and warm here though.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
El problemo
This atrocious piece of fabrication is the source of the problem, the small tube injects raw water into the mixing elbow to cool the exhaust, as you can see the tube blocks about 50% of the exhaust flow before all the rust , corrosion and carbon completely blocked the rest of it. Thankyou very much brilliant genius engine installer, there are other issues, unreinforced engine mounts, the aft one was broken due to a lack of gusset.
The end result was that the soot and unburnt fuel was forced back down into the piston rings causing them to stick and thus we lost compression, no compression , no ignition.
The good news is that all the important parts show practically no wear, so we shouls only have to replace the rings and get the block honed. We may replace the crankshaft and piston bearings as we have everything apart anyway so it would be a good oportunity.
Michael
Engine out
In the slings in Cabo
Turned out that it was cheaper to haul out and then remove the engine than leave her in a slip and and pull it out that way.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Younger Woman on the beach
Anchored a little close in, but he did get off ok, this is in Turtle Bay.
Finally
Got on line, so pic's to follow.
Got the engine ready to lift out, in the process I discovered one broken engine mount and a partially plugged mixing elbow, I wonder if the increased backpressure in the exhaust would cause ring failure..
Strange, the engine hours are correct, engine installed in 98, survey in 2003 showed 58hrs, we bought it in 07 it then had about 100hrs, as of today there are 356 hrs. Talking to a couple of other boats that have had compression issues and they both have older engines with low hours, one was a twenty year old Volvo with only 600 hrs, methinks now that our Izuzu has never been broken in .
Any it will be interesting to see what the engine looks like inside.
Michael
Got the engine ready to lift out, in the process I discovered one broken engine mount and a partially plugged mixing elbow, I wonder if the increased backpressure in the exhaust would cause ring failure..
Strange, the engine hours are correct, engine installed in 98, survey in 2003 showed 58hrs, we bought it in 07 it then had about 100hrs, as of today there are 356 hrs. Talking to a couple of other boats that have had compression issues and they both have older engines with low hours, one was a twenty year old Volvo with only 600 hrs, methinks now that our Izuzu has never been broken in .
Any it will be interesting to see what the engine looks like inside.
Michael
Friday, November 11, 2011
In the boatyard
So Grace is hauled out once more, this time in Cabo Marine, it went just fine, this is a busy yard and they seem pretty competent, actually it is virtually identical to any yard in the US only 30-40% cheaper.
I just finished removing the cockpit floor so we should have the engine out on Monday.
Lot´s of megayachts in the marina, including Tamsen, a big Perini Navi and Ethereal a 59m ketch, very impressive close up.
M
I just finished removing the cockpit floor so we should have the engine out on Monday.
Lot´s of megayachts in the marina, including Tamsen, a big Perini Navi and Ethereal a 59m ketch, very impressive close up.
M
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Cabo WABO
Bad news, the overhauled cylinder head has not fixed the problem, there is still no compression in the numbers 1& 2 cylinders. Strange amount of wear too, far more than can be accounted for from 360hrs of running time that shows on the clock. You don´t suppose somebody switched the hourmeter do you?
Any way the end result is that the engine will have to come out, I will probably haul the boat tommorow and we will move ashore until it is fixed, not sure how long this will take as parts need to be shipped, but it can be done , there are good machine shops here, but this is going to take a bout a year out of our cruising budget.
Still haven´t figured out how to access local wifi, but we will have a phone soon.
Michael
Any way the end result is that the engine will have to come out, I will probably haul the boat tommorow and we will move ashore until it is fixed, not sure how long this will take as parts need to be shipped, but it can be done , there are good machine shops here, but this is going to take a bout a year out of our cruising budget.
Still haven´t figured out how to access local wifi, but we will have a phone soon.
Michael
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Mexican Connections
I love Mexico but simple things like getting wifi to work can be a real challenge, I gave up in the end and am now using a cafe keyboard which is Spanish and considerably different from what I am used to. But what the heck, I`,m in Mexico , Cabo San Lucas andf it´s 75f in the early evening.
When I get things figurured out I will post pictures, John, Heathers Dad took a lot of them.
So, how did it go? Overall great, we had some great sailing, the start from San Diego was basically windless until 2 hours into it, then the we sailed into light SW for a couple more hours, then that died and on came the engine fro the next 8 hours, chug chug at 5 knots, next morning the wind was up a little so up went the hot pink assymetrical and up it stayed for the next 36hours with the windvane steering. We now had about 15knots of NW and were flying, I reasoned that the wind would hold steady and was proved wrong when it built quite considerably around midnight so I had to wrestle it down with John on the halyard, but it all went ok, it`s been a while since I``ve done a midnight takedown. Next day started light and sloppy but we could see Isla Cedros and gybed towards it, finally we made the San Benitos and gybed again, this time just the jib so it was easy. The wind built as we approached Turtle Bay, eventualy blowing 30 plus and we were down to staysail and the 2nd reef screaming through the night, we made it into the anchorage at around 0500, tired.
During the night a fire extinguisher had got loose and discharged into the main cabin, white powder everywhere, it was very surreal illuminated with our red night lights and swirling around. it got literally everywhere, fortunately not into the forepeak where Heather and Liam were sleeping. I crawled into bed with Heather and said you are not going to be happy, I was correct in this regard.
It was really windy in TB, a panga bumped alongside, we took on fuel about 10 gallons everyone went ashore and I started clean up. Heather got back and started clean up again, the wind dropped and we had a pleasant couple of days at anchor, beatifull sunsets and sunrises, a beach party and Liam absolutely skipping for joy, naked on the beach wearing a hat and sunscreen.
The next leg was Turtle bay to Bahia Santa Maria, a shorter leg by about I00 miles, it was another light wind start but we sailed off the anchor and sailed back onto it once we reached BSM. We caught a huge tuna, it was a scary big one, I really had know idea what I was doing but I did land it kill it and filet it, it was probably 25 to 30 lbs.
Grace had been sailing wonderfully well, we were keeping up with much larger boats and overtaking some of the cruising catamarans, which seem to be remarkably slow despite how they are advertised.
When the wind got sloppy we were about 50 miles directly upwing of the finish line and decided that enough was enough and went to start the motor, it started but wouldn`t run up to speed and smoked really badly, I changed the secondary filter, no problem, but the same thing happened, I changed the primary and switched the fuel system , but same result, we ended up sailing the rest of the way and were able to brag about it.
Bahia Santa Maria is a beautifull bay and about as isolated a place as you can find in the Northern hemisphere, which makes it pretty cool when the crew of about 150 boats show up and have a party on shore, and rock and roll band appears out of nowhere, and the nlocal fishing families cook up great seafood and the pangeros play water taxi, they had cleaned and painted there boats just for this one day of the year when the HaHa fleet arrives.
I took the fuel system apart and seemed to have got things running, but we ended up sailing off the anchor once again, so we left for Cabo San Lucas with an uncertain engine, which I will admit made me a little apprehensive.
It was a short leg, around 220 miles and we enjoyed some fine warm weather sailing the first day and night with the pink assymetrical kite and the vane steering, the next day it got sloppy and really light, the apparent wind was to light for the vane and we hand steered most of the day, watch on, watch off, let me say now for the record that I could not have asked for a better watchmate than John Doherty, my father in law, Liams grandfather and Heathers dad, he was calm and effective and didn`t seem to mind when I said things like^^ how do you intend to avoid running into that anchored megayacht^^. I don`t remember saying that.
As we approached the Cape the wind died completely, we were still about 35 miles from the anchorage, so , tried the engine and it ran okay, not great , but enough to get us in to Bahia Cabo San Lucas.
We are now in the Marina with the engine in pieces, the cylinder head has just got back from the machine shop, the valves on the numbers 1 & 2 cylinders where choked with soot and sludge so they were not sealing on the compression stroke, consequently when we left the anchorage for the marina we had about 9hp to move a 13 ton cutter, people kept coming up to us to tell us that our engine was smoking.
Safely in a berth once more I enlisted the help of a local mechanic and we should have things back together tommorow.
Then were will we go? La Paz, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta? we will see, I have to admit I quite like hanging out in Cabo San Lucas.
Michael
When I get things figurured out I will post pictures, John, Heathers Dad took a lot of them.
So, how did it go? Overall great, we had some great sailing, the start from San Diego was basically windless until 2 hours into it, then the we sailed into light SW for a couple more hours, then that died and on came the engine fro the next 8 hours, chug chug at 5 knots, next morning the wind was up a little so up went the hot pink assymetrical and up it stayed for the next 36hours with the windvane steering. We now had about 15knots of NW and were flying, I reasoned that the wind would hold steady and was proved wrong when it built quite considerably around midnight so I had to wrestle it down with John on the halyard, but it all went ok, it`s been a while since I``ve done a midnight takedown. Next day started light and sloppy but we could see Isla Cedros and gybed towards it, finally we made the San Benitos and gybed again, this time just the jib so it was easy. The wind built as we approached Turtle Bay, eventualy blowing 30 plus and we were down to staysail and the 2nd reef screaming through the night, we made it into the anchorage at around 0500, tired.
During the night a fire extinguisher had got loose and discharged into the main cabin, white powder everywhere, it was very surreal illuminated with our red night lights and swirling around. it got literally everywhere, fortunately not into the forepeak where Heather and Liam were sleeping. I crawled into bed with Heather and said you are not going to be happy, I was correct in this regard.
It was really windy in TB, a panga bumped alongside, we took on fuel about 10 gallons everyone went ashore and I started clean up. Heather got back and started clean up again, the wind dropped and we had a pleasant couple of days at anchor, beatifull sunsets and sunrises, a beach party and Liam absolutely skipping for joy, naked on the beach wearing a hat and sunscreen.
The next leg was Turtle bay to Bahia Santa Maria, a shorter leg by about I00 miles, it was another light wind start but we sailed off the anchor and sailed back onto it once we reached BSM. We caught a huge tuna, it was a scary big one, I really had know idea what I was doing but I did land it kill it and filet it, it was probably 25 to 30 lbs.
Grace had been sailing wonderfully well, we were keeping up with much larger boats and overtaking some of the cruising catamarans, which seem to be remarkably slow despite how they are advertised.
When the wind got sloppy we were about 50 miles directly upwing of the finish line and decided that enough was enough and went to start the motor, it started but wouldn`t run up to speed and smoked really badly, I changed the secondary filter, no problem, but the same thing happened, I changed the primary and switched the fuel system , but same result, we ended up sailing the rest of the way and were able to brag about it.
Bahia Santa Maria is a beautifull bay and about as isolated a place as you can find in the Northern hemisphere, which makes it pretty cool when the crew of about 150 boats show up and have a party on shore, and rock and roll band appears out of nowhere, and the nlocal fishing families cook up great seafood and the pangeros play water taxi, they had cleaned and painted there boats just for this one day of the year when the HaHa fleet arrives.
I took the fuel system apart and seemed to have got things running, but we ended up sailing off the anchor once again, so we left for Cabo San Lucas with an uncertain engine, which I will admit made me a little apprehensive.
It was a short leg, around 220 miles and we enjoyed some fine warm weather sailing the first day and night with the pink assymetrical kite and the vane steering, the next day it got sloppy and really light, the apparent wind was to light for the vane and we hand steered most of the day, watch on, watch off, let me say now for the record that I could not have asked for a better watchmate than John Doherty, my father in law, Liams grandfather and Heathers dad, he was calm and effective and didn`t seem to mind when I said things like^^ how do you intend to avoid running into that anchored megayacht^^. I don`t remember saying that.
As we approached the Cape the wind died completely, we were still about 35 miles from the anchorage, so , tried the engine and it ran okay, not great , but enough to get us in to Bahia Cabo San Lucas.
We are now in the Marina with the engine in pieces, the cylinder head has just got back from the machine shop, the valves on the numbers 1 & 2 cylinders where choked with soot and sludge so they were not sealing on the compression stroke, consequently when we left the anchorage for the marina we had about 9hp to move a 13 ton cutter, people kept coming up to us to tell us that our engine was smoking.
Safely in a berth once more I enlisted the help of a local mechanic and we should have things back together tommorow.
Then were will we go? La Paz, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta? we will see, I have to admit I quite like hanging out in Cabo San Lucas.
Michael
Friday, November 4, 2011
In Cabo!
Details & pics follow, but no big prob's, Liam mostly naked, big tuna, warm nights.
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Saturday, October 22, 2011
Last few days in San Diego
It's been a treat for us to be in a marina with stable concrete docks and no wind and surge, it's a very nice marina, very well run and clean with great facilities. We also have the use of the pool and spa at the Sheraton. Which we have been taking advantage of.
There are lots of other Ha Ha boats around us, a very mixed bag of humanity, some obviuosly experienced and some less so. It's interesting for me to see other peoples concept of their "ideal " cruising boat, ours tends towards the primitive end of the spectrum, most of the Canadian boats are steel, most of the SoCal boats are fibreglass production boats, everyone has been very nice and Liam hasn't thrown anymore eggs.
The festivities/activities start tommorow, including a skippers meeting and a Halloween party, which explains why Zorro showed up.
Then on Monday we are off once more, next stop Turtle Bay, about 280 nm south of San Diego, I'm ready to get moving again.
It wass nice to get a visit from my niece Christina, who I haven't seen in years and who in fact I haven't seen very much of over the last 20 or so years, she seems pretty settled in her San Diego life, and Ho Chung her boyfriend is a very nice guy, smart too.
Michael
Our new crew member
Zorro, our new crewmember has quickly made himself at home, we will certainly value his skills as a swordsman and master of disguise, although most people seem to recognize a Zorro when they see one
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Banished from Avalon
I forgot to mention this and unfortunately have no photograph, but the day before we left Avalon the friendly Harbour Patrol boat was alongside and we chatting amicably when suddenly Liam popped out of the hatch with an egg in his hand. Harbour Patrol guy says, "Hey there, I see you have an egg!" So Liam promptly threw it at him. We snuck out of the harbour at 0400 the next morning.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Yomping in San Diego and a picture of nothing.
Like most American cities San Diego is designed for cars, everyone has a car or multiple cars, not having a car seems to perplex people and of course you have to walk,or yomp if your backpack is full of parts.
I did a fair bit of both today but at one point, having arrived at a watermaker parts place and discovering no one was there I called the contact number and was informed that it was no problem I just had to go somewhere else, a point off in the distance near the Coronado bridge, I asked naively if that was far to walk, I knew it was, but I was trying the kindness of strangers angle, much to my surprise the guy agreed to meet me that evening at the marina. Then it was somewhat like arranging a drug drop, for the record I have not ever arranged a drug drop, but I was to stand at a certain location at an appointed time and my contact would arrive. It all worked out, perhaps I should ask for help more often.
Liam and Heather are going to Seaworld tommorow, we should have lots of picture!
Liam and Heather are going to Seaworld tommorow, we should have lots of picture!
Comments
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M
M
San Diego
Arrived yesterday evening after a 40 mile motor,( boring and loud ), followed by a 25 mile sail, ( much better, tried the big jib for the first time). Followed by a motor up San Diego bay to a berth that we had secured in Cabrillo Isle Marina, they offered a really good deal for the week for the Ha Ha fleet, in fact there was a HaHa party in progress when we arrived. We were actually assisted in docking, so as a result I glanced off the finger, slip was a bit tight and we don't do left turns very well. We appear to be the smallest boat in the fleet . But everyone was friendly.
Off to buy boat stuff.
M
Off to buy boat stuff.
M
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
How to fend off a submarine
Well first you have to be in an area where there are submarines, and second you need to have them conveniently tied up alongside a pier.
With these first two criteria met it is simply then a question of backing down over your own dinghy painter and wrapping it around the propeller.
So that was my first stupid mistake of the cruise, it turned out okay, fending off a subamarine is actually quite easy but the whole incident was rather embarassing.
Michael
With these first two criteria met it is simply then a question of backing down over your own dinghy painter and wrapping it around the propeller.
So that was my first stupid mistake of the cruise, it turned out okay, fending off a subamarine is actually quite easy but the whole incident was rather embarassing.
Michael
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Liam's tricycle
I couldn't leave the tricycle behind so I took it apart and stowed aboard, it's probably good for him to have some familiar references but I took it for mostly sentimental reasons.
Today was beautiful, hot and sunny so we did laundry at the most expensive coin op' laundromat on the west coast, or maybe in the entire universe.
Avalon certainly has it charms, enough so that recently a 70 ft mooring changed hands for $2.5 million, thats for a block of concrete, chain, lines and a couple of bouys. Some people obviously like it here a lot.
It is calm and sheltered and the water is crystal clear, we are going to stay here fro a few more days before we head over to San Diego.
Michael
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