WE SEE THE SEA
March 2
12:15pm headsail up!!!! Engine off. We are sailing out of this the same way we sailed in. With no engines running. Great feeling leaving Guaymas again after 30 days in the pit.
Long 4 hour slog with the wind coming from the nose all day getting out but we sail and motor when needed. Feeling good just seeing the headsail up. I never end up uncovering the main sail. Let’s ease into this one. I have noticed Im a bit tired and making some poor decisions on the fly right now so gave way to caution.
I furl in lots of the headsail just to see how the boat is handling and to get back in this groove. Very little sailing done in thios 12 mile run. Same as last season. Im sailing through the thickest fog of the trip on day 1!!! (never to see fog again until I leave Mexico)
Slow start. Happy Ending.
We make it to a little remote bay called La Salada. Not a person, road, or sign of humans in site. I drop the anchor in approximately 25 feet of water and I mean DROP the anchor. Long story short but the last thing major to do in the yard was to make sure the damn main anchor was attached to the BOAT! I have bad luck with anchors so this could seem like a joke to someone but it is not. I ran out of time before launching and didnt make sure the chain was attached to the boat. It appears I disconnected everything last year while tucking her away.
So back to the anchorage here. The boat is in reverse so everything is coming out fairly quickly! Especially for single handed on the first day! With shear amazement and fear, I grasp the END of the chain in my fingers and in milliseconds wrap it around the Furler drum.. The only way to stop anything like this is to put a bite on it instantly. You cant stop a boat with your hands but you can stop it with one quick wrap around something solid and round. So to make this clear as a visual, the chain was flying out of the locker and I grabbed the very last link and did this in the last second available. How stupid could someone be?
Once it bit on the furler drum, I lash it off and run back and put the Struggy in neutral. I re tie to the 150 feet of rode and tie off for the night (and for good)
Things like this make me wonder what the hell I’m doing? Im prepping to cross the biggest ocean on earth but forgot to shackle the anchor chain to there boat?
Secure the boat. Crack an anchor cervesa.
Dinner is a full blown chili spaghetti thing and the fridge is running. A few cold beers and some journaling and im completely fried. It feels like no rest for 30 days.
Goodnight.
8pm.
March 3
Excited for sailing, I’m up and prepping the vessel. Its all wet with dew but I start the engine and we slowly chug out of this sun lit lonely bay.
We set sail 9 miles to San Carlos. Arriving at 11am gives us plenty of time to sail in under our own wings and drop anchor in the majestic San Carlos anchorage.
My cockpit fish-finder/chart plotter randomly starts smoking and starts on fire. What the heck!? (No more than 14.4 volts are going to the instruments. Maybe the power got to hot when it enters the unit?)
March 4-9
This week is spent working on the boat.
-Finalize new Forestay order from Rigging Shoppe Toronto.
-Trip by bus to Guaymas to purchase pink vinyl for an art project.
-Try fixing VHF. No luck yet. Getting poor connection from antenna up top and the unit down below at the nav station.
-Stain interior woods.
-Random small boat projects
-New to me solar charge controller backup purchased.
-new 5/16” furlong line purchase. 70’ for furler. New Rope what a beautiful sight.
-Saturdays swap meet provides the ultimate gift of what feels like a finish to this whole setup project. I’ve been looking for an 8’ hard dingy for years and I purchase one at the swap meet for $300can. Its an original Walker Bay and in great shape. Its cute as all get out. Doesnt have oar locks but works for now. So fun to row around in. I can see myself never installing the small outboard and rowing everywhere.
“Well I don’t have a car anymore, I guess that makes me more of a sailor”
-Random sailor on the vhf
Meet some cool sailors and have lots of times at the Hammerheads bar 2-4 happy hour. I need to go now.
Rover It
(cool boat name)
On the night before the passage to the Baja I’m eating pasta raw and I crack a chunk of molar off! Dang! Its more serious than I thought so in the morning Im scrambling to email and call dentists in Gyamas, San Carlos, and in the Baja. I only receive one reply and Its a lovely lady in Loreto. Since theres not a lot of pain yet. I decide to book in an Xray and filing On Monday March 16th @ 10am when I’ll pick up Kirk and Ian in Loreto.
I could have stayed in San Carlos but a HUGE wind was coming Wednesday through the Sea of Cortez so I wanted to try and catch the front of that wave over to the Baja. The passage I must do.
March 10
Day of the crossing. Winds look like they realy start at 6pm. Decide that an evening departure makes sense to stay ahead of this river of wind coming down the Sea. I spend the day topping up groceries and water.
5PM
Hoist the mainsail and lift the anchor. No engine started. I gracefully sail by everyone at anchor and out the channel mouth. Winds are jumping around so its a bit of a tack and zig-zag out of there. Once we are out I start gaining speed with a close haul showing views into the sunset. Make a quick egg burrito before dark. Will be a long night. The first half off this 80 mile journey are unbelievably awesome. By 11pm we are almost half way across the sea doing an average off 5.5 knots per hour. The sea is calm and we are hauling along comfortably. The night and into the 2:00-4:00 am range are more of a cautionary control situation where the winds (as predicted increase and increase to almost 25knots). The night is spent reefing the Genny, then reefing the main, then an hour later doing that again, and once again until by 4 am everything is fully reefed down and we are humming along on a beam reach at 7.5 knots! We did see 8.1 sustained for a bit. Regularly I would not have been this conservative but I really need to ease into this with the rig and myself. I cant be making any poor decisions. I’ll be reefing more and sooner on this upcoming trip. This baby Struggy needs to get me to New Zealand safe. We’ll take extra care in that department for her.
My personal passage routine is to set a 25 minute alarm on my phone. All night I place it on my chest and will be up for 5 minutes to check for other ships, check the sails, and check for rope chafe. I then try and rest my eyes for 10-15 minutes (sometimes falling asleep momentarily). This goes on until the sun peeks up at 6:30am and we are gliding in the Chivato anchorage! Coffee is hot and easy as we slide right into place.
March 11
14.5 hours and 80 miles later. We drop anchor in 16’ feet of water and let out 100’ of chain. Depth sounder is working great again!
My AIS transmitter appeared to be seeing boats at anchor and all over but never out at sea? I’m thinking that these fishing boats never turn on AIS? Hmmmmm. Wonder if they see me.
Day is spent on the boat bunkering in from those 30 knot Northerlies humming down the Sea. This is what I didn’t want to be out there in. Made it perfectly in time.
Morning spent exploring the abandoned resort.
March 12
Up early with excitement for sailing. Why cant I sit at anchor long before wanting to raise sails? Billy knows this all too well..
“Im okay with some calm days ahead”
-BT
8am. Mains’l hoisted. Plenty of wind funneling into the bay.
So much wind in fact I cant lift the anchor by hand. I turn on the engine and slowly move forward. Anchor is up and we bear off the wind and start downwind. When I go to switch off the engine the ON/OFF toggle switch fails and starts to melt! The engine continues to run. This is scary and not a good situation at sea at all. Smoke parts billowing from the cockpit electronics and heavy white smoke from the engine bay! I Grab the fire extinguisher, remove the pin, and have it pointed towards the smoke. Its the closests to a fire onbaord that Ive seen yet. Very scary few minutes as I try and remain calm. Since the engine cannot be shut off, I motor back into the wind to 20 feet of water, drop the sails and anchor. I decide its better to be here in a bay with 2 sailor neighbors than out at sea. Once the smoke dissipates the engine is still running. In a bit of a scramble I remeber stories of a “run away engine”. So I think how do you stop a running diesel engine anyways!?
I cover the air intake with the Holy Bible and the engine stops immediately. Thank You Lord Jesus Crist!
Huge stress and huge relief. Now to try and understand what just happened!?
Super fast 10 miles downhill run to the majestic mouth of the Mulegé town.
Set anchor and start on the mystery.
To town and JC’s bar. What an evening with new friends and locals that are oh so welcoming and feel like home and family.
March 13
I start with replacing the 20amp ON/OFF toggle ignition switch. Nothing. Then replace the momentary power push start button. Nothing. Inspect all wiring to the engine and replace the main ground wire. Nothing. I switch out the starter solenoid (turns out thats actually a glow plug solenoid) with a backup replacement. Nothing.
I decide to pull the starter from the engine and found the reality of the situation. The entire starter is melted out and the wires on the outside are also pooched. It appears the ignition switch failed and made the starter continue to run until it burn out! Shit!
By 11am I’m in town finding random mechanics and new friends that want to help. One awesome looking dude speaks very little English and says his cousin has junk yard to try and rebuild the starter! We spend the next 6 hours driving around town finding old starters and rebuilding mine. We purchase new brushes and soldier them in. Back to the boat. Throw the starter in and it clicks. Same thing. Nothing. It will not fire. Deflated I come to the realization my engine starter is pooched for good… This is not good in this small town.
Makepeace of a night.
March 14
A few auto parts stores do not have a starter that will fit. I head back to the boat and by 3pm Im trying to sail out of the bay in very little winds. 24 hours spend drifting out in the bay. Kirk and Ian are flying to Loreto in 2 days and I’m 80 miles away with no winds and no starter! This almost feels like where the saying “shit out of luck” was invented. I make the choice to limp back into Mulege and reset. This is the moment that I feel pretty down because I wont be able to pick my friends up at the marina in Loreto as planned. Super down about that but this is how it goes. “Adventure doesn’t start until shit goes south”
March 15.
My friend Jeni offers her truck to drive down to Loreto to get the Buoys!
Dentist to fix my aching and chipped molar by 11am. $115 later I have a fixed tooth and off to the Airport.
Kirk and Ian are there smiling and ready for adventure.
Back in Mulege ,Jeni offers to cook us a wonderful Indian meal and set us off on our way. Very thoughtful and kind. A really nice experience for the guys and being sent off safely on our way.
The 3 of us are down to the boat and rowing all our gear out into the VERY DARK anchorage! The Snuggler dingy rides low and we slowly row out. By 10PM we are slowly sailing out of Mulege for the last time?!??
March 16 and onward.
Over the next month, things got a little busy and packed full of all kinds of stuff. Unfortunately journaling was overridden by sailing and fishing and other weird things. The remainder of the sea will be images only.
Kirk and Ian fly back to the cold tundra of the North.
March 27
My older brother Joshua and friend Steve fly in from Canada with a bag full of goodies including a new starter for the engine.
All of the first day from 6am-6pm was spent on the engine. Had it fired up by 6:00PM and we were sailing off to Honeymoon Bay by 6:35! We wont be behind our upcoming schedule! New 1100 cranking amp starter battery, new switches, new wiring, and finally a new starter relay that does the trick in the end.
April 3rd
Rest in peace Captain Dougy. It was such a pleaure getting to know you the last few seaons. Even though you hated to raise your sails, you were a legend sailor. Love Yeahs.
April 4-20
Onward from La Paz to Cabo!
April 21
My new Rolly Tasker sails that were ordered February 1st were delivered today through a shipping mule down the Baja from the USA. What a releif to have them actually arrive and install so well. They feel great and ready to cross an ocean.
See you in Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia.
🖤