Cabo to PV Crossing Sat 1/30/2015

1/30/2015

Wind and waves picked up after passing Cabo making Friday night dinner nearly impossible to cook even with a gimbaled stove do to the mixed seas. We had eaten all the seal a meal dinners that I prepared for just this kind of conditions. We all thought from the weather predictions that Friday night would be calm. It turned out to be a great celebration dinner, Pork Loin, mixed rice and broccoli served layered in our teak bowls that hold in the heat but don't burn your hands and deep enough to not spill easily in a seaway. There was a fantastic double green flash at sunset so Al was celebrating his first green flash.

Wind stayed between 15 and 22 Kts apparent till sometime between 0000 and 0300. By 0300 the seas had flattened out with wind diminishing.

Sunrises have also been fantastic. Water water all around and uninterrupted horizons. No sight of land. All day today the winds were minimal which makes the boat gently roll with a 2 ft swell and very comfortable. It was are first really hot day. Sailed with the Mizzen, Genoa and main until afternoon when we had to furl the Genoa.

Al started early this morning on boat projects. He and Jim worked from around 1100 to 1730 on repairing the second downwind pole. Had to turn on the spreader lights on to clean up. Pleasant conversations with good friends and a beer in cockpit before dinner.

A Whale of a day

For a day that had been predicted to have no wind we enjoyed from 10 to 20kts all day. We kind of have a rule that if the SOG gets lower than 5kts consistently then we motor sail.

It was cold and damp on the 0600 watch this morning but by 10 it was 80 degrees. Everyone was busy last night putting up and down the pole , changing tacks, jibing and rocking and rolling with the cross swells burns calories while you are trying to sleep. So we had a late brunch of MX scrambled eggs with tortillas from the factory in Ensenada.

All day we spotted humpbacks, I think the count was 8 today. We saw breaching with full bodies out of the water, lots of pec slapping and several flukes.

1345 we pasted "hole in the wall at Cabo San Lucas and changed course to 110 degrees headed for PV . In 16 kts of wind. Still predicted no wind. Should be there in under 2 days.

Cruising Law #8

Law # 8. Never say "this stew isn't hot enough" when the Cook is within reach of a winch handle!

We are cruising now

Woke to sunshine, only drug anchor a little last night , love the anchor alarm. This morning after coffee Al and Jill changed the fitting that broke on the pole that fell 20 ft. off its track. Al hand a spare and figured it would be a lot easier to install at anchor than on a rolling deck underway. Jim added a little muscle on the pop rivets.

We got underway at 1024. Cleared the entrance by 1100 and all had shorts on by 1200. What a beautiful day. Wind was 15 to 20 most of the day. Start from the NE shifting to the NW . We were on a broad reach coming down Isla Margarita and later sailing downwind wing and wing with the Genoa poled-out to starboard . Now on a direct course to Puerto Vallata.

Finally feels like cruising. 3 hr watches start at 1800 with Al and I getting the 6-9 watch the Jill and Jill get 9 to 12, etc. Then in the daytime we switch to 6 hr.watches.
Sunset on deck with our one allotted beer for the day ,then dinner and dishes. Jim and Jill have definitely taken over the dish washing so that's not in my routine, thankfully.

WHALE count is 15 so far.
From Turtle Bay to Mag Bay we saw 10 Gray whales . Today we saw 5 whales. 3 we could identify as Humpbacks. We saw beaches, spy hops, and tail lobbing.

Magdalena Bay

We cleared the entrance to Mag Bay at 0100 with only the main up . Wind fluctuating between 22 and 25 knots from the NW. Seas were rough with a strong counter tidal current. SOG at one point was 2.5 kts but awesome Mr. Perkins came to the rescue.
Anchored 0300 at Man of War and in bed by 0330.

0930 upped anchor for Puerto San Carlos at the head of bay. Tied the dinghy to the side of a shrimp boat and claimed over 3 shrimpers to get to the dock. Checked in at the port, went to the clinic and thankfully Al did not have to have stitches. They changed the bandage, did some scrubbing and reapplied a couple butterflies and head wrap. Had a nice seafood lunch with Jim and JIll at Marisco de Arcos.

Upped anchor at 1330 and following the Z shaped shipping channel back down the Bay we anchored around 1530 at Belchers in 22 ft of water with 100 ft of chain out. Having a great sunset. With the good comes the bad.

Now blowing 22 from the NW. Gusting to 27 kts. Anchor alarm set. Milage for the day... A grand 28 nm in the Bay of Magdalena. Wonder if I'll sleep tonight. May be time for my iTunes.
Al just got the weather GRIBs and they say it's calm here. What's with the weather predictions these days and why does it take 2 hrs to download predict wind over Go iridium?


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Beautiful Sail Beautiful Day

Monday morning after a peaceful sleep and a lazy breakfast we lifted our anchor and headed out of Mag Bay. On our way out we went over to check on the 38 ft sailing vessel Spanish Stroll whom we had met at Baja Naval last week. Their crew consists of a woman and her 15 y/o daughter and 12 y/o son. They are on their way to Panama on a mission . I'm not sure but I think it's LDS. It took them a week to get to Turtle Bay stopping twice but at least they didn't have the gale force winds and big seas that we had on Sat. I'll look up their blog to share if you are interested.

We started out with our doubled reef main in 15 kts and still running a large swell. By 12:15 we shook out both reefs with winged Genoa. Sailing on a port tack. Sunny and beautiful sailing. Basically the same most of the day between 15 and 20kts. But had to put the reefs back in for a while. Then around 2100 we had a 60 degree wind shift with lighter air, reefs shook out again.

Around 0230 Al and I were on watch in even lighter wind and had to take down the pole and the Genoa. All was going well the Genoa was furled and Al was lifting the but end to stow the pole on the mast track when the fitting broke that holds it in the track. So of course it hits Al on his head. The pole must weigh 50 lbs. He was looking up at it at the time so it hit and cut open his forehead . He is all patched up and seems to be ok. We all could have done with out that incident, especially Al.

How quickly things change

JoLinda's Jan 23rd post left us on a happy note which ended when an hour later the wind gusted to 41 kts and the port downwind pole which was so nicely holding the genoa out broke at its splice point. It took awhile to secure the broken pieces during which JoLinda did a great job of keeping Chez Nous pointing into the now 30+ kts of wind. We decided to double reef the main which went well, however, just prior to beginning the reefing the boom vang (prevents the boom from lifting when sailing down wind) parted adding to the excitement. After reefing we discovered the vang failure was actually a connecting shackle failure. Once the shackle was replaced we resumed course with the aid of the engine at low rpm to help control the Chez Nous now in a confused sea with large swell coming from the North and West. The wind held thru the night and we elected to pass Cedros Island on the inside which would use the island to block the larger Westerly swell. At dawn on Jan 24 the crew
was out of OPA hours so we ducked into Turtle Bay where the sea was flat and wind under 5 kts. We anchored in 31 ft of water and awaited crew change at noon where Ricky Mills joined us as messman (for Kevin & John).

Sunday was spent relaxing and sleeping with a barbie chicken dinner from the Aussie grill.

We are now departing Turtle Bay for Magdalena Bay

We are on our way South

We set sail from Cruise Port in Ensenada Friday at 10:30 with crew of 4 - Al, JoLinda, Jill and Jim Morgan bound for Puerto Vallarta with maybe some stops in between. Sailing at 6.7 kts with high for the day 7.3 wing and wing. We turned the engine on if we were going under 5kts. Light variable winds from behind mostly sunny skies. Swell picked up during the night. A long 6 ft swell from the west with wind waves 3-5 from the north makes it pretty lumpy. It was a cold damp night in the low 50's.
To day the swell has built to 10 ft with the same wind waves but we have jibbed after passing well clear of the Sacramento Reef so the swell is from behind. Chez Nous is almost surfing. 8.3 kts just after lunch.
All is well .
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A month in Baja Naval

 

Chex Nous has  been in Baja Naval for a month but no complaints.  The carpenter, metal workers and entire staff have done a great job deconstructing, fabricating, fitting and reinstalling all 6 main mast chain plates.  

 They were internal so required going through the deck and getting behind bulkheads and cabinets.  Quite a job.  

Clever way to leave room for Sikaflex...after west system sets up to fill enlarged slot in deck pull white plastic strips out and there is perfect clearance for sealer.

We also have new bottom paint which was the  reason we came down here in the first place and we were able to free up and clean the propellers on the bow thruster which had been frozen by invasive tube worms.  

We are trying a new clear finish on the props to try to prevent the hard growth which seems to have increased with the warmer water this year.

Al has been driving back and forth from San Pedro getting projects done both at home and on the boat so we can leave from here.  Lynnette and Drew came down with us on Sunday  and drove our car home.  So nice to have a fun day with them before we leave.

Projects are done, boat is packed, freezer is full and we get back in the water this morning.  Bright sunny, warm and calm.

Happy New Year

Jan 3, 2015

My calendar alert chimed this morning reminding me that today is our planned departure day.   We are still in LA and Chez Nous is still in Ensenada waiting for fabrication and installation of 6 chain plates. It's not like you can buy them off a shelf or we would be hitching a one way ride to Baja Naval with new plates in hand.

The one thing we thought might cause a delay was our home landscape /hardscape project but it amazingly finished up on Friday.  

Then again, let's say the boat was ready to go today we'd still have to wait for a weather window.  Looking at the line of storms coming down the coast from Alaska this doesn't look like the week to take off on a cruise.

"CALM" was the directive word from a priest to me on the Camino Del Norte last spring.  This year's cruising  word is going to be "PATIENCE" which I certainly have to work on.