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