Cruise to Zfest (Part 2)

Tuesday Jan 16th 2018 ;  0745  Underway from Ipala to Chamela motor sailing. 

 Had motor off for about 5 mins but then our speed dropped below 5 kts, which sort of is our prompt to turn the engine on.  Motoring at 6 kts against a counter current of 1 kt with main and staysail.

1500 wind at 12kts aft. We used the preventer on the main most of the day, sometimes with the genne and sometimes without.

1608 anchor down in Chamela in 36 ft of water. Calm seas and about 10 kts of breeze.   52.6 nm 8hrs and 24mins .  It was a long tiring day in the sun for JL and when a now new friend Wes from the steel sailboat Arcola came by in his kayak to invite us to meet him and two other boat owners on the beach for an earlier dinner we didn’t immediately commit but after a second thought we deployed the dinghy and were off.   This landing was much drier as the town has dredged the river so you can enter the river and pull out on a sandy bank instead of the typical surf landing.  Great shrimp/ veggie brochettes and garlic shrimp.  A dark ride back to the boat and and the regular chore of lifting the dinghy onto the davits for the night.  It’s a safety thing, so we’d be ready to leave the achorage if we had to in the middle of the night and also to help prevent theft.

Wes on  ARCOLA, Ric and Mary on QUE SERA ,Marlyn and Steve on TOCATA...and Al.   

Wednesday Jan.17th 2018 :       What a rolly uncomfortable night.  We had planned on staying a day and walking into the town of Perula but decided to move on.

1045 anchor up, no sails motoring to the other side of the bay to Parisio 8 miles to the south east.  Using the boat chart plotter, my iPad Navionics and Shawn and Heathers Cruising guide we successfully avoided all the reefs and rocks.

 

Chamela

Reef extending a quarter nm off Punta Perula 

Passing in front of Isla Parjarera and Isla Covinas.  Flat Top Point in the background.

Going in the little cove of Parisio to anchor

Anchor down at 1245 in 18 ft of water with 75 ft of chain.  Wind 8-12 kts till about 2000.  Good size swells pass by the entrance of the cove and crash into the cliffs on both sides but hardly any effect us.  We will see tonight how rolly it is.

Looks like a hippy Hotel. 

LOVELY

                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                                                 

Nueva Vallarta to Zihuatanejo Sailfest 2018 (part 1)

Sunday Jan.14th 2018;    0940 Underway from Paradise Village with Jl and Al on board.  Last night VYC had a fried chicken dinner after the Vallarta Cuo Race which gave us a chance to say good-bye to lots of our friends before taking off. 

This is the first time JL has been sailing since her Achilles’ tendon surgery in August so we desidered to make this a short easy sail and headed for Punta de Mita.  Like sailing to Catalina.   In preparing to anchor Al turned the windless on to see it flash “SENSOR ERROR”.  Now this is the new sensor that he installed this past summer and the same one that worked without flaw at Todas Santos Is. 2months ago.  Bummer,   

1220 We anchored in 30ft of water with 125 ft of chain out.  Thankfully Al can still make out the painted marks on the chain.  Had the rest of the day to sun, read and watch the Big guys play.  Got buzzed once by the helicopter landing then twice by their drone. 

Monday Jan.15,2018;    0745  Underway from Punta Mita in the chilly dawn.  Today’s destination is Punta Ipala.   Light wind from the east motoring at 6 kts.  

Passing inside IslasTres Las Marietta’s.

1145 rounded Cabo Corrientes 1.3 nm off ,motor sailing DDW.  Cabo Corrientes bouy was not on station.  Wind increased to max 23kts and we reefed the main at 20kts.  Had to gib twice to sail to our turning point around Punta Ipala.  The town is a little fishing village with protected water but still gets the WNW winds.   The wind had eased for the short period of time it took us to anchor but quickly increased again to 18kts in flat water.

1420 anchor down.  40.5 nm-6.5hrs.

Wind died down to 8kts so we put the dinghy in the water after pumping up the wheels again.  Love the cool electric pump.  Gift from thr McGoldricks years ago still works like a charm.

Dinner at Candes looking out at Chez Nous and the Panga fleet.

A MONTH IN NEUVO VALLARTA

We have had a great month in Paradise Village reconnecting with old friends and making some new ones.  Christmas and New Years came and went with lots of fun and great company.  Boat projects and Vallarta yacht Club activities including race committee took up most of our time.  JL also made use of the kayak and the pool for exercise, especially the pool for Achilles’ tendon rehab and her kayak for Croc hunting.

Chez Nous arrives back in Puerto Vallarta 12-14-17

Wednesday. 12-13-17.        Motor sailing most of the way with very little wind , they did have to limit their motoring to 1400 rpms to conserve fuel.  They pulled into San Jose del Cabo at 0400 local time and. waited at the fuel dock till it opened at 0600.  Didn’t loose much time there. Filled up and left the harbor at 0645 Wednesday am.  The engine was off for approximately 10 hrs the entire trip. 

1153   Thursday.  12-14-2017  Dock to dock   Chez Nous made the trip back to PV, MX in 6 days and 14 hrs.  With a Happy well fed crew.

EEK look at the weather that was Predicted for Thursday 12/7

One of three areas ahead of them that looked like this !
Thats Colonet...the old man's nose.

A weather check Weds morning at launch time had the guys trying to decide how to miss this black area 50 plus kts.  No one wants to be in that so after first anchoring at Todos Santos and slowing down then circling, at dawn on Thurs. they decided to go into Cruise Port Marina for 24 hrs. to make sure they missed it.

Friday  12/8/17  0800:       Chez Nous departed Ensenada for Puerto Vallarta , Mx.  follow the tracking on the right side of the web site.

HUMPTY DUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN and Booking south

Sunday and Monday  12/3-4/17:     After a flurry of phone calls and waiting for return messages Friday- Sunday  a plan started taking place.  Wilmington Iron works had 6 ft super strength steel rod they could mill to match our needs and S&W Diesel located a transmission plate in Seattle and arranged to fly it down to LA overnight.  Al delivered the broken parts to both and gathered other parts but I can't name all of them, couplers and packing glands and bushings?   If the transmission plate was delivered to S&W by 8:00 Tues. they said they could have it done by 10:00.   Everything was falling into place.  Now to line up new as Tom and Rain had work commitments.  When Rob Wallace heard of ChezNous's breakdown he offered to help and he let us know he was available.  Jim and Bob were still in.  So Bob got a return plane ticket, this time to San Diego,  having faith that we would be there with parts in hand (well, in Van) to pick him up.
Tuesday  12/05/17:    The transmission backing plate arrived before 8:00 at S&W and the machinists were patiently making the modifications when we arrived.

Old Plate

New Plate being Modified

 Picked up the new shaft at Wilmington Iron by 10:15 and headed for Belmont Shore to pick up Jim, then Laguna Niguel to pick up Rob at a carwash and on to San Diego airport baggage claim to pick up Bob.  After a quick stop for Mx car insurance at San Ysidro and then visas for the crew at the border we finally arrive at the yard in Ensenada before 3pm without a glitch.

Al, Bob, Rob, Jim

Now Al's work really begins.  Putty Humpty Dumpty back together again is a task.  The yard workers helped with the outside shaft and propeller but Al is the bilge mechanic.  This time he had lots of helpers.

We got Al out of the bilge for a short break around 4:30 for carryout fish tacos, as no one had lunch.

Al trying to get the coupler on the shaft, Jim standing by...
ready to hand him another tool.

Three professional Captains plus Chez Nous's owner engineer mechanic captain

Three hours later and a lot of hard work the transmission and shaft were installed and tools put away.   The yard was locked up for the night with us inside so cocktails and nuts for dinner..

Wednesday 12/6/17:        A bright sunny day!

A beautiful sunny morning in Ensenada 

Prop installed 

Jim pulling Al out the bilge by his feet after tightening the hose clamps
 on the packing gland.

Ready to Launch

Moving the fishing boat so Al can clear it.

Rob and Jim ready to fend off.

OK to Go

INDEFINITE DELAY

Thursday   11/30/17:    The crew assembled at Coral Marina ready for an adventure;  however, before Chez Nous left the little harbor loose bolts on the prop shaft coupler caused the shaft to bend which included collateral damage to the transmission mounting plate to the engine.  Thankfully they were close enough to pull themselves back to the dock to investigate the loss of propulsion and begin repair planning.

Friday.   12/01/17:         Arrangements were made for a panga to tow Chez Nous back to Guillermo’s yard in Ensenada early Sat morning in high tide conditions.  Guillermo began looking for available mounting plates that might fit our engine.   The decision was made because no one knows how long repairs will take that the entire crew would come home.  Al asked me to drive down to pick them up but hadn’t decided if he would come back with us or stay down to work on repairs.

Saturday.  12/02/17:       The crew all say it was a white knuckle tow,  three miles back to Ensenada with several close calls due to a panga  driver that didn’t have a clue to what he was doing.   It’s too bad they didn’t turn on the Satilite tracking for the tow.   The haul out went well but none of the available plates fit both the inside and outside bolt placements needed for our engine so it became clear that Al would have to bring the broken plate home to find or have a replacement fabricated..  The shaft was significantly bent and had to be sawed in two to get it out.

                      Rain Wilson, our grand daughter,  was Al’s crew on the way down from San Pedro.

    Jim Morgan, his friend and classmate Bob Owen, Tom Garnier and Rain Wilson.  Al must still be in the bilge.

    All are disappointed but all accept the unforeseen challenges in good spirits.  After all it was still an adventure, although shorter than expected.

A quick stop at La Fonda for fish tacos and Tecate.   Needed fortification for what turned out to be a two and a half hour wait at the San Ysidro  border crossing.