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An easy 2 hr ride to LP but the channel was hard to find because the entrance buoys were out of place. We had been warned that this was the case, so we went very slowly and worked our way to Marina Palmira. We had an electrical problem coming up from Los Muertos that was causing most of our systems to fail. We turned most of the systems off and met up with our electrician friend Dennis in LP. He had done our original work and most of the installs in Portland, then did the Ha Ha last year. Using the voltmeter, he determined that our issue was between the batteries and the DC electrical panel. After tightening the connections, the systems came to life. There didn't seem to be anything specific that was wrong, but it all works now. Yesterday was Thanksgiving and there is a get-together for the boats here. Jud made a pumpkin cheesecke to take. We went with some friends in a rental car to Todos Santos, and had lunch at Hotel California, made famous by the rock group "Eagles". Paul was driving, got stopped by the policia, but no problemo. Seems I was going to fast, altho we were the slowest car on the road, which I told the guy. (En Espanol, claro)Today we take the ferry from LP to Topolobampo to see Copper Canyon, purported to be more spectacular than Grand Canyon. This is a 4 day train trip, so we won't be back until Dec. 2. We miss all our fam and friends back home.
It appears some e-mails to Skymate are dropping out. Please e-mail us at pwitzke@comcast.net rather than the Skymate address.
On 11/17 we decided to move on to Balandra. The "norther" appeared to have dissipated and the weather forecast was for 10 kt winds. About 6 boats left Muertos, some with food poisoning thanks to the local resort. We had not eaten there. We had to go thru 2 channels so there was a funneling effect and the wind went up over 20 kts and the seas from the norther were still coming in. At any rate it was a tough trip. Paul didn't put on a scop patch, but took a dramamine pill that made him drowsy, so Judy was at the helm for about 9 hrs. We were running approx 2700 rpm with about 1/3 of the main, beating against the wind. Bad chop that would just about bring the boat to a stop. It must have shook some wiring connections loose, so we lost the refrigerator and we needed to shut a lot of the electrics, including water pump, down. Finally arrived at the small anchorage of Balandra right at sunset, so we were able to anchor without a hitch in about 40'. We spent a fairly calm nite, until about 6 am when Jud got up and noticed that "Blue Dolphin" had dragged anchor and was drifting out to sea. Tried to reach him on the VHF to no avail, so jumped in the dingy with handheld VHF and air horn and took off to retrieve him. His anchor light still on, I finally caught him in about 15 minutes. At some point he had realized he was dragging and had decided to move on to La Paz. He must have been really blitzed, so I turned the dink around and returned to "Grace" who was getting pretty concerned. Shortly thereafter, we pulled the anchor and headed into La Paz.
Originally written 11/16/09.
No wind was the word today. Up at 6;00 am and arrival to Muertos at 2:00 pm, an uneventful voyage under motor. This is a beutiful anchorage with about 20 sail boats at anchor. We found 22' in sand, and put out scope of about 5 to 1. Paul dived the anchor, and it it so well buried we could not see it. Success! Paul had purchased a 65 lb claw (very oversized for Grace) and it has been an amazing anchor. We actually sleep peacefully at night, altho old habits persist and I am up several times during the night to check our position. Jud is reading now, Paul had a great swim in water that was like a warm swim pool, The ambient temp at 4:00 pm is 90 deg. As an aside, at the "We cheated death" party, we heard the story of the Ha-Ha people who had been holed by a pod of whales. Their boat sank within 40 minutes, and they had given out a Mayday that was not heard by anybody. Their epirb went off and coast guard helicopters arrived 4 hrs later. All of the all-female crew was rescued. The Ha Ha people flew her down to Cabo to tell her story, which will appear in the next issue of Latitude 38 Magazine. The whales did not actually attack the sailboat, as sometimes occurs, The huge waves drove the boat down onto the whales and holed the boat. It had to be very scary. Now off to dinner at the Giggling Marlin on shore.
We cannot receive email without the subject heading saying 'grace393'. Please write. Judy is homesick. Thanks, Judy
We are not able to send e-mails or receive e-mails. I'm sure Paul will figure out the problem when he has some free time. We are trying to get the outboard working before we leave Cabo. Yesterday we watched two little dogs run around the top of a bar owned by an ex-cop from LA. That wasn't half as crazy as the 100 or so fishing boats heading out each morning at 6:00 am. Grid lock on the water may be possible.
We were up early for a 6:00 am departure from Santa Maria. The winds were light, so we had a "rolling start" from the start line. This means that engines were going because not enough wind to sail. This was the beginning of the third and final leg to Cabo. When we weighed the anchor, we found an electircal problem: the anchor would go up, but not down. So this is something that we must take care of in Cabo before we leave for La Paz. Our engineers think it is a problem with the relay. The chandelry opens at 7:30 this morning. Sure hope this is a quick fix. Once underway on 11/4/09, we found ourselves running in the upper 1/3 of the fleet, our best performance yet. We were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. Many porpoises were sighted, we had Jud's fajitas for lunch, and Mark ran sun sights on the sextant that I had given Jud for her birthday. We were under full sails, a close reach and we hit 7.1 kts SOG (speed over ground) with 9.3 kts of true wind. No doubt a record for Grace. We had the fish line out, but no luck this time. As night approached, we had a beautiful full moon with 17 boats in sight. The Grand Pooba of the event said this was perhaps the most beautiful final leg in 20 years of sailing down to Cabo. Our final day (11/5) was fairly uneventful, except for the thrill of coming around the cape and seeing our goal: Cabo San Lucas. Eleven days for the entire voyage. The bay was a madhouse with 3 cruise ships, pangas going in all directions, kayaks, porpoises galore and pelicans by the dozens. Of course there were many, many fishing boats. We danced our way to the harbor entrance with Mark, Keith, and Jud on the foredeck searching for our slip, and Paul at the helm. We found our slip and immediately went to immigration to check in. Mark and Keith are departing on Saturday, so it was important to get the paperwork done quickly. Then on to the famous party at Squid Roe. Steve, Tracy and Foster bought us a margarita for our help with their vessel (Black Dragon) as we were coming down the coast off Mendecino. It was very loud so Jud and I left after the margarita, but Mark and Keith stayed on for a little longer. Then off to the boat for some sleep.
This was a day for the record book. Mark and Keith did extraordinary duty with the windlass and honed their engineering skills to a fine point. Working throughout the day, sweating, and doing their thing they really did an outstanding job for Grace. They finally had to break open the Lewmar windlass in order to find the problem. It turned out to be a broken spade connector from vibration. The guys soldered some parts together, worked their magic, and voila, the windlass now goes up and down! We had to go out and buy an impact wrench, a soldering iron, and some other parts, but the local ACE hardware store and automotive store provided the required parts. These guys are the greatest, we would probably never have been able to leave for La Paz without their help. So after finishing the job we had a pre-prandial of rum and coke, then got some much needed showers before heading out for a great dinner. Now we are back on the boat and looking forward to a post prandial. Life is good, the guys are heading back to Seattle tomorrow and we will miss them. Thanks a lot Mark and Keith.
It's Tuesday in Bahia Santa Maria and our first day on land since the beginning of our epic. Paul and Judy took the panga boat ride offer ashore while Mark and Keith massaged the dinghy engine back to life after its summer long hiatus.
We left Turtle Bay Sat. 10/31 at 11:00 am & arrived at Santa Maria 12:00 noon Nov. 2. We crossed the finish line for leg 2 under sail. It was a great run, but we did need to motor part of the time. Last night we had beautiful moon shining that lit up the boats all converging on Santa Maria. We saw a big turtle along the way. We were able to track down some electrical problems that had just developed, thanks to Mark and Keith. We had developed a huge power drain each time we used the refrigerator, the water pump, and the macerator. It turned out that the wires leading to the fridge were loose. The water pump used the same wire, so it also looked faulty. And the macerator was stuck, just like a kitchen disposal might seize up. So we were able to solve all those pesky problems. Judy called them suicidal problems. I just hung out the BBQ and we are anxious to taste test the tuna that we caught yesterday. It's Mark's turn to prep dinner tonight so he is playing the master chef role.
Well this has been an interesting couple of days. Yesterday after a restful sleep in turtle bay, we and about 180 other boats left the bay in one big group at about 11:00 in the morning. It was an amazing sight. All kinds of colorful spinikers were up as we sailed to the south and out into the open ocean.
Hi out there. This is just an admin notice for you if you wish to write us a message. Due to an unbelievable amount of spam, the skymate people suggested that "grace393" must appear in the subject line. It will work like a filter.
This was a good passage compared to the prior day. We awoke to a beautiful sunrise and enjoyed moderate winds. We arrived at Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay) at about 6:00 p.m. so we missed the beach party there. We filled up the diesel jugs and topped off the main fuel tank. We took on about 40 gal. diesel so we will be set for the ride to Bahia Santa Maria.
The daring, but cautious crew of the sailing vessel Grace departed Colnett at approximately 8:30 on Wednesday morning, accompanied by playful dolphins, the northwest Indian protector of sailors. As usual we had discussed the sail plan for the day and chose to put up the new trisail as a precaution from a forecast of building winds. The decision proved wise later in the day. |
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edward p witzke
Friday November 27, 2009 @ 06:19 PM GMT+00:00
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