test

Testing my satellite blog update thingy. Leaving right now for Los Frailes. This is en route to La Paz. Hot here and water is in the 70-80s.

----
This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using GMN's XGate software.
Please be kind and keep your replies short.

The Baja HaHa 2013

This is the AIS screen shot of us leaving San Diego heading down to Bahia de Tortugas or turtle bay, Mexico.  Wikipedia AIS for a quick lesson on what it is if you don't know.  120 boats left with us on a rainy morning in San Diego.  About a third of the boats in the race carried AIS. We are the blue arrow and everyone else is orange.  

This is also us leaving "sunny" San Diego. Record cold on October 28th. Typical. Pretty windy at the start.  Thanks to Michael and my step brother who took their boats out to take some pictures of Appa as we headed south.   Love seeing our boat under sail.  We had more wind than forecasted and I was still in my pirate outfit while all this was going on.  Those pirate boots are not good deck shoes.  

After the 1100 start we settled in for the 322 mile ride to Turtle Bay. We had a south east wind for most of the first day down south which we were told is very unusual.  Once I got out of my costume and trimmed the boat a bit, we were making pretty good time.  

You can motor during this "race" but it counts against you.   On the first leg we stated up the motor at night when the wind died and started to slowly, slowly start to come out of the northwest. We motored for about 4 hours.  The wind built to about 15 knots or so at 4 am so we rolled out the b and started sailing.  Once morning came, October 29th, we had all hands on deck and we raised the spinnaker.  That helped us a bit with our speed and we were making around 8 knots or so right on the rhumb line. Beautiful sunny day with a nice gentle swell pushing us along.

Had the spin up for most of the day and dropped it at night right after our sundowner drink. About 9 hours of great sailing. 

The 30th was another sunny nice day but the wind was pretty gusty so we decided to just sail with the jib and main up.  Almost raised the spinnaker but really, no sense in breaking us or the boat.  Had the fishing lines out but didn't catch anything.  At night we had to throw in a reef and finally crossed the finish line for this leg at 0130 on the 31st.  We then had to sail another 10 miles to the anchorage.  

We pulled into Turtle bay, dropped the anchor in 25 feet of water and went to bed.

In the daytime, we cleaned up a bit and then went to town.  Turtle Bay is a small fishing town with about 2000 people.  Most of whom are dreadfully poor but appeared to be very happy and indeed were very friendly.  Dust covered everything.  Had a couple beers on the beach and then back to the boat for dinner and getting the kids ready for trick or treating via dinghy.  Ben dressed as a pirate and Samey went as a pirate princess, complete with orange and black dress along with a sword.  Very cute.  Photos are on the camera and I'll get them on here soon.  Max drove them and our good friend's kids around in our dinghy.  They had a pretty good haul.

On the second we had a beach party with Max being picked to scale this big hill and wing frisbees over the crowd as we all posed for group photos. Pretty fun.  Not much for the kids to do though.  

We did see a CS34 in Turtle Bay named Moondance that was sailing in our race.  They had it tricked out pretty well.  Took some photos of that boat for Pete and Rachelle as they have the same thing.  Never did meet Moondance's owners though.   

Left the party at sundown and got into our bunks early for the next leg to Bahia Santa Maria or Mag Bay. 

Sam and Jen at the beach in Turtle Bay.

Petting the local hounds in Turtle Bay.

The local watering hole.

Just a portion of the dinghies at the dock.  The fuel dock at Turtle Bay was a rickety sob. Fuel was super expensive and I heard that they ran out of gas to power the pumps for the diesel.  Mexico. Gotta love it. 

Those blue support poles are very rusty and appear to be close to failing.  

The anchorage. Some swell but not bad and we slept well.  Had much worse swell up in California off of Catalina island. 

Jennifer doing the morning radio net.  You give your position in lat and long along with fish caught, funny stories, etc.

The next leg of the race was about 233 miles and the plan was to stay offshore a bit were there was reportedly more wind.  We found it. That and waves. 

Above is a screen shot of the AIS my nav program was showing.  The whole trip down had us dodging boats. We really had to keep a sharp lookout especially at night.  Challenging sailing for sure. 

We had 12 boats in our division. They were all Jenneaus, Beneteaus, Catalinas, and one Hunter 41.  

The boat that we seemed to sail with the most was Ariel IV. She is a Borghegn 49 sailed by a Swedish couple who have circumnavigated twice. 

The link is not English but it is them.  http://www.arielfyra.se/bat_och_utrustning.html

We have plans to meet up with them throughout this next year while in Mexico. 

The first day out of Turtle was brilliant. Good wind, from the right direction....nice. Spinnakered for hours.  The next day the wind got gusty and the waves twisty.  The swells were from two different directions and the wind caused another set of waves from yet another direction.  Crazy stuff.  It was exactly like the trip down from Seattle to San Fran. Same crap.  

All day and night we got slammed around by the waves.  The partners in the mast started to work loose so I had to repair them underway.  Not too bad.  The water maker hose ruptured the day before also.  Steering was ok.  No squeaking.  So really only two problems. When the hose for the watermaker went, it dumped 60 gallons of water into the bilge though.  Maybe 50 gallons.  A bunch.

Got into Mag Bay at 2130 and dropped the anchor in 30 feet of water.  Hit the rack right after that.  Long grueling trip. Max did great as did everyone else but Max really shined.  Hard to imagine doing this without him.  

Got up at 0730 and did the radio net check in thing and then checked the water temp.  75 degrees!  We went swimming.  After that I had to try and find watermaker parts (to no avail) and fix the partners in the mast. 

Had a party on the beach the following day.  They truck in a band and beer with food and have at it.  Pretty fun but again nothing for the kids so we went down to the beach and played in the surf.  Warm water and waves....perfect. 

Next morning we left for Cabo San Lucas.  188 miles to the south.  We still did our night watches with sweaters on till this leg.  Warm out and getting hot.  We also traded dermabond and lidocaine for fishing lures while in Mag Bay. Got us a cedar plug.  It works.

More mañana.... 

San Diego

Sorry for the long delay.  Anyway here goes...

We are in Cabo San Lucas after a great and at times grueling trip down from San Diego. 

This post will be in many parts as Internet is frustrating to find and use down here in Mexico. 

Made into San Diego on Saturday the 19th of October around 1400 or so.  Motored the whole way from Oceanside.  Oceanside was a neat stop over.  Had fun there.  Very laid back and none of that yacht club stuffiness we experienced in Del Rey and Newport Beach.
Spent two nights at the San Diego Yacht Club and took advantage of the nice pool and hot tub.  We also hit the Downwind Marine HaHa party and met some new people and hooked up with some friends that we have met along the way.
Bought the new Magnum MS2012 charger on Monday and started installing it on Tuesday.  Just finished it today, Wednesday.
Jen took the kids on Tuesday and went shopping for Halloween stuff and other necessities. She also picked up her mother from the airport.  Marcia is staying in SD till tomorrow.
While the kids were gone, I started to dismantle the nav station as that is where the old charger lived.  I was fully prepared to to have to rewire the whole AC system because as with everything on this boat, the old owner just didn't do it right the first time.  I was not disappointed.  The AC going into the boat should have a breaker before the charger/inverter.  Appa had the breaker after the power was already through the charger and on it's way to the panel.  So basically the power went from shore to the boat through the charger then it hit a 20 amp breaker then it went through a 30 amp breaker and then to the outlets.  Not the right way.  Not according to the directions that I have anyway.
Went to West Marine and bought 10 feet of 2/0# black wire and another 11 feet of red wire.  Also got a 30 amp breaker, 10 gauge AC wire, 4 new fenders and couple blocks to replace some that are wearing out.
So I pulled the out the old Heart Interface Charger out from under the nav station.  That beast weighs about 70 pounds.  Heart made their chargers with 8 feet of 2/0 gauge wire built into them.  Both black.  No telling which was positive and negative once they got away from the charger.
Got that heavy sucker out and then started to get the new one ready to go into the hole.  Mounted it temporarily and then pulled it out after measuring cable lengths and such.
Wired it up and then cleaned up all the cable.  Works now.

More later.....

Just know that the water is warm and beautiful. We are heading to La Paz which is north into the Sea of Cortez on Wednesday or so. 

Shark!

Got up this morning and after breakfast and getting gas for the dinghy ($14 for 2 gallons), we headed out to Emerald Cove for some snorkeling. The whole family went. Emerald Cove is about 2 miles or so from Isthmus Cove. We dinghied over and landed on this beach and started to snorkel. Ben left us to play on the beach with Sam and Jen so that left Max and I. We saw this. 

Pretty cool, eh?  Leopard shark. Max and I also saw rays, flounders, and some other fish. 

Heading to Avalon tomorrow for couple days and then to Newport for the dreaded trip to Disney. 

Boat has been working well.  Have a leak in the line that goes to the cockpit shower. I think it is from bad hose clamp which I have since replaced. We'll see. The charger is still out but we are on the hook so it doesn't matter. I theorictally have one on order and maybe even waiting for me in San Diego. I ordered the Magnum Power MS2012. Hopefully it'll be an easy install. 

The solar panels are keeping up with demand. We are down a bit from last night's movie, Flushed Away. The inverter and the associated power draw from the TV kills us but we don't do it often. The freezer is also on and that isn't bad but it doesn't help. Having an Otterpop after swimming though is nice.  And ice cubes. Have to have ice cubes. Of course the freezer isn't making them right now but it could. 

Phone died so no texting and I rely on internet from the local bar Harbor Reef. Jen is doing laundry and we are going to have a beer once she shows up. Max and Ben are on Appa studying. 

View from the bar we are getting internet at. Appa is back there somewhere. 

Traffic jam. Dinghy dock. Ours is in there next to the green pram. 

That is all I got for now. 

Everyone is happy and doing well.  School is coming along for the kids. Max is getting into a routine and seems like he is enjoying it.  He does lots of reading. Ben is also devouring books. We are going to do a week with no electronic diversions and see how that goes. 

Killer Queen

When I was just a wee lad, I was really into the ocean liners of old.  I loved the look, speed, and style of them.  Titanic was very interesting and tragic but my favorite of all of them was the Queen Mary. Built in  the 30s and then had her maiden voyage in 1936.  During World War II they called her the Grey Ghost and she was used as a troop transport.  At one point she carried 15,000 men over the Atlantic, on one trip!!

The city of Long Beach bought the Queen Mary for 3 million and change in 1967 and converted her to a hotel and tourist attraction. By the 60s, the jet liner started to bite into the profits of the ocean liners and all of them were either scrapped or if lucky converted to something like the Queen Mary. Philadelphia has the United States ocean liner moth balled and is waiting on someone to save that great ship.  Doubtful that will happen though. 

Anyway, we left Marina Del Rey once Jen got back from Florida.  The morning after in fact.  We were ready to scoot.  At 8am, I paid the moorage fee and we flashed up the motor and slipped the lines.  Destination Long Beach!  It was about 24 miles away and we started out motoring but soon the wind filled and we started to sail.  Sailed till the break wall at Long Beach and then motored into our slip at Rainbow Harbor.  

Sam drew this on our way to Long Beach. Amazing. 

Rainbow Harbor at Long Beach is a nice enough place.  Security is present and we had no problems despite being warned the Long Beach can be trouble.  The area we were in looked brand new.  They have a huge convention center and associated hotels right there along with a wide variety of restaurants. We ate at Hooters.  Yep.  I had a cold Coors Light. Ice was in the beer they poured it so cold.  Just lovely.

The next day we hopped on the bus and 10 minutes later I was in front of the Queen Mary.  Armed with our "good" camera, I looked every bit the tourist.  We signed up for two tours.  One tour showed some of the boat and gave general info.  The other tour was a fun, spooky type thing where they talked about how haunted the Queen Mary is.  Both tour guides were great.  We laughed and laughed with them as they guided around the ship.  

The ship's horn still blows at 1000, 1200, 1500, and 1800.  It is a grand, low, rumbling type of sound when it sounds.  I'm told it is an A and can be heard for 15 miles and the reverberation has been heard over 50.  They tuned it so low so as not to be painful when you were onboard and it sounded.  

We all had appetizers and a drink in the first class lounge and then toured the Russian sub that is moored next to the Queen Mary. Great tour.  I think we liked the sub more than the ship. It started to rain as we were wrapping up our tours. The first rain since I left Neah Bay. That was on August 15th!!  

Once back from the Queen Mary and on Appa, Jen and I were laying in our cabin with the kids in the main saloon area waiting for dinner time and Sam was telling Max and Ben a story about her new toy dog.  There was this big narrative about how the dog had no family because "a red lion died the daddy dog".  The story went on and on. We were in tears listening to it. 

During dinner, we hashed out what to do next.  We will hit Disney next week and we will leave the boat in Newport Beach. But first, Catalina Island!

Thursday morning Jen headed out to the grocery store to provision us while I got the boat ready for traveling. Same old thing, check oil, fill water tanks, store stuff away, and go over the rigging. 

By 1000 we were on our way.   No wind till we motored out about 5 miles and then it filled in from the South at 10 knots or so.  Raised sail and soon the wind built to a honest 15 and off we went on a beam reach.  Some bottle nosed dolphins played in our bow wave for about 5 minutes and then they were off jumping and screwing around in our wake.  

We got into Isthmus Cove on Catalina Island and right in the town of Two Harbors. Very sweet place. Has a Hawaiian vibe. The water has about 30 foot visibility. Max started yelling when we went to grab the mooring pin that he could see bottom and in the NW that means you are going to run around. Not here.  

Hit the dinghy dock after securing the mooring lines and walked to town.  One grocery store and a restaurant. That is it. And it is ok. This part of the island you can walk to the other side in 15 minutes. 

Went swimming this morning once I dug out the wet suits. Water temp is 65 and while we don't need wetsuits I knew that we would want to stay in the water awhile and got the suits out.  Visibility was about 40 feet or so. I did a little cleaning of the bottom of the boat and then went off with the boys and snorkeled. Ben did great and Max is a natural.  Sam joined us about 10 minutes later and saw the orange fish called Garibaldi. We also saw an octopus and couple other fish species also. Seals were swimming around us but nothing close to see. 

Sunshine

One of the boats we met, Sunshine, shot these photos as Max and I were anchoring in Santa Cruz.
Funny thing about boat names.  If people don't know your real name, they shout out your boat name.  We get to call Bob and DeeDee "Sunshine".  Makes me smile every time!

No woman, me cry!

Jen has been gone now for 3 weeks.  Or at least it feels that way.  We have been at the Del Rey Yacht Club since Monday.  3 free days and the rest are 0.75 a foot.  That adds up.  I am ready to go.  

They have a guest dock here across the marina that is close to Ralph's.  Evidently Fred Meyer and Ralph know one another.  Pretty nice grocery store.  We bought this.

Straight from Mexico.  Made with cane sugar.

The West Marine is next door to Ralph's along with a yogurt shop.  So you know that we hit those.  Got these spice racks at WM and a couple of new breakers.  I also bought this raft.

I think the top rack is too high but I have a picture I want to hang under the racks.  We'll see.

Surprisingly good peach yogurt

The kids have been eating like crazy.  Good appetites.  Ben has been getting his computer assignments done and reading a bunch.  He is also trying to be more diligent about checking his emails.

 I think you know when you stayed too long in one place when the people start to complain a bit.  We got a call about our towels hanging on the lifelines.  The YC thinks that looks trashy and it is verboten.  OK.  We can do that.  Then I got bitched at about the kids tracking water from the pool into the bathroom.  OK.  Towel them off better.  While the members that I have met have been unbelievably friendly, I am sure that there are members who don't want kids here (Seattle Yacht Club has the same problem) and rattle their walkers when they get upset.

They had a party here last night and you should have seen the cars.  California is all about automobiles.  3 Ferraris with a couple Porsches thrown in and one sparkling Aston Martin.  Meh.  I use to know the horsepower on every Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.  I could tell what model year it was.  Now...I don't care.  I'll never own one.  I use to think that maybe I would but my career trajectory isn't aiming at a Ferrari dealership.  S'OK.  Usually you have to work yourself to death to get a car like that.  I don't have to work for a year.  I get to spend that time with my family.  Who is richer?  They are.  But I am OK with that.

To the left is my 2004 Ferrari and on the right is my 2010 Porsche.  The maintenance regime on those two is unbelievable.

Going to change oil today or tomorrow and get ready to leave.  I think we are going to go to Catalina Island for a bit and then to Newport.  Maybe Newport first and get Disneyland done.  Then we can get out to the island and relax.