For fun I am attaching a short log of our most recent sailing adventure to Mexico's Sea of Cortez:
THE BOAT:
Stiletto Catamaran
LOA.......................................26' 10"
LWL.......................................24'
Beam.......................................13' 10"
Draft.......................................9" board Up (4' board down)
Sail Area
Main....................................230 sq. ft. (fully battened)
Jib........................................106 sq. ft.
Genoa..................................159 sq. ft.
Reacher/Drifter...................265 sq. ft.
Spinnaker...........................750 sq. ft.
Hull: Aircraft epoxy/fiberglass and honeycomb composite.
Weight: 1,100 lbs.
Auxiliary: 15 h.p. Honda four-stroke outboard.
THE PLAN:
October 22, Leave Salt Lake City, Utah and drive to Pheonix for a layover at family.
October 24, Meet Jim Schaff, Bobby and the boat Savanna in Nogales, USA to travel to San Carlos, Mexico and then buddy boat to the Baja..
October 26, 2004 leave San Carlos and sail towards Baja, stopping in some of the following locations:
Marina San Carlos N 27°56.854' W 111°03.306'
Bahia San Carlos entrance N 27°55.751' W 111°03.288'
Martini Cove N 27°55.836' W 111°03.644'
Santa Rosalia N 27°20.270' W 111°15.539'
San Marcos
Punta Mulege N 26°56.000' W 111°57.000'
Bahia Concepcion N 28°53.190' W 111°51.615'
Playa Santaspac anchorage N 26°45.469' W 111°52.855
Playa el Coco
Playa el Burro
Playa Coyote
Isla Coyote
Playa Santa Barbara
November 5, 2004 arrive back at San Carlos and begin return trip home to Salt Lake City, Utah.
THE STORY:
Well....we are back from a short stay in San Carlos's tropical paradise...
We had a great time while in San Carlos, Mexico, even with the three days of down-pouring rain and then waiting another couple of days for the seas to calm and then the four days tucked away in Mulege, while the winds piped back up and blasted down the Sea at 35 sustained and gusts to 50 knots.
San Carlos and Mulege are both tropical paradises, with palms, sunsets, warm breezes, great Mexican food and people who are great and there was a lot to see and do.
While waiting out a northerner blasting at about 35 knots we did take note of that 40 ft. steel cruiser sailboat that lost the top part of its mast, sitting in the end of the bay at San Carlos. When talking to them, we learned it was very bumpy for them the night before, as they crossed the open Seqa of Cortez off shore from San Carlos and they lost the top of their mast when a stay wire snapped...
Armed with that information, we sailed up to Bahia San Pedro and enjoyed a couple of days of snorkeling, boat camping, goofing off and watching that great total eclipse of the moon, until the wind and sea calmed down a bit more.
We returned to San Carlos, needing another fix of street vendor tacos, wrestaurant food, a shower and to hang out while still waiting for off shore seas to calm further.
After the three days of rain and two of very windy conditions and two more of hanging out in San Carlos, we decided to see what it was like off shore on Friday October 29 at about 5 PM and to see how our repair of a broken diamond wire would hold.
After two hours of sailing we decided to go for it, knowing we could return to San Carlos if things were rougher than we wanted to deal with. That put us sailing from San Carlos Mexico, to Mulege, a distance of about 80 NM of open sea.
By about 7:00 PM on Friday, the winds were fairly steady at 10-15 mph and the seas were at two to three feet. By mid night we were approaching the half-way mark en route to Mulege. The winds had increased to around 20-25 and seas running at about 4-5 feet with some getting to the 7 foot range...that had a very close period...so it was more like giant chop..... That was no problem for the boat or captain and mate, but one crewman stayed mostly below with a touch of sea sickness. The rest of us enjoyed the wind and sea and the crystal clear sky and full moon....periodically punctuated by spray from the warm sea and occasional hits by flying fish coming onboard out of the dark crests of the sea.
Due to the increased seas and winds, we decided to go to main sail only and to pinch up on a heading towards Santa Rosalia. That settled the boat down and with the very confused sea conditions; I decided I didn't want to hassle with putting a reef in, at that time. I also didn't want to get any where near shore, without daylight to ensure how close I was to sloals, etc.
By 3:00 AM we were in the wind shadow of Isla San Marcos. We feathered everything and stayed put there until day light, so we wouldn't go bump in the night with something associated with land.
We had made the crossing much faster than we had anticipated, hitting a GPS recorded top speed of 19 knots. I'm surprised we hit that high of a speed because I kept slowing our Stiletto 27 way down to 8-12 knots, all night, due to conditions and because it was night on the open sea.
Perhaps next time we'll leave just before day light and let the boat do what that boat does best...sail fast and flat.....
At about 6:00 AM, we could see pretty well and decided to skip Santa Rosalia and all the Port Captain stuff, and turned south towards Mulege.
Sailing with the wind and seas was very pleasant, but we were getting tired so we decided to hide out in the lee of the Island that has a mining operation on it. In its wind shadow, we had a great breakfast and took a little nap, sprawled out on the boat's trampoline. We awoke from that catnap at 3:00 PM and decided to stay the night rather than pressing against some non-existent schedule. That also gave us time to dry out things that had gotten a bit damp from the bumpy conditions of the night before, put away jack lines and tethers and such.
The next morning we cruised into Mulege and enjoyed a great dinner at the Second Floor Restaurant.
While we were there, the wind piped back up to readings of sustained 35 knots and gusts of over fifty...so we stayed put ... rather than get slammed on our way to Bahia Concepcion.
We enjoyed the town and its people, eateries and such for the next few days...well...except on of our crew who had exchanged his sea sickness for a case of some good old fashion flu. He spent three days in a hotel, while we saw the town and checked in and out with him to ensure he had food, (which he didn't want) and medicine to help deal with the symptoms. That also gave us showers and one night we shared the room....for a change of pace from watching the stary night sky, from the deck of the boat until we succomed to the slight sway of the boat, the light sound of water lapping against the boat and the fatigue asscoated with another great day in paradise.
The guys we were buddy boating with wanted to leave early so they could get back and join a regatta in San Carlos, so we both set out towards San Carlos on Thursday, at about 10 AM. The wind and seas were still running pretty high, but within our comfort zone, until the diamond wire let go again.
The other boat decided to go on, but the further off shore the conditions got the worse so they also returned
They left that next morning and we stayed to fix the wire and lay over another day to let the seas calm a bit more.
I set out on an honorable quest, with my limited Spanish, to figure oue't how to find and borrow a ladder. After two hours of effort and miming....I finally found a local who had a wooden ladder I could use. After lugging it 1/4 miles towards the boat, Abby came cruising up in a new pick-up truck with a gringo who had a new aluminum ladder. Putting my ego aside, we returned the wooden make-shift ladder, with our thanks and used the aluminum one to get up the mast and to put a proper fix in that wire.
Next time I'm going to let her find the ladder and to go up the mast for the fix......
The next morning at about 1:30 AM, we readied the boat and set out towards San Carlos. The early morning sailing was the finest and scooted us along at about 12 knots. When the sun started showing it self, we hoisted enough sail to really scoot us along.... but by about 6:00 AM the wind quit. That caused us to us the motor for the next fifty miles of whale watching, etc. and we hit San Carlos at about 2:30 PM.
We begun breaking the boat down and putting it back on the trailer....slowed by the need to chat with other boaters, fish tacos, and a compelling need for ice cream....
With the boat on the trailer, we had intended to grab a cheap hotel, but a local Gingo cruiser, graciously invited us to stay on his boat for the night.
We accepted and stayed up most of the night testing out a new restaurant then going to and chatting on his boat.
The next day we slept in a bit, had breakfast, and finished readying the boat for the trip home.
After another fish taco fix, we left San Carlos at about noon, for the pleasant drive to the border.
It really would have been a pleasant drive, but for the water in the gasoline that caused the tow vehicle to sputter when under load. Without any way to dry out the fuel, that gave us a speed of 55 mph on the flats and about 25 on the climbs....and there are lots of climbs when the tow vehicle isn't running right.
We got to the last toll booth, just short of the boarder at 9 PM. After paying our toll, the toll booth operator opened the barricade arm to let us through. However, the arm came back down, damaging our boat and making it so we could not go forward or back with out adding more damage.
That whole episode added three hours to the drive, while we waited for our insure guy and the booth manager to get together and figure it all out.
Ah Mexico.....
A bad bearing on the trailer added another 6 hours to the drive, and the opportunity to meet new people, while we got parts in Tucson and fixed the problem. Not being able to find a fuel drier like liquid heat added another couple of hours, until we finally got to Flagstaff. After adding the liquid fuel drier, the tow vehicle ran like a top...
We logged 60 hours of total driving time, covering 2400 miles traveled by car from Salt Lake City, Utah to San Carlos, Mexico and back. We did the open water crossing to the Baja (82 NM) and back, in 8 hours going and 12 hours coming back. We logged 240 total miles sailed, on this trip.....and our top speeed under sail was logged at 19 knots. I can only guess at how many tocos we ate while wiating for weather windows to improve....
This was another wonder adventure, with just enough intrigue to keep it interesting.... and long enough so coming home was very nice, as was our own beds and bathroom.
Is life great or what....???
I'm now ready for winter and enjoying the snow and a warm fireplace at the lake, on weekends... well until our next adventure exploring a bit more of the Sea of Cortez.
Tom, Abby, Steve and Salsa
