Notes from the sail to Cabo San Lucas

October 27, 2007

Carolyn informed me this morning that she would not be leaving San Diego aboard Snow Goose. I am not sure why she made this choice, especially after all the hard work she put in during the previous six weeks. Perhaps it was the all work, no play atmosphere. Either way, I now need one more crew to make three. My former co-pilot, David Zogg, is due in tomorrow, making it possible to continue with two onboard, but three makes all things easier.

10-28-2007

Today, at the Ha Ha party, I ran into an old acquaintance, Rennie Waxlax, who has sailed this course several times. He introduced me to a young friend of his, Greg Retkowski, who has also done this several times and is an accomplished racing/cruising sailor. Greg thought about my crew situation for a few moments and then offered to go along to Cabo San Lucas. I agreed on the spot. Problems come, and then, poof, they go!

10-30-2007

The Ha Ha started on time yesterday, and we started with it. By evening, we were miles ahead of all but the fastest boats. The winds built to 15-25 knots overnight, and by 5am we needed to take down the spinnaker before it took itself down in small pieces. We did. It didn’t. And all was well!

We ran downwind all day (30^th) wing and wing, making great time and increasing our lead on all but 5 boats (out of 178). The speeds we sailed at put some stress on some equipment. First to fail was the DuoGen water driven electrical generator. It didn’t like constant speeds above 8 knots. It may not be cut out for life on a 50’ boat.

10-31-2007

We arrived at Turtle Bay at 1320 on the 31^st, still ahead of all but 5 boats. Altogether a fine performance by Snow Goose and her pick-up crew! After few minor repairs, we will leave again on the 3^rd of November.

7pm: Went into “town” for a beer and dinner. Very few boats have arrived so far, so “restaurant” was empty. We are tired but happy.

On another note, the long range e-mail system I had installed just before departing San Diego has worked extremely well. I’ve exchanged e-mails with the kids, Mom, and friends. I also get timely weather reports. It’s not like browsing the web, but it sure works!

11-3-2007

Leg 2 began at 0800 today. Sailed well until a small but necessary part caused a problem with the spinnaker. Took it down, and motored for a while. Then, on Day 2, when a better wind appeared, sailed again until the wind died 7 hours from Bahia Santa Maria. Motored the rest of the way, getting into the bay around midnight.

Bahia Santa Maria has only some fishermans shacks. Picturesque. A beach party was held the dafter our arrival: complications arose from large surf breaking on beach. Local fishermen provided water-taxi service to beach, but had to stop ferrying people back to boats at sunset due to size of swells (caused by storms in south Pacific). 75 people spent night on beach…including our crew, Greg. He’ll have stories to tell for years.

Nov 9:

Anchored in Cabo San Lucas. Have wi-fi with good signal!! Dinner in town last night! Mmmmmm, dinner. Will be here a few days, then sail to Isla Isabela bird sanctuary.

Our First Anchorage alone and in 200 ft of water: Seal Rock, Catalina (appropriately named by the barking seals all around) set us up for a 4am departure for San Diego. God bless Mike’s anchor! Sleeping to the sound of an occasional blast of breath from a curious seal was very exotic.

Taking out the trash is even fun in Gosling (Snow Gooses sister ship). What a great little dinghy! We practiced our first attempts at beach entries with great success. We buzzed around the harbor and checked out the amenities at various docks.

October 20th 2007:

We made it to San Diego in shifts. It was my first experience in seeing nothing but 360 degrees of ocean horizon. What a beautiful sail and a great feeling to arrive safe and sound at the destination that we had planned to make. San Diego harbor is massive and well used. Now we have to find our anchorage in miles of harbor. Mike is undaunted and all ready wearing a cruisers smile

Once again it was bittersweet to say goodbye to good friends. So we bid one another a promise to meet again in Tahiti (instead of saying goodbye).

Captain Mike partakes in a chilly dip. We thought we’d swim to visit Steve on Batucada (two boats down), but the water was so cold you could only stay in for a moment or two. Polar Bear Club here we come!

A quick dip in Avalon Bays 60 degree water sets the pace for the many good swims to come.