To Bash or Not to Bash

The Not-As-Expected flat seas going north.



So, the catamaran left La Cruz in the afternoon and we were soon out in Banderas Bay headed for the open ocean. There was suddenly the smell of burning oil and the skipper, Chuck, ran to the front of the boat and opened the “hood” where the genset was throwing oil all over the front of the boat! It seems in our haste to get away the skipper had forgotten to put the cap back on the valve cover after adding oil. What a mess. Chuck signaled for me to shut off the diesel generator and we drifted while we cleaned up, added fresh oil and finally started the genset back up. You see, the electric motors that provide propulsion (other than the sails) will only work if the generator is running!!

As we reached the end of the bay at Punta de Mita we were met with increased seas and a bit more wind. This continued as we saw the sun lower itself into the sea ahead and to the left (port) of the boat. There was no moon and the night was extremely dark; with only stars and a bit of phosphoressence we had our first night at sea passing almost immediately. Our watches were three hours on and three hours off. This schedule meant that we were to see each other almost exclusively at watch change for the coming week. The first leg to Cab San Lucas was lumpy and we needed fuel by the time we got there a couple of days later just at sunset. This lumpy sea was what I had expected for the whole of this trip. The catamaran was fairly noisy because the waves would slam the bridge deck under foot and you would literally jump with the force of each slam. It was chaotic and sleep was fitful at best. We arrived on a Sunday and anchored at about 20:00 after first snagging a chain that was likely left over from the old mooring ball system that used to be in the bay outside of Cabo. It took considerable effort and a broken boat hook to untangle that chain from our hook so we could not raise a water taxi by the time we were ready to go ashore. Hmmm, dinner on the boat and quickly to sleep to catch up on the sleep missed so far and be ready for an early departure.

At about 04:30 we got up and headed for the fuel dock after a quick breakfast and coffee. Arriving before it opened we waited until 07:00 to get our fuel and get out of Cabo before we were caught and had to check in. It would have been a huge hassle to have to check in and there really was no purpose to it. It all meant that we were back at sea within an hour. Our goal was to bash north to Bahia Santa Maria but we had almost no swell and very little wind. A couple of days later we just agreed that we should not stop in order to take advantage of the great weather window we had stumbled onto!! We didn’t need to catch up on sleep at this point, so why stop? What amazed me the most was the glassy smooth ride we were experiencing. After the first leg was so noisy this leg was relatively calm. The wind we did have was less than 15 knots (mostly on the nose) and it would periodically go down to near 2 or 3 knots. The fishing was great. We caught Dorado, Wahoo, Bonito and the like. It turned out that Chuck is a really good cook and he experimented with the fish with great results. The boat is somewhat underpowered, more on that in a minute, but we managed a steady 5.5 knot average speed going to windward. When the wind kicked up at all we slowed to 3 knots until we pushed the throttle up a few notches. It was a fine ride as we pulled into Turtle Bay four long days later to refuel and attend to some minor maintenance issues that had arisen. A day spent in Turtle Bay was a small slice of heaven, really. The weather had turned noticeably cooler and we were ready for showers. A walk around town and a visit on another catamaran had us ready for the next leg. We didn’t have blankets on board!!! It was so much cooler at night that we broke out the long underwear and sweaters.

That brings us to the last leg into San Diego. Another three days of little or no wind!! I couldn’t believe our luck. This turned out to be the non-bash north!!! As we came into S.D. there was a regatta going on and we crossed the fleet on our way to the police dock to check in with Customs and do the formalities. For Chuck it meant coming into the country again after four months and nine countries from the British Virgin Islands through Panama Canal and up west coast of Central America and Mexico. He could more easily find crew again and the owner had decided to meet him in Marina Del Rey for the last slog up to San Francisco. Life is sweet sometimes to be sure.

The boat: A Leopard 43 with propulsion provided by a one off system designed by Glacier Bay (the refrigeration company). It has a 25 Kw generator driving twin electric motors. We had an issue with the fuel pump and had to replace it for our final assault but it worked very well burning just over a gallon an hour of diesel for most of the trip. We did manage to sail occasionally, but for the most part we motor sailed. The thing that the system needed most was a much friendlier user interface. It had a touch screen that was WAY too complex. It has hidden screens and the descriptions of what the commands are were a puzzle. It really needed and larger screen that could be toned down for night time visibility.

Oh, and the picture is a deceased sea lion about ready to explode... not far from there we caught a great wahoo for dinner!!!