12/11/2006
the winds gradually increased as we cross the Sea of Cortez, it's midnight now and we have 20 knots gusting to 25. Wave height is 6 to 8 feet. We are sailing at 7.5 knots with a reefed main and jib. John is doing the evening watch til 1 a.m. when I'll take over to do the graveyard shift. Our ETA at Mazatlan is still around 9:30 to 10:00 a.m.
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12/10/2006
We left Los Muertos this morning at 5:15 a.m. and set our course eastward for Mazatlan. After the sun came up we had enough wind to raise the sails and shut off the engine. The conditions have been excellent, we are making 7 knots boat speed with 12 to 16 knots of wind on a beam reach. The wind waves are a manageable 3 to 4 feet. At this 7 knot speed our ETA for Mazatlan is about 9:30 tomorrow morning.
We have lost sight of all land; Baja is about 70 miles behind us and Mazatlan is about 120 miles ahead of us. Pascale is doing the afternoon watch so that I can get some rest for the night watch coming up.
We ate huge "Dagwood" style sandwiches for lunch and have a pressure cooker full of chili ready to go for dinner.
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Calou anchored in front of the Giggling Marlin Beach & Yacht Club, Bahia de los Muertos
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Calou at Los Muertes
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12/09/2006
We left La Paz early this morning and are making our way to Mazatlan. Our first stop is the delightful anchorage at Bahia de Los Muertos, which we visited on our way up. It features good protection from northerly winds, free WIFI internet access in the anchorage, and a great restaurant on the beach called the Giggling Marlin Beach Yacht Club. We had a nice dinner there and are now retired to the boat to get some sleep before our planned departure at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.
We took some great photos of the anchorage as the sun was setting.
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We now have uploaded some of our photos to some photo galleries on this blog, look for the link on the right side of this page.
We're hanging out in La Paz, waiting for the weather to improve so we can cross the sea of Cortez. Right now it looks like the weekend will be the good time to go.
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12/03/2006, La Paz, Mexico
We arrived safely in La Paz at about 8:30 PM. Along the way the winds reached about 25 knots from the north with about 6 foot swells. We were able to maintain boat speed of about 7 knots most of the time but reached 9 knots for brief periods.
When we arrived at the marina entrance and it was time to furl the jib we found that it would not furl. I went forward to inspect and found that the line on the furling drum had unwound but the jib did not wind up. Three screws that connect the furling drum to the sail track had fallen out, disconnecting the two. So we had to drop the jib to the deck instead of roller furling it. Fortunately this failure didn't occur while trying to furl the jib in windy conditions at sea.
It's a mystery how those three screws fell out unnoticed. I'll have to set them with Loktite when I replace them.
We had dinner and slept soundly in our slip at the marina while the winds howled during the night. Another Norther was forecasted to come in and indded it did. The next day we were informed that the Port Captain had forbidden boats to leave La Paz until the storm had passed.
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12/02/2006
We have about 24 hours between two Northers, so we're sailing south to La Paz now, having left Agua Verde at 6:00 am this morning. It was a good decision to delay our departure, as the winds are good today (15 knots from the north) and the seas are much better (about 3 foot waves). We are sailing at about 6.5 knots and should make La Paz around 10 PM.
We put the fishing poles out this morning, and by 9:00 had caught a ten pound tuna. Looks like we'll have fresh tuna for lunch!
Here's a photo of us yesterday, walking on the dirt road to the vilage in Agua Verde.
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