12/01/2009, lapaz

Hello all,
Here is a nice sunset from the magotie side of lapaz bay. That is Pahto (kevins boat) in the background.
Eric

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12/01/2009, lapaz

hello all,
Here is a pic of the pumpkin pie that I made for thanksgiving. It was just me and Kevin and KT. KT made stuffing and yams and mashed potatos and we had a chicken. It was our first Thanksgiving without our moms in charge and it went really well and will be a special memory.
Eric

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11/28/2009, lapaz

Made it to La Paz and too happy to describe! Love you mom, dad, andrea and Elyse. hasta

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eric
11/25/2009, Abaroyo boat yard

Hello all,
Secret Agent Man enjoyed a haul out in la paz these last couple of weeks. We ground down a couple of spots on the keel that were suspect and epoxied them. One of these spots was leaking a little bit, but there was no evidence of where it was coming from when we ground it down. We epoxied it really well and primed and painted it was well. Hopefully this has solved the leak but I wont know until I get back in a seaway which, as the keel moves a little bit, is the only time it leaks. The other thing we did was move the water line up a lot. I had done this during the last haul out but after the boat was loaded it turned out to not be enough and the exposed gel coat grew stuff in a mater of days. Not, however it is shielded with a layer of bottom paint with tin in it which should kill everything in a 20 foot radius of the boat. Here is s pic of secret agent man with her new water line. Ill be in touch for the next week or so but then its back to blackout.
Peace
Eric

Comments [3]

eric
11/25/2009, Cabo

Hello all,
I may be repeating myself and I realize that these posts are out of order but listen to me... Never go to cabo san lucas on a boat. I take it back never stay at the marina. It is the most expensive marina in the world and up until now has been the only time I have been robbed in mexico. $108 for one night for secret agent man. kevin and KT went in there too and had a similar experience. Here is a picture of what it looks like to make land fall in cabo.
Eric

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11/25/2009

Hello all,
The coastline here is very pretty all be it sketchy. There are manta rays that do backflips and sometimes get about 5 or 6 feet out of the water. They do this either for fun or to get parasites off of them. Also up this coast there are way less soundings on the chart than in America. I figure I had better get used to it.
Eric

Comments [1]

eric
11/25/2009, la paz

Hello all,
Finally... I have an internet connection. I admit I have not been trying too hard but the main thing keeping me from all of you is that I believe my dell does not have an internal antenna, and my verizon connection went bye bye after I left the states because it is $5US per minute down here.
Where to begin? I had a super long day coming from bahia de los cabos. It was about 130 miles and I did not sleep because I was motor sailing and there was a lot of boats out, and I was really close to a lot of reefs with wrecks all over them. This would have been fine if I was sailing, but I can sleep through both my watch's alarm and the off course alarm when the engine is on and I was danger close to the reefs with wrecks on them. The two spots I passed that I want to go back to are los frallies and isla de los muertos. And Amy and I might go back and check both of those out when she gets here on saturday and gets settled in. Long story short it was brutal to stay up all night but I was OK when the sun came up (six cups of coffee also helped). I ended up being awake for 40 hours and change but it was no big deal. The pic is of me really sleepy at night.
Eric

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11/15/2009, bahia de los cabos

I will leve for lapaz tomorrow if it is not too gnarly. I miss you all so much and will catch up with you when I can.
Peace

Comments [7]

Eric
11/12/2009, Cabo

Hello all,
Well after a week at sea I have arrived in Cabo san Lucas. There is a vortex of tourism and hustles around the marina where Im at but regular Outside of that. It is the most expensive marina I have ever been at. My cruising guide said $1 per foot but that must be from the 1970s because one night for a 33' boat is $108! madre de dios. Needless to say Im out of here tomorrow and headed up the sea of cortez. I litterally ran around the streets of cabo today trying to clear migracion and the port captain.. like through traffic and in the streets around people. I have a few more errands to run but I have until 1:00 tomorrow. Highlights of the passage were some great sailing, I almost hit a pod of giant sperm whales... again, and caught a big yellowfin the first night out, a big mahi mahi this morning, and this bad boy at dawn about four days ago... Yikes... I saved the squid and he is now my favorite squid. Ill teach mom and dad how to update this blog so they can post my sailmails, but pictures are going to be few and far between. Hope you all are well and it is nice weather up there.
Peace,
Eric

Comments [7]

11/11/2009, ssb

Hello guys,
nice day out here. I have been in a slump fishing. It really seemed like I should have been in them today. There were lots of flying fish getting chased by something and I saw a several hundred pound marlin eating something, but no luck. Im going to go into cabo san lucas tomorrow to clear in. Brian and erin are stopping in a sweet looking bay in between here and lapaz and it sounds easier to clear migracion. Im actually trying to slow down right now because Im only about 45 miles away from where I want to be at dawn. I also need to get some stuff like a snorkel and some things for the boat. I checked the oil today and it was below the low mark. I pumped out about the amount that dad and I put in and put in a quart and a half and it is still below the low mark. It also doesnt say how much it takes in the manual. Anyway I learned a lesson in engine maitenance and will be on it in the future. The racor and raw water filter are also a little grody since san fransisco. There is a marine store close and Ive been practicing everything in spanish. Hope you guys are well.
Love Eric

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11/10/2009, ssb

Hello everyone:

Not much to report today I fished really hard and wrote a song about fish and sang it in an attempt to get one on but as of this email it hasn't worked. The shark was really cool. It is, however going to make me think twice about swimming off the boat in the middle of the ocean again. Other than that I've read every word in the Cruising Worlds that I have. It has surpassed Seahorse as my favorite magazine now and I plan on writing to the editor. Tomorrow I am going to get back into my Solitude book. It turns out to be so-so and I have been slacking on it. I am at 24.29N 112.28W.
Eric

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11/09/2009, ssb

Hey everyone:

I am currently going 5kts at the mark with my jib poled out to port in about 10-15 kts of breeze. The solar panels did a little better today and I did not run the engine. It was sunny which probably had something to do with it. Also during the day the sail blocks a lot of the sun so we'll see how they do in the Sea of Cortez. Today I was sitting in the cockpit reading the Voyagers Handbook when I heard a bad and foreign noise. I am so used to all the noises of the boat that this one caught my attention right away. It took me about 90 seconds to figure out what it was. The pin holding the gooseneck of the boom on the mast had worked out and was making a very resonant screech. Long story short it was so loaded that I had to take the boom off and the boom kicker, not an easy task in a rolling seaway. It took about an hour and I learned some new combinations of bad words. Nothing else new. . I am a little less than 300 miles from Cabo and still have 30 gallons of fuel in jerry cans.

Eric

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11/08/2009, ssb

Hey:

Soooooo, I was just up keeping a really good watch because there is a fishing boat ahead of me but well clear. I was making fish standing at the sink and looked out the port side window and there was a pod of huge whales (twice as long as my boat) not 10 meters away. They were sperm whales, the same ones I saw on the Vic Maui race. I ran up to see if I was in them but they were all off to the port side. 7 or 8 of them, huge, massive. I grabbed my camera but didn't get any really good shots because of the settings I had on. Very cool. Big square heads. Definitely not pilot whales. Sooooo close. I am almost out of fish. My only problems are that the solar panels have a hard time keeping up with the electronics but I still have a lot of fuel. The prop is sketchy... don't know what the deal is but I dove the boat right before I left San Diego and it was loose on the shaft. I fixed it but right when you engage the gears it doesn't sound right. I hope it is the blades having a hard time coming out. I am leaning towards b-lining for La Paz. My friends are going to Bahia Santa Maria which is a little more than 200 miles away. It is really nice to talk to Brian twice a day on the ssb. I did not require clothes today which was nice.
Eric

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11/06/2009, ssb

Hello:

Well I was a bit down today but it just got better as I went to pull in my lines for the night and pulled in a nice Yellowfin tuna (15lbs). It is no easy task killing and cleaning a fish by headlamp in a very rolly cockpit that I lubricated last night by spilling almost all of my gasoline in the middle of the night. I am about to talk to Brian and Erin on the SSB hopefully and I'll write you all tomorrow.

Eric

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11/06/2009, ssb

Hi :

Just had a nice chat with Brian and Erin on the ssb. The first one ever! I am past them and way offshore compared to them but I had them loud and clear and we are going to try it in the morning too.

Eric

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11/05/2009, ssb

Hey :

My position is 32.16.900N 117.19.577W. It is mellow and I have the sails up and the engine on. Tomorrow I will try to put up the kite and sail fast without the engine. It is less than 250 miles to Bahia Tortugas and about 700 miles to Cabo. I don't know if I'm going to stop but I don't have to decide for a couple of days. I met a cool Swedish girl today whos name was Freya ?sp. They sailed here through the northwest passage and are going through the panama canal on their way home. We spoke Norwegian and I gave her a boat card. I'll call you in a couple of weeks.

Eric

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11/04/2009, san diego

Hey all,

Sorry for slacking on the blog, but hey, get used to it. I cant post at sea yet, though there is a way and ill figure it out in the future. I think I will give mom and dad my account info so they can post my emails while I am at sea but there will be no photos. San diego has been great. There was a DOD/police/coastguard bazar today here and I got to see how they spend our money keeping the ports safe. Two of the coolest things were an intersept boat with quad (yes 4) 300hp outboards and a $25000 radiation detector which looked like a flashlight. Anyway Im leaving and psyched to continue the trip but nervous in that I have sailed everyware on the trip before and knew what to expect and from now on I will be in uncharted territory and sailing farther and farther away from home. I miss my mom but I have found that the cruising comunity is a sort of family and we all share the adventure. Good luck to Voodoo Child racing aroung San Juan county this weekend. Ill look north and think about you guys. I have to say though, my foulies are put away.

Eric

Comments [8]