Into Cabo
08 December 2009 | Cabo San Lucas,Mexico
Bill Hudson/ Partly sunny 75 degrees
We made it into Cabo San Lucas about 2100 violating one of our primary rules of not entering a harbor after dark. We made the decision for two reasons. 1-our hydraulic steering was dying fast and there was no way to maintain a course with no steering equipment. 2- it was late and we were not that far off shore that we couldn't make it in a few hours under motor power.
If you read the last post, you know about our steering problems. We put up the sails and engaged the Hydrovane to make us go and go we did. Clocking good speed through the night and through the day. We eventually took down the sails about 1100 and put out the spinnaker and continued South toward Cabo. With James(Hydrovane) doing the steering, we took all the pressure off our main assembly. The "Rescue Tape" I put on the copper pipe did nothing to stem the flow of the oil. It still dripped all over the place(don't buy any).
About 15 miles short of Cabo, the winds died to less than 4 knots and we decided to start the engine and limp into the harbor and drop the anchor. It was a tense 3 hours with the wheel all but unresponsive for most of the way and lots of pangas(small fishing boats) all over the entrance to the harbor. I'd have to turn it a great many turns on the wheel to baby even a few degrees out of any turning movement. Tracy fired up the radar so we could see everything that was out in front of us. It made coming into the harbor safely possible. We passed the stone arch as we entered the harbor and dropped the hook just off shore about 2100.
This morning, I got lucky and the Honda Generator started again. It has failed to start over the last day or so but managed to take pity on me a came to life. It's now running on the stern putting out precious amps for the battery to absorb.
Now it's time to pull everything out from under the stern bunk and see what the actual problem is with the copper line. Hopefully just a loose connection. But we shall see.
I have internet as of now and will try and post some new photos when time permits.