ok, so Dad brought to my attention that my position is not showing up on the blog? well presently I'm at 28.27.070 N X 115.57.385 W about 40nm off the coast of Baja and the isla Cedros and Punta Eugenia. Its blowing about 20kts out of the nw and seas are 6'. Great sailing. except for running the engine this morning to top up the batteries, I've been sailing non-stop since last entry. This is the life. Back to the sunsets. Last night as I was reading in the cockpit (novel #1) I began snapping away at the falling sun in search for the perfect wallpaper for my computer....AMAZING! The big globe looked as if someone mixed orange juice and red food coloring together, add a shot of crimson mix it all up and blast it at the sun and plug it in...no doubt the most incredible sunset I have ever seen besides Haleakala in Maui. As the minutes rolled on and I kept snapping away, it just got brighter and brighter and brighter...almost had to put on sunglasses if you looked straight at it. Then just as it fell off the face of the earth, FLASH! It was all over. I'm convinced the earth is flat, no way a planet that big could just roll off in the horizon!

After doing evening chores: put away anything that could end up on deck, log my position, brush my teeth and floss...I actually cranked up the DVD player and watched a movie on my little flat screen TV! What a trip: emailing all you fine folks, writing a blog and watching movies all while clicking off the miles under sail power only. It's a weird concept to imagine such a thing is even possible! The fridge is full of food (and a few IPA's) water tank is full, and I'm barely using any fuel so far! Life is good-

I slept off and on all night, the radar had my back. I still get up frequently to check the horizon and answer the noises that are strange to me. Usually nothing serious, a pan, a line, swinging clothes on hangars hitting the door. The boat just never stops moving, not even a little. In fact, as we speak, my stomach muscles are tensing in unison with my butt cheaks and legs just to keep steady at the table while i write this. Who needs 24 hr fitness?!?.. Morning brought an incredible sunrise which was pre-sand bagged by an electric moon...it literally looked like I had the deck lights on! How cool is that? Morning brought check in's with the two nets I'm following, Baja Net and Chubasco. I've talked to them both, they get a kick out of when I say "KE7UAB Maritime Mobile" Weather is hard to come by out here and they help out greatly. After my now second debut on the Net's, I had the usual coffee and english muffin...this time without the mess on the deck...see, I do learn! Shortly thereafter, I parked it in the cockpit dang near all day!..the days fly by out here, kinda hard to believe. Still no fish, despite my new "come get me" fishy song....It's different every time I sing it, and I always crack myself up doing it. Had contact with 2 different cruise ships to update sea state south and if they could see me on their radar. I've got a good 15 mile "blip" going on, that's awesome.

The second ship, a celebrity cruise liner, was headed straight for me. I saw him way off and was just waiting to see what my radar and chartplotter had to say about our collision course. It was way too close to guess but he was still about 6 miles away when I hear this big BBLAAAAH, BBLAAAAAAH, BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! oK, DUDE...SHEESH MAN, CHILL OUT!!...well, I was under sail and by all rules of the road had right of way....but do you think I was going to argue? Tonnage always wins on the high seas!- so no easy task, I had to fall off, loosen up the pole and run for a bit....I'm a big chicken, but still alive to tell you about it! I raised him on the VHF and asked if he saw me very well on the radar, loud and clear he said, in a thick rich accent...both radio operators from both ships sounded related.

Well, that's about it for me, I'm feeling another movie coming on after I finish my book. Oh, dinner was chicken & prosciutto tortelloni and basil/pesto sauce....thanks Buitoni (read...packaged)

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Today is an awesome day! I had some deep deep sleep last night for an hour here and hour there, but actually spent more time in the rack than ever before!! Having all the fail-safes in order certainly give peace of mind. There is this thing called "watchman" that once set, turns the radar on every 20 minutes, scans for boats inside a set guard zone (mine is 6 miles) and shuts off to standby mode to save battery power....and yes Terry....I did figure something out on my own....FINALLY!!!! Gotta tell ya folks, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to electronics, must work on it.

SO, at 3am I got up due to the howling winds and shut down the engine...main up only, 16kts out of NW and I was doing a downwind sleigh ride at 5.5-6.5 kts! WOW, what a rush! Traveling for free on god's wind and also using it for power as I have a wind generator! I woke up to glorious sunrise (oh, yeah...moon was epic last night...looked like someone covered it with oatmeal and then backlit it), winds backed down to 8-10, low seas (5' and less) and I'm finally hungry.

To celebrate my first real day at sea under sail, I cleaned house a little and cooked up some starbucks in these really clever VIA packets you get now, just add 8oz h20 and you are in business....muffins are in oven perfectly brown and ready for xtra crunchy Jiff...man am I living the life now?? .. I decided to warm up my IPOD which is plugged into the stereo and crank out some Sinatra (rico's favorites CD...thanks John!) and as I was dancing around in my skivvies (literally) and belting out my Mom's famous Karaoke song :"That Ol Black Magic"...visualize dancing in pitching seas down below...I grab a hot muffing encapsulated in peanut butter, and SPLAT! upside down on the deck it goes.....hot gooey, buttery junk rite on the floor. So as a good, non wasteful sailor would do...I scooped it up, shook it off and took a big ol bite rite out of it....HMMMM DAD...still tastes a little like soap! (read blog)

Now that I'm fed, beveraged and smelly...time for a shower!!...I feel human again, now on deck sans the sivvies, arms in the air yelling..."YEEEAAAAHH!!!!! As loud as I can, hoping Neptune hears my thanks for such an awesome awesome day!

Ok, I'm clean now, got clothes on (sorry for the previous visual) and wanting to figure out where I am, and what is the weather got planned for me and my little ship? Turn on the SSB radio after researching for hours last night for the best net's to follow, went to a specific channel and BAM! I could hear real humans! I'm not alone!! After everyone was done chatting they asked for any other or new stations, so I timidly keyed up the mike (secretly hoping nobody would answer)...and blurted out: KE7UAB, MARITIME MOBILE.....and immediately the controller responded, "yes KE7UAB" Holy crap! What do I do now?? Well the mike fright kept me nervous but the guys were really nice and said my signal was a strong 6 (whatever the hell that means) I replied the same. They shot me around the net like everyone wanting to hold the new baby in a hospital. One dude was in IDAHO!! the other in San Diego and one i n San Fran. Thanks Bruce..good job on the installation! The guys invited me to check in every morning but friday at 0800. Nice to know someone has your back and can give some weather insight at least.

Today has been a real triumph for me.

I think I just may be doing this thing!! take care all, talk at cha again soon!

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Well, I made my first landing solo (actually 2) got kicked off the first dock i went to..moved over to the fuel dock at Marina Coral and got the lay of the land. Everyone at Marina Coral are so nice! Of course I was acting like a lost dog, binder in hand with all my ship's documents...they didn't buy it. a REALLY nice gal in the port captains office looked over my paperwork and then took on herself to make copies and copies and copies of stuff I already had! "I'm just trying to help you out, it will go much smoother if I fill this stuff out for you "Pelon" How could I refuse? Heck, she even called a cab for me!

Clearing into Mexico really seems like a pain in the, well you know- One building, 4 different offices all connected with a great room filled with chairs, irritated locals and confused "Yatista's" like myself. They spoke relatively decent english and that combined with my horribly rusty spanish, we were all having a good time, even got one of the big dudes behind the glass to laugh- So, hour and a half later, I was getting Horhe the cab driver to run me back to my boat. Oh, senior Pelon..you must stay at least tonight my friend, I hab (yes spelled right use your phonetics..., I hab many beautiful daughters and nieces. You must stay and party with us and go dancing I show you all de right places for best mexican girls....do you like da mexican girls.???...I looked at him straight away and just had one response..DUUUHH!!! we laughed then I tipped him a second time for the return trip.

brought on $187.00 worth of fuel, filled the 3 jerry cans I keep on deck, whipped out a ham sandwich for the road and was cut loose from the fuel dock...you should have seen the size of the yacht coming in! out the breakwater I went into the rolling bay. was quite challenging dodging the BLUE lobster pot floats...yeah, common now, who in their right mind would put a blue float in a blue ocean? almost nailed one too...like by a couple of inches. As I was patting myself on the back regarding my prowess at the helm...BAM! smack dab into the middle of a bunch of floating kelp.....reer reer reer...CRAP! I'm losing RPM'S. big ol wad of the slippery ugliness was wound up in the prop. Keep in mind, I am now in 12kts wind and rolling seas! Simple fix, just put her in reverse, revved it up a couple of times and moved forward...problem solved. Sheesh, some peoples kids.

I'm waiting for the pacific maritime net to come on the SSB radio to get some weather info. little harder keeping up with things when NOAA doesn't broadcast down this far into Mexico. I did download some grib files, and some text weather...looks like it's going to be a bumpy night for the ol Lawnboy-

I did get the pleasure of sailing without the motor on, all sails up. I was in heaven, then it stopped blowing...not it started again, oops, it just died. Motor is on, 6-8 kts doesn't push this heavy momma at all in seas.

Alright, almost time for the net, gotta get this thing sent off to you all so I can listen (hopefully) Ciao for now!! LB.

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Hello All! I finally made it away from the docks! Those tie lines must have had super glue on them, was kinda hard to leave the safety of Pier 32 and my rental car. Having facilities close by gets one spoiled to say the least! After much drama and several calls to my buddies up north, I finally figured out my autopilot, and the new sensor that had to be replaced is working perfectly so far.

The coast is a blip now as are the coronado islands. I decided to go through the middle of them for fun, big tall walls covered in seabird guano...mmmmmmm, downwind smells yummy!

Night is falling on my world and I am headed directly to a big black bank of clouds...uh oh! I'll hit Ensenada by morning to clear into their country and do the paperwork cha-cha with a hired official. If all goes well, I'll be on the road again in no time. Seas are nice, 3' swells wind had died to 6kts makes for a nice first night out alone.

I have plenty of food and water, will fuel up in Ensenada, got charts and books, mexican flag etc. If all goes as planned I should be out of my fleece and into shorts in a few days. It's now 58 degrees and much warmer than at home so I hear!

Said goodbye to all the people at the marina today...and so here we are. I do a big paradigm shift to my blog family now. Hope you all stay in touch and enjoy what's about to come up!

I am very excited!

All for now- LB out-

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