Ian - Slayer of Gremlins
13 December 2013 | Tenacatita
Ellen
Thar be gremlins on board the good ship Kasasa. It's been an interesting season so far. This is going into our 4th year of cruising in Mexico and so far we have been very lucky as nothing has broken down. This year is proving to be different. I don't know if it's just from using everything so much or is it leaving the boat sitting out of the water in the heat for 6 months but it's been one thing after another and poor Ian has to bear the brunt of it as he is the mechanical one in the family. Thank goodness that he can fix just about anything it's much appreciated by his wife and the crew!
So far it's been; the bilge pump, the sump pump, the batteries, the propane system (which is still ongoing), auto pilot, the fuel tank vent, plugged head, fans breaking down, some car problems, watermaker leak and I'm sure I'm missing a few things. But I guess if that is all we have to complain about life is pretty good.
We left La Paz with our friends Pat and Les, and made our way down the baja coast as we prepared to leave for mainland Mexico. On the 8th of December we left Los Frailles at 9am and sailed to San Jose del Cabo where we stopped to take on some fuel, fruit and veggies. At 4pm we headed out and set our course south.
The first night was light winds and we motor sailed. The seas were okay but we woke up to swells coming from the sea of Cortez and from the Pacific ocean making for a confused bit of sea. It wasn't too bad and after about 8 hours the swells became more defined from our stern - much more comfortable. We had a nice breeze from the NE which was right on our beam and made for a very comfortable sail. The winds never got over 12 knots but we were racing along at up to 6.5 knots - very nice. At night we shortened sail so that we could all do our watches without having to wake anyone to reduce sail should the winds pick up. It meant that we only made 4.5 to 5 knots at night but that was more than fine.
This lasted until the 3rd night at sea as we approached the mainland right near (40 miles offshore) Cabo Corrientes. WELL Cabo Corrientes has never been kind to us and this was no exception. The winds started to pick up and so did the seas. Ian and I were out on the 9 to midnight watch and Ian was laying down dozing when a wave hit us on the stern quarter and splashed into the cockpit leaving Ian soaking wet and me only half wet. The water was 28 degrees celcius so it wasn't too bad. I went down below at midnight and Les came out to help Ian as the waves were getting bigger and winds stronger. They eventually reefed the main to the 3rd reef and with the staysail we slowed down to 4 knots but it was more comfortable. The boat rocked and rolled for about 5 hours and finally we were far enough past the cape that things started to calm down.
We were originally heading straight to Tenacatita but decided to pull into Chamela which was 30 miles closer. It was really nice to get the anchor down and within minutes the 4 of us were jumping into the warm water for a much deserved swim. All in all it was a good crossing but I'm glad we had the extra help from our friends. I'm not very brave when it comes to big waves so it's nice that there was someone to help Ian get us through those hours.
We will be hanging out in this area (between here and Manzanillo) until March when we will start to make our way north again - but that's a ways a way and for now we will enjoy our time here.