I have returned from the Coastalegre to Puerto Vallarta. My electronic autopilot developed a rather pesky symptom: it would suddenly turn left. This had happened twice before and I began to suspect it of liberal political leanings. Then on my way into Bahia Chamela, it turned left and I could not reset it.

Getting ready to leave, I was still 100 nautical miles from PV and with light airs forecast, and knew that I would be motoring a lot. I did not relish the thought of being up all night hand steering. As it turned out, I was able to put up the sails inside Chamela and sail without the motor for several hours. I put Wally to work steering.

Then the wind got light in the afternoon and I was back to doing it myself. I made a game out of trying to set the wheel brake at the "sweet spot' where I would not have to touch it for a few minutes. Of course, waves and wind conspired to eventually set me off course and required readjustment.

I left the mainsail up to use sometimes as a steadying sail and sometimes, when a bit of breeze came up, to get a little boost in speed. In the evening, a steadier land breeze came up and I was on starboard tack heading to a point off of Cabo Corrientes. Wally went back to work and I took a 45 minute catnap. When I awoke, Wally was his steadfast self, steering without complaint.

It became apparent that I would have to beat to windward into Bahia de Banderas around the cape. The true wind was in the 10 to 14 knot range and perfect for making progress. The wind clocked (went right) as I got around the cape. This meant I was still beating to windward (tacking back and forth) towards PV. At one point, inside the bay, I had to tack to avoid a cruise ship (see previous post).

Around 1 am, I tacked off the shore and went below to rest. When I awoke, the boat was headed in the exact opposite direction. Wally was dutifully steering to the original wind angle, which had changed drastically as well as diminished significantly. I motored the rest of the way to PV arriving about 8 am.

My theory is that the autopilot needs a drink. I am off to hunt up some hydraulic fluid and figure out how to purge and refill its system. I also need to find some two part epoxy for a small repair job on my pilot berth. And I want to get a haircut and my laundry done. All this will be a challenge for my rudimentary español.