Anna Marie Back in Action
07 November 2017 | Caleta San Juanico, BCS, Mexico
Robert
I arrived back in Mexico on October 26. I left Portland OR on the afternoon of the 25th via Alaska Airlines, arriving in Tucson AZ, early evening where I met my friend Tom Wordell off the sloop Eagle. Later that night we caught a TAP Royal bus to Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, arriving around 0800 on the 26th. From Guaymas by taxi to San Carlos and back to Anna Marie.
I spent the next several days re-rigging Anna Marie and otherwise preparing her for departure from Marina San Carlos. Finally, by the evening of Saturday, November 4, we were ready (more or less). Eagle had left the marina a few days prior and anchored near by in Bahia San Carlos. At 0600 on Sunday, November 5, 2017, I eased Anna Marie away from the slip and made my way out of the marina in near darkness to join Eagle outside the bay. I raised the mainsail with a single reef (in anticipation of some brisk winds out in the Sea of Cortez), unfurled the Genoa, and, motor sailing in 5-8 knots in south to west winds, set course on a bearing of 182 degrees magnetic for Caleta San Juanico on the Baja Peninsula. By 0900 I was able to shut the engine down and in 10-12 knots of westerly apparent wind maintained an average of nearly 6 knots speed over ground for the next 14 hours. I used the Monitor wind steering gear for the bulk of the trip. It worked well. The sea was rough, with choppy confused waves, causing me to expend considerable energy just trying to maintain my balance.
We arrived at anchorage in San Juanico cove at 2300, where there were four or five sailing boats already anchored in the best close -to- shore spots. I anchored Anna Marie in about 20 feet of water and put out 90 feet of chain. The following morning, Monday November 6, I let out an additional 30 feet of chain in anticipation of strong winds in the anchorage. Which there have been each afternoon - to 20 knots out of the north. As I write this on Wednesday, November 8, we are waiting out the northerly blow that had started on our way across the Sea. Weather reports indicate that today will perhaps have the strongest winds, with enough abatement by tomorrow (Thursday) to continue our cruising towards the south in relative comfort.