Travels of Girl Four

We finally escaped the gentle clutches of La Paz (which is something of a feat given the number of cruising sailors who end their voyaging there) and crossed, in an overnight sail, the Sea of Cortez to Topolobampo on the Mexican mainland. Strong winter season winds in the Sea had closed the window for quite some time, so we took off as soon as those winds abated. For our trouble we were rewarded with an absolutely placid sea for our night crossing. Only one problem: the night was dark, with no moon at all, and our AIS instrumentation showed something really big following exactly in our track - the ship/car ferry also heading to Topolobampo! Needless to say, we got out of his way as he powered by us with four times our speed!

Comments

Vessel Name:	Girl Four
Vessel Make/Model:	2002 Beneteau 473, 2-cabin, deep keel
Hailing Port:	Seattle, Washington
Crew:	Tom and Emily Martinez
About:	Tom is a retired construction executive and consultant; Emily is a retired registered nurse. Our three grown children live in Seattle, Santa Monica and New York. Girl Four is our fourth girl!
Extra:	We bought our boat in San Diego at the end of October 2012. Over the winter we concentrated on repairs, safety outfitting, and rigging for ease of handling - as well as making the boat our own. In the spring of 2013 we sailed Girl Four down the Baja coast to Cabo San Lucas, and continued into the [...] Sea of Cortez as far as Puerto Escondido and Loreto. With the announcement of our middle daughter's May wedding, we returned to San Diego after a 12 day "bash" up the Baja coast. During the Mexican hurricane season we continued further outfitting in San Diego, based on our recent experiences. When the Baha Haha cruising rally, with 140 boats, left from San Diego on October 28th, Girl Four was among them, but with a new but inoperable autopilot and a barely usable anchor windlass. As they say, "Cruising is working on your boat in exotic places!" We grit our teeth and visited Cabo, La Paz, Topolobampo (including Copper Canyon), Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta (including Guadalajara, Laguna Chapala, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Morelia, and Tlaquepaque) and Barra de Navidad (including More