Sv iliohale left the dock in Chula Vista at 830am to meet the fleet for the parade in front of the San Diego waterfront. Crossing under the Coronado Bridge, 105 boats converged in the North bay, with a San Diego Fire Department boat marking our departure with water fountains from four directions. Under blue skies we made our way out of the bay, headed for the Mexican border, marked by the Coronado Islands. A northwest breeze grew as we approach the islands, and by 13:00 we had the best start in years, with 15-20 knots of breeze on otherwise calm seas.

Being relatively new to this catamaran, we were learning on the fly, and iliohale was very forgiving, with 2 meter seas behind us and a very responsive autopilot, we were able to fly our North Gennaker for the first time, averaging 9 knots and surfing the swell at 14. The strong breeze lasted until 1:30am, when we turned a single Yanmar on to keep the boat moving above 3 knots. We arrived in Bahia Tortugas at midnight at 9pm, anchored and celebrated a successful first leg.

Unfortunately, one boat did not fare so well. At 1am, Boat Bum Gal, skippered by a professional skipper, against all advice and good seamanship (Never enter an unfamiliar anchorage at night if you have concerns), hugged the coast, hit a rock and sank within 10 minutes. Rina, sleeping with her portable VHF, and one other boat heard the mayday call, with the other boat dropping a dinghy in the water and rescued the 3 aboard. Lots of armchair skippering bounced around the fleet for the next 48 hours.

The ~400 crew members of 105, scratch that, 104 boats, converged on the little town of Turtle Bay, flooding the restaurants and playing the annual softball game on the very well manicured artificial grass of the town’s baseball stadium. Between the baseball game and the beach party the next day, the fleet raised over a thousand dollars for the kids in the town, including baseball equipment, donations of medical supplies and donations to local charities. It’s the towns biggest event each year.

Leg 1 stats: 380 miles, 20 hours of sailing and 25 motorsailing.