Adventures on Shamaal

Vessel Name: Shamaal
Vessel Make/Model: Outbound 46
Hailing Port: South Lake Tahoe
Crew: Jerry and Jane McNaboe
About: We are both retired geologists, continuing to explore the world. We have a home in Lake Tahoe and divide our time between the mountains and the sea.
Extra:
Shamaal, an Outbound 46, is our second boat. In the summer of 2018 we sailed her around Vancouver Island. In 2019 we decided to start a blog to help keep track of our travels, and because we have enjoyed reading other blogs. Our first boat was a Sceptre 41 that we sailed from Canada to Mexico [...]
07 May 2020 | Richmond, San Francisco Bay
16 December 2019 | Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico
21 October 2019 | Southern California
05 September 2019 | Monterey, California
26 August 2019 | Newport, Oregon, USA
17 August 2019 | Cordero Bay, Vancouver Island
28 July 2019 | Blind Channel Resort
12 July 2019 | Ketchikan
16 June 2019 | Petersburg, Alaska
05 June 2019 | Shearwater Marina
29 May 2019 | Alert Bay
21 May 2019 | Port Ludlow
Recent Blog Posts
07 May 2020 | Richmond, San Francisco Bay

Mexico, back to California

April 15, 2020.

16 December 2019 | Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

A late update from Mexico

21 October 2019 | Southern California

The summer is a wrap

05 September 2019 | Monterey, California

Newport Oregon, to Monterey California

26 August 2019 | Newport, Oregon, USA

Port Angeles, Washington to Newport, Oregon

17 August 2019 | Cordero Bay, Vancouver Island

San Juan and Gulf Islands, Preparing for the Passage South

Mexico, back to California

07 May 2020 | Richmond, San Francisco Bay
Jane McNaboe
April 15, 2020.

When you have a ‘blog’, you need to keep it a bit up-to-date. I have not, especially during the virus roller coaster of the last two months. As a result this is a bit longer than it should be!

We have completed the Baja Bash and Shamaal is now moored in Richmond, San Francisco Bay. We are at home in Tahoe, a beautiful place to ‘self-isolate’.
How we got here…

In February we stayed in Paradise Village (Banderas Bay, Nuevo Vallarta) for two weeks doing odd jobs on the boat, socializing, and taking classes with our friend Nancy and the other cruisers getting ready to do the Puddle Jump (the Pacific crossing). Classes included onboard medicine (including learning how to suture!), what to put in our first aid kit weather, and incorporating Google Earth photos into OpenCPN (a freeware navigation system). We said goodbye to Nancy who was making final adjustments to her boat, Aldabra, in preparation for the Puddle Jump to French Polynesia, and headed Shamaal north.

We sailed to Mantanchen Bay, where we were eaten alive by the no-see-ums (jejenes as they are called locally). After one night at anchor, and stocking up on supplies of banana bread from the nearby panderías we headed north again on a one-night passage to Mazatlán. As the sun was setting a panga with three men aboard suddenly changed directions and headed at Shamaal at full speed, making us both nervous.

Fortunately, the fishermen were simply hungry and asked for food in exchange for fresh fish. We gave them cookies, granola bars, and some canned mandarins with easy-open tops in exchange for some sea bass. I think we had the better end of the deal; the fish was fresh and excellent.

We arrived early in the morning at the El Cid Marina and hailed a security guard as we approached the docks, he waved us into a nearby slip. We tied up the boat and when the marina office opened, checked-in, then crawled into our cabin and fell asleep.

We were awakened about two hours later by our boat neighbors pounding on the boat, Shamaal was hard aground in the slip and leaning to starboard! Quite the wake-up call. A diver was working nearby, he checked the boat, only the keel was aground, the rudder was free. We cushioned the boat with fenders as it leaned against the dock and waited out the tide cycle. As soon as possible we moved to another slip, fortunately with no damage done.

We had planned to spend only one night at El Cid, but we were very tired after being aground on the heels of an overnight passage. Mazatlán was full of tourists for the Carnival festivities and weather conditions were not good for continuing north so we decided to see some of the parades and fireworks.

A few days later, as we stood shoulder to shoulder in the crowd to watch the parade, we both wondered about the Coronavirus which was being mentioned in the news and thought we were not being very smart. We left the parade early to avoid any more contact with the crowd. We returned to the staging area the next day and had a good look at the floats and a smaller version of the parade.

On February 28th we finally had good weather and headed north to Topolobampo leaving Mazatlán late in the day for a one day and two-night sail. We had warm calm weather, sailing, motor-sailing and just motoring. We arrived in Topolobampo early on March 1 and checked into the marina. We spend a day at the marina making hotel reservations and then headed off by bus to El Fuerte and Copper Canyon.

Our Copper Canyon trip was great and would require another blog to describe everything. During our trip (March 2 to 12, 2020) the Coronavirus was branded as a Pandemic and became serious in the USA, Europe, and other parts of the world. We had an uneasy (but beautiful) train ride back to Los Mochis and to the boat.

Our friends Rich and Sharon on another Outbound 46 (Bumblebee) contacted us and asked what we thought of the virus situation and if we would like to sail back to the States with them. We thought about it briefly and then said, ‘yes’. We had planned to sail back to California, but wanted to spend more time in the Sea of Cortez, oh well.

When we returned to Topolobampo Jane wasn’t feeling well which was worrisome. We cleaned the boat and did a grocery run. The small grocery stores were well stocked with food. No hand cleaning gel was available, although the toilet paper isles were fully stocked (Facebook was full of stories about the lack of toilet paper available in the States and other parts of the world).

On March 14th we left Topolobampo in the afternoon to cross the Sea of Cortez and meet up with Bumblebee. It was Jerry’s turn to not feel well so Jerry took some Advil and went to sleep. We had a beautiful night, 15-18 knots of wind, smooth seas, and with the autopilot set on a wind-angle of 60-degrees and headed across the Sea at 7.5 knots. Jerry came on watch (feeling a bit better) at 2:30 am and sailed until sunrise when the wind died. We started the engine and motored into Isla San Francisco, and anchored by 8:00 am.

Using our IridiumGo to send text messages we checked in with our kids (who live in Freemantle Australia, Quebec Canada, and Beirut Lebanon). We also checked in with Bumblebee to let them know that we were on our way to meet up with them.

We stayed another day at anchor as Jerry still wasn’t feeling well and Jane was coughing. We decided that we needed to isolate ourselves from others, we weren’t very ill, but had no idea if we might have ‘the virus’.

We motored north to Agua Verde and anchored late in the day. At night we listened to NPR and other news channels on our Sirius radio. The world was sounding rather grim, our son who lives and works in Lebanon was unable to leave as the country had closed the airport.

March 18, Agua Verde, Jane swam and tried to clean the bottom of the boat which was looking really bad after being in Topolobampo. Jerry wasn’t feeling well enough to swim, Jane wasn’t feeling very well either and didn’t finish cleaning the boat. We motored up to Puerto Escondido, it was raining, and became very windy (25 knots) when we had to grab the mooring. Sharon and Rich on Bumblebee came to the rescue in their dinghy and helped us pick up the mooring ring and get Shamaal secured.

We checked into the port for two nights. When checking out we asked for paperwork to leave Mexico for San Diego. The marina office gave us paperwork for San Diego but said that we would still need to get a Zarpe before leaving the country.

We kept our distance from Rich and Sharon as we were both still not feeling well. We sat apart at the tables onshore and discussed weather and how to get our exit papers (a Zarpe). We were uneasy about what was going to happen in Mexico and decided getting the Zarpes as soon as possible would be prudent.

Meanwhile our friend Nancy had been denied exit papers from Mexico to French Polynesia (an hour before she and her crew were planning to leave). We let Nancy know that we were going to return to the States, just in case she wanted to join us for the 'bash' north.

On March 20th we purchased diesel in Puerto Escondido, stocked up with a few fresh grocery items and started our travels back to the US. We stopped again in Agua Verde where we had a very rolly night.

Meanwhile the world news was overwhelming, borders were closing (including the Mexcio/US border), and people all over the world were trying to travel back to their home countries.

We phoned two marinas in Long Beach, California, looking for places to moor the boat. Both marinas that we phoned said that they would not be taking any new boats due to the Coronavirus.

March 21st- March 26th: Puerto Escondido to Muertos. We continued south along the eastern Baja coast, stopping in San Evaristo, Isla San Francisco (a quick stop to dive on the boats and clean the hulls), and Muertos. The news was becoming more alarming. In Muertos we decided not to eat at the restaurant, we ordered drinks and took advantage of the restaurants' Wi-Fi.

We downloaded the weather forecast twice daily looking for a good ‘weather window’ that would allow us to round the south end of Baja and head north on the Pacific Side. Rich and Sharon were also communicating with Victor in Cabo, an agent that we had contacted to help us get our Zarpes.

Nancy and her crew on Aldabra had decided to join us and were headed to San Jose del Cabo.

We continued on to Frailes and San Jose del Cabo, arriving on March 27th, where Nancy (having decided to join us) was waiting. The fuel dock was open but, as Nancy had warned us, fueling boats by appointment only, and with limited hours. Nancy had made us an appointment, we bought diesel and continued to evaluate the weather.

Rumors were swirling and changed almost hourly. We heard that the port was closed and we were not sure that we would be able to leave, and hour or two later we heard that the port was open but that Cabo was closed.

On March 28th all three boats, Shamaal, Bumblebee, and Aldabra met Victors agent at the fuel dock in Cabo. The agent collected our tourist cards and gave us our Zarpes, we were cleared to leave the country. A weather check suggested that we should wait a few days before heading north, so we stayed in Cabo for two nights. Cabo was uncharacteristically quiet; the streets were almost empty. We ate our meals on the boat (except for a Dairy Queen soft serve ice cream and a Mexican Chocolate latte!).

Rumors about port closures were swirling again and signs were posted at the dock gates saying that the port was closed to all commercial activities. We realized that we were not commercial boats, but were still a little anxious about being allowed to leave.
On March 30th at 0400 we slipped the dock lines and headed out of the marina under cover of darkness. Initially the weather was calm, but afternoon winds were strong, from ahead and uncomfortable. Fortunately, the wind calmed overnight. In the morning we motored into Bahia Santa Maria and anchored. The weather was very calm and we decided that we should continue. After a brief break we all headed out again trying to reach Turtle Bay.

We had a second night at sea, a calm one, but during the following afternoon the winds built again and we were definitely doing the Baja ‘bash’. Bumblebee was ahead and suggested over the radio that we change destinations and go to Bahia Asución. As we headed in to the anchorage we were surrounded by a huge pod of hundreds of dolphins. We were all anchored by dark, still in very strong winds, but thankfully, flat water.

The following day Nancy called a local hotel owner, a Canadian woman named Shery, who in turn contacted a local man who runs a restaurant. Shery told us that it was "up to the town", but we would likely not be allowed ashore. A very helpful young man named Larry came out in his inflatable dinghy, he collected our empty diesel fuel cans, we gave him money for fuel, he went ashore and returned with our cans filled with diesel from the local Pemex station.

We stayed in Bahia Asunción for a few days waiting for a weather window allowing us to head north. Each day we had multiple ‘weather’ meetings and discussions among the crew of the three boats. Meanwhile we were using a terrible cell phone connection (no data) and our very slow satellite connection to stay in touch with our family and to try and find a place to moor the boat in California.

In the early morning, pre sunrise, on April 5 we pulled up the anchor and our trio of boats headed to Turtle Bay. As we anchored in Turtle Bay, we were met by ‘Enrique’ asking if we needed to buy fuel – Turtle Bay has a bad reputation for charging boats very high prices for fuel. We were happy to say that we did not need fuel. Enrique then told us that we were not allowed ashore due to the virus and that the rules were being enforced by the military, the police, and the port captain. We understood!

The weather forecast looked promising for west and possibly south winds over the next few days as a low pressure weather system moved in to Southern California and northern Baja. On April 6 we rounded Cedros Island motor-sailing and continued north to San Diego, arriving on the morning of April 8.

Coming in to the harbor in San Diego was surreal, the only recreational boats on the water were our three. The US Navy was very visible with ships, small boats, and helicopters flying overhead. Local police boats were also cruising around.

We pulled into the police dock where US customs is located, having tried unsuccessfully to check in to the US using the ROAM app on our phones. Border Patrol agents with blue latex gloves and facemasks came down to the dock, they looked at our passports to check us in, just at the same time our apps finally worked and also checked us in the US. No inspections, the agents were keeping the 6-foot social distancing. Nancy asked about quarantine, they just shrugged and said that if we had any questions to phone the CDC. Not what we expected!

Nancy and her crew on Aldabra headed off to their new slip in San Diego. Bumblebee and Shamaal purchased fuel and spent the night in a guest slip at the police dock.

Bumlebee and Shamaal had decided to continue to San Francisco Bay and moor the boats in Richmond. As the weather system that allowed us to make the jump from Turtle Bay to San Diego was still around, we left the next morning and went to Dana Point where we anchored overnight. Bow and stern anchors were both needed as the anchorage was very tight.

Next stop was Newport Beach, again in an anchorage. On the short hop between harbors we had squalls around us but managed to miss them by tracking them on our boat radar, and on the ‘MyRadar’ weather app, and stayed dry.

We shared a happy hour and ‘appys’ with Rich and Sharon. We had all decided that Shamaal and Bumblebee were a quarantine family as we hadn’t had contact with anyone other than the masked border patrol agents and fuel dock workers. It was a little rainy and a boat neighbor took a photo of Shamaal below an amazing rainbow- the picture is on the BoatUS Instagram page, fun!

We continued north using the ‘Dockwa’ app to book transient moorage at marinas, no face-to-face contact. Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor was not allowing transient moorage except at White Island. We stayed on a mooring in Redondo Beach and managed to pull the boats close enough together to step from Shamaal to Bumblebee for ‘appys’ and happy hour.

Twice each day we were downloading PedictWind and trying to decide when to round Point Conception. As usual the weather forecast changed each time it was updated. Another weather window was coming, we just weren’t sure of the timing.

Next stop was Oxnard – we found a marina close enough to a Ralph's grocery store and were able to buy some fresh food. We also had our first meal out in a very long time, pizza from ‘Toppers’, it was excellent.

We reached Santa Barbara Marina just before noon on April 13th, but with another careful look at the weather decided to round Point Conception that night and anchor at Port San Luis in the morning. Our night in the marina didn’t last long, at 10 pm we untied the lines and motored towards the Point, the rounding was uneventful.

Just at daylight we passed within a few feet of a crab pot float, as the light grew, we continued to dodge crab pots. Luckily, we hadn’t wrapped the propeller around any lines in the dark. As the weather remained calm Bumblebee suggested we continue on to Morro Bay and skip Port San Luis. We passed in and out of fog, and at the south end of Estero Bay, at Point Buchon, the wind built to 22 knots - on the nose of course. Luckily it didn’t last long and the wind dropped as we turned into Estero Bay and headed into Morro Bay.

The Yacht Club dock was full. We tied up to the Yacht Club mooring buoy which was challenging due to the strong current. We called the Club and said we would be ashore in the morning to pay the transient moorage fee. I think we slept 12 hours straight that night.

We had two beautiful days in Morro Bay. We walked both days with Sharon and Rich along the harbor/estuary. People were social-distancing and wearing face masks, all still new experiences to us. We had our ‘sun buff’ masks and moved aside for people walking towards us to create more space as needed.
After many more PredictWind downloads and conferences among ourselves we headed straight from Morro Bay to San Francisco. Our goal was to catch the flood tide under the Golden Gate Bridge at 6 pm, sunset would be at 8 pm and we would have enough light to get in to the (new to us) marina.

We departed Morro Bay at 10 am on April 17th, and had good weather, motoring and motor-sailing north. As we were ahead of schedule and didn’t want to fight the tide under the Golden Gate Bridge we stopped and anchored in Half Moon Bay for a two-hour rest. We pulled up the anchor for the last time on this trip and finished the last hop to San Francisco and in to Marina Bay Yacht Harbor, Richmond.

Our statistics from when we decided to leave Mexico (March 14) until arriving in Richmond (April 18th):
Total nautical miles: 1720
Nights at sea: 7
Nights at anchor: 18 (1 with a stern tie)
Nights in marinas: 6 (plus a few hours in Santa Barbara)
Nights on mooring buoys: 6

Fuel stops:
Puerto Escondido, Cabo Del San Jose, and San Diego. We also purchased a few gallons in Cabo San Lucas (to justify tying up to the fuel dock and meeting the agent with our exit papers). In Bahia Asuncion we added 20 gallons of diesel from our extra cans (10 gallons that we were carrying, and the refilled 10 gallons that Larry ferried from the Pemex station ashore).

A late update from Mexico

16 December 2019 | Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico
Jane McNaboe | Hot and sunny


Baja Ha Ha +
San Pedro, California to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Before my memories fade too much, I have some catching up to do. We are 1000 nautical miles further south than the last time I wrote. We met up with our family and have done some great 'land cruising' in Mexico.

Shamaal joined the Baja Ha Ha 2019 Rally in November with four crew aboard, my sister Jennifer, her husband Steve, Jerry and I. It was very nice to have crew on board to help with night watches and spinnaker sailing. Jennifer and Steve also helped tremendously with the provisioning for the Ha Ha, preparing and freezing meals for the nights at sea

We completed our last minute 'fix it' list in San Diego with the installation of the repaired chart plotter and a new controller for the bow thruster. Both items were waiting for us in San Diego at Downwind Marine where they take delivery of all the cruisers last minute shipped items. We happily purchased a new Mexican flag from Downwind Marine as a 'thank you'.

The best part of the Ha Ha was the wonderful sailing. Using our new asymmetrical spinnaker and wing-on-wing, downwind and reaching. The seas were calm and except for a squall during the second night of the second leg, the winds were perfect. Even though we have owned Shamaal for 20 months, we haven't had much opportunity to sail her, before the Ha Ha it was a lot of motoring with only a little sailing.

Following the send-off parade, Leg One from San Diego to Turtle Bay stated with almost the entire fleet over the starting line ahead of time. The Poobah said,' oh well, this is the Ha Ha, just go ahead and go'. We raised the spinnaker and headed south between the Coronado Islands. Being racers, Shamaal was one of the few boats not starting early. We were excited to watch our progress as the boat worked through the fleet from the back to the front. The wind died that night and we motored until mid-morning on day two when we raised the spinnaker, leaving it up until we crossed the finish line the next morning, about 20 hours later.

The spinnaker sailing was perfect and as we didn't want to gybe or douse the spinnaker at night, we finished about 100 miles offshore, the finish line wasn't really that long, but it worked for us! Soon after crossing the finish line we caught a Dorado, our first large fish, very exciting. It took us all day to get to Turtle Bay where we anchored after dark.

Turtle Bay was fun with the usual entertaining baseball game, good food, and the Ha Ha beach party. One of the highlights was eating fresh Wahoo, a 60-inch long Wahoo the Jacques on Jacque Bateau caught, the fish was shared for donations to the kids at Turtle Bay.

We sailed the entire second leg, alternating between the spinnaker and the poled-out jib. A squall came through the fleet on the second night, we finished shortly after the squall started and saw 32 knots just before crossing the finish line. Other boats behind us saw a lot more wind and some heavy rain. We were anchored in Bahia Santa Marina time for dinner!

In the morning we launched the dinghy and paddle-board and went for a hike on shore; then hosted the crews from Jacqeau Bateau and Bumblebee for 'appys' and drinks. The second day at Bahia Santa Maria was the famous beach party - luckily the weather was cool and beautiful.

During the morning radio-net on the third day in Bahia Santa Maria we learned that a Tropical Storm Raymond was heading towards Cabo San Lucas. I had been diligently downloading Predict Wind weather along our upcoming route, but the downloaded weather map didn't include the storm which was further south. Lesson learned - download the marine notices and check the National Hurricane Center when possible. We motored the 27-mile stretch to Man O War cove in Mag Bay where we enjoyed playing with the paddle board and kayaks and were invited to a very nice dinner with great company on Bumblebee.

The Ha Ha conversation became focused on Tropical Storm Raymond while each boat decided if they should stay in Man O War Cove, continue to Cabo or Cabo Del San Jose, or make a quick run to La Paz. The weather model predictions for the storms' path varied tremendously, and changed each time a new model was available to download.

We decided to continue to Cabo. We were early entrants to the Ha Ha and were guaranteed a slip in the Marina. We heard that the storm would blow directly into the marina and decided that if we were given a bad slip we would make a run for La Paz.

The last leg of the Ha Ha was a motoring dash to Cabo, no sailing time was counted for the fleet. Our assigned berth, a side-tie, was sheltered from the main entrance, but we had three boats rafted outside of our boat. The Port Captain closed the harbor in anticipation of the storm and moved some boats deeper into the marina. Fortunately, we ended up with only one boat rafted to us.

Meanwhile we enjoyed the party at Squid Row and a dinner at Mi Casa. We were out for dinner on the second night when the storm hit with torrential rain, not much wind. All the boats were as secure as possible, only a few boats were in the path of the waves coming into the harbor and they seemed to be doing okay. The town of Cabo flooded and the water in the harbor turned a nasty brown color.

Jennifer and Steve headed to the airport after breakfast, only to find that the airport was closed due to low visibility. One night in the hotel and then they were on their way.

We stayed another day in Cabo because the harbor was closed, and then unfortunately one additional day due to an attack of Montezuma's revenge likely caused the local water system being contaminated by the flooding the day before.

We had a nice sail to Frailes, further east along the south end of the Baja peninsula. We spent two nights there, and did a little kayaking and swimming from the beach while we continued to recover from our intestinal problems.

We sailed overnight to IsIa Isabela, the 'Mexican Galapagos' island well known for clear water and a Blue-Footed Booby colony. It took us about 34 hours of great sailing. We reefed the boat at night as we had about 25-knots of wind. At night Jerry battled a flying fish that landed in the cockpit, I was rudely hit by a squid while on watch. Great sailing, t-shirt and shorts weather, even at night. In the morning we found 12 dead squid and one dead flying-fish on the deck.

We were the only boat anchored on the east side our first night at Isla Isabela, but by morning two other boats had joined us, when we left two days later there were four boats. The anchorage was rather bumpy and uncomfortably hot. We did some snorkeling, a bit of kayaking, and hiked from the fishing camp to the Booby Colony.

The rest of the passage to Banderas Bay was a 10-hour day-hop made challenging by the number of fishing 'long-lines' successfully spotted and transited, 12 long-lines! We motored all day and were lucky not to get any lines wrapped in the prop.

We spent one night at Punta Mita, then a quick stop in La Cruz at the fuel dock before heading into Nuevo Vallarta in the afternoon ahead of the minus-tide. Shamaal would likely hit the bottom if we entered the harbor on a low-low tide. It was incredibly hot in Banderas Bay, especially where Shamaal was moored at the end of the marina.

Luckily, we spent a week with our family at the Vidanta Resort and were able to take a break in the AC. Our sons, one who lives in Beirut, Lebanon, and one who lives in Montreal and their girlfriends, made the trip to meet us in Mexico. Also, Jennifer and Steve were back for more Mexico time, together with my Dad and Steves' mom. A nice family break from cruising. We took everyone for a nice sail across Banderas Bay and back, ate way too much, and generally relaxed for a week.

The following week we traveled by local bus to Guadalajara with Christopher and Maria. The local buses were a pleasant surprise, AC, 'wi-fi' (that works sometimes), charging ports for mobile devices, and onboard entertainment - almost like an airplane!

The main squares in Guadalajara were decorated for Christmas. On our first evening we saw a free live performance of the Nutcracker and a laser light show in the main square. We explored the markets, buildings and squares of the central historic district, and found some great food. When Christopher and Maria traveled onwards to Mexico City and we spent the day in Guadalajara at the Hospicio Cabanas looking at the art and the building itself.

We took the bus to Morelia where we took a city tour through the historic district, a UNESCO world heritage site, enjoyed the Christmas pageantry, parades and decorations, wonderful people and great food.

We are now back on Shamaal where, luckily, temperatures have cooled down and it's much more pleasant than two weeks ago. We are heading home for a 'boat break', some skiing and some more family time. When we return to the boat we plan to travel north into the Sea of Cortez.

The summer is a wrap

21 October 2019 | Southern California
Jane McNaboe

Our summer sailing is complete! Shamaal is moored in San Pedro (Los Angeles Harbor), on a short break before we join the 2019 Baja Ha Ha (San Diego to Cabo San Lucas) in early November.

Before describing our last few passage days, here’s a summary of our summer travel and the repairs needed before continuing south:

3,836 nautical miles traveled
61 anchorages
50 nights at marina docks
1 mooring buoy
5 nights at sea

We thought we had spent many more nights at anchor than nights at a dock, and were surprised by our statistics. Apparently, the nights at anchor are more memorable.

Since arriving in San Pedro we have been spending time at home, and preparing for the next jaunt south.

We have completed the following ‘fix-it’s’:

(1) The fuel tanks: we had the fuel polished and the inside of the tanks cleaned and inspected. We checked the integrity of the inspection port gaskets and looked for debris in the tanks, fortunately the Outbound Owners group is a wealth of information and others have had fuel tank issues similar to ours (debris in the tanks).

The fuel tanks had a few spots of algae; we found some fiberglass shards from boat construction in one of the Racor filter turbines. Unfortunately, the Racor filter pressure was still high after the tank cleaning. After some experimenting, we discovered that a fuel transfer pump installed by the previous owner was causing the problem. The fuel lines now bypass that pump, unless it is needed.

The fuel tanks gaskets were replaced. The previous gaskets had not deteriorated, but they were not made out of the recommended material.

(2) The windlass wire to the hand-held remote needed replacing. We were able to order a coiled wire online and purchased a standard trailer hitch connection to replace one end of the coil. Jerry was able to solder the new cable to the old switch, and install the trailer hitch connection on the other end. It looks great and hopefully will last for a long time.

(3) The chart plotter. We removed the broken chart plotter and have sent it to Raymarine for repair. We are now waiting for a refurbished ‘new’ chart plotter to arrive in the mail.
Not too bad for three and one-half months on the boat!
Our trip from Monterey, to Southern California:
The passage from Monterey to Los Angeles went well although it took a bit longer than expected as we spent three days in Morro Bay waiting for gale-force winds to blow themselves out at Point Conception.

We left the anchorage at Monterey just before sunrise, cutting away a huge amount of kelp that had become tangled in the anchor and anchor chain. We motored out of Monterey Bay and then had a great sail along the Big Sur with beautiful coastal views, and whale visitors keeping us entertained and on our toes. One more fuel tank stopped working, luckily, we have four fuel tanks with plenty of fuel to spare!

We anchored just before sundown at San Simeon, a gorgeous cove with a view of Hearst Castle perched high on the hills overlooking the ocean. Another boat that we had see further north was also anchored. I planned to take some photos in the morning, but thick fog put and end to that idea.

We traveled the short distance to Morro Bay, using the radar and blowing the fog horn until the fog lifted revealing blue skies, leaping whales, and a great view of Morro Rock. We called the Morro Bay Yacht Club and were able to tie up to one of their mooring buoys until their Saturday races were finished, then we moved to the Yacht Club dock. Our friend Jaye was waiting with a bottle of wine in hand! Thank you, Jaye. Our great-nieces, Amber and Kinsey, both students and Cal Poly SLO came for a visit too.

The weather for continuing south was not good, gale force winds were blowing around Point Conception. Traveling sailboats started arriving in Morro Bay over the next two days, all waiting for better weather further south. One boat had a broken dodger window and boom-vang due to an uncontrolled gybe, they crewmembers looked wide-eyed, tired, and rattled when they pulled up to the dock at sunset.

Jaye came to the rescue again and thoughtfully gave us a ride into San Luis Obispo and let us borrow her car while she attended a French-language coffee session. We had a great time wandering around the downtown area, eating Santa Maria BBQ for lunch and buying a few fresh groceries. We then visited Jaye’s house (with a beautiful view), and went for a short walk at Montana del Oro. The wind was blowing 25 – 30 knots at the dock in Morro Bay, we felt happy to have stayed for an extra two days. The boat became covered in a fine layer of sand that had blown off the nearby dunes.

We made another short hop to Port San Luis where we anchored in very blustery winds. We had an early dinner and set our alarms for 1:30 AM, for an early departure to round Point Conception and head to the east end of the Channel Islands. When we turned on the instruments to prepare to leave the chart-plotter above the companionway wasn’t working. We have three chart plotters, so it wasn’t a complete disaster, but was aggravating as the person not steering frequently uses that chart plotter to scan further ahead and behind to look for ships. The anchor again was wrapped in kelp, a challenge to cut off in the dark.

The trip around Point Conception was great as it was daylight and we had an interesting view of the rocket launching facilities at Vandenberg Air Force base. A Navy airplane called us on the VHF to warn us of live-fire exercises in the area – but we think we answered a call intended for another boat; we were nowhere near the practice area.

We didn’t see anymore Humpback whales after rounding the Point, instead we saw large schools of acrobatic, energetic, dolphins. We passed the site of the Conception Dive boat disaster; the Coast Guard had established a one-mile radius exclusion area around the site of active recovery operations. We crossed the shipping lanes carefully and sailed at 9 knots under jib alone (dead downwind) to the east end of Santa Cruz Island where we rounded the island and anchored in Smugglers Cove just at sunset.

An early-up again the following day for our final leg to Alamitos Bay. We had a bit of drama as the anchor windlass stopped working with about a foot of chain left to pull up. Jerry quickly crawled into the forward locker and was able to re-wire the windlass so that we could properly stow the anchor. After motoring in the morning, the wind picked up to 23 knots south of Point Fermin and we had a great sail into Long Beach.

We were greeted by our friend Ken who helped us tie up to the guest dock at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, and spent an evening with the Lido fleet visiting with friends. The next day we motored across LA Harbor to our reserved slip in Cabrillo where the boat will take a break for a little while.

We are now at home and have been internet ordering like crazy to get some new parts and toys for the upcoming Baja Ha Ha. A new electric cord for the windlass switch and new fuel-tank cover gasket materials.

Update:

We went sailing with our Ha Ha crew, Jennifer and Steve, plus with Jane’s dad on board for fun, and flew the spinnaker.

Now we just need to add provisions and we should be ready to head south again.


Newport Oregon, to Monterey California

05 September 2019 | Monterey, California
Jane McNaboe | Sunny and warm

We crossed the bar, outbound from Newport Oregon at 0830 on August 27th. The northwest wind was lighter than expected, but we managed to sail for about 7 hours before the wind died. We began motor-sailing at 1630 into a 5-knot south wind. The wind increased and at midnight when Jerry came on watch to relieve Jane we put in a reef and slowed the boat a bit as we were starting to pound into the waves. The star viewing at night was incredible, no moon, but then it suddenly all disappeared was we ran into fog.

The two next days and nights we continued motor-sailing south into the wind, or just motoring when the wind died completely. The weather was cold, wet and foggy. Not the most pleasant or exciting passage-making conditions. Our crew Jan tried to describe what it was like being on watch at night, ‘staring at a screen (that your life may depend on), that doesn’t change for three hours at a time, looking around at blackness to check for any visible lights every 20-minutes’.

We passed through lots of sports fishing boats late in the day on the 29th. They were a long way offshore, likely because conditions were so calm. The fishermen tend to watch their fishing lines only, while their boat is set at trawling speeds on auto-pilot. The friendly fishermen waved as we passed, not seeming to realize that we had altered course to avoid them while they paid no attention to where they were going.

Jan’s cell phone, with a Verizon subscription, worked amazingly well offshore. We were able to check the NOAA weather site and call ahead for a slip in San Francisco Bay. Sausalito marinas were full because of their annual Labor Day weekend art show; we found a transient place available in Berkeley.

On August 30th the fog lifted! We passed through a tremendous number of humpback whales, one went under the boat and then spy-hopped right next to us! Other whales were head-down and slapping the water with their tails. Large groups of seals were swimming towards the actively feeding whales, I’m sure they were hoping for some leftovers. The Coast Guard had a repeating announcement on the radio, stating that whale activity locations were broadcast on Channel 12, that’s the first time we have heard a Coast Guard announcement about whales.

We passed under the Golden Gate Bridge at about 12:30 on August 30th. Our friend Mike was able to get a few photos of Shamaal under the bridge. Unfortunately, we only had the mainsail up. Soon after entering the Bay the wind picked up and we rolled out the job to sail to Berkeley. The Berkeley Marina office asked us to tie up in front of the office and get checked in before proceeding to the end tie that they had assigned to up, the slip was very tight and challenging to get into.

When Shamaal was tied up securely in the guest moorage area, we showered and rested before heading out to a nice dinner with a wonderful view of the City skyline.

We had a busy weekend in Berkeley with great visits from Jerry’s brother Jack on Saturday, and Jerry’s sister and brother-in-law, Kathy and Rich on Sunday. We also had a prearranged visit from a potential Outbound owner who wanted to look at the boat, Pete at Swiftsure Yachts had asked us to show the boat. With Jan, Jerry and I onboard we were able to answer lots of questions. We explored Berkeley a bit, we had a great Indian/Pakistani food dinner on Saturday, and Mexican food on Sunday.

Jan headed back to Washington on Sunday morning. I think he would have been very bored with our travels south of San Francisco as we visit friends and family in each port on the way south.

Our next stop was across the Bay to Sausalito. Following advice from another Outbound sailor in Berkeley we waited for the tide to come in a bit before leaving the marina, even after waiting we were in only about 8 feet of water! 20 knots on the nose made it a challenging sail, more sailing than we had done from Alaska south! Sausalito was warm and beautiful, and it was very nice to spend the day with our friends, Mike and Barbara.

We headed to Santa Cruz at sunrise, passing under The Bridge on the ebb tide in very choppy and breezy conditions. As we turned south the wind died for a while and we dropped the sails and started motoring. The wind filled rather boisterously and we sailed on jib alone in up to 30 knots of wind, making 7-8 knots of boat speed, passing the beautiful coastline between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz harbor was very crowded, we were assigned a space on the fuel dock extension near the harbor entrance. We were secured by 5 PM with all of our fenders deployed and every line available tied to the dock in the surging conditions. We spent a great day visiting with Jim and Linda and their son Trevor.

Today we crossed Monterey Bay, motoring in glassy seas and high fog. We saw a Great White Shark!!! Also, a humpback whale having a great time slapping his or her tail. We are anchored outside Monterey Harbor, an uncomfortable anchorage, the boat is rocking and rolling. We are hoping to get some sleep tonight before a run down the Big Sur coast tomorrow in predicted 20 knot winds.


Port Angeles, Washington to Newport, Oregon

26 August 2019 | Newport, Oregon, USA
Jane McNaboe | Clear and windy

Port Angeles was our home for three days. We rode our bikes to Safeway for provisions (three times), up the steep hill to the hardware store to find something to help secure the anchor in the roller while offshore, and to the coffee shop where we used the wi-fi to update our Navionics charts on both of our iPads. While there we enjoyed a morning visit from our friends Keith and Marti.

The West Marine Store in Bremerton Washington finally received our new Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs). Jan, who had asked (!) to sail with us to San Francisco, was able to pick up the PLBs on the 22nd, Linda and Jan then drove up to Port Angeles where we had a nice dinner out and confirmed our morning departure time with a final weather check.

The weather forecast was for very little to no wind for August 23 and 24. Gale force north winds were predicted for the area south of Newport, Oregon to south of Cape Mendocino on August 25th and 26th. We decided we would go to Newport and wait until the winds to the south subsided.

Our crew of three, Jerry, Jane, and Jan, left Port Angeles in pre-sunrise dark on August 23, and managed to motor out of the Straits of Juan de Fuca without encountering strong headwinds, fog, or choppy waves. The mainsail was up and giving us a boost, but not enough to turn off the engine. We rounded Cape Flattery, the ‘Big Left Turn’, motor-sailing in calm seas, hoping that the wind would fill and we could turn off the engine.

The wind didn’t cooperate but we had good boat speed through the first night, with a little wind and current pushing. We chose to motor in the ‘crab-pot free’- lane. Our night watches went well, we each had a turn a dodging fishing boats, and watching the bright phosphorescence. The ride was smooth and we were able to sleep when not on watch.

Day 2, we downloaded the weather using our IridiumGo and Predict Wind, listened to the NOAA weather on the VHF, and were close enough to shore to pick up a cell signal and check the NOAA weather web sites. All weather predictions still indicated that the area south of Newport Oregon was going to have gale force winds. Although Shamaal can handle the gale force winds, we decided that we would rather not. We continued to Newport as planned.

Entering Yaquina Harbor (Newport) requires crossing a bar, the channel entrance (the bar) should be crossed at slack or flood tide so that the incoming waves are not opposing and outgoing current which creates larger waves.

We needed to cross the bar in the morning, at or before 9:30 AM when the tide would turn to ebb. We had been going too fast and our predicted arrival at the bar was about 1:00 AM, so we slowed the boat down and crawled through the second night at sea, again in the crab-pot-free lane. The swell had picked up and the boat was broadside to the waves, making for a very uncomfortable ride. It was almost impossible to sleep while off-watch.
We crossed the bar at about 6:30 in the morning, after making a VHF call to the large dredge in the middle of the channel to find which side of the channel we should be on. There was only one spot available on the guest dock, we pulled in and our lines were caught by some sailors from Poulsbo who knew Jan! Not long after getting secured at the dock the wind began to howl.

We checked in at the marina office, ate, showered and took long naps. Rousing ourselves in the afternoon we walked out to the beach and watched the kite boarders enjoying the strong winds, and felt happy to be at the dock. Dinner at the Rouge River Brewery. Early to bed!

Monday, we rode the free city bus to the north side of Newport and explored the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. The bus driver was very helpful, telling us where to catch the bus back to the boat. At the Lighthouse we enjoyed great views, walks, and a wonderful interpretive center. Grey whales were visible feeding almost within the breakers off the lighthouse. The whales are regulars and people have named them.

When we rode the bus back we hopped on the wrong bus; our previous bus driver had seen us waiting at the bus stop and called our bus to see if we were there. We were dropped off and picked up by the correct bus. Small town service with a smile!

Tomorrow morning we will be heading south again, leaving at a reasonable hour. We expect to be in San Francisco in three days. Wind predictions are for 15 – 20 knots from the north for the first day, then we will likely be motoring again, possibly for the final two days to San Francisco. We hope to catch the flood tide into the Bay on Friday.

San Juan and Gulf Islands, Preparing for the Passage South

17 August 2019 | Cordero Bay, Vancouver Island
Jane McNaboe | Warm, cloudy

The last few weeks have been easy-going, warm and sunny. In Bellingham we had a great visit with Jerry’s sister Patty and her husband George, plus a visit with our nephew Rusty and his wife Lindsay.

The engine was checked and serviced by a Yanmar mechanic, we cleaned up the boat, moved the flux-gate compass (which has been affected by being too close to the electric panel), and generally started getting ready to head south along the Pacific Coast.

Anacortes was a great stop as the marina is very close to the grocery store, Safeway. Our ‘passage-meals’ are prepared and frozen in zip lock bags, ready for evening meals when it might be too rough to do a lot of cooking preparation.

In the San Juan Islands we met up with and Linda and Jan on Evensong (another Outbound 46) twice! Jan will be joining us on the next leg of our journey from Washington to San Francisco. We also hiked a bit, visited places new to us, kayaked, and enjoyed the warm weather and sunsets.

Canada beckoned us for one more visit, we are going to miss this area very much. Our agenda has been a bit lazy, kayaking, hiking, dinners at some pubs on the islands. We had a surprise visit with our previous boat, Aeolian, a Sceptre 41, and her new owners. Todd and Maja are having a difficult time deciding if the cruising life is what they want to do. The boat may sell again soon.

We are now anchored in Cordero Bay, near Victoria. It took us a few hours to get the dinghy lashed down on to the bow, ready for offshore, and to clean and stow our kayaks. We worked on our next puzzle, storing our folding bikes, kayaks, a large dehumidifier, and extra canvas all securely in the forward shower so that the quarter-berth is empty and ready for Jan when he joins us in Port Angeles.

Tomorrow we go to Victoria, we have moorage reserved in front of the Empress Hotel in Victoria where we will have ‘high tea’ one day, and dinner at a nearby restaurant with our friends Jim and Marilyn the next. Our bikes will be handy for a trip to the marine supply store. Our anchor windlass switch is still giving us problems, we need to replace the cable completely.

On Tuesday we will cross back into the US to Port Angeles where Jan will join us, we will finish provisioning and we will stay until a ‘weather window’ opens for our passage to San Francisco.

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