Sailing on Starshine
| Vessel Name: | Starshine |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Outbound 44 |
| Hailing Port: | San Francisco, CA |
| Crew: | Pat and Melodie Williams |
| About: | We have been "working the plan" since 2004 when Pat began taking sailing lessons. That lead to a few sailing vacations on sailboats. Melodie took some classes too. We purchased our boat in 2011. |
27 February 2019 | Alameda California
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan to San Francisco
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan Sinaloa Mexico
01 May 2018 | El Cid - Mazatlan
09 April 2018 | Marina Mazatlan
07 March 2018 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
23 January 2018 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
04 December 2017 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
24 October 2017 | Oakland, CA
04 September 2017 | South Lake Tahoe CA
04 September 2017 | Culver OR
04 September 2017 | Culver OR
04 September 2017 | Redmond Oregon
17 July 2017 | Polson Montana
31 May 2017 | Our new Camper in Ira Texas
04 May 2017 | Nuevo Vallarta, Riviera Nayarit Mexico
04 April 2017 | La Cruz Anchorage
12 March 2017 | Chamela Bay
12 March 2017 | Tenicatita Bay
18 February 2017 | La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
Recent Blog Posts
27 February 2019 | Alameda California
Goodbye Starshine
Melodie and I have accepted an offer on Starshine. We close escrow on March 8, 2019.
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan to San Francisco
The Baja Bash
Preparing for the Baja Bash (the trip north from Mexico to California). They call it “The Bash” because the prevailing winds and waves are from the northwest. So you are basically going uphill (if that makes any sense).
26 February 2019 | Mazatlan Sinaloa Mexico
Summer 2018
As many of you who have followed our blog over the last four years you’ll note that I have not given it any attention since last spring. So let me fill in the blanks.
Fish On!
03 December 2014 | Mazatlan to Chacala, Mexico
Pat
The trip from Mazatlán to Chacala was about 150 miles. We left at about 0900 on Sunday 11/30/14 so that we would arrive after sunrise on Monday in Chacala. We were about to sail about 6 hours in the afternoon before the winds died down.
We used the time we motored to make fresh water with our water maker. It makes about 12 gallons/hour.
We strung the fishing line and caught two fish! At first we though they were Bonito, but after consulting our fish book with think they were Black Skipjacks. There were spots under the gills and the meat was a dark maroon color. We had heard it was best to bleed the fish before cleaning it. The first one we caught did not get bled, the second one did.
In Chacala Melodie prepared the fish the salt, pepper and butter and wrapped it in tin foil. I cooked it on the barbeque. It tasted ok, not a delicate flavor at all, it was a lot like canned tuna.
We arrived in Chacala at dawn and found there were already 8 other boats there. The best spots to anchor were already taken. We found a spot closer to the mouth of the bay (and the swell). We set a bow and stern anchor to keep us pointed into the swell and reduce rolling. I’m not sure how much of an effect it had, as we still rolled quite a bit. It was the first time Melodie and I had deployed a stern anchor from Starshine. There were some of the expected learning points, such as the eye splice between the chain and nylon rode did not fit through the roller. The roller has a bar across it, secured with a wing nut. It was an easy thing to open, but I was doing it one handed while trying to keep the chain from bouncing off the gel coat. We got both anchors set and we did not drag at all while we were there.
We deployed the dinghy and used our small 3.5 HP 2-cycle engine to get ashore. It was our first motorized beach landing. There was no surf, so it went well. I still need to install our dinghy wheels, which will aid in landing the dinghy on the beach.
We walked around town and looked at the few shops. We ate lunch at a beachside restaurant. Melodie bought a coconut from a street vendor. She drank the coconut water and he scraped out the meat for her to eat later. It cost $25 pesos, about $2 USD. Chacala is a small village, but caters to locals on vacation and the cruising boats that stop there. We took the dingy back to the boat before having our fresh fish for dinner.
We used the time we motored to make fresh water with our water maker. It makes about 12 gallons/hour.
We strung the fishing line and caught two fish! At first we though they were Bonito, but after consulting our fish book with think they were Black Skipjacks. There were spots under the gills and the meat was a dark maroon color. We had heard it was best to bleed the fish before cleaning it. The first one we caught did not get bled, the second one did.
In Chacala Melodie prepared the fish the salt, pepper and butter and wrapped it in tin foil. I cooked it on the barbeque. It tasted ok, not a delicate flavor at all, it was a lot like canned tuna.
We arrived in Chacala at dawn and found there were already 8 other boats there. The best spots to anchor were already taken. We found a spot closer to the mouth of the bay (and the swell). We set a bow and stern anchor to keep us pointed into the swell and reduce rolling. I’m not sure how much of an effect it had, as we still rolled quite a bit. It was the first time Melodie and I had deployed a stern anchor from Starshine. There were some of the expected learning points, such as the eye splice between the chain and nylon rode did not fit through the roller. The roller has a bar across it, secured with a wing nut. It was an easy thing to open, but I was doing it one handed while trying to keep the chain from bouncing off the gel coat. We got both anchors set and we did not drag at all while we were there.
We deployed the dinghy and used our small 3.5 HP 2-cycle engine to get ashore. It was our first motorized beach landing. There was no surf, so it went well. I still need to install our dinghy wheels, which will aid in landing the dinghy on the beach.
We walked around town and looked at the few shops. We ate lunch at a beachside restaurant. Melodie bought a coconut from a street vendor. She drank the coconut water and he scraped out the meat for her to eat later. It cost $25 pesos, about $2 USD. Chacala is a small village, but caters to locals on vacation and the cruising boats that stop there. We took the dingy back to the boat before having our fresh fish for dinner.
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