Sailing BOAT

Join us as we follow a dream and start in on the cruising life onboard our 41' Hunter. We will be heading south from our home part of Channel Islands, CA and traveling as far as we can go/where the wind takes us over the next 8 months.

02 April 2018
25 March 2018 | Sayulita
10 March 2018 | San Blas
10 March 2018 | Isla Isabella
09 March 2018 | La Paz
28 February 2018 | Los Frailes/Ensenada de los Muertos
27 February 2018 | Cabo San Lucas, BC
20 February 2018 | Bahia Magdalena
08 February 2018 | 27 41.11'N:114 53.13'W, Bahia de Tortugas, Baja Sur Mexico
06 February 2018 | Punta Tomas
01 February 2018
01 February 2018 | Ensenada
31 January 2018 | Ensenada
26 January 2018 | Fiddler's Cove, San Diego
23 January 2018 | Catalina
23 January 2018 | Two Harbors at Catalina

DNA Evidence and Fixing Your Boat in (somewhat) Exotic Places, Part One

24 January 2018 | Two Harbors at Catalina
Courtney
Curious title, well let's start with the posted image to give a bit more backstory of how we started our second day in Catalina anchorage and clear up part one of the title.

Woke up with the sunrise, night two was uneventful with little wind and waves, making for a very comfortable sleep with just the lull of a rocking boat. Since it is off season here, the anchorage is quiet with just a few other boats, some on mooring balls closer to shore and one catamaran neighbor hanging out with us just outside the mooring in this huge cove. We had never been to this side of Catalina, so we had checked out the town the afternoon prior. Cool little town just a short dinghy ride away, with a restaurant/bar, general store and boat repair shop...nothing like Avalon, but sleepy with a great tiny island feel.

DNA Evidence:
I'm reading my book inside the salon and enjoying my morning tea, lazily starting my day. Jay comes inside and ever-so nonchalantly announces we have blood drops on our dinghy.

"I'm sorry....what did you just say?!"

*I might add, I have an extremely over active imagination, so of course, the early morning, waking my brain up for cognitive processing, coupled with this odd and unsettling news made for a comical charade in my mind. Naturally, as any other sane adult would do with this information, I continue sipping my tea. Yup, mysterious blood drops, totally weird. [READ: I'm already planning my escape route from the mass murderer waiting somewhere nearby for us: grab the machete on the forward cabin bed, along with fins and snorkle masks, dive out the forward hatch, swim around to the back, cut the dinghy line and make for the shore....please don't let there be a severed finger IN the dinghy!

but nah...obviously, I AM a calm, rational adult and am having none of those ridiculous thoughts. Instead, acting as if I was just told the air temperature for the day.

"hmmm, so weird!" Continues tea sipping.

Jay, on the other hand, is actually acting like a sane adult. Walking away to make coffee, he calmly says over his shoulder,

"Likely just fish blood from some bird's morning meal."

Oohhhhhh! Right, yes, fish blood from those damn birds that tried to dive bomb us yesterday coming in from our dinghy ride. Exactly.....?! [why didn't I think of that? Mass murderers in Catalina totally doesn't make sense, they are only in LA and NY where there are actually....people?]

....Wait, fish blood?! OMG EWWWWW!

Lord help me when we catch our first fish and I have to watch Jay filet it in our cockpit.

--

Fixing Your Boat in (somewhat) Exotic Places, Part One:
We are still having minor battery issues, so we started the engine to get our batteries up, and enjoy the luxury of our fan heaters (which draw way too much power to just go off our batteries alone) We lift both anchors after breakfast to take BOAT out 3mi offshore for some "maintenance" (I won't go into specifics of what this entails, it's just gross.) Anyway, with no wind, we motor just outside the cove to notice that our engine is running a bit hotter than normal. After some discussion, we agree that it looks to be getting hotter, so we shut off the engine and turn around to come back into anchor to figure out the issue. Of course, the wind completely dies just after making our turn back into anchor. Needless to say, it was a long meandering sail back into our anchorage spot. Re-set-up with both anchors and then argue over who is getting into the freezing water to check the prop and the intake screen on the thruhull...I lose...damn it!

After pulling a huge dread of seaweed off the prop and scrubbing the intake screens, we learn neither are the source of the issue. Jay opens up the engine to further investigate and finds a sheered bolt on our raw water pump....

So back to town we go in search of the marine mechanic shop. An hour later and long conversation with local marine mechanic owner Jared going thru all options (FedEx 4-5 days of full pump replacement and $500 later, because why would Yanmar just sell the bolts?!) We conclude that it would be best for us to get down to San Diego and complete the repair, where there are a ton more facilities nearby and easier access to other parts should this project evolve....and not in the fun way.

Soooo, in order to cover the 80nm run to San Diego, we are planning an early am (like 3am!) departure. Weather window looks best for tomorrow, with winds looking good at 15-20kts so hopefully we can fly down there and get working on this. Not that into being back in a slip just three days after leaving home port....but so is the cruising life....fixing your boat in exotic places.

I'm sure this topic will be revisited again in the future..and hopefully in a more exotic place than San Diego.

xx
C




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Vessel Name: BOAT
Vessel Make/Model: Hunter 410
Hailing Port: Channel Islands, CA
Crew: Jay and Courtney
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Created 20 January 2018