It’s a shitstorm!!!
01 February 2024
Brian Wade
Ok, wow, what a great breakfast! Gotta love eating outside and being warm!!
Back to the trip. I pass Hipolito, big rollers crashing in to beach, and as u just read, I’ve had just about enough of big waves and rolling for now so it was a hard pass….default #2 Abriejos (open your eyes) due to 8 different rocks and reefs that can easily fool you as the charts are not accurate here…It is said DO NOT attempt this bay in the dark!!! I took heed. Under sail all day and towards dark winds are dying again. As I’m looking to my left I suddenly see breaking waves, MILES offshore!..What the?!?? Get the image stabilizing binoc’s out…yep…that’s a freaking ROCK! SHIT! Wind is almost totally gone now, so I decide to start up ol’ trusty Kubby 2.0 and hear “THUMP THUMP THUMP!”. OMG! DRIFTING TOWARDS ROCKS, NO WIND AND NOW WHAT IN THE HELL IS IN MY PROP??? Turn on underwater lights & see I’m towing a freaking lobster pot line! Jesus! No wonder I was going so slow!
Now, imagine, drifting ever closer to rocks, no wind, no engine…300’ of water, cant anchor….what now? Well, all us offshore sailors are is problem solvers pretty much…so, I start blowing on the sail…hoping it will help a `13 ton boat move! (sarcasm). I lift up line with boat pole….pull it up as far as I can…grab my knife and cut it loose with a “TWAAAAANG!” was that a C Major 7th or B flat? Humor helps to keep from freaking right the hell out! It was just enough momentum to help me tack the boat out to sea at .75 knots…(not even 1 mph) but I was now going away, not towards danger….I got several miles of westing in before turning south again…moving along at like 1-2 knots all night…I hear bump bump bump against the hull, the floats and line that was wrapped tightly up in my prop….nothing I can do about it now but just ignore the racket…no sleep was had.
Next day, about 11am wind dies a altogether. Time to man up….been thinking about how to do it all night….I gotta go overboard and fix this problem. After rigging up several trailing lines with loops to grab just in case…and a line around my waist…Over I go (sails down of course) with all snorkel gear, wet suit, thick hood (to protect my noggin against getting crushed by the pitching boat) Knife strapped to my leg and several hail mary’s later…I see the problem…in 500’ of crystal clear Pacific Ocean there it is…3 floats and 10’ of line wrapped up tighter than a 7-11 burrito. Shit. 6 dives down later (wishing i had been practicing my breath holds months ago) it was clear….threw up on deck for a kodak moment & donated back to Davey Jones when I got moving again…gotta tell you it was a sweet sound hearing my engine run smoothly again….Thank the good lord no damage was done to the boat!! I celebrated with a cold Beer, some steak strips from last nights dinner & a huge sigh of relief!
Arrive just as sun setting once again…at San Juanico…oh, the fun is just starting!!!