We're
anchored in Los Muertos after an E ticket ride down the Cerralvo Channel. Winds started out about 8 knots and steadily
built to a strong 25-30 knots from the NE...we were doing 9 knots on main alone
and had to jibe over to starboard to enter Los Muertos...I was a little worried
about that maneuver since Dan is still not versed in the ways of a 75 foot mast
and Laura had just tossed her cookies...but both performed flawlessly and the
jibe turned out to be cake.
We
blasted into the anchorage at about 8 knots and went head to wind to drop the
main...thank god for lazy jacks. The
anchorage was not as full as it was when we headed north but all the protected
spots were taken so we just took a less protected spot away from the other
boats...I hate it when someone anchors on top of me so we try to avoid doing
that to others.
Our
night in Bahia Ballandra was uneventful.
It was good to be back on the hook again after seven weeks of teepee
living waiting for a break in the weather.
The veteran La Paz/Sea of Cortez sailors say this is the worst spat of
Northers and cold weather they have ever experienced...as much as we liked the
city of La Paz we're not regretting getting out of there. As far as I can tell there is no real sailing
here...the veterans all plan on motor sailing between ports unless they happen
to hopping over to the mainland.
As
I write this, we're motor sailing down the Cerralvo Channel at just under six
knots with a 5-7 north wind on our port quarter just able to keep the main from
flogging. We're headed to Los Muertos
for the night...it's about 40 miles and 8 hours from Bahia Ballandra...we got
underway at 0700 so we should be there by 1500 or so. Going around Coyote point the swells
generated up north surprised us with their size...(2-3 meters) and we took some
nice barrel rolls...
Last
night the generator refused to start...a real problem since we need it to make
water and run the refer. Now this
generator is a mid 1980 vintage that Leslie and I installed before our kids
were born and computers as we know them were in their infancy. The generator had a bunch of primitive
circuit boards and electrical connections without a transistor in sight. After about an hour of diagnostics Danny and
I figured that one of the safety circuits that turned off the genset in the
event of overheat or low oil pressure was not sending the proper signal to the
shut-off solenoid, preventing it from closing and the engine from starting.
Since I had already successfully removed all the safety features from our
diesel heater we figured we could do the same to this and survive. It took us
about an hour to figure out how to do it, but it's done and everything is back
to normal...in fact, the genset now starts on the first touch...better than
ever! We do have gauges for volt, oil
and temp so we're not totally out of it!
About
45 minutes before we had to jibe to enter Los Muertos we got a bite from about
a 15 lb tuna...not my favorite fish...by the time I'd gutted and filleted it,
there was blood everywhere and we need to jibe...we ended up getting tuna blood
everywhere...but it cleaned up with s few buckets of water...no worries.
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