s/v Don Quixote

April 20, 2011 - MX to FP Passage Day 5

2011-05-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

02:00 N18 22.5 W115 45.2 230T 5.0kts NNW7-10 choppy and very bleh
Made SSB contact with loose pointer at 01:15. Mum on. Jaime off.

04:00 N18 16.9 W113 54.4 5-7kts 237T NNW12-18 NW4' 1013 falling

05:00 Mera on, Toast off. Average wind speed increasing and swell starting to build. Fortunately a run for us as it comes over starboard aft.

08:00 SSB contact with Loose Pointer. Dean on, Aeron off.
N18 03.3 W115 17.5, all is well.

24-HR POSITION REPORT -- 124/421 N17 49.7 W114 24.2

11:00 228T 4.5 overcast 10-mile visibility

13:30 Spinaker up.

14:00 Jaime off, Mum on. Spinaker up.
5 kts 220T wind 9-10 kts choppy seas

19:30 SSB Net
N17 17.9 W114 56.1 210T 5.5kts N16 NW5'x8s 1012 falling

23:00 Jaime on, Dad off.
N17 00.6 W150 11.6 235T 4-6kts NNW8-12 NNW3'

April 19, 2011 - MX to FP Passage Day 4

2011-05-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

02:00 N19 47.7 W112 10.5 235T 6.5kts NW10-15 WNW3'
Mom on. Made contact with Loose Pointer. New SSB channel is 8A 9297 every 4th hour.

04:00 Blowing like stink and breaking rollers.
N19 36.4 W112 17.7 6.5kts 210T NE20 NE8' breaking 1012

05:00 Mera on. Nasty (shudder) blowing like a bat outta hell.
N19 30.3 W112 22.1 220T NE15-17 1011 falling

08:00 SSB net check in. No net heard however on 8A or 8B
N19 17 W112 32 200M 6.5kts

11:00 Contacted by Mexican Navy to see if stopping or passing through. They made a call on VHF16 for a white catamaran. We replied thinking they were contacting us.

24-HR POSITION REPORT -- 128/297 N19 02.9 W112 41.6

12:00 Retie reefing lines. Very challenging in these seas/wind. Adjusting topping lift and jacklines to reduce chafe.

14:00 Contacted again by Mexican Navy. They mistook us for a boat at anchor on Soccoro. This is partially our fault since we responded to first hail. Confusion cleared up and no further contact.

22:00 Start port engine with wind < 10 kits. 2797 hrs on port. Autopilot.

April 18, 2011 - MX to FP Passage Day 3

2011-05-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

02:00 N21 15.3 W110 41.6 W10 120T NW1'-3' 5.0kts
Loose Pointer 25 miles away. Making popcorn. After navigation light is out.

05:00 Mera on. Toast staying with as wind is building.
N21 02.5 W110 54.1 225T 6.5K W15-16 seas lumpy 1011

Light wind in AM. Jaime up the mast to revise the spinnaker halyard. SSB not seeming to put out much power when using Pactor modem. Able to check-in with microphone on Puddle Jump Net @ 1500 UTC. Leak in Port engine compartment coming from transom, rubber seal is giving way. ~ 1 gallon per day.

24-HR POSITION REPORT -- 74/169 N20 42.5 W111 18.1

24:00 Contact with Loose Pointer (N19 54.6 W112 39.6 215M 6.5kts) Next check in will be 0400 on 8A 8294mHz.

April 17, 2011 - MX to FP Passage Day 2

2011-05-12T11:12:00.001-07:00

02:00 Jaime off watch, Toast on.
N22 10.25 W110 00.58 210T 5.5kts W10-12 NW3'-4'
VHF acting up. Will not allow us to say anything without clipping and changing channels. Loose Pointer is trying to hail us.

05:00 Mommy off watch. Mera on.
N22 55 W110 12 218T 6.15 W10-11 NW2'-3'
Seas are gentle, comfortable, nice first overnighter.

07:15 Sunrise (0100 UTC)
Winds light 5 knots. Engines on. Batteries very low. Alternator ~80amps! Keep RPM down @ 1500 until the batteries are charged.

08:30 Starboard off. Making fresh water.
Discover six inches of water in port engine room. Source? Wash during the day yesterday?

24-HR POSITION REPORT -- 95.5NM/95.5NM N21 38.45 W110 27.7

11:00 N21 38.246 W110 27.611 No WIND. Bobbing around so school can commence. Jaime on watch.

14:00 Toast on watch.
N21 36 W110 28 222T 4kts SWS6 W5' 1012rising

April 16, 2011 - MX to FP Passage Day 1

2011-05-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

Purchased fuel at dock. ~$90 All tanks, heating tank, and 9 5gal/jerry cans full.

10:47 Depart. (1647UTC)
Port 2792
Stb 2795
Very light wind predicted next 2 to 3 days.
N23 01.92 W109 40.5 209T 6.4kts S10 seas calm
Both engines running t top batteries and get us out of high traffic near Cabo. Knot meter working about .8kts slower than GPS reading. Tide? Current? Broken? Probably just old and gimpy.

11:45 Turn off engines. S15 6.0kts 160M

14:00 Toast on watch.
N22 51.03 W109 41.96 267T 5.2kts SW12 SW1'

14:35 tack. Want to get farther off cape by night fall. 190T

17:00 Mera on watch
N22 41 W109 46 193T SSW8 W3' 1008 falling
Have a good watch Aeron.

April 15, 2011 - San Jose del Cabo

2011-05-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

We took a walk around the marina at San Jose del Cabo. It is a beautiful example of fake Mexico. Clean, landscaped, incredibly luxurious. There are rumors it costs over $150/night to stay here. I wouldn't be surprised. They put up the Tahitian cruisers on a long dock near the entrance that will someday be used to fuel megayachts. Right now, it apparently has no function since the fuel facility is not in place.

Spent the morning at the cafe struggling with our yacht insurance. Apparently, we did not have all our paperwork in place? Even though I asked about this six months ago. At the time I was told all was fine, just let them know when we're leaving. So I did that, and I got back the message that we needed to send our resume, crew list, etc. They are going to decide whether or not we can Puddle Jump at all or if we require additional crew. *rolls eyes* I see barn doors, horses, and a lot of asses. It's not like I didn't take care of this months ago. Anyway, I'll put in place what I can. After that, it's up to the whims of insurance companies. Yet one more reason not to break the boat, as if we needed another.

We spent the afternoon fixing and troubleshooting systems. There isn't really much to do at this point. I sent the girls to the local tienda to spend the last bits of our Mexican cash on candy, cookies, soda pop and beer. There wasn't much money, but they appeared to have fun spending it. Spectacular sunset. Perfect for our last night in Mexico.
~Toast

April 14, 2011 - Los Frailes to San Jose del Cabo

2011-05-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

~1000 Weigh anchor after download weather GRIB and breakfast. N15-20, N2'-4', 1013 falling. Sail to San Jose del Cabo
~1700 Arrive San Jose del Cabo. Take advantage of "Tahitian Cruiser Promotion" to dock for free on the empty fuel dock.

April 13, 2011 - Muertos to Frailes

2011-05-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

0840 Anchor up local time. 1440 UTC. Port engine 2786 starboard 2788. Nice display of fever of mantas doing belly flops and jumping. 100s in long line out to horizon.

0855 Starboard only, port off, main up to motor sail. Winds < 5 knots.

1300 Port on, starboard off. WSW3 to 5, seas calm, 145T. Loose Pointer on horizon. Jaime put Aeron up to spreaders on spare halyard to practice "reef watch".

Conducted "school review" with all 3 girls to reestablish what, when, and how much. Enthusiastic school day. To be successful, adults MUST engage.

Humpback whales breeching and slapping tails all around us today.

1700 Arrive Frailes. Anchor in 32' water and 125' chain out. Chili rellenos for dinner with Dan and Kathryn and Adam of Loose Pointer. Really nice sunset. Toast took pictures of LP.

April 12, 2011 - Caleta Lobos to Ensenada de Los Muertos

2011-05-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

0820 Turn on both engines. No problems starting, no decompression needed. pull up main. Radar screen going splotchy on refresh. Interference from shore? Changing range clears the display.

0840 Both engines off. Under sail. Winds light SE10. Seas calm. Light riffle. Course 313@ 3.0kts.

1020 N24 22.57 W110 17.252 87T wind-none. Stalled in the Lorenzo Channel. Turned on both engines till batteries topped. Left port on to make forward progress and fresh water. Turned off stb after 10 minutes. Jib furled. Power on batteries high. Motor sail on prt tack.

1220 Stopped making water. Port up to 2800 RPM

1510 Turn on stboard

1520 Turn off port

1630 Put out sails and pull back to neutral

1640 Turn off starboard

Captain and navigator just had a raging argument about how stupid the JRC is that it doesn't display UTC and a local time. Actually, we agree on the stupid. It took awhile fro the captain to believe this was in fact true of the unit and not merely a figment of the navigator's stubborn and demented imagination. Result: Maintain JRC and log in UTC. 2144UTC

April 11, 2011 - La Paz to Rocco Los Bobos

2011-05-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Marina de La Paz - Toast ashore doing last minute provisioning. Jaime hanging out with her friends. Mera and Aeron chores on boat. Dean changed fuel and oil filters. Sea Otter Jimmy came and helped get the dinghy outboard running again. Check valve ball had wedged into the spring and was making the fuel too rich. Also extra gasket not needed with diaphragm. Fuel squirting out. Works fine now!

Loaded up with 300.9 liters of diesel fuel. Left dock 14:30 after saying good byes.
2779 port engine
2784 starboard engine
Both gauges show full.
~ Dean

Fresh bollo and bollito. Managed to find at the last possible instant a place to get our printer cartridges filled. Also picked up additional shade material to extend sun shades and a reflector for the solar oven I plan to build. Someday. Paid Imagine for sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts. Topped off the water and filled the deck buckets. We are carrying 50 gallons in the cockpit to use for washing (clothes, bodies, dishes). It's potable if for some reason we can't get the water maker to work. Hope to refill en route with rain water. Made sure the cat was aboard this time. Weather is very very fine for our departure.

We only made it about 10 miles north of La Paz to Caleta Lobos which the family calls Rocco Los Bobos. It's a very white rock which we know from long experience means it's covered with birds, bird shit, and bobo flies. We parked as far from the white rock as possible. The bay was calm, quiet and stunningly beautiful in a fashion that is unique to the Sea of Cortez. I am going to miss this place. I very much want to return here someday.
~Toast

April 10, 2011 - La Paz

2011-05-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Dinghy races out front of La Costa Restaurant for Bay Fest. Lost one dinghy anchor and had to go diving for it with Toast. Light norther blowing up.
Discovered about 5pm that we had left Dulcinea on the dock this morning. Hauled up anchor and went back to Marina de La Paz to look for her. She showed up about an hour later.
~Dean

Spectacles, testicles, shoes, shirt, wallet... and now cat. We really need to count noses each and every time we pick up the hook.
~ Toast

April 5, 2011 - La Paz

2011-05-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Glenn off boat and back to LA. Morning spent playing cards, heuvos and tortillas for breakfast. Walk into town to get ice cream with Glenn and Patsy.
Mercury dealer does not have our part. Will call him daily until we have to leave. Need to reach Sea Otter Jimmy or try to make part.
Studying for HAM test today. Will work on outboard and/or wind generator tomorrow.
~Dean

Overall fantastic visit with Glenn. I am so glad he was able to come down. It put the entire family in a really good frame of mind. We're going to miss him so much during the trip. DrC had the idea that we should take our Beach Access t-shirt and take pictures with it everywhere we go. Sounds good to me.
~Toast

April 4, 2011 - La Paz

2011-05-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

Spent day at anchor with Greg and Glenn. Greg did some audio recordings of the crew. Glenn took girls ashore for candy and clothes shopping. Patsy of s/v Talion gave Greg a ride to airport. Mercury outboards says they have the part we need for carburetor. Studying for HAM test. Toast on shore paying bills on internet. Watched "Sideways" on monitor.
~ Dean

Monitor + speakers + hard drive = battery drain. We flatten the batteries when we do this as a family. It's a real shame as it's fun to have everyone sit and watch movies together. Maybe with the wind generator working this will be enjoyable pastime which doesn't matter so much since we'll have added power coming in.
~ Toast

One Down

2011-04-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

Distance: 138/1047 Day: 9

My timing is off on this post as is all the timing on Don Quixote. An enormous hole was blown in our watch schedule when we lost Jaime to mal de mer. She insists she just has a food poisoning or stomach virus, but the symptoms are pretty classic. After vomiting for nearly 18 hours, DrC put her on medicine that... shall we just say this as politely as possible... she can not throw up. She is now asleep for however long it takes to get her system back in balance. Thus, our crew watch is missing a full bodied crew member. My sincere hope for her sake is that this is only for a day or so. My sincere hope for my sake and that of DrC is that it will only be a day. DrC and I were just getting settled into our routine, and now we're basically on watch half again as much.

To make this entire situation additionally challenging, wind finally discovered Don Quixote. The nor'easterly has been blowing 18 to 25 for the past 18 hours. It is a lot harder to relax in these conditions which are even more bouncy and noisy than before. On the other hand, we were able to clock our best day yet. Our wind generator has been going mad in the increased wind, whirling at high speed and volume pumping power into the batteries at the expense of our ears and nerves. The waves are gradually growing larger and larger, now easily topping 12' in high arching crests down which we surf at considerable speed.

PPJ Note #2: SOUND. Passage making has got to be the loudest experience I have ever endured. The noise just never lets up. The sound is combined of the wood panels creaking, water slapping the sides, wind through the gear, the hiss and crash of surf, the whine of the wind generator, and the occasional boat-vibrating thud of a wave whapping the bridge deck. There is nothing romantic about sailing at high speed in the open ocean. It is a banging, booming, teeth jarring high volume roller coaster ride which goes on and on. More than the lack of movement or the fresh baguettes and pamplemousse, I am now very much looking forward to the simple pleasure of quiet on our arrival in the Marquesas. No doubt our ears will ring for at least a day at the absence of cacophony.

Getting far enough south that it is time to start thinking about where and when to cross the ITCZ. I liken this decision making process to a cross between spinning a roulette wheel and planning a D&D campaign complete with a large board, moving pieces, and tables and tables of helpful instructions which one simple roll of the dice can bollux completely. At present, we are roughly targeted at N5 W125 which would result in our crossing a little more easterly than most. Time to pull down yet another GRIB, however, and see if what we saw yesterday makes any sense today. Odds are, not so much.

Today's most exciting event? Rain. We finally got sprinkled on. This isn't a squall, mind you. It's just a simple sprinkle of rain, not even sufficient to rinse the salt and kitty sand off the deck. It is merely a prelude to the torrential downpours we can expect farther south and east. However, it does provide some idea of the heat and humidity which are increasing daily. The boat, as well as everything and everyone on it, are one big Sticky. The high seas makes it difficult at best to make water, so we're on strict rations till we get to a calmer zone a few days south. No one worry. If we had to, we could simply heave to and bob around for an hour to refill the tank. At this point, it's easier to just keep moving and be sticky.

~ Toast
April 25 20:50 UTC
N10 12.8 W122 01.2 200T 6kts

Construction Time

2011-04-24T06:33:00.000-07:00

Distance: 129/783

DrC is at it again. As if to celebrate getting his sea legs, he decided to build something. This time it is a shelf under the sink. I will concede both the prescience in loading the boat with the requisite materials and tools and the true need for an additional shelf under the sink to store soaps, sponges, vinegar and other assorted cleaning supplies in a neat and useful fashion. However, what I have trouble groking is his timing. The rest of us are just able to muster energy for chores, baking, and basic personal hygiene, and DrC has to saw, drill, sand, varnish, and make holes in things. Next thing you know, he is going to start to get frisky, which given our completely opposing watch schedules is just a futile waste of good karmic marital noise.

The cat, too, is now an industrious pain in my ass. She prowls the deck each night gathering all the little octopi that manage to suicidally leap on to the deck. She brings them into the salon and carefully lines them up under the table. There, she neatly nips off and consumes all eight squishy, ink stained legs. Then she meows until I politely tell her what a wonderful intrepid kitty she is and deposit the bodies overboard. If I am lucky, I do not step on any half eaten, regurgitated legs.

We are attempting to go a bit more southerly now. At our former trajectory, we probably would end up missing the Marquesas altogether. Our good friend and sometimes weather router has us aiming for a relatively easterly target above the ITCZ to give us maximum flexibility on when to cross. As a result of the beautifully consistent nor'easterly, we've basically been on a very long downhill sleigh ride for the past 48 hours. It is not particularly fast, but it is relatively smooth and easy on the nerves. Loose Pointer and Imagine gradually drift off on their own courses, the former to the west and the later to the south east. Another two boats have joined the fleet behind us. It is reassuring to have these boats all roughly within a day's sail. Granted, it's a silly comfort to take. In truth we are very much alone. Yet, I can't help but feel marginally reassured knowing there are friends about with whom we are in regular contact.

Last night's music was a venture into my years at WatchGuard. Prior to discovering the music server set up by a gifted but somewhat piratical QA team, I had my own set of CDs sitting on the desk. Depending on my mood, I'd slip in Santana's Supernatural, Rusted Root, Leo Kottke, or k.d. lang. Made for an interesting night revisiting these disks. Belting out She's a Big Boned Gal to the stars was probably the high point.

Unfortunately, just as my watch ended so did my energy. I've actually been feeling reasonably well rested and comfortable the past few days, but this was different. I wasn't just sleepy. It was like my body abruptly shut down. I could NOT stay awake. Fortunately, it was end of shift and I got Mera up. An hour dosing on the couch, and I feel much better. However, the whole thing is a bit ominous. Jaime insists she has a bit of a stomache flu and Aeron slept almost all day yesterday. Of all the things we packed, I am dismayed to realize we must have included a virus. The little rat is now fully grown and attempting to knock out each member of the crew. Fortunately, in this little incubator, it will not take long before the Conger immune system beats it into submission and with no vector to transfer to, we shall prevail and render this critter extinct.

In a somewhat futile attempt to be half as accomplished as my husband, I think today I'll finish making jerry can covers. Or maybe I'll just sleep.

~ Toast
12 32.44N 120 08.15W
13:30 UTC April 24

April 12, 2011 - Los Bobos to Bahia de Los Muertos

2011-04-13T06:33:00.000-07:00

8:20 Turn on both engines. No problems starting, no decompression needed. Put up main. Radar screen going splotchy on refresh. Interference from wind generator? Changing range clears display.

8:40 Both engines off. Under sail. Winds light 10 SE. Seas calm, light riffle. Course 313 @ 3.5 KN.

10:20 N24.2257 W110.1725 C87 wind - none.
Stalled in the Lorenzo Channel east side and down the Ceralvo. Fired up port and starboard to get moving again. Turning stb off after 10 minutes. Leaving port on to make water. Jib furled. Main up. Power on both batteries high. MOtor sail on port tack.
11:00 Catch skipjack. DrC prepping it for drying.
12:20 Stopped making water, tank full. Port up to 2800RPM.
15:10 Turn on starboard
15:20 Turn off port
DrC started troubleshooting the stb tachometer. Ruled out the head unit. Messed around with the wires near the alternator but couldn't find any particular reason it wasn't working. Magically, it started working again. Definitely a loose connection, probably at the engine side near the alternator somewhere. We'll let it ride for awhile and see what happens. No sign of radar reoccurrence. Toast troubleshooting the knot meter until DrC vetoed that. He says "citrus is more important than speed." Somehow, however, some gunk was cleared and the knot meter is now working at about 50%. Speculating that we picked up a large clump of organic, "live mud" coming out of singular that is adhering to the area around the knot meter and growing. The only way to clear this is to dive on it and clear the outside. Then from the inside, run a ruler or stick down the thruhull and clear it out. This would bathe all the citrus in the port bilge in sea water so it won't happen till we eat the oranges.
16:30 Put out sails and pull back to neutral.
16:40 Turn off stb.
Captain and navigator just had a raging argument about how stupid the JRC radar is that it doesn't display both UTC and local time. Actually, we agree that it's phenomenally stupid. It just took a lot of yelling before DrC believed me that it doesn't and can't. You can display only local time which the unit is pulling down for the satellite. Even though it -knows- UTC, it refuses to display it to us. Our initial decision was to keep the log in UTC but pushing back since the radar displays local. We'll maintain watch in the time on the JRC. Currently, this is the same as Mazatlan.
17:35 Wind died again 2.5 miles out of destination. Screw this. We're hungry. Turn on port, stb. Furl jib, drop main, bag it up.
17:50 Anchor down in Bahia de Los Muertos. 23.5933N 109.4972W
19:30 Sometime in the past hour, Loose Pointer arrived.
20:00 Adam visits from Loose Pointer. Kids exchange notes. Aeron acts like she hasn't seen anyone but family in months. I think she's practicing for our landfall in Hiva Oa.
~ Toast

April 11, 2011 - Marina de La Paz to Roco Los Bobos

2011-04-12T06:39:00.008-07:00

Leaving Day
Toast ashore doing last minute provisioning. Jaime hanging out with friends. Mera and Aeron doing chores on boat. Dean changed fuel and oil filters. "Sea Otter" Jimmy came by and helped to get the dinghy outboard working again. Check valve ballad wedged into the spring and was making fuel too rich. Also extra gasket not need with diaphragm. Fuel squirting out. Runs fine now.

Loaded up with 300.9 L diesel fuel, no gas, topped off deck water buckets. Left dock 14:30 after saying good byes. Motored up the channel and around the corner. Dropped the hook in 20' with 100' to the bridle. Light winds shifting from north to south then to west. Will wait to see if westerly continues. If so, we'll reanchor in lee of Roco Los Bobos.

Stb: 2784 hrs
Port: 2779
Both gauges show full.
~ Dean

24 17 859 N
110 19 929 W
Ran the port 2:30 and the stb 0:30. Time to start monitoring fuel again.

Jaime pulled out the meclizine and started dosing everyone up. DrC took one for "solidarity." I said I'd take one, haven't yet. Probably will this evening.

We're all so tired we can hardly move. Once we got the hook down, Dean made rum drinks. Gratefully drank them while listening to the wind generator spin and pulling down our sailmail content. Getting a bit of a refresh of energy as the sun sets but now the west swell is starting to drift in. Part of me says we should just ride it out. A calm anchorage isn't really what we need tonight.

Leaving La Paz was super hard.

Got OpenCPN running, using the GPS correctly, able to track us. Makes the Mac the first backup now since I still haven't gotten the OpenCPN on Windows to work with the CM93 charts. Urgh. I'll keep working on it.

We have all six souls on board. Girls slept all afternoon and are now banging around eating some salad and garlic roll bollo. Personally, I don't even want to stay up long enough to participate in the net. We may need a day of pure rest.
~Toast

April 10, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-12T06:39:00.007-07:00

Dinghy races out front of La Costa Restaurant. Toast organized the whole thing. It was part of Bay Fest. We didn't have a large number of participants, but those that came seemed to have a really good time.

Lost one of the dinghy anchors used to hold the course fenders in place. Had to go diving for it with Toast. Light norther blowing up.

Discovered about 5 pm that we had left Dulcinea on the dock this morning. Hauled up anchor and went back to marina de la Paz to look for her.
~ Dean

The adventure with the dinghy anchor was a bit of a drama. The "light norther" meant 20-25 KN winds and a 1-2 foot chop rolling all the way down the Mogote. Not the best conditions for diving on an anchor. Down he went though. Found it. Getting him and the air tank back on board was another thing. By the time we were doing that, seriously large chop was bashing itself on Don Quixote. It was like trying to move a 50 pound weight from one shelf to another while bouncing up and down on a trampoline.

The race went well. I was happy. Mostly it was kids, but who cares. They had fun, I had fun. La Paz folks can decide whether it was worth the trouble next year.

Dulci… oh my god that cat. Worthy of a long post. Minutes after we dock, DrC spots her on a mega yacht. She's sauntering down the stairs, looking our direction. Clearly she was just waiting for us to come back in again. Ugh.
~ Toast

April 6 - 9, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-12T06:39:00.006-07:00

So, classic Mexico. We went in to pick up the part. The part they ordered. The part Dean paid for. The part they told him was here at another facility in La Paz. That part. What part? Really. The guy acted like he'd never seen DrC, didn't recognize the invoice on their own paper, never heard of the part. Part might be here manana. Or it might not. Maybe two weeks more?

Sea Otter Jimmy had a part that was broken in a different way. DrC put the two parts together and glued/epoxied until we had a functional part. Of course, that didn't mean a functional motor. The problem with the motor moved upstream somewhere. This is so weird and an absolute show stopper. Must have part.

I spent the days running last errands, provisioning stuff, cleaning up issues in the States such as our property, moving money from NZ to US, and getting the new web site content ready. On the 9th, we borrowed Imagine's truck and bought a godawful amount of meat, cheese, and fresh produce. This is madness.
~ Toast

April 5, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-12T06:39:00.005-07:00

Glenn off boat and back to LA today. Morning spent playing cards, huevos y tortillas for breakfast. Walked into town to get ice cream with Glenn and Patsy.

Mercury dealer does not have our part. Will call him daily, but need to figure out what to do with what we have. Need to reach Sea Otter Jimmy or try to remake part with epoxy.

Studying for HAM test today. Will work on outboard and/or wind generator tomorrow.
~Dean

Girls moped around a bit after Glenn left. Surfeit of attention flowing in both directions was bound to result in a bit of an emotional crash after they part. Betting same on his side. The love fest stuff was good for the girls, and I sensed it recharged Glenn's batteries as well. We're all strong for the visit.

Ran a few more errands today. Last time for some of these places. Getting all mopey and nostalgic myself. Back incredibly painful but trying not to complain. Bought more diclofonax just in case.
~ Toast

April 11, 2011 - Marina de La Paz to Roco Los Bobos

2011-04-12T06:39:00.004-07:00

Stb: 2784 hrs
Port: 2779
Both gauges show full.
~ Dean

24 17 859 N
110 19 929 W
Ran the port 2:30 and the stb 0:30. Time to start monitoring fuel again.

Jaime pulled out the meclizine and started dosing everyone up. DrC took one for "solidarity." I said I'd take one, haven't yet. Probably will this evening.

Leaving La Paz was super hard.

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April 10, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-12T06:39:00.003-07:00

Lost one of the dinghy anchors used to hold the course fenders in place. Had to go diving for it with Toast. Light norther blowing up.

Discovered about 5 pm that we had left Dulcinea on the dock this morning. Hauled up anchor and went back to marina de la Paz to look for her.
~ Dean

The race went well. I was happy. Mostly it was kids, but who cares. They had fun, I had fun. La Paz folks can decide whether it was worth the trouble next year.

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April 6 - 9, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-12T06:39:00.002-07:00

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April 5, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-12T06:39:00.001-07:00

Glenn off boat and back to LA today. Morning spent playing cards, huevos y tortillas for breakfast. Walked into town to get ice cream with Glenn and Patsy.

Mercury dealer does not have our part. Will call him daily, but need to figure out what to do with what we have. Need to reach Sea Otter Jimmy or try to remake part with epoxy.

Studying for HAM test today. Will work on outboard and/or wind generator tomorrow.
~Dean

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April 4, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

Spent day at anchor with Greg and Glenn. Greg did some audio recordings of the crew. Glenn took girls ashore for some candy and shopping. Patsy of s/v Talion gave Greg a ride to the airport. Mercury outboards says they have the part we need for carburetor. It will be here tomorrow. Studying for the HAM test. Toast on shore paying bills on Internet. Watched "Sideways" on monitor.
~ Dean

Sad to see Greg go. He is an outstanding guest. Welcome to return any time. Unfortunately, you can't really say that about anybody. Having a guest on a boat is really much harder than having a guest in a house. Dulcinea of course hid somewhere completely unknowable just before he left so as to avoid an emotional good bye. She came out about an hour later with a "Where's Greg?" look. Numbskull cat. I feel bad for Greg.

Began work to get NZD transferred to USD to cover expenses on boat repairs, etc. We're not able to use our NZD cards at all locations so we've been drawing down the US side faster than anticipated.
~ Toast

Posting from SailMail

2011-04-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

It's the end of broadband and on to SailMail. No bandwidth means no pictures, I'm afraid. It's probable, it will mean more regular posting, however. So it's all good. Let's see if this posts correctly.

March 29, 2011 - La Paz (Marina de La Paz)

2011-04-04T10:44:00.002-07:00

Went up mast to fix mast head light. Repaced incandescent bulb with gimpy LED. Shrink wrapped the wire connections.
Another day of grocery store runs (Day 2 of 3).
Used grinder borrowed from Dan of s/v Loose Pointer to cut rusty chain in half.
Paid friend of Bucky's to start putting PolyGlow on the boat.
~ Dean

Greg filmed an amazing documentary of a friend who is a competitive stair climber. Who knew? Anyway, it's so very cool. He admitted this morning he'd like to do a documentary of our family preparing for the crossing. It's kind of exciting and a lot of fun. It certainly gives him something to do. He is following us everywhere with still and video cameras, recording everything we say. Some of the pictures he's already taken are as good as those Brian made for us many years ago. I'm excited to see what he comes up with.

Second store run was much easier. Greg took pictures. Still insane but it's getting humorous. We stored all of the Day 3 provisioning under Mera and Aeron's bed. We stored all of Day 2 provisioning under our bed. The boat is now deep deep deep almost to the water line. I doubt we'll move at any speed at all. The stuff does store down pretty well. We've stripped all the paper off everything and marked it up with indelible marker. Pastas, cookies, flours, and other things that take on boat flavor are stored in zip lock bags. I've decided based on comments from s/v Totem to use all the flour for the first 2 months and purchase more in Tahiti rather than try to carry all the flour we need for 6 months. Almost all of our stores are condiments, sauces, and the like. We CAN NOT carry all the canned goods other folks talk about bringing. Crazy talk.

DrC broke the grinder blade doing the chain so we did a Home Depot/Walmart run as well today in the evening. The housewares/hardware list is almost non-existent now. We also picked up a few other items that are only available at WalMart foreign foods section.
~ Toast

March 28, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-04T10:44:00.001-07:00

Greg Mushen arrived from Seattle with Dulcinea and some supplies for us. Took him out to dinner at Rancho Viejo.
Came into Marina de La Paz.
Bucky doing some work on wind generator support.
First day of massive grocery runs.
Rented car and loaded them up with about 300 pounds of cans and staples like pasta, flour, rice.
~ Dean

The day 1 provisioning run was intimidating. Two full carts of stuff from Soriana's and about $800USD later. The deck looks like a bomb was set off. We couldn't find a lot of American style stuff and foreign things at Soriana's so we also made a Chedraui run. Another $800USD later, we had all the tomatoes in cans a single family could possible consume.
~Toast

March 27, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

s/v Imagine arrived today from Puerto Escondido under dinghy power. Transmission problems.
Toast and I worked on lines for third reef system.
Skype with Mom and Dad and the girls at mid-day today.
Made water today.
Had to put extra shut off valve on hydraulic line for pressure washer, otherwise it drops from the fittings.
Toast made some more "socks" for the hatches and fuel can covers.
~ Dean

March 26, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

Re-do job on the cables for dinghy.
Went to El Arco and Chedraui with girls.
Backing plates for stern cleats were done by welder, but I think I left them in the hardware store.
Bucky finally came by today. Make some more adjustments to framing for wind generator.
Listened to Puddle Jump Net last night. Tried to make contact, but evidently net control could not hear us. Try again tomorrow.
~ Dean

Back is horked like a furball. Don't know how I'm going to make it to New Zealand.
Walked up to the Parmarama and got walnuts, lotions and other good stuff.
~ Toast

March 25, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

Purchase and install 10 feet 1/0 AWG cable for starboard starter motor. Engine now fires right up without decompression. Left old cable attached as well so have essentially doubled the thickness.
Discovered belt on raw water pump was loose, no water discharging from exhaust. Tightened belt > works fine now.
Tested new cable system for hoisting dinghy. Broke stern cables. Too small. Will purchase new and try again.
Had nice dinner with Toast at Italian restaurant off the Malecon. "Tony's". They had fresh basil. We asked if we can buy some from them. Toast will go back next week.

~ Dean

BASIL! First evidence we've seen of it down in Mexico. Going back on Monday to get a "bag" for $40MXN. If it looks good, I'm going to request two or three more. I'll clean, pick and freeze it. With basil and olive oil and pepper, we can pretty much eat pasta for the next 6 months.

Today was our last real day without folks and without the last "push" pressure. DrC and I went out to dinner together which was relaxing and very very nice.

~ Toast

March 24, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

Purchase hydraulic hose (690 MXN) for pressure washer.
Re-wind (installed) new bilge pump for port side. Bilge pumps now on separate circuit breakers.

~ Dean

Worked on hatch socks today. I'm so pissed off with these Lewmar hatches being crazed past all hope of return. I've made cloth covers which slide down over the hatches. They are tight at the bottom to kept them from blowing away. We'll keep them on the hatches at all times except when we are underway in any kind of sea. Then we'll dog the hatches and put on the hatch covers. My hopes is that this will extend the life of the hatches and lens. It's stupid really because it's too late to save the current set. However, maybe the good habits we get into with these socks will ensure the next batch lasts longer.

~ Toast

March 23, 2011 - La Paz

2011-04-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

Work day. Check on welder for wind generator mount. Put "band-aid" acrylic plate over cracked starboard bow hatch using couple ounces of "crazy glue".

Sven the German declined to buy our rusty chain.

Tested starter motor circuits: .3 volt drop port side, 1.5 volt drop starboard side. Decide to buy new cable for starboard. More $$.

Put air in dinghy wheels.

Found place to get hydraulic hose for pressure washer.

Did some Internet chores at Ciao Molina.

Gall Bill of Moontide a taxi ride to the dock.

~ Dean

Worked on the final provisioning list. Finally. The thing is a monster and scares me.

Banking also scares me. We're about to run out of money in the US business account. That's actually "planned." I want to hold as little US cash as possible. OTOH, it's disheartening seeing it so empty. Historically, that account has been where we stashed all our mad money. Now all the real cash is in New Zealand accounts and dollars. Set up the credit cards to be paid both at their account due dates and one month later with a predicted amount. I'm just guessing how much money we'll spend on provisioning. Big big number.

~ Toast

April 3, 2011 - Ensenada Grande to La Paz

2011-04-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

Wind down in AM. Discovered the oar lock had come loose and fallen overboard. Tested out the scuba setup and went diving near Talion. Managed to find the oar lock on the bottom. Buoyancy compensator jacket seems to have leak in the inflator hose section.
We all went to Talion and motored out to Los Islotes to snorkel with the sea lions. The younger pups were curious. Greg got some good underwater video.
Motor sailed back to La Paz in the afternoon. Anchored near Loose Pointer in virtual marina. Big group went ashore for showers and dinner at Taqueria "El Chino" behind the Quaker State Store on B. Dominguez.
Made water en route from the islands.
~ Dean

April 2, 2011 - Ensenada Granda Espiratu Santos

2011-04-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

Papaya and smoothies for breakfast. tested hydronic heater. Now working okay.
Greg and girls spent day on Talion swinging from rigging and playing dominos with Glenn and Patsy.
Dinner on Talion of garlic shrimp, brown rice, and salad with chocolate cake for dessert.
Wind comes up at night.
~ Dean

April 1, 2011 - Bahia San Gabriel to Ensenada Grande

2011-04-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Long hike across island to Barranca Beach. Sat in shade of tree and had cheese crackers, fruit, tortillas for lunch. Long walk back with half taking the "ridgeline". Really hot walk. Jaime's ankle bothering her. Tide out on return and had to cart dinghy about 150 yards to water line.
Afternoon motor to Ensenada Grande to avoid overnight winds.
~ Dean

March 31, 2011 - La Paz to Bahia San Gabriel

2011-04-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

Motor sail with Greg and family to Islas Espiratu Santos. Glenn sailing with Patsy of s/v Talion. Rolly night at anchor with coromuel from the west.
Dinner on Don Quixote. Had chicken with mole and corn casserole.
~ Dean

March 30, 2011 - La Paz (Marina de La Paz)

2011-04-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Glenn Twitchell of s/v Beach Access arrived today. Brought us his top mainsail batten.
Did final provisioning run to Soriana's and returned rental car.
Paid Bucky $4400MXN for work and materials for wind generator support. Now just need to wire it to batteries.
Flushed out hydraulic heater system. Air fuel in lines so it's not firing up properly yet.
Used grinder to cut bolt ends on u-bolts used to crimp new cable in bottom of dinghy.
Rebuilt carburator on out-board only to discover that the primer bracket, a plastic part that holds chock pull, has broken tab that's probably why we can't prime it with squeeze pump. Went to Mercury dealer on Abasolo and ordered new part for $570MXN. Hope it arrives by Monday.
~ Dean

March 22, 2011 - Ballandra to La Paz

2011-03-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

Weigh anchor about 10am. Too choppy in the anchorage with the swell coming in from the west. Had nice down wind sail to entrance to channel.

Starboard tachometer woke up.

Discovered the traveler car for the mainsheet probably has broken bearings. End caps/screws seem corroded in place. Usual SS bolts into the aluminum track bullshit.

~ Dean

Don Quixote Systems

* Traveller - Tried to take this apart today. Impossible. Effin' aluminum and stainless steel will get you every single time. I wish we'd known. I wish we'd understood 5 years ago when we bought this boat. There are systems that have just worked but now it's time to make them last for the long haul. In this case, we're going to probably have to sheer off and drill out the screws holding the end caps to the track. Not today. Turns out Calder is right again. Hot water with a little bit of vinegar does wonders on boat parts, blocks, tracks, pulleys, cams, etc. I took after the traveller bits today. It's still rough. We're convinced the bearings in the central car are probably not the happiest bearings on the boat. Someday we'll have to replace that bit of Harken extravagance. Until then, the hot water solution cleaned everything up enough that the traveller moves freely. Putting on my list to give every other block/pulley/etc on the boat a similar fresh hot water bath. T

Travel/Weather

Last night was rough. Wind strengthened from the north west causing a swell to start rolling into the anchorage at about 3am. We got up to check the boat and the anchor. All good. So we went back to sleep. Rolling was okay last night, but this mooring it was a hobby horsing bouncy thing. No one could study or work. Pulled the hook and headed downwind back to La Paz where presumably things would be a little calmer. Winds 10 to 15 NNW, swells 2 feet way too frequently to be enjoyable in any posture except downwind. Saw a strange red algal? bloom nearing La Paz.

The ride down was nice. Basically downwind averaging about 5.8 with a few areas in the 6s and 7s. Hooked off Marina de La Paz, too far out to get wifi. School and boat chores for the afternoon.

~ Toast

March 21, 2011 - Ballandra BCS Mexico

2011-03-23T08:53:00.003-07:00

* Cockpit Light - Wasn't the bulb. It was corrosion on the contacts at the switch. Cleaned them up with muretic acid and contact cleaner and put new butt connectors on. Works fine now. Add to someday/maybe replacing fixture with an LED brighter/nicer version. T

* Stb Mast Hatch - Replace hinge. Need to order more replacement hinges. D

* Main Halyard Shackle - Used a fishing swivel to create a tie for the pin so we won't lose it overboard. Okay, it was 4 years ago but I'm still traumatized by the sound of a pin for a $70 shackle going overboard. >plop< T

* Winches - Lubricated both winches. Putting them back together is basically a Chinese puzzle, except upside down and backwards where loss of any single part is catastrophic and ridiculously expensive. T

* Power Washer - Experimented with the garden hose and blew it out. That's clearly not going to work. Going to try to get a hydraulic hose made up. Not really surprised. D

* Drogue - Took an eye splice in the drogue rode. Everything is ready except the backing plates for the cleats. Need to get Buckie the steel guy to drill holes. D

* Dinghy - Put in a few cables for the new suspension system. One more cable to make. D

~ Toast

Spent day at anchor. Beautiful place. Toast cleaned and lubed both winches. Also fixed the cockpit light. I tried to plumb the power waster to get hydraulic hose. Spliced an eye over a thimble int he 3-strand bridle for the droug stern anchor line. Began to set up cables in bottom of dinghy to hoist it higher.

Had dinner on our boat with Don and Cathy of s/v Loose Pointer. They say they are thinking of doing the South Pacific crossing this year now.

Swell from bay kicked up during the night and off shore breeze kept us at an angle to the swell. Pretty rolly night.

~ Dean

March 20, 2011 - La Paz to Ballandra

2011-03-23T08:53:00.002-07:00

Weigh anchor about 0930. Kids swabbing decks. Spent most of day getting mainsail back together. Re-strung the reefing lines using the messenger lines Toast placed in May. Had to whip some ends and fix a section of the double braid that was starting to chafe.

Got to 6 kits under sail en route to Ballandra with 16 kits breeze in the channel between Espiratu Santos and mainland. Anchor in S west section Ballandra in 16 ft'.

Trouble getting the stb engine going today. Have not run it in a week and the leak in the fuel line creates air gaps. Still trying to get hold of Puddle Jump Net. Weather grubs look good.

Had dinner with Bill on s/v Mootide a Lagoon 47' circa 1999.

Strong coromuel winds tonights.

~ Dean

March 19, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-23T08:53:00.001-07:00

Spent today running errands, went to hardware stores and found more parts for projects. We were supposed to leave for Ballandra today about 2pm, but Jaime went off to help a friend at Marina Singular and didn't get back until 3pm. Instead we had some beer with Dan and Cathy on s/v Loose Pointer. They have been cruising off and on for awhile now. Borrowed a crimper to do some cables for the dinghy. WIll go to Ballandra tomorrow.

~ Dean

March 18, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-23T08:53:00.000-07:00

Back up the mast today. Installed new mast head light fixture, but had to use 25 watt bulb. Asshole Mexican navy was doing MOB drills right next to the boat and generating 1 to 2 foot waves while I was up there. NZ visas approved. Should be here soon. Toast working on the weather fax via air mail. "Bucky" the metal worker is working on bracers for the wind generator.
~ Dean

March 17, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Lat 24 09 28 N

Lon 110 19 79 W

1014 rising, 66F, 51%

Here we go again. So, New Zealand was nice. I had only been there about two months when they asked me to sign on "permanently." After some back and forth they agreed to give me a new contract to start in November. Family agreed that a trip across the Pacific. Sounded like a worthy adventure. So we packed up in February and left Pukekohe. Girls visited with Suellen at Disneyland and drove a used van loaded with supplies down to La Paz.

Made freshwater today: ~40 gal

~ Dean

March 18, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

Don Quixote Systems

Dean flew the mast again today.

* Masthead - Swapped out the fixture at the top. Broke the LED bulb base in doing so. Put in the incandescent but that puppy burns 2amp/hour so we'll only use it when forced to do so at the request of a coast guard or harbor authority. If DrC can fix the LED bulb, he'll go up to swap that one out.

* Wind Indicator - Installed.

* Spinnaker Halyard - Rerun the halyard. Used a small shackle and a messenger line to thread the fittings since it's super hard to fish out of the mast through the hole.

* Bilge Pumps - Installed the new waterpuppy on the starboard side. Works well. Still need to do the port side.

* Covers - Sewed covers for the GPS unit and the throttles. Made "socks" to cover the lexan for the aft cabins. Made all this out of a thick natural oatmeal colored canvas. Going to make socks for all the rest of the windows. These extend the life of the lexan while also providing some shade for the interior. If we really get attached to them, I'll remake them in Sunbrella... or maybe go the other way and make it out of tent material. T

Other Tasks

* Passports - On their way today. Yeah!

Considering taking the boat out to Ballandra for a few days. The pangas here are driving us nuts.

~ Toast

March 13, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

Decided that the family needed a day off. We've been going non-stop since early February. We're all super tired. The most ambitious thing we did today was go to the swap meet. There we picked up two jerry cans and a few other useful odds and ends including a collapsible colander. The captain spent the day studying for his general license while the captain's wife spent the afternoon desultorily attempting to corral the provisioning list into some semblance of order.

~ Toast

March 12, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Splash Day!

We managed to make it back into the water without breaking anything. We almost broke the captain when he backed off the end of the trail lift and fell 10' into the water. He lost his nice sun glasses (later went back to successfully dive on the spot and retrieve them). We motored off down the channel. Pt started easily, stb almost as easily. All good. Dropped the hook off Marina Don Jose about an hour later. DrC went off to get his glasses and Toast spent the rest of the day scrubbing off yard shmutz.

Painted bottoms of the keels before we dropped. Also painted under the supports. The knot meter isn't working at full speed. Might have been damaged. Those guys at Singular are better than the other yard but only by a margin.

~ Toast

March 11, 2011 - La Paz On the Hard

2011-03-11T22:57:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned how much I hate being on the hard?

Don Quixote Systems

* Sail Drives - Finally put together. Painted. Done. New zincs. New drive zincs. New seals. New everything.

* Main - Picked it up. Looks good. Did the research on replacing the broken batten. Lagoon saved money on these. They are simple fiberglass rods that cost $3.95 for a 25' rod. Problem? I don't need a 25' rod. We'll sort that in the morning. In the meantime, building a backup plan with another, smaller rod which will do the trick.

* Stb Bow Hatch - Going to have to go with plan B - plexiglass and glue. New lens is going to take a minimum of 7 weeks. Forget it. We've worked out an entire plan to simply replace those bow hatches with aluminum solid hatches when we get to NZ. This lexan thing with crazing is just stupid stupid stupid for those forward lockers.

* Paint - Done. Finally. No red keels, though. The yard's idea of red and Toast's idea of red bore no relationship. DrC vetoed spare painting it with standard wall paint. So no red alert on the bottom of the boat. Just one more reason not to flip over.

* Chain - New chain on the boat and anchor attached. Still need to splice rode to chain. Rigging temporary rope/float system so we can anchor out tomorrow without fear of accidentally dumping our ridiculously expensive new chain overboard.

~ Toast

March 9, 2011 - La Paz on the hard

2011-03-10T06:40:00.000-08:00

The excellent Internet bandwidth here is not making up for the pure filthy misery of being on the hard.

Don Quixote System

* Radar - Shrink wrapped connectors, tucked everything into the panels, and buttoned this up. T

* Paint - Applied magic chip fixing paint layer to places where needed. Two coats. Paint is now thick enough that we can't do another paint job. Next time, the boat is going to need to be sanded down and we start from scratch. Yard guys not working on us at all today. Asked them to splash us Friday so we'll have extra time for the repair paint to set. D

* Lines - Replaced fender lines with new stuff. Put dock lines used for the past year to soak. M

* Drives - Cleaned up and relubed parts. Put drives back together. Holding off completely putting the system back together until paint is under way. D

Other Tasks

* Visas - Haven't heard from Vista. I'm hoping no news is good news and the applications are on their way to NZCG. Going to call Ciara tomorrow if I don't get any other confirmation.

* School - School sucked up my time like a vacuum today. We hadn't been working with the girls for over a week. T

* LTTM - Contacted Roberto. Roofer, broker and maintenance guy now all in connection and getting to work.

~ Toast

March 8, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

We are on the hard with a projected splash date of Thursday, March 10.

Last night we were hit with a coromuel. That really sucked. It made the whole boat vi

Don Quixote Systems

* Thru Hulls - Over time, the paint has built up on the thru hulls. This protects them from the elements but enough paint and the holes start to seal themselves from the paint itself. Chipped out and scraped the edges of all the thru hulls. Went inside and moved all them. Some are a little stiff. One in the port head for the holding tank outflow feels frozen open. Potentially only needs man hands. T

* Sail Drives - Removed the props, pulled apart the drives. There is no evidence of water intrusion. The prop shafts are showing the very beginning signs of wear from the bearings/seals. Good for now but something that in the next 3-5 is going to require a serious look. The bolts holding the drives together were almost too tight to get undone. Note: No locktite on that bolt. Use paint to hold it in place. D

Sail drive raw water intakes suffering same overpainted problem as thru hulls. Scored out and sanded. Ready to paint. T

* Radar - Rewired the radar with the new power cord and the extension. Bought 10 gauge rather than 14 but DrC says you can't over wire so put it in anyway. Tested the radar and chart plotter. All good. T

* Cleaning - The crew here cleaned the bottom. There are a few places where this resulted in the paint chipping off to gel coat. No signs of blistering or damage to gel coat. Most of the black coat of paint (last version) is still in place. New white band at water line look very good. No problems. Transom toe rail plastic is discolored from sun and dust. Not sure if it can be bleached/improved. T

* Chain - Shopped for and priced chain. Available at Lopez for $1450/200 ft' 3/8 G40. T

* Bottom Paint - Put special paint for gel coat on spots chipped down. D

Other Tasks

* Stuff - We went shopping for more stuff. Lots of little bits. Bondo, Starbrite lube, butt connectors, etc. The list of things to buy is getting shorter. Getting ahead of it.

* Visas - Applications arrived at our agent in Utah. Hoping she's able to overnight them tomorrow. She understands the urgency.

* Property - Going in circles re: the property. Roofer says it looks fine. Broker says there is a hole in the roof. Pretty big difference between the two. Going to call our handy man tomorrow and get him over there.

~ Toast

March 7, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today we hauled the boat. This is probably the worst part of the boating life. In La Paz (hell... everywhere), options to haul a boat of our width are limited. Here we have two choices: a rail which Just A Minute swears is cursed by evil monkies or the lift at Singular. The lift channel is 22 feet wide. We are 21 feet wide. Last time we munched a stanchion. This time we scraped off some gel coat on the port near the logo.

Note: Do not skimp on hauling in New Zealand. Find some gold plated barn of a yard with a lift designed to take out the Maltese Falcon.

She looks pretty good underneath. The paint is actually not in too bad a shape. It took damn near all day for them to get the boat from the lift to her stands. Then we went off to run errands. We didn't really get anything done on the boat itself.

~ Toast

March 6, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

Today we became achieved motor boat status.

Don Quixote Systems

* Stb Engine - Drain half of the coolant and add water. Adjust the idle from 2200 to 800. Had to take the pin out of the lever on the governor and spin the block a few times. It now idles at 800 and goes back to idle speed when you move to neutral. Alternator belt looks good. D

* Port Engine - Replace raw water pump belt, flush and replace coolant, clean up raw water pump and relace seal. Take off high pressure pump. Reinstall raw water pump. Alternator belts look good. D

* Radar - Test the radar with the new power line. It works. Remove the old power line (required quite a bit of fun with old silicone caulking). Discover that we need to extend the wire. Deferring till tomorrow. Need new electrical but connectors and a wire crimping tool. Another tool lost to either the swap meet or the thieves. I think the later, actually. T

* Bilges - Scrubbed and bleached out the bilges. They smell fine. The dead fish smell is coming from the head. I'm beginning to believe that animals took up residence in the toilet itself. M & A

* Dinghy - Pulled up dink and motor and mounted them. J

* Main - Took down the main sail. Have a reservation to take it to the sail loft tomorrow to get the third reefing points put in. J & D

Other Tasks

* Crew List - Written up and printed in English, Spanish, and French.

To cap all this off, we got off the dock. Finally. Motored up the channel and back for an hour. Now we're on an outer dock again. Much cooler and more private, but it is a shlep to the shower. Personally, I am happy to be here. Jaime and her friends not so much.

~ Toast

March 2, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today wasn't particularly efficient in terms of boat chores. I did a lot of shopping, poking around La Paz, pricing and finding stuff. Holding off buying until DrC gets here. He's on the plane!

Don Quixote Systems

* Odds and Ends - Ordered VHF antennae for handheld and a canvass repair book that was stolen (thought it was on the boat but it wasn't).

* Outboard - Bought and Jaime installed a new gas line. She says it isn't "sucking 100%" whatever the hell that means. Leaving this problem to her to solve since she seems to be getting the same charge out of it that i get out of solving diesel problems.

* Radar - With the new replacement power cord on the way, I decided to get all in the grill and drastic on the one we have. I dipped the entire connector at the helm into a 1:3 solution of muretic acid for 20 minutes than rinsed it within an inch of its life. Figured I'd either fix the connection or dissolve it and either way, who the hell cares? Of course it worked. For now. I don't trust it and I'm glad the new cable is on the way. In the meantime, however, it was fun putting in a way point in Atuana Harbor, Hiva Oa, French Polynesia. It's a Long Long Ways Away. It's fairy tale far away in too many ways to count.

Other Tasks

* Picked up Glenn's friend Debbie at the La Paz airport.

* Paid for our impeller work. Cheap at twice the price when I remember how screwed up it was when DrC tried to do the same thing.

No sign of the pending norther. I'm just going to have to take it on trust it's on the way.

~ Toast

March 1, 2011 - La Paz

2011-03-01T19:49:00.000-08:00

Don Quixote Systems

* Stb Raw Water Pump (DONE) - Ran it for half hour. Nice job telling me that in order to replace the water pump belt you have to loosen the alternator and remove ITS belt. When I complain to cruiser guys about this, the response is, "Of course!" Doh! Well, I didn't know. Screw you Captain Guy people who know things like this in your DNA. Your Y DNA. So I figured out how the alternator attaches to the motor, loosened the appropriate bolts, removed the alternator belt, removed the water pump belt and then put the whole dang thing back together again. Priming was a bitch. The stop cock on the sail drive wouldn't close all the way. I worked on that for about a half hour until I could easily close and open it. Then I was able to prime the motor, get it started, ran it for 30 minutes. All good. Water pump works and has new hose and new belt. Alternator is charging and not slipping.

NOTE: Engine idling now at 2300 which is high. We'll need to work together to adjust this to a more reasonable speed. I think I can do this myself but it's easier if you've got two people, one on the governor and the other at the helm watching the RPM gauge.

* Port Raw Water Pump (Update) - DrC wants me to replace the belt and the house when I reinstall this. makes sense since I can't tighten the water pump belt sufficiently. It's just old and tired. Great, except in addition to being behind the alternator, this pump is behind the high pressure water maker pump as well. I can't see how this one comes apart. Walking away from the whole dang thing. All it takes is DrC putting it back together at this point.

* SSB (FIXED) - Kiwi inguinity solved this problem. I was able to eliminate fuses, power problems, etc. In fact, after a bunch of fiddling, I was able to get to the point where the problem was isolated to the LCD panel on the head unit alone. In fact, the bulb was fine, but the panel was not. David (Imagine... the Kiwi in this story) suggested taking it apart and looking at the mother board preparatory, no doubt, to replacing the one component. About a billion screws and bolts later, he reseated all the power/data connections on the mother board and put the thing back together. Now it works. Some combination of dust and movement made the connection for the LCD component sufficiently dodgy that we couldn't get a good enough connection. Now we have one.

* Carbon Monoxide Detector - Replaced the batteries and got a solid tone that wouldn't go off. The back says these things work for 7 years. Since it's been on the boat for 10, it may just be dead. I'm putting on the buy list, though I'll keep the old one around in case DrC can screw around with it and make it work again.

* Port Choke Handle - Stroke of amazing luck. Found the handle down between the helm post and the window. Way down. Took some finagling to get it out, but I was able to recover it and reinstall it on the cable. Good enough since we're planning on replacing these cables soon.

* Lifelines - Loosened and retightened all the lifelines that moved the last time I did this. We still have three that are rusted into a fused state. Someday, we are really going to have to just remove the dang things and replace them. They are not loose to the point of danger, however. I think these can go to level 5 status and get ignored until we get to New Zealand.

* Spinnaker Halyard - Lubricated the shackle and shackle pin so it's no longer so sticky. The can of rust/unfreeze stuff doesn't work any more, however. Need to get a new one.

* Outboard Parts - New throttle base thing, spare prop, and mounting bracket on board from Sea Otter Jimmy. He says get the gas thing at SeaMar.

Other Tasks

* Haul Out - Confirmed haul out with yard. The 6th was Sunday and the tail end of a forecast norther so we moved the date to 7th.

* Marina - Arranged with marina to leave on Mar 7. That leaves us with 4 more days to finish out our month. We can use it in April but we'll have to make reservations. Someone is going to move into our slip almost immediately, of course. We'll end up on the end of the dock, but that's fine.

* Medical Kit - The stuff arrived at the Ramada.

* NZ Visas - Tackled this paperwork today. Got pretty much everything off to Vista that can go out soft copy. She has all the visas as well in first draft. We'll work out tomorrow if it's okay for me to just do the signature papers.

~ Toast

February 28, 2011 - La Paz, Mexico

2011-02-28T15:19:00.000-08:00

Don Quixote Systems

* Stb Raw Water Pump (UPDATE) - 75 pesos for the bearings. I'm going to go to this place and purchase 4 or 5 of both the top set and 2 of the bottom if they have them. Found replacement seals (2) in the bow. Gave Avalon one. He rebuilt the pump and gave it back. I think we should probably order another 3 pack of the seals from Gallery since we're done to our last seal. We'll use them eventually.

* Outboard Parts - Cables and diaphragm not in stock till Wed. Rather than pay double to overnight, sending to Greg instead of coming with DrC.

* Toe Rail - Jaime worked on the port side until the heat gun died. Not done yet but getting there.

* SSB - Turned it on. I can hear stuff. The LCD lights up. There are no pretty numbers on the LCD. What the hell? Sent an email to ICOM support. Going to ask on the net tomorrow to borrow someone else's head to see if it's the head unit. This is a show stopper of epic proportions.

Other Tasks

* FP Visas - Paid for and confirmed. We should be good to go.

Weather

* Decks - Feels like (and reports support) a bit of a norther. Spent some time clearing the decks. This actually feels good. We don't look like a garage sale any more.

~ Toast

February 27, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

* Stb Water Pump (UPDATE) - Avalon took it apart. It is absolutely a rusted bearing. You can see the rust and you can isolate the roughness in the movement. Bearings off and part number identified. Shaft sound. He knows a shop in town that might have the bearings. If so, we'll just order seals sent to DrC's LAX hotel. If not, we'll order bearings as well. We'll know by mid-morning tomorrow (Mon).

* Outboard Parts - Ordered the cables and diaphragm kit. TBD if they will be able to send to Ramada or if this is something Greg will bring down on his visit. In any case, we're mobile with the motor and these are our contingency plan for the when (not if) those cables finally decide they've absolutely had it. We can also leak for a few weeks until this is fixed. In the meantime, tomorrow Spoke to Sea Otter Jimmy to get the new gas tank fitting and find us a spare prop -- even if it's a used spare prop.

* Main Halyard - The existing shackle has an inner width of 1 5/8". The actually ... man I don't know the word... the hardware which attaches to the track in which the head goes... *sigh*... that thing is exactly 1" so our existing shackle is a little overly wide. The new halyard we have has a shackle with an inner width of 13/16". So it will not work. We'll need to have the old shackle spliced into the line, use the new halyard for something else (it would make a bang up jib halyard for example, which is also getting long in the tooth), or we'll need to get a new shackle and have -it- spliced into the new halyard.

* Port Water Pump -

Took it off. That's a bitch now that the water pump is mounted to the engine. Impeller not broken but does have cracking indicating old and tired. Replaced with now one. NO sign of any water leakage anywhere on or near the pump. Bearings smooth. Scraped edges wear paint looked like it might be thinking about flaking, wiped it down, sprayed it. Tried to put it back together and ran into a snag. The new impeller is the correct part but it won't go in. The old impel goes in easily. The new impeller slides on to an old shaft we had kicking around. Looked at the shaft in the pump it and it has a small bit of deformation but it doesn't seem like it should be a big deal. Apparently it is. It also looks like the new impeller has a slightly larger center bolt. I actually have another impeller but it's over on Avalon at the moment.

So. Hours. Hours later, it's put together. I haven't open the sail drive intake nor have I primed the pump and of course I haven't even considered restarting the damn thing. Ultimately, I ended up sanding down the inside of the shaft to get rid of the shaft deformations. It also turned out that the old impeller center bolt was slightly deformed and the NEW impeller was as well but in a different direction. *rolls eyes* I took the bolt out of the old one, put it in the new one, screwed around with it (literally) until the deformations all lined up, and finally got the thing seated correctly. Then I turned to putting the water pump back together and into the port transom.

Which is it's own special nightmare. With the high pressure water pump bolted on to the engine, the raw water pump is in a terribly heinous position. It was hard to get off. It was almost impossible to get back on again. I'm pretty certain I have it on correctly, btw, so that's not a worry. I do plan to have someone peek in there, though, and tell me whether or not I got the belt tight enough, how to determine that, and if it isn't, how I go about tightening it. Then I'll do all the rest of the business of getting water into the system, starting it, and seeing if I broke the whole mess.

* Odds and Ends - A friend of Glenn's is bringing down his clothes wringer (thank you very much!... Mexicans apparently don't do laundry by hand any more) and a horn for air horns. I bought the replacement air canisters while I was in the States (because you can't fly with them) but stupidly thought there was a horn down here. *rolls eyes* I am an idiot.

I can't do any more. Getting that water pump in just about killed me.

~ Toast

February 26, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

Don Quixote Systems

* Stb Water Pump - Took it part. Bit of a challenge as the engine painting last year was a bit indiscriminate and I had to scrap off the paint before I could get the bolts unfrozen. Impeller definitely needed a change but was in one solid piece so no worries about bits heading towards the heat exchanger. Unfortunately, even with the impeller out, the belt wheel does not spin freely. With time and much working, I got it from really hurky jerky to moving relatively easily but not completely freely and with a distinctive feeling of "click". IMHO, what is needed here is repacking the bearings. This has all the hallmarks of bearings in old, hardened grease. Now is this a job I can and should do or is it something I should hire a pump guy on shore to do? According to notes from DrC and his comments, it's something that we'd be better off having done by someone with a press. Apparently this is a job we've done before and it was absolutely heinous. My next task is to find all the captain's notes and, believe it or not, the old bearings which are apparently kicking around in the starboard bow with a million other bits and pieces. That'll be fun. I don't even know what I'm looking for.

* Charging System - All storm and fury signifying nothing. The boat is behaving perfectly normally now. I think this was just my overreacting to the AGMs overreacting to the notion that they could get a full charge. They were so happy, they get silly drunk on electricity. That's all. Now they are happily chugging along at 13.25.

* Dinghy Hauling System - Lines and blocks restrung. This was actually amusing as all the boatteens were here to watch Jaime first drop one of the expensive bits of boat jewelry overboard and then change into her suit and dive in after it. Heh. What I am happy about is that she didn't even argue. It was low tide, we knew exactly where the thing went and it was only about 10 feet down. Now it's where it belongs.

Other Issues

* FP Visas - Agent confirms the receipt of all the documents and is getting started. That was a challenge as the PDFs were too big for the marina internet. But we're good on that front now.

* Odds and Ends - Found perfect size baskets for head paper and helm box. Bought a few cheap cushions to use in the cockpit. Put up the solar Xmas lights in the dodger. Priced sheets. Still can't find blankets. Girls cleaned the cockpit and salon. Tonight is the first night I've sat in the salon and felt I was in a home and not a construction site. Except the long PVC pipe on my couch and the even longer cardboard box on my dresser. Tomorrow, I might just move those solely to make myself feel better.

* Tools - Found yet another "secret stash" of DrC tools. Will this ever end?

Family

Not a school day. The girls are sorting things out so Mera and Jaime are both going to Halcyon for a sleep over tonight. Aeron is going to Imagine. I'm going to have the Imagine adults over for a few hours of peace and quite. Just a Minute is on her way down to La Paz and Third Day plans to be here in late March since Rich has to go up north for business.

~ Toast

February 25, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

Don Quixote Systems

* Jib - Hung, furled, lines in place. It was extremely stiff going up. Hrm. Also, Jaime used the blue winch handle. I think it's busted. I can't get it out. So jib is up but the new task is to figure out how the hell to get the blue handle out of the port winch.

* Squeaks - Jaime noticed and I concur that everything on this boat feels dirty and squeaks. Hinges, bolts, camcleats, everything. I don't think it needs "fixing" as long as it "works" but I do think that we should fill the boat with the tools, lubricants, et al to go over every single bit of this boat from end to end, top to bottom. Every hinge, every shackle, every screw/bolt/nut, every bit of wood and every gasket. It's all just dry, dusty, and sticky. We are not a well oiled machine.

* Anchor/Bridle - Put on the Bruce on the old chain. Before we left, we'd already turned the chain around so the galvanized solid end is on the anchor while the older, potentially dodgy end is in the locker. Fine if we never have to put out more than 100' but that's obviously not going to happen. There is a 200' chain here we should take a serious look at it. I doubt we'll find a galvanized replacement, however. I don't know actually how dodgy the dirty bit is. It has a coat of rust and rusty flakes. I think when we have the Man Hands, we'll pull the entire thing out and check it end to end to see if we can use it as our secondary rode.

* Outboard Cables - Jim has a hold throttle/head which he says you could install easily. He's willing to sell it to us for $100. It still needs cables, but the cables for this younger unit are still for sale for $48. Basically, with these two parts and the carburetor kit, we could get the only bad juju on our motor fixed. This is a "it might die tomorrow or it might die in a year" problem. For the $200, I think we should just go ahead and get the parts then fix as needed.

* Charging System - I've ruled out the Solar Boost, I've ruled out the inverter, and I've now officially ruled out the Xantrex charger. I don't know what the hell is going on. At this point, my working theory is that it isn't actually broken. The AGMs haven't been exercised in a year. Our arrival they were balanced at a relatively low point (12.3). They charged up to 13.1 without pulling enormous numbers. Then I let them "ride" as it were on the solar panels as a euphoric response to fixing the panels. I let the batteries pull all the way back down to 12.3 before plugging them back in to shore power sometime after Jaime blew the house and I fixed the inverter trip. The 14.1 - 14.6 I was seeing felt scary high and made me panic. Multiple trips into the electrical cavern under the girls' bed gave me nothing to hang me nervous hat on. Today, I spoke to several cruisers to work through what was happening. Basically, they suggested I just leave it on for awhile. *shudder* Well, we've been plugged in for 4 hours now. When we started it was reading 13.3 pulling in almost 30. Now, it shows 14.2 and pulling in 3.8. Hmm. Do not get this. I'll check it in another few hours. Maybe this is okay? Maybe this is normal.

* Port Head - Finished rebuilding the port side and cleaned up the head. It works now. It's never been as easy as the STB

* Port Bilge - Tested and functioning. Same as stb bilge in that we need to install the water puppies. The copper foil is all green and I wonder just how much good it's doing now.

Other To Dos

* Polynesian Visas - Sent copies of passports and USCG as well as filled out all their forms.

* PPJ T-shirts - Order confirmed. Neal took the time to ask us to be a net control for PPJ. Deferred till we can test the SSB.

~ Toast

February 24, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-24T17:07:00.000-08:00

* Spinnaker Halyard Foobar - Well, we tried to rerun it. I saw we and I mean Mera and I. Mera of course put her full weight on the line, yanked out the safety pins, and now we don't have a halyard line running down the mast. It gives me a really bad head ache thinking about it. To recover, we'll have to go up the mast, run the line down, and fish it out of the mast through the mast fitting using a coat hanger. We've done this before but it's a really first class pain in the ass. I'm not looking forward to it.

* Jib - We ran the furling line and coiled it. Washed the halyard. Wind came up so we haven't put it up yet.

* Starboard Head - Truly and really fixed this time and cleaned out the shower and room. Bilge pump works. This is the old one still so at least we know we'll have functioning backups to the main pumps we'll be installing. I am thinking how we could set up the secondary (old) pumps on a separate electrical switch so that we could use them as true, installed backups. Thinking about it.

* Inverter - Jaime plugged a heat gun to the house and blew the inverter tripper. It was a scramble while I figured out what was blown -- fuse or breaker or what. Thank god every manual known to man is on this boat. I used to seriously resent those big boxes and the multi-gigs the manuals chewed up, but no more. Found the button on the inverter to make it a happy inverter. There was a button. Who knew? Now we all know. Mera didn't know how to turn the inverter on at the circuit panel. I think we're going to stop flute and Spanish for a week and teach her how to speak boat. It's as if she's never lived one before. She is sad about this... I think it makes her feel as frustrated with us as we are with her. She's a bright bulb, however, so I think we can pretty much teach her the entire language in a few days.

* Main Sheet - Washed and run. Took me awhile to figure out how.

* Stb Toe Rail - Stripped (Jaime)

* Fenders - Cleaned of all dirt, flora and fauna. We can now stow them in the lockers without converting our house into the stinkiest boat in the Magote (Mera and Aeron)

* Impeller - Still not done. I think I must be chicken. I keep finding other things to do. Seriously, I rebuilt two heads today rather than fix that stb engine. *sigh*

In late breaking news, blowing the house might have scrambled the brains on the battery charger. Don't know. For some reason after we got everything working, the battery climbed to 14.6 on solar power alone. Either the charger or the blue sky is not down-regulating to ~13ish. Sucks to be me. Pulled us completely off shore power. Soon as it's night, I'll pull apart the solar panels. I'll also disconnect it entirely from the battery for 10 minutes. Then I'll plug everything back together and hopefully >poof< magic happens.

~ Toast

February 23, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

Well, we suddenly came to a grinding halt. Entering Mexico, we've encountered a whole ecosystem of viruses we haven't seen in a year. Mera has a sore throat, headache and slight fever, stuffed nose. I have the mother of all headaches and a fever. Aeron and Jaime are experiencing tummy flu symptoms. The timing is right. A week of incubation. We're down for the day. We're doing a bit of school, Jaime is starting some varnish, and I might tackle some online tasks that don't require any physical effort. I still need to redo our NZ paperwork, for example.

* Varnish - Jaime started scraping the teak rail. She's using our spatula. This works surprisingly well but rendered it impossible to make French toast for breakfast this morning.

* Port Head - Turns out that 'test the port head' did not mean the same thing to me as to the kids. They made the pump go up and down. Never mind that it doesn't pump anything. *sigh* So put that back on the not working list.

* Radar - Dean got hold of the amazing Aaron at JRC Seattle and another power cable is on the way. This gives me leave to experiment with washing the ends of the existing one in an acid bath. This is not the same thing as burning it in effigy, but pretty damn close.

~ Toast

February 22, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-22T19:03:00.000-08:00

* Solar Boost - FIXED I am woman and I can RAWR!!! My theory was correct. The problem started when I plugged the ends together to "protect them from the sun" ... which it did, but it of course closed the electrical loop and caused a god knows how large amp surge through the system. The 30 AMP fuse very neatly and correctly blew taking out all power to the Solar Boost. So many notes to self in this lesson. Got into the locker under the girls' bed, found the red lead from the Solar Boost, bound the fuse box, pulled it out and it was probably one of the most beautiful busted sights I have ever seen. Found the box of replacement fuses in the stb bow, replaced the fuse, turned the system on and POOF we now have solar power. Even with the panels just resting against the dodger poles (zip tied to keep them from falling overboard) we're pulling in 9.8 right now.

* Batteries - I have decided that I am a fan of AGM batteries. Took us off shore power last night to do some load testing. We've been off ever since and we're basically hovering in the 12.5 range. It went up today while the panels pumped power in and now at night is slowly going down but it's a happy battery bank. I'm a happy sailor.

* Sort and Stow - Finally got serious about stowing everything that we brought. Up to this point, we've had boxes, bags, and bits all over. Mostly, I stuffed it into corners, under the table, on a shelf or in a pantry. Today, I spent a really long time moving things to more or less their final destination. It feels so good to have a clean salon, empty head and shower, and a bed not covered with crap. The only thing I haven't tackled is the 9 foot long cardboard box on my husband's shelf which contains the wind generator tower. I might just leave that for him.

* Inventory stb bow - more or less. I went through every single drawer. I know what's up there even if no one else does. We have enough water filters to desalinate the entire Sea of Cortez. We also have a truly absurd number of fuel and oil filters. Every time we do anything, we apparently "stock up" on fuel, air and oil filters, split zincs,replacement gaskets, Jasco head parts, and belts. I'm sure it says do that in some book somewhere. What we don't have is that d* radar power cable. We also have almost no light bulbs for our LED lights. How annoying. Would you believe we've been using bulbs from IKEA? Who knew? There was a time when we were apparently really super clever at this.

* Spent the rest of the day on maintenance, shopping, and school. School is much harder and longer than when last we homeschooled. This makes sense. The girls are getting older, the subjects denser. Even Aeron is taking longer. We're also getting really serious about language... less so with their music. They practiced music yesterday but managed to dodge it today. That's got to come from inside or not at all. M&A very enthusiastic about their language lessons, however.... especially Aeron. Les fraises sont tres bonnes.

February 21, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-21T18:58:00.000-08:00

* A/V -- Got audio/video system functional again - movies from Mera's computer works well through monitor and speaker though there are occasional relay problems. I'm going to see if I can just send it only to the overhead. OTOH, it burns power like a vacuum to run the monitor, computer, and speakers. We probably won't use it much until we're settled in New Zealand with the option of going on the dock.

* Harnesses -- Checked the harnesses, all in good shape with no signs of wear, shackles work

* Test running lights - red/green and white work, so does steaming light

* Test masthead light - doesn't work... ARGH. I hate that thing. Added to flying the mast. Again. I think we need to consider dropping new wiring down the mast. I seem to remember we already tried just replacing the mount/socket.

* Meuretic acid and electrical contacts - soliciting some advice on this. Bob on Cactus says you can dip electrical contacts in meuretic acid until they look brand new and then rinse them in fresh water. This wildly improves their electrical carrying capacity. When he did this for his SSB, he said he got a 6000 mile improvement on his signal. Woo. So of course, my pea brain is thinking we have several electrical capcity problems which might benefit from magical improvements in the contacts. What immediately comes to mind are the starter circuit on both motors and the radar. If I can find the new radar cable, I might actually experiment on the old one first. Not the units, of course, but the cable itself.

* Top up the water -- we're using a lot.

* House Batteries -- They were reading 13.4 this morning. DrC speculates that they "float" fully charged at about 13.3 ish. This makes sense to me. We briefly saw 14.1 right after turning on the port motor but they've since settled down. Last night we drained things by watching video with movies and yet they only dropped to 13.2. Since we're plugged in, this seems like normal behavior.

* Jib - We went to put up the jib and realized that we need a pair of needlenose pliers. It's back to the hardware store for Toast.

* Bimini Covers - We hung them all today. Only one has zipper problems that require work on my part. The long one across the helm is really tight and not zipping. I'm going to leave it on overnight and then when it's been warmed in the sun, try to zip it up. Hopefully, we'll get some stretch. Rigged the storm straps and figured out how the go. Need to find the lacing but we've got enough spare thin line on the boat to tear both sail drives off so we're good to go.

* Safety U - The bag is in pretty bad shape though the line is okay. I think I'll just make a new canvass bag for it. The float still floats.

* Safety Line - Ran the line again. Jaime had put the dang thing on a slip knot. That's real helpful.

* Harnasses - We revisited the harnesses to check the hardware. Good thing as one of them fell apart in Mera's hands. This is fixable with some derusting and a new spring. Time to go to the hardware store. Did I already say that?

* Hatch Screens - All found and in great shape. We're still missing two port hole screens. I was kind of hoping magic would make them reappear while we were gone but it didn't happen.

* Propane - Got one of the tanks filled. Saving money by waiting on the other tank until I can replace my ATM card. Over works even using the old element. Decided to wait till DrC gets here before I swap that out of the stove. Maybe. We'll see.

* Stern Shower - Works.

* Life Jacket cartridges - Lopez says he can get these. I'll get him the info. He said it might take a month but we have about 7 weeks so no worries. Found the old ones in the stb bow.

~ Toast

February 20, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

* Electrical - Check every light, fan and plug on the boat. The only casualties were probably already dead before we left. All those stupid little side lights are dead as doornails while the ones DrC installed are in great shape. We could probably recover some of those lights with bulbs but I think some of them are actually busted. This is just going to have to be a long term project. It's not a priority at this point, though ordering some LED bulbs might be a good idea. First we should probably check the stb bow first.

* Inventory - port aft cabin under bed locker, port transom, starboard transom, helm locker, under master cabin bed

* Clean bimini and hatch covers (Mera and Aeron)

* Secure planing fins for dinghy (Jaime)

* Test port head and it pumps and out

* Clean dinghy

* Rerun the safety line on the port side

* Got the starboard to run. The problem is a bit electrical on both sides... not really enough juice to start without decompressing... though that might change if the engines are run daily. We'll see if that changes over time. The bigger problem is that we started getting a lot of smoke. It smelled like a belt, and at the same time the water stopped pumping out. Turned it off, let it cool down. I'm betting one or both of two things: raw water impeller needs to be replaced (big surprise... not) and the water pump belt is stretched, loose, or dead and slipping. This would explain both symptoms. I'm actually very encouraged. I think I might be able to solve these. (And since I typed this not one but three cruisers have walked up to suggest I replace the water impeller... heh ... it's an advantage and a disadvantage to be literally on stage here in Marina de La Paz. But it's nice to know my gut check is supported by other folks with more experience.) I'll read up tonight on how to replace the impeller and check the heat exchanger in cases pieces of the damn thing broke off. It would be awesome if I could fix this one without help.

* JRC 1800 - Found the 2nd JRC unit. Plugged it in to test it. Dead. Plugged the 1st unit back in. Dead. F* ME. Now I have to find the cable we bought which is not readily obvious, btw. I have no idea where it is. I've torn apart every logical place and so far no sign of the cable. That's the bad news. The good news is that I've inventoried just about every crack in the damn boat. The only really big one left is the enormous rats nest which is the starboard tool and parts chest. That'll probably take all day tomorrow. All it means is that when I tested this yesterday (day before?) the random gods of JRC chance were feeling smug and capricious. This makes me so mad.

* Life Jacket Cartridges - I bought the wrong ones. Again. How the hell do I keep doing this? Sent email to Lopez Marine to see if he can get some for me.

* Dinghy Lock - Jaime begged/borrowed a little electric saw that ripped right through that lock. Woot! Officially now unlocked.

* Dinghy - In fact, she dropped the motor on to the dink, messed around with the new gas and additives, but the whole thing rigged out and started it. No shit. Wow. And AND she drove off. Came back an hour later. I need to invest in a lot of gas. She deserved it, however. Clever girl.

* Got out the Fluke, figured out how it works, and tested the starter batteries. Surface charge on both sides in the 13.2-13.3 range. The batteries are not the problem. I still think we've either got a line or a starter problem.

* Starboard head - The problem was a fish... a live fish in the raw water intake. The fish is now gone. I've replaced most of the rubber bits as well. Still getting a leak at the top. The kit I'm using assumes a model that is just SLIGHTLY different than the one we have. To keep from having either water or sewage flush up through the handle, I'm going to have to get creative or find one of the old kits. Tomorrow we have to tackle that starboard bow locker. I'll see what I can find in there.

* Bottom - I had the bottom cleaner guy stop by and for a small fee he scrapped the water line, poked into all the thru hulls scraping around them to clear the degree, and cleared the props and sail drive. No point is paying for a full cleaning since we're just going to haul in 3 weeks anyway. This bit of effort, however, should make stuff work a bit better.

February 19, 2011 - La Paz

2011-02-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

* Installed JRC (1) and test radar and GPS. All working. OMG. Don't want to jinx that. Can't remember where I stowed the other one. Probably under a bed somewhere.
* Found the safe. Better yet, I found the key that opens the safe. What a miracle! And it works. Important docs now in safe where they belong.
* Tested nav and it looks like everything lights up. Depth number normal. No wind instruments so hard to say what's going on there.
* Start port engine - Starts just fine and runs fine. However the choke handle disappeared. Literally. It's gone. Used an adjustable wrench to turn it off. Epic.
* Starboard engine -- won't start. Not enough power even after running port for 40 minutes. Just not getting enough juice somehow. Tomorrow I'll start troubleshooting. Starting first to test the surface charge on the battery and then working out from there.
* Check standing freezer - works
* Install speakers
* Inventory port bow locker
* Inventory port mast locker
* Put up cockpit sunshades
* Put up salon sun shades
* Inventory port transom locker
* Tested all deck fittings to see if anything froze up - both heads, water, diesel tanks, emergency tiller all good.
* Found jerry cans and check status - 3 diesel, 1 gas but missing the cap on the 1 gallon dinghy tank. We must have sold some that were on the dodgy side. Must buy many many more to replace. Might also think about getting a big ole 50 gallon drum and sticking it in the cockpit. Either that or pack about 2 weeks more food.
* Open/shut all hatches to test seals and hinges. All surprisingly good shape but could use Armor All. The hinge on the starboard mast hatch is catty whompus. I hate Lewmar hinges. I think we probably have a few spares, however, since is something we've dealt with before. Several times.
* Install planing fins on dinghy motor, find all the hardware to put the dinghy motor on... stopped for lack of tools and complete exhaustion. We got rid of all the dodgy tools and the rest were stolen in New Zealand. We need to purchase a whole lot of replacements. Time to go shopping. At least there is air conditioning.
* Jaime tries every key on the boat in the lock that secures the dink motor to Don Quixote. None of them even fit let alone turn. Lovely. Time to find someone to remove the lock with bolt cutters. Surely someone in Mexico has the capacity to steal our dink motor. Okay, that was just sarcasm. I need a beer.

~ Toast

February 18, 2011 - La Paz, BCS, Mexico

2011-02-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

The girls and I have arrived, unloaded all the van, and started the process of resettling in. We'll be on the dock for the foreseeable future... maybe even until DrC gets here on Mar 3 but it would be nice to get moving prior to that. While we are doing a lot of things, I'll limit myself to itemizing the actions we're taking that are directly related to boat maintenance until DrC takes over the ship log.

* Flushed water systems
* Tested LPG gas system -- The hose on one side seems fine but the other seems blocked somehow. Need to troubleshoot and figure out what is going on.
* Put batteries on shore power. They were 12.35 on arrival. After charging for 2 days, we're now seeing 13.20. It popped up to 12.95 very quickly but this last bit has been going very slowly. OTOH, every time I check it the number is up 5. I'm hoping this is just a slow topping up of the very low batteries. It doesn't look like they were deeply cycled down though if they were 12.35 when we got here. I'm speculating that the solar panel we left out was allowing a trickle of power into the batteries even though the Blue Sky looks dead as a doornail. This would explain the higher value on our arrival. Another bit of a clue that supports my theory is we arrived mid-day and the Heartlink registered CCC indicating it was getting a charge. Good stuff. My plan is to take the Blue Sky out of the system completely so it goes completely DEAD and then put it back in. Maybe it's little brain will wake back up.
* Tested the starboard head. It worked, then it didn't work, then it did. I think there is so much gunk on the outside that the water intake is in a serious bad way. I'm not going to worry about this I think till we haul out. I can take the entire system apart on the hard without worry since there is no black water in it at this point. Not even thinking to try the port. This is becoming an "on the hard task".
* Kids cleaned the bikini and reinstalled. There is a nasty bend in the plastic skylight that I think time will work out.
* The varnish looks like a rabbit has been chewing on.
*No sign of roaches whatsoever.
* Found all the parts we left here.
* House electrical working, inverter working, heartLink working, stereo working, VHF working (though it still occasionally switches to 16 when you press to talk... annoying), water cooled refrigerator working.

Time to Get Started Again

2011-01-24T15:32:00.000-08:00

Once again, this will be the location of the s/v Don Quixote ship log. DrC is starting to take notes because we're ordering an insane amount of stuff. I'll post to here starting in February when I get to the boat.

October 31, 2009 - San Juanico All Hallow's Eve

2009-11-01T09:46:00.002-08:00

Norther supposed to end today. Wind predicted 10-15 and less over next 7 days. Weighed anchor after Amigo net at 0930. Had a nice downwind sail to Punta Lobos on Isla Carmen. Wind 20-25 kts averaging just over 6 knots SOG.

1330 gybbed and continued on to Punta Perico and then turned up wind into Bahia Salinas. Put sails down 1530 and motored last mile past the wreck for control, going directly up wind, and batteries. Wind still 20+ kots fro north. Anchored in 15' with 180' to bridle. Decided against Loreto for Dia de Los Muertos. Logistics just didn't work out.

~ Dean

Swells today were running very high, steep and close together. Averaging 5' and probably a few 8-10 footers in there. Only around the Punta Perico did I feel uncomfortably steep as we slid down the fronts of waves that pointed us straight down. It was disconcerting. Don Quixote was fine... I found a little frightening. Jaime and I both showing signs of the gimpy tummy that Aeron was experiencing. I don't think this is sea sickness as we're feeling it just as much after we stop. It's some very mild stomach flu. I'm running a slight fever and have a sore throat. Just as well we're not trying to go to any festivals or such in Loreto.

So much for the mild wind forecast, BTW. It was supposed to be 10-15 today but it was very consistently 20-25 with gusts all the way up to 30. Bah. Weather forecasts. Humbug.

~ Toast

October 30, 2009 - Caleta San Juanico

2009-11-01T09:46:00.001-08:00

Norther Day #2. Wind still int he 20-25 kts range with stronger gusts. Goes all night. Girls did school today. We did a couple of boat chores. Received email that G&G Conger are going to come for a visit from Dec 1 in Mazatland and travel with us to Puerto Vallarta by Dec 14th. It occurred to met that the problem with the port starter is probably the brushes. I will pull it off when we get to La Paz and check. if so, we will get both sides replaced.

~ Dean

Divided our New Zealand/Decommission list into now, before dock, dock, on the hard, and last minute. It's easier to get our heads around. Now every morning I'm adding a few tasks from the now list to our daily routine. We're slowing working our way through the items in this way. A lot of the stuff -- cleaning primarily -- can't really be undertaken, however, until after we leave Mom and the Congers in Puerto Vallarta and start back. January is going to be absolutely hellish. I also started reading Live and Work in New Zealand. Adding lots of tasks to that list. Two problems I foresee really plaguing us: cat and getting the kids enrolled asap into the New Zealand schools. My list of things to do on the Internet is now absurd. So much to look up, download, and get to work on.

~ Toast

October 29, 2009 - Caleta San Juanico

2009-11-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

We had planned to leave this AM and after hearing weather which predicts a norther for next two days, we weighed anchor and headed out about 0730. Wind gusting inside bay to near 30 kts so we quickly turned around and reanchored closer to shore to avoid chop. Evidently J-World, one of the Ha Ha boats, was struck by several whales last night and boat was lost. Crew rescued by Coast Guard. Spent day at anchor lazing about. Went for swim with Toast in late afternoon. Saw a smattering of coral, blue damsels, a couple of angle fish, schools of minnows, urchins, stars, couple sea fans, next to the big rock in the center of the cove. Northeast.

~ Dean

I hate to say I told you so... but. I could see the swells from the bay and was a real bitch when DrC had us weigh anchor. If anyone asks, we just drove out far enough to empty the holding tanks and then came back to anchor closer to the beach. Today we tackled the Decommission list for New Zealand. It's long and frightening.

~ Toast

October 28, 2009 - Caleta San Juanico

2009-11-01T09:45:00.005-08:00

Wind was not too bad last night. Girls did school. Toast and Dean did boat maintenance. Omelettes for breakfast. Went ashore about 13:30 and found geocache on hill to the west. Charged batteries for 90 minutes. Beautiful anchorage. Sixth boat showed up about 16:00.

~ Dean

Time to begin replanning provisions for another week. Lettuces doing well but we're having trouble with the cantaloups which are basically a lost cause. A shame.

~ Toast

October 27, 2009 - Cala San Juanico

2009-11-01T09:45:00.004-08:00

Sepnt day at anchor. Girls did school. Listended to checking in AM for the Ha Ha. Heard Glenn of Beach Access. No sign of Sea Level or Endless Summer. Toast got on of course and made her presence known. Girls did school until 2 pm. They are dawdling. Went and resurrected the outboard and went ashore for walk on beach and swim. Using a prop given to us by V'Ger in Santa Rosalia. It's battered but in balance so we can use it slowly. Wind supposed to be very strong tonight from NW. Put out extra 60' of chain. Clam chowder for dinner.

~ Dean

Used a clam chowder recipe from Joy of Cooking which wasn't bad but wasn't particularly exciting. OTOH, it was particularly fattening either so I suppose that's good. Planned to get the geocache here today but when we took the dinghy ashore, my pockets got wet and the instructions washed away. Tomorrow.

~ Toast

October 26, 2009 Bahia Concepcion (Isla Coyote)

2009-11-01T09:45:00.003-08:00

0700 Weigh anchor to get away from bobos. ESCAPE. Wind supposed to be 10-15 kts from north today.

0830 Turned corner at Punta Domingo. Put up spinnaker as we head south in a north wind.

1430 Wind gradually increased to 20 to 25 kts from north. Took down spinnaker and put up mainsail once gusts to 28 kts apparent. Rounding Punta Pulpita.

1600 Arrived Caleta San Juanico. 4 boats already in here. Anchored in 12' with 100' chain to bridle. Wind still 20 kts from NNE but pretty flat in anchorage. Plan to spend couple days here waiting out a strong norther. Started reading Steinbecks' "Log of the Sea of Cortez".

~ Dean

Long day of sailing. DrC did most of the driving once the wind got up because of serious weather helm. Most of the family showing signs of land legs. However, I think Aeron might genuinely have some sort of mild stomach bug. We'll need to keep an eye on that. We were able to check in on the Amigo net this AM despite loud buzz of interference.

~ Toast

October 25, 2009 -Punta Chivato

2009-11-01T09:45:00.002-08:00

Daylight savings time begins in Mexico. Had good dinner last night. Toast made tempura batter for the fish. A little rolly in anchorage after midnight as wind came up from west but swell from the south.

0945 Weigh anchor heading under one engine to Bahia Coyote area in Bahia Concepcion. Spoke with Patrick of Just A Minute on morning Amigo Net 4149 mhz. Kids going school. Anchored at Isla Coyote in 30'. A group of Canadians enjoying the beach. Picked up a few clams and 1 oyster only 1 mussel. Toast didn't like the look of the mussels, sort of rectangular and a funny pink. Steamed clams with garlic butter for hors' de oveers and baked fish for dinner. Bobos driving us mad. Hot and humid as usual in Concepcion. Slept on the tramp for awhile.

~ Dean

Hateful flies. Otherwise this is a lovely anchorage. Swimming was great. We just jumped off the boat and went clamming and swimming to the shore line. Canadians quite friendly. "Locals" as they are here for the winter.

~ Toast

October 24, 2009 - Santa Rosalia

2009-11-01T09:45:00.001-08:00

Cleaned up boat, said good bye to Carlos, Arturo, and friends. Refueled diesel 2600 hours port 2605 starboard. Cat disappeared for awhile which delayed our departure by an hour.

13:00 Left Santa Rosalia with 15 nts from NNE. Sailed downwind to southern end of Isla San Marcos before turning engine on. Watch out for shoal south from Roco Lobos. No fish bites.

BINGO No sooner did I write that then we caught a nice sierra on the cedar plug. About 2 1/2 feet long silver baracuda like body with yelow spots blue green back and short sharp teeth. Gutted and cleaned en route to Punta Chivato.

1850 Drop anchor in 12' with 100' chain on short bridle in lee of hotel at Punta Chivata.

~ Dean

Sierra flesh is super soft and gooey. Used Joanna's tempura recipe to fry up half the fish.

~ Toast

October 23, 2009 - Santa Rosalia

2009-11-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

Spent the day cleaning engine rooms and applying touch up paint to motors and pumps for water maker. Dinner at Terco's. Margueritas suck, pollo dinners okay for $65MXN. Received offer for locums job in New Zealand. Thinking about parking DQ in La Paz for the year instead of Guaymas since the bash north is going to be very difficult.

~ Dean

As soon as the offer came in, I had a panic attack about bashing from Puerto Vallarta to Guaymas in January. OMGIWTFBBQ that would be ugly. A quick check yielded the depressing info that there is no place to haul us in Mazatlan. So it's La Paz or Guaymas. Fingers crossed. We'll do our research when we get down there.

~ Toast

October 22, 2009 - Cala San Francisquito

2009-11-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

Without outboard prop we can't really go to beach unless wind is calm. Weighed anchor @ 0600 local time today and headed back south toward Santa Rosalia. 3 kts current helping us along around Punta Santa Teresa here. Briefly 10 kts SOG.

11AM SOG down to 5.5 kts on one engine. Toast repaired sail bag again.

21:30 Arrived Santa Rosalia in the dark and docked in our usual spot.

~ Dean

Okay, that entire run north feels like a collosal waste of time and diesel. Really super tired of being a slow motor boat. Sail bag is falling apart. Finish running yet another hand sewn seam on the zipper edge. Looks like the front zipper is starting to break teeth due to sun damage in the plastic. Don't know how much of this material we'll be able to salvage when new cover is made. Checked the dodger and we're developing a new rip exactly where the old one was. Maybe we can get that reinforced with faux leather while in La Paz along with getting the sail cover made.

~ Toast

October 21, 2009 - Cala San Francisquito

2009-11-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

There are 5 boats in here with us in addition to above two: Juniata,
Lisa Marie, and another sloop. Wind to 27 kts. Good holding. Spent
day sanding starboard engine and disassembled ceramic pluger manifold
on water maker. Sems to be moving fine. Painted clutch mechanism and
bolts that are starting to corrode. Moved clutch mechanism to other
side of unit. Began to consier how to make bolt on platform in case I
want to try remounting pump to engine this time.

~ Dean

Kids starting to get a bit stir crazy.

~ Toast

October 20, 2009 - San Francisquito

2009-11-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

Listened to Amigo Net at 0745. Heard check ins from Windward Bound
and Festima Lento who were apparently in Cala San Francisquito here.
Hailed them on the VHF and they said plenty of room inside the small
lagoon. Norther blowing up today. Weighed anchor about 10 AM after
rum pancakes breakfast and entered cala through narrow inlet. Made a
turn around core and dropped anchor in 8' on falling tide. Put out
100' chain to bridle good set. Wind gradually increased to 25 kts
today. Spent day sanding rust off port engine. Found some chafe on
wiring harness. Will need to splice two wires there, partially abraded.

~ Dean

Boat chores, cooking, school. No swimming... too windy and cold.
Trying to get the kids to exercise by stretching and yoga. It's not
working for me though so I can't see why it would work for them. Did
some repair work on the tramp.

~ Toast

October 19, 2009 - Santa Rosalia

2009-11-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

Left dock before sunrise today. Heading north to San Francisquito partly to get away from town and partly to be farther away from Hurricane Rick. Rick should pass over Cabo San Lucas tomorrow morning. Over past 3 days, we have pickled the water maker and removed CAT pump. Re-glued weather stripping over engine hatches. Oil leak from port engine is slow. Appears to be coming from gasket between block and timing gear case. After getting underway we raised main sail to discover the line which holds back the clew was never replaced. Found some red dyneema 3/16 line which worked well, slippery and smooth.

09:15 passing Cabo Virgenes wind is fickle. Engine hours 2581 P 2586 S.

18:00 Arriving Punta Santa Teresa ~ 18:00. Sun has set and there is a strong counter current rip off the point here. 2 foot swell from south. Decided to go for it instead of trying to anchor at anta Teresa Beach. Starboard engine caught a large white bed sheet floating just under the surface and the engine RPM dropped to 1000 after giving a short <thud>. Drove in a cirlce to dislodge it. Put engine in neutral. Black soot came out when increased RPMs but sheet came off soon after and we resumed our progress into San Francisquito. Wind increased to 15-20 knots from west (off shore). Anchored in 20' off western beach. Joined about an hour later by a large fishing boat with lights all ablaze. Had 100' of chain to bridle but found we were dragging a little, probably poor initial set. Put out 50' more chain around 1AM ad seemd to hold better. Toast did anchor watch for another hour to make sure.

~ Dean

A bed sheet. A god damn bed sheet. The rip, wind swell, and lateness of the day were bad enough but then we had to "hook" a bed sheet. I was at the helm. Scared the bejeezus out of me when the sheet hit with a loud THUD. Smoke was depressing. Thought we might have stripped something though we did down cycle to neutral almost immediately. As fast as possible, let's put it that way.

~ Toast

October 12 and 13, 2009 - Santa Rosalia

2009-11-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

Have been putting boat back together. Went up mast to put ananometer back on, jiggle mast head light, tighten wind point, moved spare halyard from front shieve to aft side again. Cut and whipped new jib sheets. Re-ran reefing lines, put jib sail back on, radar reflector, new main sheet block. We took DQ over to fuel dock to refuel and then out of the harbor to make some water to flush membrane.

Water maker pump is making noticeable clacking sound. Probably some damage to the pistons from running pump without water through it. Could also be problem from bearings due to vibration. Port engine has developed an oil leak. It is still small presently. Most likely is the seals at the front end of the main bearing. Water maker pump vibrating out of sync with the engine has probably created some water. Water maker pump not being bolted to engine directly was evidently much more critical than I appreciated. Now, we have to decommission water maker, pickle membrane, and won't be able to use it probably ever again. If the engine oil leak persists, the engine will have to be hauled out and the seals replaced... hopefully not main bearings. If we are lucky, perhaps leak will quit once water maker pump is off. Perhaps, we can find someone in La Paz or PV to fabricate a platform which will bolt onto engine for the water maker. But now I am leery of ever putting it on the engine again. This is all extremely depressing.

~ Dean

While DrC is working his ass off on the engines and lines, the kids have been doing school and I'm provisioning the boat. The plan is to head south for about 3 weeks and there is really no place to provision between Santa Rosalia and La Paz unless you want to do some seriously wonky expensive cabbing out of Escondido. Nah. It's nice to hand over a lot of the responsibility back to DrC. Being captain is seriously overrated.

~ Toast

October 12, 2009

2009-11-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

Log entries from 9/1/09 to present were kept online by Toast. While we were on our trip on land in July in Albuquerque, we were contacted by VISTA International, the locum tenens international branch of Global Staffing Solutions. there is now a good chance we will be going to New Zealand for a year. Dean will e hired by the public health servie there to see patients in the ophthalmology department and do cataract surgery. We should know in a couple more weeks. So, given this new development, we will not go to Guaymas in October but will haul out in January or February to put the boat on the hard for a year. While we are overseas. Our insurance company quit on us so we have a new carrier now, but we need to get a new survey which we will do in Guaymas hopefully. Kevn Anderson of Sun Break/Vltava in La Paz said he can do that for us. Dean arrived from US October 11, 2009.

~ Dean

Sep 30, 2009 - Puerto Don Juan

2009-10-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Wind consistently pulling 20s from the south makes for cooler night after really hot, humid evening. Totem arrived about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Swam around with them then later had Totem over for dinner and snacks.

Port bilge full of water again. Pumped it out and dried out the engine compartment. Checked every two hours to see if water accumulating again. So far, no sign of water. Checked thru hulls, water maker fittings, raw water system, under cabin sole in forward berth. Nada sign of leak. Beginning to suspect the water must be entering either from bathing on the transom or while motoring or making water. Going to let the system bake over night with no changes and see what happens.

Children broke the light bulb on our boom mounted anchor light. Used LED camp lights for the night but not really satisfied with their brightness. Going to start puzzling out another solution.

Figured out how to reset the Amp number on the battery meter. Accidentally reset it while screwing around so it makes it look like the battery is in better shape than it is. Of course, before the idiot lights made it look like we were out of power when we weren't. S'okay. Next time we motor for a few hours, I'll reset it again and we'll have a better baseline figure.

~ Toast

Sep 29, 2009 - Puerto Don Juan

2009-10-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

Weather report pretty dicey. Stan says south 20, Don says north 20. Decided to move to Don Juan to avoid worrying about.

Tried to start the engines at 9:30. Starboard wouldn't start. After testing starter battery and screwing around for awhile, determined that it was bathing suit straps preventing the engine shut off cable from being full pushed down. *smack on forehead* Pulled hook and motored to Puerto Don Juan. Batteries topped off fairly quickly so motored on starboard only most of the way. Dropped the hook in 35' with 150' to bridle in preparation for some relatively serious wind.

Tigger followed not long thereafter. Jaime went hiking, Toast went swimming. Had Tigger for Mexican Train.

~ Toast

Sep 28, 2009 - BoLA Village

2009-10-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Moved the boat to better spot for Internet. Have a WifiBLA way point now. Boat systems all functional. Running batteries down quickly with all the computers and the fridge. Made water.

~ Toast

Sep 27, 2009 - BoLA Village

2009-10-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Everyone still recovering from yesterday's emotional brew haha. Tried to use the Internet but we're too far away. Went into town to use theirs and proceeded to get viruses on the computers. Note to self: Never plug a computer into an Internet cafe network. Ever. Client still not coughing up what I need to finish that project. Weather looking a bit ominous, considering moving south.

~ Toast

Sep 26, 2009 - BoLA Village

2009-09-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

Opened the day with an enormous, hysterical fight between Toast and Jaime. After that it got better. Ran the spinnaker halyard. Had to fly Jaime up there as the first time caused the line to break off at the top. Motored to BoLA village anchorage. Made full tank of water plus three large buckets so we can do laundry next day. Batteries fully charged now but meter still reading red red red. Screw the meter. It only took about 1/2 hour of both engines for amp input to drop from 45 (where it started) to teens. Clearly the batteries are almost full to capacity now. The numbers reflect this. Yesterday, we woke up to 12.65, this morning 12.55. A little less but not aggressively so. We could have gone another day or two without power.

Water, however, we needed. The laundry service in BoLA is almost non-existent. What is there is super expensive (3 pesos for a small item, 5 pesos for a large item). We just don't have the cash. Tomorrow we'll provision and do laundry.

Totem is theoretically on her way tomorrow.

Alma Inquieta and Tigger came over to finish our Mexican Train game. Very good company though a late evening for everyone.

~ Toast

Sep 25, 2009 - Puerto Don Juan

2009-09-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

Opened up the port to find that water had accumulated all the way to the cabin sole. We have GOT to fix that bilge pump. I think this was almost all from when I was priming the raw water system. Used hand pump to clean it out. Sluiced down the port head and cleaned the floor. Pumped THAT water out as well. It was a long frustrating job, but we got it done. It doesn't look like more water is coming in. Caught up on some paperwork chores as well. Weather warming now that norther is gone.

~ Toast

Sep 24, 2009 - Puerto Don Juan

2009-09-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

Chores chores chores. Kids swam and played a lot. Tore apart the starboard head and cleaned all the scale off the parts. Retaped the outflow pipe with DrC's magic self-adhering tape goop. Worked super well, I think. Sluiced out the head until it was all sparkly. Bathroom looking nice too. Just a Minute took off for other parts. Had Tigger and Alma Inquieta over to play Mexican Train all afternoon.

~ Toast

Sep 23, 2009 - Puerto Don Juan

2009-09-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

I have absolutely had it with BoLA. Time to get moving. Last minute milk and meat run then we pulled the hook at 9:30AM. Winds light as we left but quickly built. By one mile out, we were seeing winds 20-25. By the time we rounded the point into PDJ, probably 25-30 with swells on the beam 3 feet. Hairy but we're getting used to this. Everything was windy but flat as a pancake (just as promised) within PDJ. Dropped the hook in 35 with 150 to the bridle. Wind probably setting us into it like crazy.

Cocktail hour to celebrate "First Norther" on s/v Alma Inquieta and joined by Just a Minute and s/v Tigger. Very nice evening.

~ Toast

Sep 22, 2009 - BoLA Village

2009-09-26T22:15:00.001-07:00

Norther arrived just as we were finishing up a quick provisioning run. Wind blew like snot. Pinned the kids to the boat and made them stay put. They weren't happy about that. I'd say 30 knots.

~ Toast

Sep 21, 2009 - BoLA Village

2009-09-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Dinner for Aeron at the same restaurant -- Casa del Sol. Fixed the dinghy mount.

~ Toast

Sep 20, 2009 - BoLA Village

2009-09-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

Alan of Native Son took us around to all the tiendas and gas stations. Filled the jerry cans. Added more food to the boat. Filling the diesel tanks from jerry cans less physically challenging than I thought it would be.

~ Toast

Sep 18, 2009 - Bahia de Los Angeles

2009-09-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

Made more water. Seemed to work well. Batteries are working fine but the indicator is off. Just a Minute and Windfall arrived. Huge slop swell in the evening. Died off at nightfall.

~ Toast

Sep 19, 2009 - BofLA Village

2009-09-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

Just a Minute and Windfall arrived today. More doing not a lot but school and chores.

~ Toast

Sep 17, 2009 - Bahia de Los Angeles

2009-09-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

Not moving is looking very nice. Toast/my birthday today. Took myself to dinner with the girls. Refrained from getting drunk. Did NOT fix the starboard head today.

~ Toast

Sep 16, 2009 - BoLA Town

2009-09-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

Still not moving. It's really nice to be not moving and not fixing stuff. Took the propane tanks ashore. You can get them filled down the road, though you have to pay for a full 20 pound tank. It makes sense to go in with another one or two boats to get multiple tanks filled from the same 20 pounder. Turn right at the street, go just past the white sail boat sculpture and on the western branch of the Y, Ortega's is on your left.

There are also two tiendas in that direction. The one on the east side has 5 peso double scoop icecream cones and an Internet Cafe. The one of the west side has a surprisingly eclectic and useful ferreteria selection. Bought replacement bolts for the outboard mount. Considering tearing apart the head tomorrow. The tienda has head hose to replace the one in our starboard that has sprung a distressing and stinky leak.

~ Toast

Sep 15, 2009 - BoLA Town

2009-09-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

Today was provisioning day. Went into town for groceries. Stayed to
chat with Lillith, Rumiko, and Frances Isis. Jaime stayed over after
girls and I went back to boat. She hung out with Lillith, had dinner,
and attended a big posada complete with fireworks last night. It was
Mexican Independence Day. If I'd known we would have stayed onshore
for the night. Next year. Heh. I spent the whole day not repairing
anything.

~ Toast

Sep 14, 2009 - BoLA Town

2009-09-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

Got up early to install port engine raw water strainer. Had a lot of fun setting up a way to prime the engine using the water maker feeder pump. It took three times but we got it. The port engine is now working like a charm. Max came over to check on the installation and make sure it was all good. He gave his blessing then Volo motored off.

We pulled the hook and moved 150 feet to the north to get in the range of an open wifi access point. It's not a great connection, but the girls are so happy to be connected at all that we might not move for awhile. Motored into town to get provisions.

~ Toast

Sep 13, 2009 - Bahia de Los Angeles Village

2009-09-16T17:14:00.000-07:00

Pulled anchor early at 8:30 AM. Rolls making the anchorage really unpleasant. No one slept well. Both engines started up fine, charging went much faster. Only on 80s for 15 minutes, then 50's for another 15, then down in the 30s and then teens so we could go to starboard only. Very light wind from the west northwest. Not worth sorting out the mainsail.

Pulling into BoLA, we turned on the port. Raw water system not working and engine quickly overheated. Immediately turned it off and anchored off village dock just a few yards from Volo. Got them to come over in the afternoon with ideas and suggestions on what to do for the port engine. While troubleshooting port engine raw water system, broke hose fitting for impeller/engine side off the raw water strainer. Volo came over and helped sort the problem. Max took the raw water strainer and used adhesive, copper tube, and hose to make a new fitting. We are going to let the adhesive dry overnight before trying it in the syste. In the meantime, I tested the impeller side -- it's working just fine. I tested the raw water/sail drive intake side and it works. No idea what the problem is. Probably we sucked up a guppy which has since swam away. Who knows.

Jaime and Max also got the outboard to work. We didn't go into town. Swam off the boat. Had Max and Sandy (Volo) for dinner as a way of saying thank you for all of Max's hard work on our raw water strainer. Very enjoyable evening. Went to bed super late.

It's cooler just being here. Breeze blowing into the anchorage from the east. Night before apparently they had 40 knot chubasco but tonight mild and really comfortable. Wish engines would work. Dropped hook in 18' with 100' to bridle.

~ Toast

Sep 12, 2009 - Bahia de Los Animas

2009-09-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

Still here. Didn't get much done today. Didn't work on anything. Windy afternoon and evening making us wish we'd moved to a more protected location. Another heat lightening storm on the horizon tonight. Still hot even with the wind.

~ Toast