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Log of the Victory - Days 9 and 10

7/30/2014

The Victory Beats to Windward

This video will give you a small taste of what it is like to be sailing on the open ocean.

Friday, July 4th, 2014 - Day 9

Vienne climbs out on the bow sprit

Happy 4th of July.

We are crossing the Gulf of Sebastian Viscaino today. That means we are standing off shore. At the peak, we were about fifty miles out. We are closing with the coast on the other side of the gulf at 5 pm tonight and have land in sight about twenty miles away.

Today has been a glorious day at sea. The day broke cloudy, but on my watch (8 am to noon) the clouds burned off. The sea is a dark, indigo blue. The sky is light blue with a few straggling clouds to be seen. The winds are (unfortunately) light and the sea is calm with a long, slow undulating swell.

We are motor sailing along at about 4.5 knots. Not as fast as I’d like, but at least we’re making progress.

The day is so beautiful, that I can’t help but think of Papa. This was his neighborhood. We saw a tuna boat yesterday, heading south to the fishing grounds. At this time of year, the albacore are off the southern end of the Baja Peninsula. They will work their way north during the summer and by fall, they’ll be off the Washington coast.

I stand at the shrouds and look out over the sea. I feel Papa’s presence. He is out there somewhere, in his little wooden troller, chasing the elusive albacore. And he is having the time of his life.

A tuna boat heads south

We are still about twenty miles southwest of the Sacrament Reef. The reef is the sight of numerous shipwrecks. We will give it wide berth. Now we are coming up on the places that Papa and I fished and visited that one summer so very long ago. This is why I made this trip, to revisit those locations and connect with Papa.

If you want to read about our adventures, pick up a copy of Blue Water & Me, Tall Tales of Adventures With My Father.

I remember one time, after I moved away from Eugene, that Papa told me that sometimes he would stop in my old VIP’s Restaurant for a cup of coffee, “with Penn’s ghost.’ Well that’s how I feel. I am sailing with Papa’s ghost today.

It was a gorgeous day, so it stands to reason that it was a beautiful evening. KC and Vienne came on deck at sunset to watch the sun go down. We didn’t see the green flash today. After it got dark, we had a little 4th of July celebration.

I had some expired flares, so I let KC fire them off for Vienne. She was very disappointed that we didn’t make it to San Diego in time to see the fireworks, but she really liked the flares.

I made it through another night watch. Did I mention that I hate night watches? Anyway, only one more. We should be in San Diego before my night watch on Sunday. We’ll be able to tie to a dock, hook up to electricity and water and have showers and clean clothes. We’re all looking forward to it.

Saturday, July 5th, 2014 - Day 10

Another day comes to an end

Another beautiful day. I wish everyone could see the color of the ocean miles off shore. I can’t really describe it.

We have clouds today and the temperatures seem a little cooler. I think we’re getting close to the USA. We are currently 100 miles from Point Loma, the entrance to San Diego Bay.

We had favorable winds all night long and the Victory has been charging along at 6 to 7 knots since midnight. I think she’s heading for the barn.

It has been a long trip. Fortunately, we have not had any major mechanical problems. Dawn supplied us well with food. We are starting to get anxious about going through customs.

One time KC was bringing a boat from Mexico to Canada. They did not intend to stop in the US. However, when they stopped in Ensenada for fuel, the fuel dock was out of diesel. They had to stop in San Diego for fuel.

Even an hour’s stop for fuel means going through Customs. For some reason, the CBP agent was in a snit and confiscated all of the food aboard the boat. Even though they would only be in the USA for an hour, he wouldn’t allow them to bring their food into the country.

That cost KC and his crew over a thousand dollars and a lost day to restock their galley.

We don’t want to have to give up all the food aboard. However, if we do have to, we wouldn’t have to replace it. We are just going home after we get the boat secured, we’re not sailing on.

Los tres marineros

The weather for the last few days has been idyllic. Very light wind (which is usually not a good thing for a sailboat, but when you’re headed north into a northwest wind, that isn’t bad.) and calm seas. That allows us to motor into the seas without taking a lot of water over the bow. The boat has been comfortable. With the exception of one night, we have had a nice smooth motion to rock us to sleep at night.

I have been cooking all of the dinners because my watch has me off the deck at dinner time. On occasion, cooking has been a challenge as the boat heels over to the wind. Try keeping two hot pans on the stove while trying to chop onions.

Fortunately, our range is equipped with fiddle rails. These are metal rails that we can use to fasten the pots down to the stove so that they can’t move. All you need to do is use a deep enough pot that the contents don’t slop over.

Late in the evening, just before dark, we got the treat of the trip. Vienne and I were below eating dinner. KC and Sam were on deck, they had already finished dinner.

“Vienne, get up here NOW!’ KC shouted.

We clambered up to the deck.

“There’s a whale, just off the bow.”

Sure enough, we saw a spout. For the next several minutes, we saw spouts in front and on our starboard side. Then we saw the whales. Fin backs. Finbacks are the world’s second largest whales.

One surfaced within a few feet of the boat. It was amazing, awe inspiring. The whale that surfaced next to us was bigger than the boat, and this is a big boat.

For about a half hour a pod of three or four whales paced us, swam along side of us. I am overwhelmed by the size and grace of these creatures.

After the whale show, I decided to reduce sail for the night. KC suggested that we go with the stays’l and mizzen for the night and I concurred. We had a slight breeze and the stays’l would give us some drive and maybe an extra half knot.

KC on the bow sprit

I learned on the trip south that we reduce sail before dark. On two nights on that trip, we got caught with too much sail up. At three in the morning, I had to call the crew on deck to reduce sail in the dark. It wasn’t fun. We lose a knot or so in speed, but we don’t have night time emergencies.

KC climbed the main mast (we have steps to allow a person to climb high enough to work with the big sail) and I manned the winch. I put the winch handle in the winch (mind you, this is a big, heavy, steel handle) and undid the brake.

The sail plummeted down the mast. The winch handle spun. My head was in the way. I got knocked on the head like you wouldn’t believe. It hurt.

I staggered and yelled, but of course, I had to get back to my station and get the sail down. We couldn’t stop in the middle of the process to attend to the fool who couldn’t keep his head clear.

We got the sail secured and KC began to fuss and fret about my head. It hurt. I was dizzy and it felt as if my head was filled with cotton.

I know that you’re not supposed to sleep when you’ve had a concussion, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. KC took the first hour of my watch and I went below for a nap.

Now, I thought about playing the knock on the head for all it was worth and getting out of my last night watch. KC volunteered to stand it for me. I guess I have too much Papa in me. I got up in an hour and finished my watch, fuzzy head and all.

As we end the day, we are about ten miles off of Ensenada, the last port in Mexico. Tomorrow we will cross into the United States.

Connie was with me today

Something very strange happened to me today.

I already told you that I am sailing with Papa’s ghost. These are his home waters; this is where he fished for sixteen years. They were the best years of his life. He explored and adventured and made a great living. He met and married the girl of his dreams and she went off adventuring with him. He has been sailing with me all week.

Today, I met another ghost.

I was on watch and KC was in the cockpit talking with me. I sneezed and reached for my handkerchief. It was a fresh hanky; I had showered and put on clean clothes that afternoon. I brought the hanky to my nose and smelled her smell.

Connie always used to iron my handkerchiefs and put a drop of her perfume, White Linen, on them. Every time I used them, I thought of her.

This handkerchief must have sat in the bottom of my drawer unused for four years. When I packed for the trip, I grabbed all of my hankies and threw them in my duffle bag. I just happened to pull that one out.

My heart stopped. I felt her presence. She was there with me for an instant. Connie was a good sailor. She went off adventuring with me time after time, even after she knew better. And here she was, fifty miles off the coast of Baja California, sending me a message. It was OK. Everything was going to be all right.

I told KC about it and he came over and hugged me. It wasn’t until he hugged me that I cried.

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Log of the Victory - Days 7 & 8

7/22/2014

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The Beautiful Metropolis of Turtle Bay

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014 - Day 7

A lovely old schooner leaves Turtle Bay

We’ve been at sea a week. The good news is that we are well over half way there. Today we will make Turtle Bay.

KC and I have been debating whether we should stop or not. Turtle Bay is probably the best anchorage on the Pacific Coast of Baja, but it is a festering sore of a town.

They used to be a prosperous fishing village, but the fish processing plant closed down. Now it is a dying town. Their only source of revenue is visiting yatistas. And man, do they try to get every centavo they can.

Pedro, the one-armed guard on the dock (or should I say the one-armed bandido?), asks for a tip to watch your dinghy. I have heard that if you refuse to tip him, your dinghy just might come untied and drift away.

The dock itself is a death-trap. A long narrow float rocks back and forth, threatening to dump you in the putrid water. A steel staircase is a short four-foot leap from the dock, but the bottom two steps are rusted out and it doesn't have a hand-rail. At the top of the staircase is a rotting pier covered in bird poop. A not at all inviting way to come ashore.

The town is ugly. Butt ugly. It is built on dirt. There are no paved roads, no lawns, no flowers. I see no reason to stop there.

Most sailboats need to stop for fuel. Sailboats don’t carry a lot of fuel because they are supposed to sail. However, the Victory was designed to cross oceans. We have 300 gallons of fuel aboard. We can motor to San Francisco, maybe Portland without filling our tanks.

KC and Vienne stroll through beautiful downtown Turtle Bay

So, we don’t need to stop at Turtle Bay. However, I really want to anchor and have a quiet night and a good sleep.

KC is pushing for going on to Cedros Island, about twenty or thirty miles north of Turtle Bay and stopping for the night.

We got to Turtle Bay around 2 pm. I decided that we had had enough. We went in and dropped the hook. I didn’t want to sail on for another four or five hours. I was tired and so was the crew.

Vienne wanted to go ashore. Sam thought he’d like to see the town too. We dropped the dinghy in the water and put the outboard on her. Then KC, Sam and Vienne went into town.

I stayed on the boat and cleaned and organized. I also put a ham in the oven for dinner.

Wonder of wonders, we had cell phone connections. All of my texts to Dawn were sent out. Sam called Marti, I called Dawn. We got weather reports and canceled our airline reservations. The wonders of modern technology.

I just forgot it was the first of the month. I should have paid bills before we left.

We had a wonderful ham dinner, then retired to our neutral corners for the night.

Thursday, July 3rd, 2014 - Day 8

Sam in Turtle Bay

I talked to Dawn this morning. Tomorrow is the 4th of July. Unfortunately, we will spend it in International Waters off the coast of Mexico. I had hoped to be in San Diego by now.

We left Turtle Bay at 8 am. We motored out of the bay, then KC and I set the main. It was my watch so everyone else went below. A little later Sam came on deck. The wind was beginning to stir so we set the stays’l.

In about an hour, I raised the jib. We were flying along at around six knots. We have to sail west for about twenty five miles to clear Isla Natividad and Isla Cedros. I want to pass west of them so that we can have unrestricted access to whatever wind there is.

And the wind is quite nice thank you. As I write this, we are bowling along at about 7 knots with all four sails flying. We’re holding our course. In about two hours we will tack and head north.

Did you hear that? NORTH! That’s the direction we’ve wanted to go since we left La Paz. We are finally almost clear of all the capes, islands, headlands, etc so that we can sail north to the USA.

We are about 300 miles south of Point Loma right now. That means we should be able to get to San Diego by Sunday. I’m really hoping.

This has been an adventure, but we’re all ready to be home.

Dawn told me the weather report was for 13 knot winds today, then light wind and smooth sea for the rest of the week. The wind has held steady at 13 knots all day today.

On my night watch, we negotiated the channel between Isla Natividad and Cedros Island. The wind was right on our nose, as is to be expected, so we had to tack back and forth.

The kids are fascinated by Vienne

A big power boat passed us in the night. At first I saw a light on the horizon to the south, then as my watched progressed, they pulled up even with us, then disappeared over the horizon to the north. I hate them. I am so jealous of their speed. Of course, I wouldn’t want to pay their fuel bill.

Speaking of fuel . . .

I settled into bed, but wasn’t asleep yet when the engine stopped. I jumped from bed and ran forward to see what happened. Sam met me in the galley.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Nothing. I mean, I didn’t do anything. The engine just stopped.”

KC was up and running for the tool chest.

“Hold on,” says I. “Let’s check the fuel.”

Sure enough, the port tank was empty and the fuel filter was black with yuck. KC crawled down into the engine room and changed tanks and filters, then the engine started right up and ran like a champ.

We carry 300 gallons of fuel. The port tank was empty and the starboard tank was down about 1/8th. That means we have about 100 gallons of fuel left. We have about 235 miles left to go. At 4 knots that’s 58.75 hours. We’re burning about a gallon an hour, so we’ll have about 40 gallons left in the tank when we get to San Diego. That sounds like a safe margin to me.

I’ll check the fuel gauge when we get close to Ensenada, the next available fuel stop, to see if I still think we’ll make it, but I’m pretty sure we won’t have to stop.

Anyway, in less than fifteen minutes we were up and running and on our way again. Then I couldn’t get to sleep. What a long night.

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Log of the Victory - Days 5 & 6

7/16/2014

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Dolphin Video - This is kind of long. Make sure you have at least 4 minutes to watch before hitting the start arrow.

First of all, I have to take care of some business.

If you've read Hacker for Hire and are a Catrina Flaherty fan, you're going to love this. I just published a Cat Flaherty short story. Down load your copy today from Amazon.com.

This story takes place before Hacker for Hire and before Cat meets Ted. But it's taken from a true-life story that is too horrible to believe.

Tomorrow is the start of my Magical Mystery Bog Tour.

For the next four months I will be making a series of guest blog appearances and interviews. Here's my schedule for the first few days:

17th July – Book Feature at Mommy Adventures

18th July – Twitter View with OB Book Tours

19th July – Twitter Blast with OB Book Tours

22nd July – Author Interview 1 at Page Turning Books

Be sure to go to these sites and check it all out.

Download your copy today from Amazon.com.

Now, on with our story.

Monday, June 30th, 2014 - Day 5

KC and Vienne

Today has been an uneventful day, just the kind you hope for when you are cruising. We started the day with a nice breeze. KC had the stays’l up before I got on deck this morning. There was a 15 knot wind, so I decided to raise the jib. Why not sail when there’s wind?

Of course, the wind was coming from where we wanted to go, so we had to tack back and forth. It doubles the distance we need to cover, but it’s a lot more fun.

All of the systems are working well. We make a thorough engine check and bilge check at the beginning of each watch. Nothing to complain about.

We’ve seen dolphin today and had an albatross do a fly by. Early this morning Vienne and I saw an oil tanker pass several miles astern of us. It was heading west. Where could it have been going?

We had a power boat to starboard that KC tried to hail on the radio. They didn’t answer. A short while ago, we spied a sailboat on a parallel course and tried to hail it. Doesn’t anyone listen to their radios?

Tropical storm Douglass is brewing to the south of us. It should not cause us any problems, but I’m still a little worried. We are crossing the big bight between Magdalena Bay and Turtle Bay. Rather than hugging the shoreline (there aren’t any good anchorages there anyway) we are crossing from point to point. Our course takes us well off shore. We are out of sight of land. The crossing will take two days.

If Douglass does not behave himself and stay to the south and west, we could be in for it. I have every confidence in the weather services, but I still see the clouds developing to the south and worry a little.

We just stopped to do an engine check. We shut the engine down for the first time since Cabo and checked oil, etc. While we were lying to, we were amazed at how clear the water is. It is deep blue and we could see the day light penetrating far below the surface. I would guess that we could see forty or fifty feet down.

The day draws to a close

Late in the afternoon a pod of dolphin arrived. They were working a school of fish and dozens of dolphin swarmed the surface. They came from all directions. As we cruised along, we stumbled into their school. We were surrounded by dolphin. The water was so clear that we could see them well below the surface.

On the surface, the dolphin appeared to be dark gray on top with lighter gray sides. Underwater, their sides looked like glowing green neon. They swam alongside the Victory, then leapt from the water to draw a breath before submerging again.

What fun! Vienne absolutely loved the dolphin.

It is now 12:30 am. I just got off of my night watch. I hate night watches. The world is black. OK, there is a canopy of stars above, but the black sea merges with the black sky, We are totally alone, far out in the Pacific Ocean. No other vessels in sight, no land. I feel like an infinitesimal speck in the universe.

Sam has been having problems with sea sickness. He feels all right on deck, but when he goes below, he gets sick. Tonight, he decided to stay on deck after dinner. It was great for me. I had company to help pass the long watch. We chatted about a thousand things. Then he got one of the mats out and sacked out on the aft cabin roof.

I continued my watch alone. At first I read my Kindle. It ruins the night vision. I stop after each paragraph, put the Kindle to my chest to hide the light and let my eyes re-adjust to the dark. Then I do a quick inspection of the boat and the sea around us. No other boats, so I can read the next paragraph.

Unfortunately, it was almost discharged so I couldn’t read long. After I put it down, I sang. There’s no one to hear me so I can go through my entire repertoire. I know enough songs to fill about an hour. That left one hour of my watch to fill.

It is surprisingly cold. I wore long underwear tonight. Last night with just jeans, my knees were killing me by the end of my watch. It was better tonight. My knees don’t hurt, but they don’t work either. I have a hard time climbing down the companionway ladder or going up and down the steps in the cabin. I gotta get them fixed.

Now, I am warmed up. I have had a quick snack, left over orange chicken and rice, and I’m going to bed. We have completed five days of our journey. We should hit the halfway point late tomorrow morning. We will probably be back in San Diego by Sunday, one day after our reservations for flights home.

Tuesday, July 1st, 2014 - Day 6

The Victory beats to windward

Not much to report on today. We continue to cruise across the southern bight in Baja. Tomorrow we should make Turtle Bay.

We decided not to stop at Magdalena Bay. We were well off-shore and I didn’t want to run in, then have to run back out again. It would cost us a full day. So, we continued on our course.

I thought I’d talk a little about night watches since there was nothing special going on.

I have the 8 to 12 watch. Not bad in the morning. I get up, make coffee and take a cup to KC up on deck. We have a cuppa together and watch the day begin, then I do my pre-watch checks and take the deck.

At night it’s different. I make dinner and we eat on deck between 7 and 7:30. After dinner, I do my checks and take the deck. It is cooling down, so the rest of the crew disappears below.

The first hour is easy. I watch the sun set and get the boat ready for the night. I turn on the running lights and check that everything is working. I do a tour around the deck to make sure that nothing is out of place that might trip someone in the dark. Then I clean the cockpit up and get ready for a long night at sea.

The sun goes down around 8:30. I change the lighting on the instruments for night running. By 9 it is totally dark.

I watch the stars, sing a little, then get out my Kindle. Reading sure helps pass the time.

I am overjoyed when 10 pm rolls around. I am at the halfway point in my watch. I leave the deck and go below after checking for other vessel’s lights. I plot our position on the chart and note our progress. If we had serious navigation mistakes, this is where they would show up.

I lolly gag below for a few minutes, warming up, then I grab a chocolate chip cookie and go back on deck. It is getting cold. Tonight Sam brought a blanket on deck with him when he relieved me. What a good idea. We used to do this when we were coming down the coast from Seattle. Wrap the blanket around your knees to keep them warm.

This is sub-tropical Mexico folks, why is it so cold at night?

Sam on watch

Time passes slowly. I read some more. I start singing. A few rounds of “Barnacle Bill the Sailor” will usually warm me up.

I get very stiff, sitting behind the wheel. I get up and move around. My joints are stiff, I have to work them out a little to be able to move. Whose idea was this trip anyway?

Time passes even more slowly. I check my watch with a flash light. Only fifteen minutes have passed. Damn! I ponder the fate of the world. I think about my writing. What kind of trouble can I get my heroes into?

It’s now 11:30. I can do the last half hour of my watch standing on my head. (Can you tell I’ve watched too much Sopranos?).

The minutes drag on. Where is Sam? Surely he should be doing his pre-watch checks by now. Is he even awake? Should I go down and rouse him?

No, I better wait. It would show a lack of confidence if I went looking for him. He’s a big boy. He’ll do what he has to.

Sure enough, it’s midnight and Sam appears in the companionway. We chat for a few minutes. Everything is OK on his checks, nothing is going on on deck.

Finally, I turn the deck over to him and I’m free. I go below and warm a snack. I’m cold, hungry and tired.

I’ll eat my snack and crawl into bed. Then I’ll try to sleep while the boat is jostling around. It’s a little like trying to sleep in a cement mixer.

Then the day is done.

For me. Sam is at the start of his watch and poor KC has the 4 am to 8 am watch.

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The Log of the Victory - Days 3 and 4

7/13/2014

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Vienne Rides the Waves

OK folks, I've been breaking the rules of Marketing here. I know I'm supposed to give you a pitch for my books before I post my blog for the day. I just got so excited about the trip that I forgot.

So, to make up for lost time, go read Hacker for Hire. There, I said it, now on to today's positing.

Saturday, June 28th, 2014 - Day 3

We slip out of Cabo early in the morning

KC and I were up at 6:30 to get the boat going. We pulled the anchor and were underway shortly after 7. In the quiet morning air, we rounded the Cape that had so frustrated us yesterday.

A gentle breeze picked up. Soon we were bashing into twenty-two knot winds trying to get around Cabo Falso. This time I wasn’t turning back. If we could round Cabo Falso, the wind was favorable for us to raise the sails.

It took two hours, but finally, we were far enough at sea and free of the cape. We raised the double reefed main to stabilize the boat’s motion. We motored on for an hour or so, and the wind began to abate slightly.

When the wind gauge read twenty knots, we decided to raise the stays’l. This gave us the ability to sail into the wind. Our motion settled down remarkably. The wind dropped to fifteen knots and we raised the big Genoa jib. Now we were moving, but not fast enough. It didn’t take me long to shake the reefs out of the main.

KC wasn’t enthusiastic about shaking out the reefs, but he was happy as a pig in mud when the wind caught the big main and we started scooting.

While raising the main, KC has to climb the mast. He lost his footing and was dangling from the rigging. We thought he was showing off. He said he was in fear of his life. That’s what happens when you show off all the time. When you are in danger, no one believes you.

The Victory bashes into strong head winds

When we shook the reefs out of the main, I had to climb onto the cabin top. I lost my footing and took a fall. I have a big knot on my head where I hit it against the mast and I’m sore all over. Not only that, but I broke my sun glasses.

I told KC that I can’t be held responsible for any decisions I make for the next 24 hours. He really wants to turn southwest to Hawaii. Don’t be surprised if I send this from Hilo.

We were doing six and seven knots motor sailing into the wind, flying along. All of a sudden, there was laughter and song in a crew that had been tired and moody an hour earlier.

The wind held for the whole morning and into the afternoon. We tacked in towards shore, then tacked out about ten miles off shore. The wind shifted slightly to the south and we were able to hold a course just west of north. We couldn’t have asked for better.

Sailing along on a deep blue sea, under a light blue sky, fat, dumb and happy, what could go wrong?

As the afternoon passed, the wind continued to die. After I got up from a nap at about 2:30, we took down the head sails and motored directly northwest on our rhumb line course.

At 3:30 KC started his checks before taking over the watch. We were in trouble. The V-belt on the engine broke. Damn! Without the V-belt, the water pump wouldn’t work to cool the engine and the alternator would not produce electricity.

“Do you have a spare belt?” KC asked.

A perfectly legitimate question. What self-respecting sea captain would go to sea without spare V-belts?

“No.”

Then I thought about it. I had a spare parts kit and I vaguely remember seeing a V-belt in the kit. Was it the right one? I dug it out and viola! It was!

KC had the new belt on in fifteen minutes and we were on our way.

Tonight we have Dawn’s lasagna for dinner. It’s cooking as I write and the smell is driving me crazy. I hope that we have no more adventures that I have to tell you about before tomorrow, but if we do, I’ll be back at the keyboard.

By the way, KC has informed me that adventure is the ability to withstand suffering. I guess we are very adventurous people.

We just saw our first albatross. They bring good luck to a ship. We need all the good luck we can get. We also saw marlin jumping and flying fish. We had a squid on deck this morning.

Sunday, June 29th - Day 4

Vienne, the boat monkey

What a lousy night. We bashed directly into the wind all night and the boat bounced around like a fishing bobber. Every time I was just about asleep, I got jostled out of my bed. Neither Sam nor KC got any sleep either. We’re all zombies this morning.

I got up and made coffee, then took it on deck for KC. I relieve KC on the watch and Sam relieves me. We had wind this morning. Before the watch change, we raised the jib and started motor sailing. Unlike yesterday, the wind hasn’t died yet. We have been sailing all day.

We can’t go directly on our course; the wind is blowing from exactly where we’re going. However, we are flying along so I don’t mind tacking back and forth every four hours or so.

I just read a passage in Windy Hinman’s Cheapskates on the Loose that says navigation is simple. You can always tell the direction you want to go by the wind direction. The wind is always blowing from your destination. That’s certainly true of this trip.

At this rate, we will make Magdalena Bay tonight. This is our first big check point on the West Coast of Baja and a planned rest stop. I’m not sure if we’ll stop or not. We’ll get there around midnight and I’m not anxious to negotiate the channel in the dark. On the other hand, we are all tired today and a restful night’s sleep would be welcome.

Our next planned stop is Turtle Bay, about thirty-six hours further up the coast. Two days and a night will get us there.

Vienne is coming into her own. She has managed to keep herself occupied the whole trip, but yesterday she discovered the rigging. She learned to climb onto the main boom.

Today, she climbed onto the mizzen boom and promptly decided it was her horse. After a while she changed that. Now it’s a Pegasus. The mizzen is White Wings. She named the stays’l boom Midnight because it still has its black sail cover on it.

She straddles the boom like a horse and rides off to adventures.

She also took a little nap on the mizzen boom this afternoon. What a monkey.

On my watch, Vienne and I saw a sea turtle. We were far enough off-shore that land isn’t visible, just us and the great big ocean. And there, in the middle of the great big ocean, was a turtle floating lazily by. My father would have wanted to catch him for dinner.

Sam has been fighting sea sickness. He hasn’t done an off-shore passage before. He seems OK on deck, but when he goes below, his stomach does cartwheels. He is being very selective about what he eats. I’m guessing he will lose weight on this trip. I should be so lucky.

KC is in his element. The worst day at sea is better than the best day ashore for him. He hasn’t been to sea for five years, so I’m scratching a major itch for him. We’ll see how long it takes him to get back on his boat after this.

The Victory is performing like a champ today. No mechanical problems, everything looking good. We are motor sailing. For the uninitiated, that means we have the sails up, but are using the engine to give us a boost.

The sun sets into the Pacific Ocean

We’re bucking into a pretty stiff current. With the engine alone, we were doing about 4 knots. With sails alone, we mushed along at about 3 knots. But with the sails and the engine, we are doing 6.5 knots. Pretty good for a heavy old concrete boat working her way to windward.

Of course, we can’t go directly towards our destination. The wind is blowing from exactly where we want to go. But with the engine’s help, we can sail pretty close to the wind and we are flying through the water. Even if we aren’t getting there any faster, we’re having way more fun.

The sunset tonight was spectacular. We had a clear sky and the big orange orb slowly descended into the darkening sea. As the last of the orange disappeared, we had the famous green flash. You don’t see it very often, but in the tropics, when the sun sets sometimes you get a momentary green flash. It’s wonderful to see.

It was cold tonight. I just came off of my night watch. I wore jeans, a sweat shirt and a wind breaker. About half way through my watch I traded the wind breaker for a parka. I should have put on long underwear too. My knees are killing me from the cold. And we’re still 600 miles down the coast of Baja.

Here's a little bit of writing news. I got back the proofs for Mirror Image today. I will be publishing this Catrina Flaherty short story soon.

This is a kinda, sorta prequel to Hacker for Hire. It's your chance to see Cat Flaherty in one of her early adventures, before she met Ted Higuera.

Watch for it. It should be available for a free download in the next couple of weeks.

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The Log of the Victory - On to Cabo

7/11/2014

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Sam floats on the azure sea

Thursday June 26th, 2014

Day 1

KC had the nerve to wake me up at 7:45. My plan was to be up at 7, go to the fuel dock, top off the tanks and get underway by 8.

We got the boat ready to go, motored to the fuel dock and topped off the tanks. Then I walked up to the Marina office to pay our bill. I left with a sour taste in my mouth.

We stayed in Marina Palmira for over a year. We spend tens of thousands of dollars with them. We were good tenants and helped them publicize the marina and make it a more pleasant place for boaters and they slapped me in the face.

When we first arrived, we paid $50 apiece as deposits on our dock key cards. Dawn lost hers several months ago and she had to get a new one. When I turned in our cards, I expected to receive my deposit back.

“We can’t give you your deposit for this one,” the girl behind the desk said. “It’s over a year old.”

“What?????”

If they told me that the deposit was only good for one year, I long ago forgot about it. The key still works, it’s still in good condition. I was angered.

I vented for a few minutes and she called the manager. The manager was resolute. No refund for me. I was incensed. After spending over $15,000 in their marina, they were going to gyp me out of 50 bucks? I couldn’t believe it.

I told them they were stealing from me and left in a huff. I will not say anything good about that marina to any other boaters I meet. I hope they lose business because of this.

By 9:30 we were under way. We cleared the harbor and set our course for the San Lorenzo channel. We didn’t see any more whale sharks or other interesting sea creatures. We just motored on down our course.

It was fiercely hot. About three in the afternoon, I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed a deck bucket, pulled up a bucket of water and splashed it over myself.

KC liked the idea and he and Vienne put on their swimming suits and splashed themselves. I had wet my clothes, but the swimming suits seemed like a good idea, so I changed.

I was thinking it might be nice, just to heave to and go overboard when KC suggested the idea. I pulled back on the throttle, took her out of gear and let the Victory coast to a stop. By now, Sam had his swim suit on too.

As soon as the way was off the boat, I was over the side. Sam and Vienne quickly joined me. We had to leave one person on the boat at all times. I came back and gave KC a turn.

The water was refreshing, but still warm. It took away the pain of the heat of the day.

We frolicked in the sea for about a half hour, then were under way again.

This time, for about an hour or so, then we had a problem. KC heard a new noise in the engine room and went down to investigate.

One of the lag bolts that hold the engine mounts to the engine bed had worked loose. What to do?

We surmise that the engine and the new drive shaft installation are slightly out of line, causing a vibration in the engine. The vibration caused the bolt to back out.

The bolt is screwed into the wooden engine bed. The engine bed is bonded to the concrete hull so there is no way to through bolt them.

I decided to put the screw back in and head for San Jose del Cabo. We could get help there if we needed it.

I had been running the engine at 3000 rpm all day. Usually I cruise at 2500 rpm. This was a test. I wanted to see what our fuel burn rate was at 3000 rpm and to see if anything shook loose. Well, it did.

After we got under way again, we discovered that the vibration began at 3000 rpm. At 2500 rpm we had no problem. At each watch change, when we check the boat, we check that the lag bolts are still secure and have had no further problem.

It will cost us about one knot keeping the speed down to 2500 rpm, but we’ll save about fifty gallons of diesel. At $4 per gallon, that’s $200. I think we can afford the extra time.

Dawn provisioned us with all kinds of great meals before we left. While we spent the week repairing the drive shaft, she spent the week cooking.

Vienne hadn’t eaten lunch (“I don’t want a sandwich.”) so I decided to cook the macaroni and cheese with chicken and broccoli that Dawn sent with us. It was a big hit. Everyone went back for seconds.

The night passed quietly and in the morning, we were at San Jose del Cabo.

Party boat polutes the evening air

Friday June 27th, 2014

Day 2

KC and I talked our engine problem over and decided not keep going. We stopped at San Jose del Cabo for fuel, then were on our way by 930.

What a miserable day.

“I wouldn’t object if the weather for the whole trip was like this,” KC said as we left San Jose. It was flat calm.

It’s about fifteen miles from San Jose to Cabo San Lucas. In that time, the wind had freshened and the seas built.

We were bashing into thirty knot winds and six to eight foot seas. Everything on the boat was wet. Sam and Vienne were sea sick.

And we were making no progress. We were barely making headway. I knew if we could get around the cape, the weather would slacken and favor us, but we had to round the darn cape. Hour after hour we bashed into the seas and got no closer to our objective.

At about 3 in the afternoon, I held a brief conference with KC.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” I said. “We’re bashing into these seas, going nowhere, burning up fuel, equipment and people. I’m thinking about heading into Cabo and anchoring for the night, then we can sneak out in the morning before the wind picks up.”

“I would,” he said.

So we bashed into the harbor at Cabo and dropped the hook.

KC and I went over the side to cool down, but this wasn’t the Sea of Cortez. The water was cool Pacific water. It was bracing. We jumped in, swam back to the boat and got out.

While everyone read or napped or played chess, I made a beef stew for dinner. By the time I was done cooking, I was so hot I jumped back in the bay. Then I showered off the salt water and took a nap. I was beat.

Cabo is a party town. The Mexicans encourage the Americans to come down, get drunk and spend their money. The Americans misbehave badly, doing things they wouldn’t do at home and the Mexican police look the other way. It’s good for business.

Jet skis go flying by, the occupants having no idea of the rules of the road or that they are disturbing the anchored boats. Party boats float in the bay, blaring music, hosts encouraging the party-goers to have “one more tequila” on the loud speakers. This went on until late at night.

As soon as a party boat hit the dock, they unloaded their guests and loaded up another bunch, then the same old jokes and the same old music. Music and loud speakers blared from the tents and palapas on the beach. Everyone was after the gringo dollar.

I’m not fond of Cabo. We couldn’t leave soon enough.

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The Log of the Victory - Days -2 and -1

7/9/2014

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Whale Shark Video

We Prepare to Leave

Taking the Victory on her trail run

Tuesday June 24, 2014

Day -2.

We have completed the repairs and need to take the Victory out on a trial run. Kathy and Jenifer want to come with us, so we’ll make a day of it.

We started out leaving the dock and heading up the channel to open water. As we got to the entrance to the harbor, KC noticed a disturbance in the water. We watched it closer and it became a school of manta rays. I’ve never seen them school up before.

They were flopping around on the surface, flapping their wings in the air. It was really hard to tell what they were at first, but eventually we figured it out.

Our guests were amazed. Unfortunately, none of the rays took to the air so we had to watch them in the water.

A little further out of the bay, we saw something big in the water.

“Shark” KC yelled. I put the binoculars on it and sure enough, it was a juvenile whale shark. The Mexican fish and game people won’t let you go whale shark watching during the month of June, but we figured that if we took the boat out of gear and drifted, they might come to us.

And they did. There were several, ranging in size from twenty to thirty feet long. They came over to the boat to check us out. What were we?

I have never been so close to a whale shark in my life. Two of them swam up to the boat, then swam underneath us.

These guys have a pattern of little squares on their back. They are brown in color but the squares are defined by white lines. In the center of each square is a while dot. It gives them the overall look of a fawn’s colors.

They were so close that we could see the remoras attached to their backs. I’ve never had such a good look at their mouths before. They have enormous mouths that look like the air scoops on a 1967 Ford Cobra racer.

They cruise through the water picking up plankton, shrimp and little fish, then filter the water out and swallow their dinner. Their entire lives are dedicate to feeding themselves. Hmmm . . . we have a lot in common.

KC dives from the spreaders

After playing with the whale sharks for about an hour, we headed out to Pichilenque Bay where we dropped the hook and went swimming.

Kathy, KC and Sam put on quite a display of diving. KC climbed the mast to the spreaders and dove from there. Kathy and KC practiced their synchronized diving. I don’t think the US Olympic synchronized diving team has much to worry about.

Vienne, KC’s eight-year old daughter became quite the boat monkey. She climbed the swim steps back to the boat, then walk along the rub rail and climb over the lifelines to get aboard.

She told me “I really miss the ocean. I miss Mom and Aubrey, but I miss the ocean the most.” She went to sea with KC and Mandy when she was still in diapers and lived on their boat for three years.

There are two palapa restaurants at Pichilenque Beach. I decided that we should lower the dinghy and go ashore for lunch. KC ferried the first group in, but when he came back, Sam claimed the dinghy’s controls to run the second group ashore.

We ate at Luna Bruja (Witch Moon) restaurant and had a grand time. KC ordered a bowl of civiche for the table that was the best I have ever eaten. I ordered Almejas Granitee for Dawn and myself. They are chocolate clams that are removed from the shell, diced and mixed with onions, tomatoes and chiles, then covered in cheese and baked. Yummy.

Kathy and Jennifer shared a pescado in mojo de ajo. Fish cooked in garlic.

We ate lunch at a plastic table under a palapa in the sand. The Margaritas helped. It was as wonderful a lunch as I’ve ever had.

But, alas, the day was waning. We dinghied back out to the Victory and took one last swim. Then up anchor and head back to port.

As fate would have it, our return trip was uneventful. All systems worked and we declared the Victory ready for sea.

KC greases the bearings

Wednesday June 25th, 2014

Day -1

I am in hell!

Today we needed to grease the new bearings before we left on our trip. A half hour job.

KC had a doctor’s appointment, so Sam and I went to the boat to do the bearings. It was hot. The inside of the boat was like a furnace. I bought a grease gun from Auto Zone and it didn’t work. Sam spent three hours trying to figure out how to use it. Of course, there were no directions.

I hate to sound dependent, but we finally had to wait for KC to ride to the rescue. I called him and told him of our problems. He stopped by Milton’s and borrowed a grease gun. This one worked. We had the bearings greased in half an hour.

After that we tuned the rigging and called it a day.

We retired to the pool as all of us were way overheated.

For our last night ashore dinner, we went to Tail Hunter.

Kathy and Jennifer went on a snorkeling cruise but returned in time for Kathy to join us for dinner. Jennifer was not feeling too well.

After dinner, Dawn dropped us off at the boat and we slept on the boat. I wanted to get away early the next morning.

Naturally, fate put an obstacle in our way. They have been dredging the marina and the dredge was directly behind our slip. I had a shouted conversation with the operators and told them that we had to leave in the morning. I wasn’t sure that they understood, but when they wrapped up for the day, they moved their dredge.

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Log of the Victory - Days 9 and 10

The Victory Beats to Windward

Friday, July 4th, 2014 - Day 9

Saturday, July 5th, 2014 - Day 10

Log of the Victory - Days 7 & 8

The Beautiful Metropolis of Turtle Bay

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014 - Day 7

Thursday, July 3rd, 2014 - Day 8

Log of the Victory - Days 5 & 6

Monday, June 30th, 2014 - Day 5

Tuesday, July 1st, 2014 - Day 6

The Log of the Victory - Days 3 and 4

Vienne Rides the Waves

Saturday, June 28th, 2014 - Day 3

Sunday, June 29th - Day 4

The Log of the Victory - On to Cabo

The Log of the Victory - Days -2 and -1

Whale Shark Video

We Prepare to Leave

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