Tag: sailing

  • Day 3: Passage from MX to FP

    What a difference a few hours make.  I left my night shift with only 8 knots of wind, boat going 3.7.  I woke up at 8am with up to 20 knot gusts and the boat moving along at 6-8 knots.  Seas VERY lumpy; combo of wind waves and swells.  No seasickness yet, but we’re not…

  • Day 2: Passage from MX to FP

    Starting the day out with minimal wind (5.3 knots) with boat speed only 2.5, down to gentle ocean swell and light chop.  All of us were a bit tired due to keeping watch and the loud bridgedeck slap keeping us awake (a “special” feature of catamarans).  Breakfast was homemade granola from Christine (thanks!) and fresh…

  • Day 1 of Passage from MX to FP

    7:30am, anchor up and underway.  Happy Easter morning!  Coffee (small) and steel cut oats for breakfast.  Scopolamine patches put on last night to prevent seasickness, dry mouth already starting ,but they work great for our family.  Friends on Amizade up and waving to us as we got underway.  Starting out in Bandaras Bay, calm and…

  • The Night Before Departure

    Out at anchor, to-do lists checked off (mostly), last minute food prepped and stowed, the dinghy tied up tight to our stern, the weather checked…one cannot help but be contemplative about the upcoming voyage.  We plan to pull the anchor by 8am and be on our way.  The passage from Mexico to French Polynesia is…

  • Checked Out & Waiting for a Window

    We continued work on the boat, amidst fun, this week.  I experienced the local health care system when I sought out an ophthalmologist for a vision issue that I wanted evaluated prior to crossing the Pacific.  I had developed a defect in my right eye visual field and was pretty certain I knew what it…

  • One Week Until Departure

    And the results of the Trashboat Regatta…Calder Hyer in 2nd place, a trophy now on our dash! Projects are getting checked off the list daily.  Chris replaced the line organizer turn blocks at the base of the mast.  These important parts direct all the lines from the cockpit to the mast and had become corroded…

  • A Week in the Life

    And…we are still at the La Cruz marina…preparations, preparations, preparations, and a bit of play.  Here is one full week of daily journal entries to give you a feel of our La Cruz dock life. It got a bit long! March 6, 2024 La Cruz has an active cruising kids group led by a passionate…

  • La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Bandaras Bay

    Underway from Chacala, motoring at first, started to play with our asymmetrical spinnaker in light winds, jibed around the point, and had a ripping sail as the winds built to 15-19 knots into the famous and busy Banderas Bay, making a steady 7 knots downwind to our destination of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle.  We pulled…

  • Chacala, a Swell Anchorage

    After successfully pulling our anchor at Isla Isabel, we set off for the town of Chacala, 55 nm away on mainland Mexico.  Our start was a bit slow, dodging a fishing line (typically marked by jugs ranging from 1 L to 5 gallon plastic soda bottles), then having issues raising the screecher that kept getting…

  • Isla Isabel: A Gem in a Rockpile

    We timed our 310 nm crossing of the Sea of Cortez to arrive at the remote Isla Isabel during daylight and during a calm period, as it is a fair-weather anchorage only.  To call it an anchorage is an over-statement.  Not only is there poor holding, there is minimal actual holding and instead a pile…