TX times

Howdy! Deb here. Had a brief but terrific few days in San Antonio last weekend for the wedding of nephew Brian and the lovely Lara. Great to see so many friends and family. Ben picked me up at the airport so I got to see his adorable 1-mo-old Camille. Then stayed at Brian's new home, where he and I drank a bit too much wine while staying a bit too long (until 3am) talking in his hot tub. Ouch! Made it up for lunch with Mom, David and Paula though. Nice ceremony. Reception in beautiful spot in Helotes. Great fun to see so many folks but missed my dance partner. Spent Sunday with Ellie and Bryan at yummy farm to table restaurant, then had entertaining car ride with them while trying to find Bass Pro Shops. Yes, it's huge and impossible to miss, but you do have to be on the right freeway.

Hola--hope everyone had a fun turkey day. A year ago we attempted a Thanksgiving day mini feast at Santa Cruz Island with LaDonna and Rob, had to turn back when alternator belt shredded, and ended up spending a year in wonderful Channel Islands Harbor. Do miss that place and the fine folks there. We had intended to sail 6 miles up Banderas Bay to La Cruz, a small town, much less touristy, with a vibrant cruiser community--lots of fun activities, support, music, bonfires, cheaper and better food, and interaction with locals. However, the unknown path of Hurricane Sandra squelched those plans because the place we're now in is the place to be in a blow. Lots of boats have scurried down here from Mazatlan. No wind here, but have had 3 days of rain, which has made it even greener and damper, if that's possible. Happy to have the rain cool things down a bit. I can stand out in the rain for 2 hrs and not be as soaked as I get on a sunny day when every pore is leaking. No surprise that there are still tropical storms. The water is Gulf of MX in summer warm. 86 degrees. Yikes
Turkey day was an aventura for us. Jimbo was determined to use public buses to get to Punta de Mita, about 25 miles away. 3 buses and a short walk later, we arrived on time at friends (from Marina Village Alameda days) John and Gilly Foy's beachside condo for a fun-, wine-, and delicious food-filled day. Met lots of terrific folks, got to see some Ha Ha'ers, now definitely determined to base out of La Cruz while in Banderas Bay. Much entertainment was provided by Wayne (of J World) and Lisa Zittel's 18-mo-old Jack. Got a ride back to Brainwaves with the manager of Vallarta Marina in PV, who with his lovely girlfriend was a great source of local knowledge. Now know where to get groceries at fraction of cost of Costco, which would explain why there were so few Mexicans in the Costco.  Very weird to see Kirkland brands, our fave balsamic vinegar, but only MX beers (rats!!) and Coors lite (triple RATS!). Also need to read up on S. American wines. CA wines cost too much.
Though it took some time, we finally discovered a brand of tonic not super-sweetened with fake nastiness. I do miss my Fever Tree. Want to cross paths again with Ha Ha'er who makes her own with a spritzer and tonic concentrate she makes herself (in the states.) maybe I do need a bigger galley!
If there's a break in the weather, we're headed out to get some MX phones today. Despite the fact that we're living on a 35- ft boat, we seem to have frequent communication breakdowns (which pool? Which happy hour?)
Jimbo is studying to take the tech level ham radio test next weekend. Should be ahead of the game as he already knows what Fourier transform is.
Hoping to be off to La Cruz tomorrow. Haven't paid for our time here yet because the yacht club and Marina are arguing about who manages that slip.
Starting to check out stuff to do with the Brainard-Manies bunch over the holidays. Woohooooo

Darn

Deb here. After 1000 miles of sailing, I'm sad to say we had to motor for 4 hrs when wind died most dead about halfway between Puerto del Cabo and Nuevo Vallarta. Surreal experience as wind was dying during the night--absolutely dark, horizon to horizon meteors, all misty, Dolphins chuffing all around us though we couldn't see them, a wake of phosphorescence. Wow.
Now at ritzy Paradise Village. So different from Baja--very green, very humid. Here less than an hour and ran into Wayne Zittel from J World! have use of resort facilities so we're going swimming in a pool woohoooo!

Enjoying a Corona and a G&T at the lovely Vallarta Yacht Club.  Intrtesting sail from Cabo San Jose with the wind mostly on the bow- no colored sails until just 50 mile out from Punta Mita.  Anchored last night off of Punta Mita with a swim, sun shower, tequila, crab in Thai red sauce.

Anchored

New update (obviously I needed to be more on my game sending out the announcement that they were leaving. -Kristen):

Sweet anchorage at Punta de Mita at the N end of the Bahia de Banderas.  A swim, some tequila, only thing missing is some fresh tuna.  Did not get a fish today.  But great light wind sail today, when the wind filled in.  Good decision to anchor here.  Having GREAT GREAT fun.

On their way to Nuevo Vallarta

Brainwaves is on their way to Nuevo Vallarta with a small flortilla: Brainwaves, Catitude and Swell. Got an update via email (so looks like they got sailmail working). Here's their report:

Nice sail today, even if the wind was light.  Waves smoothed out.  Now have about 10 knots and are about 90 miles out.  All is well- just need more sleep.  Pod of dodlphins played at our bow for about 30 minutes this afternoon.

Deb here with impressions on Cabo San Lucas. It's absolutely awful. The most obnoxious, loud music blasting, thumping for 20 hrs a day. Jet skis racing through the already rolling anchorage. charmless. crowded even in the off-season. will return only under the greatest duress.

Cabo de San Jose

We're now happily parked at Puerto Los Cabos Marina, getting to know lots of Ha Ha'ers in a laid-back, friendly environment. Lots of cool sculpture, nice nice beaches. The lovely provincial town of Cabo de San Jose is nearby and a world removed from the pit of Cabo San Lucas. San Jose has beautiful old restored buildings with galleries, cafes, interesting people, wonderful atmosphere, great food, and even YAY craft beer. waiting for weather window to make 280 mi crossing to Nuevo Vallarta, probably this weekend.

rally, not race

Deb here. After belaboring the point for weeks that this was a RALLY, not a race, I am going to mention that---ahem---we were first in our division. Mostly due to our "soul" sailing, meaning we sailed the whole thing. Strangely enough, I agreed to this without duress.

Fed Deb and I (and friends) for three days!  Yum.  But we need a bigger fish fileting table.

Fish on!

sooo as we were sailing in to Bahia Santa Maria, had light wind so threw out the handline and were amazed to catch our first fish on Brainwaves, a 48 in mahi mahi, about 3x as long as our fish prep table. Also need longer filet knife---

Howdy from Cabo San Lucas. It was a bit surreal coming into this highly condo' city after 10 days on the ocean. The water is gorgeous, but it's a loud, brash place. We left San Diego with lovely sailing weather and figured out that 2hr watches at night worked well for us. Deb easily slept during her off-watches, Jimbo not so much. Maybe because less experienced Deb woke him up when things got a bit dicey. Which was quite often in her estimation. The wind vane steerer was wonderful, as were the twin jibs in our downwind in big big seas nights. The radio chatter reminded us we weren't alone out there though we seldom saw other boats. Though it was tempting when the wind died, we didn't turn the motor on, even to charge the battery as Bob's most marvelous solar panel got us all the power we needed. After 3 nights and 350 miles, Bahia de Tortolas was a great sight. Plenty of room for 100 boats to anchor. Breaching humpback nearby, the only marine life we saw other than flying fish. Friendly little town, cold beer.
And on to Bahia Santa Maria, another couple of hundred miles downwind, 2 nights with variable conditions. Fast little Brainwaves stayed close to the big boys, passing lots of boats, but when the wind died a few times, we limped along instead of turning the motor on. Does this sound like a Jimbo thing or what?? Those twin jibs did prove to be the ticket when going dead downwind, worked well (maybe better) even with the main reefed or down.  Deb Liked this a lot--what's not to love about little possibility of broaching or unintentional jibes (of which there were plenty in light winds.)
Bahia Santa Maria---Aaaah. Incredible scenery. Gorgeous water. Tiny fishing village in the mangroves. Party there completely imported from La Paz. Super band, fun fun folks.
Last leg was only 1 nighter and was by far the most challenging. Big quartering seas, lumpy, dead downwind, 18-25 kt winds. A very bad time for the wind vane steerer to explode. On Deb's watch, of course. And at night, of course. Not fixable with stuff at hand so we were on 1 hr watches hand steering for 10 hrs at night and all the next day. Whew. And then the wind died within 20 miles of the finish line. Aggghhhh! Still we did not turn the motor on. It was dark by the time we came into the bright lights and tight anchorage in Cabo San Lucas. Very weird--like Vegas on the water. Excellent beach party put on by Ha Ha folks. Participated in the passionate kiss in the surf contest a la From Here To Eternity. Didn't win and spent the rest of the party with sand in my suit, but after many g&t's,  it didn't matter at all.
The boatyard here has been terrific getting a new part welded to not only fix our wind vane steerer, but improve on the design to take more stress without failing. Must have since our other self steering failed (hydraulics) on the 3rd day out.
Have made lots of friends we'll no doubt run into all over this side of Mexico. Especially enjoying terrific couple Grant and David from Portland OR. We are definitely not done with those guys yet!
We're off to Cabo San Jose tomorrow, only 20 miles from here, but nicer Marina, quieter town, good place to provision and hang out until the weather is better to cross over to Nuevo Vallarta.
Cheers!

More news via 'Lectronic Latitude: Fleet started leg 3 early this morning. Blowing like 'stink', as Jim would say and expected to be a very fast leg 3. Brainwaves should be in Cabos by Friday.

News that the Ha-Ha fleet is in Bahia Santa Maria

From 'Lectronic Latitude: The Baja Ha-Ha fleet is safe and sound in Bahia Santa Maria after great sailing for much of the 260-mile second leg of the rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. Leg 2 of the Baja Ha-Ha rally takes cruisers from Bahia Tortugas to Bahia Santa Maria. Spread out over 100 miles, the 111-boat fleet met a variety of conditions on the ocean between Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria. Some boats saw up to 30 knots from the northwest or northeast, while others drew the no-wind card and had to motor part of the way. Crew aboard the mothership, Profligate, report that the 63-ft catamaran sailed about two-thirds of the way. Fleet members are relaxing in sunny Bahia Santa Maria today, enjoying various activities including hiking, surfing, kayaking and paddleboarding. The sailors are looking forward to tomorrow's big rock 'n' roll beach party sponsored by the local fishermen. The final leg will begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, with boats trickling into Cabo on Thursday. Fair winds are predicted, with no tropical disturbances on the horizon. - latitude / andy