Main, Genoa and Mizzen sails flying out the jetty. Seahorse V is a French Wauquiez Amphitrite 1982; 44 foot, 22 ton, ketch rig. As the afternoon turned to evening, the wind faded away. Time for dinner; Steve and Skip with pork loin on the barbeque, Betty on steamed string beans and Erik on mashed potatoes as the light of day grayed to night. Life is rough ... Ron steered the boat, left turn, south .
What is it with bilge pumps and all this water??? Seahorse V has two electric and one manual bilge pump. They could not keep up with the water coming in at 4:30 am; eleven miles off of Punta Santo Tomas; this is a long way to go to run up on the sand beach. Steve and Ron were up; Ron was hand pumping pretty fast (he is getting a short course in cruising; his first trip … will there be another)? Steve was looking for a leak in the shaft packing, through hulls, etc. We finally decided that the Rule 3700 bilge pump was auto siphoning back into the boat when it shut down; an inch and a half hose can fill up a boat pretty fast. We disconnected the manual discharge line to crate an air break and defeat the suction; the bilges have been dry since … a little redesign work will be needed when we get to a port with a chandlery.
Off of Bahia San Quintin, dozens of porpoises danced around Seahorse V. Whether it was feeding time, or just a visit to the latest transients, they were having a good time showing us up; jump, dive under the keel and out again; the best designs by man can not compete with nature. A grey whale lumbered by; so large it looked slow, like a 747 in the landing pattern. The seals gathered in little conclaves, floating on their backs, discussing the merits of the day’s catch; its like someone called a board meeting and Joe forgot the minutes; so they just talked on. Long rollers from the northwest portend the coming weather tomorrow. We should be well ahead of the bad parts, hopefully.
Several hours on the wind and the guy line wore through and separated at the pole. We pulled the spinnaker down and raised the main and Genoa. Across Bahia Viscaino to the northeast end of Isla Cedros. Viscaino has the bad weather, but we are favored by the gods on this passage. I have been by Cedros four times and always passed on the ocean side. We are heading inside for a new experience and a little shelter from the storm that is catching us from behind. As we pass the light house, the winds climb to thirty knots; too much for the sail set; on deck we double reef and roll up the Genoa to a small patch. After all of the sail setting work, the wind dies …. out goes the Genoa and we hit thirty again. This would be the pattern for the front moving through; too much and too little wind … and very unpredictable. A release of the preventer and the main boom scratches Steve’s nose; two centimeters more and it would have been an amateur nose job; sailing requires caution, especially in the dark. We motor sailed though Canal de Dewey, where Isla Natividad stands off the shore. Natividad is home to the caracol cannery after the demise of the plant in Turtle Bay. The late night hour keeps us running south rather than visiting unknown ports in the dark.
We approach the light houses guarding the Bahia Tortuga entrance. GPS and radar guide our entry in the 0300 darkness. Dropped the anchor in twenty feet of water off the pier; we have survived another passage at sea; time to sleep.
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