A Month In The Sea.

Sea of Cortes.

January and February 2010. We had a wonderful time in the Sea. It is hard to think that there could be a better place to be. Hopefully, the photographs will speak for our time there...

Jan2010 PuntaSanEvaristo

Feb2010 PuertoGato

Feb2010 PuertoAguaVerde

The Biggest Storm...

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24.82N 110.57W. Sea of Cortes, B.C.S., Mexico.

20 January 2010. Isla San Francisco -- or Francisquito, as the locals call it -- is a striking island! The geology is just incredible and the rock walls come alive at the edges of daylight. "The Hook" is the main anchorage -- you can see a few boats at anchor in the satellite image. It provides good holding for all but west winds...but a quick sail around the island to the east side takes care of that.

The big storms that slammed the Pacific Northwest were predicted to continue their move south and hit Baja shortly after we left the marina. We determined that Isla San Francisco would be the best anchorage in the Sea and it proved out. We set anchor in the main anchorage and set to wait out the storm with just three other boats.

The anchorage was relatively comfortable given the strong NW winds. After two days, the system passed southward resulting in SW winds and building seas. By 1430, the SW winds had picked up to 20+ kts and seas were over 3' -- we "decided" to pick up anchor and move to the east side. Rounding the hook was a bit stiff, we had to head straight in to the seas to avoid getting pushed over. Once around the hook, we were able to gradually change our point of sail and head around to the east anchorage. Once we made our way to the east side, the seas subsided and all we had to deal with was the wind (which was enough). We had to set anchor twice, as our first attempt left us dragging. There was only one other boat at anchor -- at first -- so we had our choice of anchor spots in the relatively small anchorage. After an hour, two of the three boats at other anchorage followed our example and moved to the east. It was pretty cozy as all had to anchor in pretty close to the other.

Come the next day, the winds backed down and we moved back to "The Hook" as the next system was due. We set anchor in light SW winds and all was relatively calm until the following day when NW winds reached 30+ kts. We scoped out to 160' of chain to make sure we held tight and waited out the storm.

After seven days at Isla San Francisco, the weather cleared and we headed out to another anchorage -- this time along the Baja coast. We left very impressed with this island and were certain that we had found the best place in all of the Californias to weather out these storms. Baja was definitely better than the Pacific Northwest...and our little Francisquito was the best of all -- i.e., of course, if you happened to be in a boat waiting out the weather. (I added that last bit for all of you reading this thinking that the best place would have been in a house...and what were we thinking being out in all of that!)

Sea Trial.

24.2N 110.3W. Sea of Cortes, B.C.S., Mexico.

19 November 2009. The biggest news with Gitano is that we put her up for sale. We have come up to this line several times over the past two seasons...but always backed down when it came time to pull the trigger. This past October, however, we placed the ad in our favourite sailing magazine (Latitude 38) and quickly began answering calls and emails. We ended up fielding about fifteen queries, yielding three potential buyers. Of these three, one bought another boat, while another arranged to meet up in La Paz to check her out.

We spent a few days at the marina cleaning her up and stowing as much as we could off the boat and out of sight. The evening before meeting with our potential buyer, Steve and I sat side-by-side on the settee, looking all around our nice, clean boat with the same thought...we "don't want to sell her..." But we had made a commitment to this guy and, if he wanted to buy her, we would have to sell.

Dennis arrived the next day and Steve spent the afternoon going over all her systems and answering his questions. The next day, we went out for a sea trial. The day was perfect for sailing. She showed herself to be the racer she was...with speeds up to five knots in light winds. He loved the boat. However, he needed to talk to his partner about it. The next day, the deal was off as she said "no." He really looked disappointed and we felt bad for him....but good for us.

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Splash! and Life at the Marina.

24.2N 110.3W. Marina Palmira, La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico.

November 2009. Steve and I appear to be "stuck" here in La Paz.

After eight years of mostly "make it work" projects and maintenance on the boat, it is time for us to take on some bigger projects. We replaced all the batteries. The starter battery was toast on our return and was replaced (obviously) before we went in the water. The house bank was eleven-plus years old. Cruisers were in total disbelief that we were utilizing such and old bank -- but with frugality and a watchful eye to keeping them properly charged, we had managed to keep them going a long time. We finally felt it was time to change them out and are dealing with the transition (mostly unhappily) from the old gel cells to the new golf cart batteries. Other projects include new marine grade wiring up the mast for our navigation lights and two new float switches for the bilge. Needless to say, we are getting to know Victor, the electrician, pretty well...luckily, he is a great guy and interesting to be around.

We drew the line, however, with our refrigeration system... and look forward to our love-hate relationship for another season.

All these projects require many trips to town. Luckily we still have the Lincoln and know the streets of La Paz pretty well. It is amazing to see how much La Paz has grown over these past eight years. We enjoy the older parts of the town with its cobble streets and incredible buildings...

Dec2009 StreetsOfLaPaz

On the Hard.

24.18N 110.30W. Atalanta Astilleros, La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico.

03 November 2009. It is great being back on Gitano! It is hot and dusty and we have much work ahead of us...but it is so nice.