Quijote on the Run

Did I mention that we took first place in our Haha division? We were in the division that they called "racer/cruisers with spinnakers."  I’d have classified us as more cruiser than racer, but maybe that speaks more of attitude than hardware.  True, we did have a spinnaker, although the shredded remnants were rolled into a sodden mess on the deck for most of the race.  And yet… somehow we managed to win it.  I guess the whole division had the same attitude as we did.  We sailed when we could, motored when we had to.  I didn’t much want to be left behind, so I wasn’t one of those boats that doggedly sailed on without much wind.  Some boats somehow managed to sail the whole first leg.  We did sail the whole second leg, which is something, but there was plenty of wind for most of that.  At the end of the race we reported total sailing and motoring times for each leg.  It would be interesting to know what kind of formula they used to place the boats.

On Monday morning in Cabo, the storm winds had settled down a bit so we decided to make a run for La Paz.  We untied, bid farewell to the boats we were rafted to, and motored over to the fuel dock to fill our tanks.  While we were there, we were told that the port was closed, that naval vessels were sitting outside the harbor turning back anyone who tried to leave.  No one knew when it would reopen or why it was still closed.

So feeling a little put out, we motored back and re-tied ourselves to the raft to wait.  A couple hours later we saw activity and were told that the port had opened.  I tried calling the harbor on the vhf radio, but they didn’t have any interest in responding the likes of me.  The marina staff assured us it was now open however, so we decided to take their word for it.

We didn’t get far out of the harbor before we discovered the reason for their caution.  There wasn’t much wind left in that tropical depression/storm, but the seas were jumping.  Yumpin’ Yimminy, what a ride.  Running downwind with the waves we found it easiest to let engine, main sail, and wind action share the load of pushing us up the Sea of Cortez at 7 knots. Things quieted down after dark as we moved farther into protected waters, but we made good time over all:  140 miles in 24 hours.  That put us into La Paz around mid morning, before the afternoon winds had time to kick up.

So here we are. Settled into La Paz and looking forward to the Christmas break.   We’ll return to the boat in mid-January with our mojo replenished.  Our run from Seattle in mid-August to La Paz in mid-November has been very successful.  Thanks to an excellent crew, I don’t think we could have asked for more.