Mission Abort!

We've been docked in a marina at Puerto Escondido for several days now. We refilled our tanks, recharged the batteries, reprovisioned and enjoyed showers and Wi-Fi.  But, as nice as it is to take care of necessities, the crew was anxious to be under way again. There is only so much civilization we're inclined to tolerate.

The plan was to depart this morning, stop at the fuel dock and be on our way. The wind had other ideas. It was forecasted to blow fifteen knots today, gusting to 25, but we figured that traveling down wind as we were, it shouldn't be a problem.  The trouble came trying to get out of the slip.  

It's easy to turn the boat into the wind when there is forward motion and water is flowing over the rudder. We can even push water over the rudder with the propeller when the boat is standing still, but the turning force is much smaller and can't counter much wind. It is one thing to know all that and another to know how the present wind and the condition of the hull will impact our ability to turn. 

Had we been able to back the boat into the slip, it might have been easier to exit with a running start and turn the boat, but we were bow in and had to back the boat out of the slip and then start forward again. We were doomed. The wind just kept blowing the bow around, preventing me from turning into the wind. We were being pushed sideways down the marina. I was luckily able to duck into an empty slip several spaces downwind from where we started. We are so lucky we didn't crash into another boat - like one that might have been occupying the slip I was forced into.

The wind isn't supposed to let up for several days, so we'll be here for a while, trapped in an expensive marina with no way to get out until it calms a little. And how much is a little?

Oh well, at least the boat and crew are in one piece. The expense of the marina is much less than repairing someone else's boat. Thank goodness for inexpensive lessons.