HERE I SIT

Judy went to our friends house in Loreto Wednesday the 26th to spend the night in preparation to catch her plane to San Jose, CA. on the 27th. I hope all is well and she is in San Jose now. The Memorial is on Sunday the 30th. In the mean time I tried to get a good night’s rest on the 26th in preparation for my departure the next morning. This was to no avail, as I was up most of the night, due to the nagging pain in my elbow and back. One of these is okay but two is a bit much to cope with.

JUST ANOTHER SUNRISE

I left Ensenada Blanca after the cruisers net at 8:30am on the 27th headed for La Paz, via several other stops along the way. The plan was to take my time and enjoy the cruise and visit some new anchorages. Once I cleared the channel between the Candeleros Islets, I deployed my fishing gear. It was a beautiful day, with the wind at around fourteen knots.

A few days ago I finally got around to installing the auto pilot control box that we had rebuilt last June. After installing it I ran it through its paces while at anchor and it seemed to be fine,but the real test would be at sea. We haven’t really needed it, as Judy could take the helm if I needed to do something, or I could tie the helm in place in calm seas. This time I would be the only one aboard so I would probably need it. As soon as I got on course I engaged the auto pilot and the boat started doing 360s. I tried several times in different ways, but the result was the same. During this test a Dorado hit my lure, which I promptly lost due to doing 360s. Oh well, I’ve single handed before without it and I saw no reason why I couldn’t do it again. I tied the helm, but the sea had some pretty big waves at five seconds and it was hard to keep on course, due to it being a following sea also.

I decided to deploy the jib to steady to improve the stability of the boat, not to mention saving on fuel, which is a major consideration in itself. The jib deployed beautifully and the boat settled down for a great downwind run. About ten minutes later I hooked a Dorado on #1 rod. I turned broadside and was reaching for #2 rod to reel it in when another Dorado hit it. Damn, two on, now what? Well I took in the Jib, but by the time I did one fish got off and the other took out all 900 yards of braided line and broke the leader when he hit the end. Oh well, back out with the jib and with the helm tied I deployed the #1 rod only. About fifteen minutes later it was “fish on” again. This time I rolled in the jib first, but it only would come in about half way. I tried several times, but it would reach a certain point and just stop. Yeah you guessed it, I lost the fourth Dorado while trying to roll up the sail.

At this point I had a real serious problem. A half deployed jib and seriously building winds. The wind was at 18 knots and rising. I went forward and discovered that both ring pins were missing on the turnbuckle studs and they had unscrewed. The roller shaft had pulled up and out of the roller with the stud just hanging there. The only thing holding the whole works in the air was the jib sail which had ripped the #6…………..out about half way up to the top of the mast. Of course all this time about 15’ of jib was flapping in the now strong wind. This can be very dangerous as the sheets (lines) are whipping about with great force. These sheets can cause bodily damage as my now vacated sun glasses can testify. One certainly does not want to be lashed with these sheets, but must secure the mess. So I went into the midst of it all and tried to take the end of the sail by the sheets and physically wrap it up. After almost being thrown off the bow when the wind caught the pulled back sail, I decided that somehow I had to get the boat pointed into the wind and hold it there while I was on the bow. I could try to put up the main and lie a-hull, but the jib would be ripped to shreds by then. I didn’t have much time so I had to do something fast. I went to the helm and as soon as the boat was headed into the wind, I ran forward grabbing the sheets and manhandled the sail around the aluminum post and it, completing one wrap. Cool, this might work. After going through this process several times I discovered that, due to the post not being attached it was unwinding itself every time I went back to head into the wind again. I made a lot of trips back and forth to no avail. The next step was to secure the roller from unwinding, which I did forthwith. About this time Heime, who sailed out of Ensenada Blanca after me, caught up and I had him stand by until I got everything temporally secured. He stuck around watching the sail and sheets trying to whip my ass for a half hour or so and then he headed for Agua Verde. I chose to continue on to Bahia Santa Marta, skirting the reefs and then approaching from the South. And that is where I set; waiting for the winds to calm so I can hopefully make the repairs that are needed. The weather man says that could be two or three days. Now that is okay, as Judy won’t be back until the eighth of next month, and I could use some healing time from that wrestling match on the bow in 20+ knot winds.



Oh! I almost forgot. After securing everything and sailing in, I hooked and landed a very nice Dorado. It was the fifth that tried to sacrifice itself to me in about 20 miles. I gave half to a Kayak tour group, who were quite delighted!