The engine started beautifully. Perhaps it was the attention that I had given it two days earlier: engine oil check (uses no oil), transmission oil check (50 ml), all three fan belts tightened, raw water filter cleared of some weed, Racor fuel filter checked and vacuum guage indicating no problem with the fuel filter.
However, the anchor winch foot switch had a problem. We had noticed earlier that it tended to stick on the "on" position. I wound most of the anchor chain by hand then went to the foot switch and it could not switch off. Arnold was aware of the potential problem and when I asked him to switch off power to the anchor switch in the cabin he knew exactly what to do. The windlass stopped with the anchor just about to clear the water. We plan to take the switch apart of course. My hypothesis is that some of the silicone sealant that I used to seal the witch got into the works and is acting like a sticky glue. If we cannot find the cause of the problem I will replace the switch.
We motored about 30 minutes giving plenty of clearance to the shallow water then we rounded up and I had to do the hard work to raise the mainsail all of the way up. We had the task of beating our way up the Canal Cerravo in moderate winds (10-12 kt) and we needed all of the sail that we could get. By then we could see a big ketch (must be over 60 ft) leaving the anchorage and he hugged the shore much more than we dared and got well past us. For a while we were doing more than 6 ky but at 9 AM we were down to 3.7 kt against a 9 kt wind. Fortunately we were about to clear the SW shoulder of Isla Cerralvo which would allow us to go off the wind a bit for better speed.
Our two full days at Bahia de Los Muertos had been comfortable and productive. Arnold and I spent hours on the internet attending to personal email and some telephone conversations. I managed to bring the blog up to date posting photographs and videos. Fortunately the internet service at the restaurant was extremely fast.
I regretted not having a chance to say goodbye to Jim and his dog Scout. He is a fine man who has paid his dues to life: with the merchant marine at the age of 17 during the last year of WWII, with experience of the Kamikazes off Okinawa, a career as a tug engineer then pilot in the SF Bay area. He's been retired for 30 years and at 82 years of age still wanders this part of the world in his RV with Scout. I told him that he reminded me of John Steinbeck's "Travels With Charlie". Jim had read Steinbeck but not that book. I pointed out the Charlie was a dog. His RV is the only home that he's got. A real inspiration.
During our stay Christopher aboard his boat Orisa in Hawaii and I made arrangements to communicate by HF radio starting at 9.30 PM. The plan was to work our way through the ship-ship channels changing every 5 minutes until we made contact. It took a bit of patient work but we were able to have a good conversation on the 8 MHz band. It was the first time that I had spoken with Christopher since my crossing from Hawaii to Juan de Fuca. He plans to sail his boat to Seattle in June/July and I hope that he and Arnold can get together.
Things deteriorated as the day progressed. The wind became light and fluky so we wound up motoring most of the way to our anchorage, with one or two periods of sailing. We noticed that with the engine running at 1400 RPM the cooling water temperature finally registered on both gauges at 80 (cintegrade, probably)Then the engine wouldn't start. After a discussion with Arnold I pulled out my copy of Nigel Calder's "Mechanical and Electrical Manual" and studied up on starters and solenoids.
At mid afternoon we decided to motor through the narrow passage between Isla Espiritu Santo and the Baja peninsula but the west wind picked up so we reverted to our original plan to anchor at Playa Bonanza at the SE corner of Isla Espiritu Santo. The engine would not start as we were ready to drop sails so with Arnold's help I managed to start the engine by shorting the solenoid with a screw driver. We dropped sails but as we approached the island I picked up serious inconsistencies between the cruising guide and the chart - I didn't know which side of the big rocky headland the beach was on. So we decided to turn tail and head for Puerto Balandra, through that narrow passage and on the Baja Peninsula. We made our entry OK and dropped anchor at 4 PM in 7 meters of water. But the bay was wide open to the west and we had a west wind of 6-9 knots threatening to increase the next day. Arnold was relaxed about our position but I knew better. I assembled the 50-lb Swarbrick anchor and carefully laid it down with 30 meters of rode so that if the plow anchor dragged the rode of the Swarbrick would pay out and we might have a chance. The bottom was sandy and shoaled to the shore so I was pretty sure that we would be OK. However, the fact was that we were anchored in a lee shore with the prospects of the boat pitching wildly all night, and that was not smart.
Assuming that we got through the night alright the bright side as that we were anchored only about 10 miles from our proposed anchorage at "Peninsula De El Mogote" opposite from La Paz.
After a stiff brandy (Excellent Mexican "Presidente" brand) I felt a bit better. The day had been cloudy, occasionally drizzly, with fluky winds, and we had been forced to motor; but at least we had made it to the threshold of La Paz. In retrospect we should have spent one more day in Bahia de Los Muertos enjoying the restaurant and Jim's company but what is done is done and this is where we were at.
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2 comments:
Very fortunate that your motor worked so well. Well done!
Hindsight is a marvellous thing...but at least you are further along towards your goal. Hope the night was without incident.
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