Pachuca is Safe

David and his wife have towed Pachuca to a safer location with their catamaran Puddytat.

I spoke with David on the VHF radio to advise him that I was going ashore to visit the marina office and do some shopping and he said that we should resolve the issue today and that he would move me whenever I was ready. I told him that slack water would be at 3 PM, in two hours, and we agreed on that time.

At the marina office I was told that 3 people had visited the dragging boat, one of whom was the La Paz port captain himself. I asked the lady what they had determined. She didn't know. I asked her how I could contact the port captain. She didn't know. She then suggested that I move my boat. (Hey, what's the problem Gringo? Move your boat.) I explained about my engine not working. Then she suggested that I have someone tow me to a different place. I told her that I was working on it, but that even so, we should think of the future and other boats and resolve the issue of the dragging boat. She said that she agreed.

On the way back to my dinghy I met Bob coming up the ramp. I thought that he was away but he had returned early. I explained the situation with the dragging boat and he offered to help me. He explained that the Mexican way is not to rely on officialdom but to fend for yourself. He and others have moved threatening boats before and I replied that if one did that in Australia they would be in great legal peril if anything went wrong with the boat that was moved. In Mexico it's different. This explains my interaction with the woman at the marina. My solution was to contact the owner of the dragging boat and get him to do something about it. Her obvious and common sense advice to this dumb gringo was to forget about the threatening boat and take care of his own boat. Bienvenido a México, Gringo.

I stopped off at Puddytat on the way back to Pachuca and told David about Bob helping me and that I would call him at 3 PM. We discussed how the tow would be done and agreed roughly where Pachuca would be taken.

At 2.30 PM Bob was on board. I could not hail Puddytat so Bob went over and had a discussion with them. (Bob did not respond to my call because he was on another channel on another call.)

Bob returned and helped me to finish clearing the cockpit and foredeck. I brought out the boat hook, freed the wheel, and made sure that the anchor winch switch was on. Puddycat came close and David's wife (Sorry, I can't recall her name which I heard once two weeks ago.) handed me a line. They took the strain off the chain and we started to bring in the anchor chain. but then everything jammed up because of all of the weed growing on the chain so Bob suggested the great idea: that he feed the chain to the upper level of the anchor well instead of allowing it to go down the hawser pipe to the lower level. This worked well. Soon the anchor was just below the surface of the water and the tow began.

I was towed another 2.2 nm SW, farther into the La Paz channel, and dropped anchor in 5.8 meters of water. Then David's wife shipped their towing line and Puddytat came up to our stern where I took the tow line and Bob wound it around the port jib winch. David then gave a good, strong pull with his boat. I went forward and saw the anchor chain straight and taut. I then checked the chart plotter numbers and Pachuca was not moving an inch. I was safely anchored.

We cast off the stern tow line and Puddytat was away with my profound thanks yelled across the water.

Bob stayed for a while and over a beer I showed him the storm jib that has been offered from a friend in Australia (more on that later). We went over the numbers and Bob thinks that it will be a good sail.

I mused to Bob about how this script of life has been written. At the precise moment when I needed help there he was at the dinghy doc ramp when I thought that he was away sailing. Ten minutes either way and I would have missed him. How fortunate is that? And yes, without his help it would have been a much more difficult effort for me and who knows what traps I would have fallen into.

Anyway, here we are at Pachuca's new home, 24N09.387, 110W19.898.

The first photo is of Puddytat preparing for the rescue.
Next is Bob returning from his visit to Puddytat.
Then there is Pachuca under tow.
And finally there Puddytat returning to her anchorage.