Day 13 - Rain and Water

I spotted the line of clouds at about 4 PM. They were on a wide arc ahead of me, they were low, and I could see patches of serious rain. I wasn't sure what local winds to expect so I rolled in half of the headsail as a precaution. Just before dinner I noticed that the wind had veered a good 60 degrees, taking us on a track of SW. I adjusted Jeff the Monitor wind steering to take us from a beam reach to a beat. I rolled in more jib until there was just enough of a patch to keep the boat pointing and driving. I had a quiet dinner and soon afterwards it started.

The wind picked up to 20-21 kt and it began to rain lightly. Soon I was in the cockpit enjoying my first fresh water shower since La Paz. I started off with shampooing my hair, then used the shampoo as an all-over soap. By then the fold in the mainsail had filled with water and enough had flushed through to make the water fresh enough for rinsing. I used a long handled plastic pot to harvest water from the fold and rinse my hair. The rain took care of the rest.

I set on the seat the two new plastic buckets that I had purchased in La Paz for the purpose then brought out the liquid clothes detergent and the laundry bag which contained 3 sets of under clothes. The fourth set, which I had been wearing, were on the cockpit floor soaking in rain water. I then used the pot to fill one bucket and used that for washing the clothes. While those clothes were agitating I loaded up the second bucket with rinse water. I then went below and got the empty 20 liter water container and the large funnel and set the container on the cockpit floor with the funnel on top. Then it was a matter of harvesting more water from the sail.

The harvesting operation was pretty much a repeat of what Brenda, Arnold, and myself had done 3 weeks out of New Zealand when we were running short on water. I brought the boom in with the mainsheet then stood as high as I could on the seat and coaming so that I could see when the pitch of the boat caused the water to run to the back of the sail fold, where I could reach it with a pot. I would get a pot of water, step down and pour it down the funnel, then step back up to repeat the process. Inefficient but it worked. (In heavy rain I can just hold the pot under the end of the boom and the water will cascade into the pot.) The wind was howling and the occasional wave would break over the bow, but I was interested only in the rain water. Fortunately the boat did not need attention. It was steering well a for all the huff and puff of the wind there was little heel.

At 7 PM, just before dark, it was all over. I had gotten everything I had hoped for: a fresh water bath with shampoo, my four sets of underclothes and one towel washing and rinsing, and the 20 liter water container completely filled with water that I can use for drinking or clothes washing. The temperature had been perfect, the time of day perfect, the sails were set was perfectly, and just the right amount of rain had fallen. I couldn't have asked for more. Truth be told, I wound up with almost as much fresh water on board as when I had left La Paz. The exhilaration of working out in that squall wearing nothing but a harness will be one of my good memories of this adventure.

I went to the head to dry off and when I turned to the mirror to comb my hair I looked at myself for the first time since leaving La Paz. Staring back was a weather beaten face with the classical sea farer's full beard taking form. I thought to myself "Shit Mate, you're starting to look the part."

I decided to go into the night with the short headsail in case we ran into more squalls.

I had a very good night's sleep (after the obligatory movie, "Bandidas"). At 330 AM I got up and had a look around. All was well with the boat still tracking south at about 4 kt. The moon was still bright enough for me to see the horizon and I could see no threat of squalls, so I rolled out the headsail to a no. 2. I awoke at just before 8 AM to find the boat still tracking south (200T) off that wonderful 12 kt east wind. I had just crossed the 12N latitude, the same latitude as Managua, Nicaragua 1580 miles to the east. I was now south of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. All was in order with the boat. While having breakfast I listened to BBC news then Don Anderson on the Amigo Net. It is the Sea of Cortez's turn to take a hammering, with winds of up to 40 kt expected in parts of the sea, and 20-30 kt being the norm. Boats are on the move all around the Baja Peninsula. One of the boats checking in was at Los Frailes which it was sharing with 20 other boats. When I anchored there I shared the bay with only 2 other boats. After breakfast I lugged the 20 liter water container from the cockpit to the quarter berth crossover below. The house battery was at 12.5V, which meant that I had succeeded in building up its charge. I started the engine running at 1100 rpm and putting just over 60A into the batteries. My problem of the day would be where to hang the clothes after ringing them out of the rinse bucket.

At 11 AM the wind became erratic and soon we were in another rain shower. The clothes that I had hung around the cockpit would get a second rinsing, and in the meantime I got busy stripping down for action. I filled the last empty water container, one of my two 10-liter ones. I then filled up the galley jug with my ration of water for the day. For good measure I put enough water in the kettle for 2 or 3 more hot drinks. Along the way I managed to get my second and very welcome fresh water shower. As far as I could see, my fresh water supply had been totally replenished.

The wind then settled to a marginal 8 or 9 kt and the mainsail was beginning to thrash. The wind speed had been falling for several hours and I knew that the wind party of the last 2 days was about to end. It had been a great run.

At noon our position was 11N47, 113W26, giving us a noon-noon distance of 105 miles. We were 690 miles SSW of Cabo San Lucas. Ville de Toulouse Rock was 200 miles almost due west at 261T. Clipperton Island was 260 miles SSE at 110T. So I was going to pass comfortably between them. (Ville de Toulouse Rock is dated 1871 on the chart, so I'm not sure if it is even a threat. Once these dangers are put on a chart it takes a lot of money and effort to confirm that there is no longer a danger.)

At about this time the sails started to flog badly. I went to the cockpit thinking that I would have to drop the mainsail. The apparent wind was from the port beam at about 7 kt. Fortunately the wind had veered and we were steering SW. I put the boat into the wind, which gave us an apparent speed of over 10 kt as well as a better angle to the swell, and both sails were happy again.

After lunch I spent an hour on my first of what I hope will be many Spanish classes.

At 4 PM the boat was still moving at 2.5 kt, but I expected to be forced to drop the mainsail and roll in part of the jib soon.

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