Hola . . . from Mexico

[Hunter42]

Just wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves -- we're new to the forum, however not new to sailing. We're retired and spend the winter (8 months) on our boat on the west coast of Mexico and our summers in the mountains of Arizona. Hurricane season is coming to an end soon so we're heading south to San Carlos, Mexico to get the boat ready for another season. Looking forward to becoming an active member of the forum!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Hola,
Welcome aboard!! Sounds like an ideal situation, summers here, winters there. Hope you enjoy the forum as much as I do. Lots of great folks with helpful attitudes.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[GordMay]

Welcome aboard “Galley Wench”.
Thanks for contributing a great website link: http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=87034

[Sunspot Baby]

Ola marino. Welcome aboard.

George (Jorge)

[Hunter42]

Thanks everyone . . . we're headed back to San Carlos tomorrow to get her ready for another sailing season! This is our first time of storing a boat for along period (4 months) . . . apprehensive about what is waiting for us!

[Terry Fallis]

Hi! My wife and I have taken sailing lessons the last two summers and have more booked for next year. Have never skippered a boat but spent about 5 weeks in total on 30 to 40 ft sailboats. We have access to a forty foot Fuji currently in storage in San Carlos and will retire in about 1 year. Any advice on sailing Sea of Cortez and west coast of Mexico. We are looking for the safest and easiest trips to begin with. Plan on living aboard year round

Terry Fallis

[Hunter42]

Originally Posted by Terry Fallis

Hi! My wife and I have taken sailing lessons the last two summers and have more booked for next year. Have never skippered a boat but spent about 5 weeks in total on 30 to 40 ft sailboats. We have access to a forty foot Fuji currently in storage in San Carlos and will retire in about 1 year. Any advice on sailing Sea of Cortez and west coast of Mexico. We are looking for the safest and easiest trips to begin with. Plan on living aboard year round

Terry Fallis

San Carlos is a great place for beginners . . . the weather is usually very good and the crossing distance from the MainLand to the Baja from here is about 70 jmiles. ALSO, lots of friendly gringos living down here, so lots of help!

It's not unusual to do 'motor sailing' in this part of the Sea of Cortez . . . seldom get winds over 10 knots. We know of several couples who are relatively new to sailing living on thier boat down here! As you go down the coast the winds usually get a little better.

Another advantage . . There are fewer people sailing here than in the Caribbean and it's less expensive.

Beautiful here right now . . . about 85 degrees and lots of sun. The hurricane went inland south of here, which usually is the case. Which is another advantage . . .insurance is less when you keep your boat above 27 degrees during hurricane season. Obviously you can tell, we love it here!

Hope to see you here!

[Terry Fallis]

Thanks so much for the info. Any new info goes a long way to relieving our anxiety. I'm sure pulling out of the marina for the first time will get our hearts pumping.

Terry

[Hunter42]

For us, pulling into the Marina is where the stress is!!!!!

[Terry Fallis]

Hunter 42, the docking thing scares me to death, I understand it is pretty common. During lessons with instructor guiding each step it was easy but on our own I'm sure we will do a lot of sweating. In a worse case scenario I guess we could tow it in but only under cover of extreme darkness. "Just joking" ( I think)

Terry & Terry

[Boracay]

I recently had some docking experience with a new (to me) heavy boat.
I carefully briefed my crew about what to expect and what not to do. (particularly about getting body parts between the boat and a hard place, and how to fend off by absorbing the energy over a distance and how I could fix the boat but not them and how it was all insured).
We also discussed where I expected the boat to go and what would be necessary when we got there.
Fenders, boat hook and appropriate rope were also made ready.
I almost got it right but in the end I had to compromise by going in bow first. We turned the boat round the next day.
However this was the time that I found out that all was not well with my gearbox.
Several expensive mechanics later I have found that :
1) A light gearbox with a big engine and heavy shaft and propellor is not a good match.
2) It is difficult to accuratly select forward/neutral/reverse when the clutch is stuffed.
3) If the clutch is stuffed then no amount of adjustment will fix it.
So I guess my advice would be to make sure that all is well in the above departments before trying a strange dock!

[Hunter42]

Ohhnnnnn, that does not sound like a good formula! Agree it's important that everyone know their role and be ready.

Our cabin is in the aft so we don't like to have it next to the dock so we always go in bow first. Because of a failing knee I can't jump to the dock, so I'm learning to drive her in and he's doing the jumping! We'll, let's say I'm trying to learn how to drive her in . . . failed my first attempt, but in my defense the wind was blowing at about 15 knots and we had to come in and do an immediate 180 into the slip . . . with the wind on the stern! We made it, but it wasn't very pretty! We've found the key is to keep it very slow, jump off and tie the bow at the middle cleat and use it to help stop the boat.

One of the great things about the sailors in the Sea of Cortez is they are willing to come running to take a line!

[Dreamwave]

I Piloted a friends 60 foot House Boat a few years ago as he wasn't able to handle it at all. It was evident first thing that he knew little about boats and their maintenance needs. It wasn't until we were actually casting off and mid maneuver that I found that the port engine had a very nasty habit of dying when shifted form forward to reverse and vice versa. While we were at anchore I tried to resolve this problem but the motor actually needed new plugs and wires. I believe they were the originals and this boat was over 20 years old!

So needless to say when I returned to the Marina my heart was in my toes. There was a constant breeze of about 5 knots with gust to about 7 knots. As you can imagine the wind area of this barge was tremendous and of coarse it was blowing across my beam and the maneuver I needed to put the boat in it's slip (like parellel parking) was a 180 degree u-turn in very tight quarters. Everything went well until the final maneuver which required reverse thrust to slow the direction toward another boat. Of coarse the engine stalled at a critical point where I figured it most likely to fail. Fortunately I had briefed the crew of this potential problem before hand and we had a plan "B" to fall back on and we were able to save the day and prevent damage to two boats!

Steve & Petula

[swagman]

Well they usually say the biggest challenge for any boat is when it meets land!
I'm sure you'll find lots of fenders, and taking things slow, will see you safely parked up and not facing a divorce. Just stay cool - the more times you do it the easier it becomes.
Cheers
JOHN