The Crossing

November 8, 2004 27 degrees 3.94’ North 111 degrees 57.7’ West - Tucked behind Punta Chaivato

The voyage from the Mexican mainland to the Baja is 72 nautical (kt) miles or 84 statue miles. Vagari can cruise at 7 kts but we usually average 5 to 6 kts so we know we can’t make the crossing in daylight in November.

So… we left our marina at 4 PM on Saturday night and anchored in Catch 22 Bay (the movie was made there) in a spot we know we can safely leave in the pitch black (90% cloud cover ¼ moon low in the eastern sky). The anchor was up at 2:30 AM and we were underway.

As we motored off shore the wind came up and we had 25 kts from the North West with lumpy seas. We put out the big headsail after a couple of hours and the boat settled down and picked up a kt in speed. We had a few brief rain showers early, which gave us a glorious sunrise complete with rainbows. Pictures will follow. The crossing was pleasant but long. We motor sailed all the way. The temperature was cool in the early morning but was in the 70’s during the day. The wind never got above 25 but was below 10 at times. Seas were lumpy all day.

Trip totals: 73 Kt mi.; time 13:12; average speed 5.5 kts.

The anchorage behind Punta Chaivato is the best we have ever seen. Very calm water, good sand bottom at 20’ and beautiful.

We stayed the next day to rest and enjoy the anchorage. During our noon swim (the water is 78 degrees) I checked Vagari’s bottom, which was clean, however the prop was completely covered with barnacles. A dirty prop cuts efficiency drastically and accounts for our slow average speed considering the wind we had. I removed most of them with a putty knife. We will work on it more at our next anchorage.

Next a 45 kt. mi. sail down the coast to Punta Pulpito.

From Rhea;

Now…the rest of the story. The crossing was lumpy, but good preparation for that which followed. The trip to Punta Pulpito was quite rough, white caps all the way. The wind was considerable, and directly behind us, so it was difficult to sail. We left the main sail up for stability. The anchorage was a welcome sight, but although the seas were rather calm, the wind was considerable. Stan decided to sleep on deck and stayed there until things calmed down shortly before midnight. I think I am getting to be a better sailor because I made it through this without thoughts of mutiny. The best friend a crewmember can have is a good paperback book to get ones mind off of the situation!!! Anyway, better times were waiting the next day when we moved to another anchorage less than ten miles away. I’ll let Stan continue.