Cabo San Lucas to Mazatlan

To simply say the 30 hour, 190 mile trip from Cabo to Mazatlan was boring doesn't quite do the trip justice. At least 24 hours before we left Cabo, we had numerous discussions with other boats; about the weather for a crossing, how the weather in So Cal might affect our weather, historical crossings by others and where to hold up before the crossing when it gets bad. We could have stayed in Cabo forever wondering about our future weather. As it was, I had downloaded every wind model on the net and none of them predicted bad weather. Would I believe my own weather forecast, of course not. So we set off for the infamous Frailes anchorage about 50 miles to the east (and about 20 out of our way) to wait out the imagined bad weather everyone gets on this crossing. About 20 miles east of Cabo we were in a bathtub, with the only wind what we had created from our boat moving forward.

This is our first view of Mazatlan from about 7 miles off. It should have taken us about an hour more to get in. All of the sudden Mike yells, "Stop the boat"! Full reverse and we stopped just short of a mile long fishing jig. It seems the flag we saw about 100 yards to our right was connected to the Panga fishermen about a mile off to our left. So we dodged to the right to clear that one and we were soon dodging 4 more, adding about a hour to our trip into the harbor. Thank God we did this during the day, in calm weather, as we would still be out there untangling lines and hooks if it was at night.

Our arrival in Marina Mazatlan was a bit anti-climatic after that. Edie and I had flown down 4 weeks earlier to view the harbor and pick a marina, so getting in was easy. The problem was the marina office was on siesta, so in about 1/2 hour three employees came down, showed us to our slip, took our lines and welcomed us to Mazatlan.

What a great place to put your boat. The first thing the owners of the boat next to us did was invite us to the Gangway 6 dock party at 4:00. It is really not a party, but more of a great discussion by 30 or so boaters on what they did today, problems getting things done, directions on how to get them done and what everyone had planned to do tomorrow.

Oh, and where to get a great haircut every Thursday for 60 pesos.

I can't imagine a better way to welcome new people to Gangway 6 in Marina Mazatlan.

Baja HA HA Leg 3

After 3 wonderful days of hiking and partying it was time to leave, but leaving Bahia Santa Maria was bittersweet. We all wondered if we had had any impact on the well being of the wonderful people of Lopez Mateos that made our stay so welcome.

We had hardly left the bay when we snagged a crab pot that we couldn't shake. Over the side went Captain Steve with a knife and made short work of the float. Then another passed between him and the boat and then another,,,, "we have to get out of here!" Finally we got offshore enough to leave the great bay far behind. The weather was soon cooperating and a fine warm breeze coming from behind, started pushing us towards Cabo San Lucas.



It was an easy trip with a dramatic landfall. Never having been to Cabo myself, having Mike on board, made it so easy. You can have all the waypoints you want but never having been to a destination before can be daunting. There were three cruise ships, a fleet of sportsfishers heading out for a tournament and tour boats everywhere, all in our way to the marina.

Cabo is a glorious place from the water but from land it is everything you have heard and more. There were bars on every corner, restaurants, more bars, huge yachts, bars and oh, did I say, more bars. Every corner had at least one and sometimes 3 or 4 between. We went to them all (Dan Daly gave us 20, for research).
Luckily the Baja HA HA headquarters were at the Baja Cantina, just up the dock. The food was great and reasonably priced (Mike was there every morning when they opened at 7:00am).


Our time was pretty occupied as there were scheduled parties to go to, broken parts to buy for the boat, food to eat and places to see. The Grand Finale was the Awards Presentation Saturday night. Chairs for 450 were filled to capacity and the party was on. Presentations of winning place awards were made and as hard as it is to believe, we won a 3rd place award. True confession here; if you were not 1st or 2nd, you were a 3rd place finisher. This made it clear to everyone that this was and event for fun and not a race for a trophy. Our prize was a beautiful hand painted clay fish the Andalucia will treasure forever. Much too soon it was time to leave and that is where I experienced the term "Velcro Harbor", first hand. Why we HAD to get more boat parts, electronic stuff, fuel, boat cards exchanged, destinations to discuss and weather to the next one, debated. Cabo is a hard place to leave, but leave we did Sunday morning for the 180 mile run for Mazatlan Mexico.

Baja Ha-Ha 2009, Leg 2

So it was the 6-9 night watch and every other boat on watch was bored, so someone asked for any boat to tell us why their boat was named what it was.
After about 10 pretty lame boat names one guy told us he was traveling on a long flight to Eastern Europe and had started a conversation with the lady next to him on her way to Germany. Things led to things and they both became very smitten with each other, but there were places to go and jobs to do. They did keep in touch by e-mail but after a few months it was obvious to him that something had to give because he wanted to go to the next level, whatever that was, but he wasn't sure what she wanted to do next. Then he got an e-mail from her, labeled "Proximity". The gist of it was she wanted to get to closer "proximity" to him. They were married 7 years ago and guess what they named their boat; Proximity! Oh, you should have heard all the women on the radio go Ahhhhhhh, well,,, a few men too. Anyway, it is great out here, even on those long watches.

We finally got into Bahia Santa Maria after a 30 hour overnight sail in absolutely gorgeous weather. It was stuff that would make anyone love to sail to Mexico in the fall. Dolphins jumping, whales spouting, fish a catching and a bay so big and calm you could put 500 boats in it with room to spare. Oh, and not a person lives there. But, every November the Baja HA-HA arrives with 650 people looking to have a good time. From somewhere a few trucks arrive and the party begins.

Lots of food and fun were had by all.

Baja Ha-Ha 2009, Leg 1

The testosterone cruise to Cabo on the Andalucía, otherwise known as the Baja HA-HA Cruisers Rally, started with great fanfare in San Diego harbor with a 180+ boat parade proceeded by the fire and press boats. It was great fun with video by the local NBC affiliate. http://www.nbcsandiego.com/around-town/events/Baja-Ha-Ha-Sets-Sail.html-town/events/Baja-Ha-Ha-Sets-Sail.html . The Andalucía is about 5 minutes into the video but the official start of the Rally was off the Hotel Del Coronado at 11:00am.

Leg 1: It was a great start with perfect weather that unfortunately turned ugly 2 days later. The first leg of the Rally is a 350 mile, 50 hour ordeal to the sleepy village of Bahia Tortugas. The weather got so bad about 40 hours into this leg the Grand Poobah of the rally diverted to an anchorage called San Quintin. Then all hell broke out on a sailboat J-World. With any great story with bad communications, rumors were rampant, but the bottom line was J-World was sunk by a whale! I will leave the telling of the tail to others more qualified so please read the link for the whole story: http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2009-11-09&dayid=349#Story438.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2009-11-09&dayid=349#Story4
We on the Andalucía had a very rough time of it but it seemed pale by comparison.

Likely we were a little ahead of the storm and approached the notorious Vizcaino channel early on the final morning at sea to a lumpy sea of crab pots. We safely made ourway through them and arrived relatively unscathed.

The parties started, provisions bought, fuel and water brought on board and we were ready for Leg 2.

The best way to use our Andalucia

One of the great things about owning a sailboat is sharing the fun with others. Finally having the boat back in our home waters and repaired, reminded us of this as we took our grandkids ‘down to the boat’. As Grandparents, you are always a little apprehensive about whether kids will like it or not. Take a look at their faces and we shouldn’t have worried.
Just look at the fear on Tommy and Nathan faces while at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Memorial weekend.

Tommy facing his “fears” Nathan never smiles!!




And of course, Morgan is always a big smile when being allowed “junk” food by Mom & Dad (aka Michele and Tom)

The first actual sailing adventure took place mid June with Son Tim and his wife Barbara with grandchildren Madison, Conner and Andrew in tow. As you can see, they were holding on for dear life while on the high seas.

Look out for that little boat out there!
















I know Andrew had a good time and learned a few knots as well.

Even Tim with over 30 years knowing the Andalucía was in wonder on how much it has changed. Even the smile on his face hasn’t changed much from the first time he went up the old mast in 1978.

On both occasions, it let us know fixing the Andalucía was not an option as you can see we would have disappointed more than just us.

We are home-well kind of

Hi all. We are finally in our new home, kind of.

It took us 3 long days to get to Long Beach from San Diego where the Andalucia had been getting repairs done for the last 5 months. The new masts, sails and gear looks so great you can almost forget what it took to get from Baja to Long Beach. The last 3 days (the worst was from Dana Point to Alamitos Bay) were a grind but had to be done so we could enjoy the boat traveling to Catalina and elsewhere in the next 6 months.

Back in September 1990, when we brought the Andalucia to the City of Long Beach from Ventura (another long story), they measured the boat at 44'-10" long. That let us go into a 40' slip (they allow a 4'10" overhang). When we arrived on the 21st of April 2009, they measured us at 45'-8". We grew (I don't think so)? You really can't fight city hall. The long answer is we are now, temporarily, on an end tie until the first of May when we move to a 45' slip on D dock (for $100 per month more!). In any case, we now have a permanent home. Now I have at least 6 months to tinker with all the little fix-it projects until our next adventure.

Ready to head north

At long last the list has grown short enough to head north. The mast's wiring, the surveyors required repairs (small really), jib sheets, sails, and a general cleanup means the Andalucia is ready to head north to Long Beach's Downtown Marina.

There is a bit of a holdup with insurance but we are sure to be able to leave by Saturday morning. We have a "must make" appointment with the City of Long Beach on Tuesday afternoon (after the Gran Prix). My next picture will be without the dodger cover).

Finally Progress

Yes this curious picture is what ancient mariners (I am beginning to feel like one) used to do when they put a new mast in a boat. They used to place a coin at the foot of the mast. Well after 5 months in the yard on April 3rd, the masts are finally up! What an experience and well worth the wait and angst. She sure looks great! The sails went on Friday and Monday and I expect to have the electrics and miscellaneous things done by Thursday to head north this weekend.

The masts getting installed

This is a bit loud but well worth a view.

From start to finish it took the whole day, April 3rd, to rig the two masts for the Andalucia. There are a lot of pieces required to install the masts; the standing rigging (the wire to keep the masts up) and the running rigging (the ropes that operate the sails). The crane was only used for 2 hours but the rest of the time there was whole lot of effort on the part of Fritz and his team at Pacific Offshore Rigging to get the job done in one day.

Now the wiring, sails and final survey. We sure hope to be able to move the boat up to Long Beach (downtown marina) mid month.

Sometimes in life things are not two steps forward and one step back. Sometimes it's five steps back!



Last week our masts arrived. While the mast steps were being installed, the Rigger noticed the deck was spungie. The boat had to come back out of the water (another week delay) and the old deck ground out and repaired. Then, we looked at our beautiful new masts and they were "appliance white" not the oyster white we ordered. Back to the mast maker and another week delay. The used sails we bought are too big for the new masts, so another $1,000 to fix them and another week delay. When we filled the water tank, it leaks like a sprinkler and the refrigerator doesn't work either.

Yes, sometimes things move slowly, but the final product looks sooooo good. All the people involved promise the Andalucia will be ready for Catalina Island by Easter. We can only hope, and we do.

Quick Update

This is just a quick update of where the Andalucia is on repairs. Things are finally looking up. The chain plates are installed and the inside of the boat looks as if nothing happened. As for the deck; the teak cap rails look great and Suzie the varnisher has done a great job making all the teak this boat has look great again. Look at the picture and you can see the results. The mast steps are here as well as the baskets (a plate underneath) and were being installed today. These the masts will set on. And more good news; the masts will arrive from LeFiell on Monday! The rigging will take about 10 days so the masts should be installed the week of the 23rd. It should take about two weeks more for the sails to be fitted, so we are now into the second week of April :-(

It looks as though our first trial sail will be to 4th of July Yacht Club on Catalina Island for Seal Beach Yacht Clubs annual Easter Cruise. Sounds a little like two years ago when the Easter cruise was a trial cruise for our rebuilt transmission. We hope all goes as well. More to come next week!

The Incident

What a beautiful day it was; the sun was shining brightly, motor sailing in very light wind, heading south with the main up for stability in the very confused 4’ seas. As the wind started to freshen I decided to raise our cruising spinnaker (over 1000 sq. ft!) and do some sailing. Well, about two hours later the wind really started gusting, so now was the time to bring her down. As we turned into the wind to collapse the big boy, the boat was hit by a huge gust and the boat broached putting all sails and my feet on the rail, in the water. When the boat righted, that big spinnaker came out of the water and filled with wind and with a huge bang, exploded over the side and the entire rig followed her in. In a flash, or should I say shadow everything went over my head including the main mast, sail, starboard chain plates, Mizzen mast (with radar!), sail (new!), Jib, roller furling, inner forestay and all Standing and running rigging. The only thing hurt at that point was my pride, so I started the generator and proceeded to cut away all the standing rigging with my trusty Makita grinder. Brother Marc, was busy cutting away the running rigging (rope, to you power boaters) and in no time the main mast foot was no longer staring up at me and was now headed for Davy Jones. So,,, now we were a power boat with a long slog north to San Diego.

As of today the boat is safely in the boatyard getting new cap rails, chain plates and rigging with hopes for a sail north to Long Beach near the end of March.

Back to Dana Point

Sadly we are on our way home. Dana point was very empty when we anchored, very unusual for a summer day. Maybe fuel prices?

Mission Bay

An overnight stop, lasted two overnights to try to resolve an issue, but a beautiful sunset made our stay much more enjoyable. We will head for SDYC on the 12th to stay in the USA and see if the problem resolves itself.

Trial run to Mexico 7-9-2008

First stop on our trip to Ensenada was Dana Point due to our late start from Alamitos Bay. Got a slip from the County because the rest of the fleet was also running into problems. Great night except for a few problems.....

The beginning

We, of the Sailing Vessel Andalucia, are starting out on a new adventure, or a continuation of the dream we have had for over 30 years.