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| Our Route from La Paz to Hawai'i and on to WA |
Our route from the tip of Baja to Hawai'i followed the Trade Winds. Once past the Hawai'ian Islands we sailed around the Pacific High. The first passage to Hawai'i took 16 days and the second back to WA took 22.
I wondered if I would have an opportunity to witness the great "garbage patch" in the north Pacific gyre first hand. We successfully avoided entering the high (unlike some of the other boats we were following) and didn't see it but others who were sitting becalmed in the center of the high didn't see it either. In a way I am glad, because it would have been a very depressing sight. At our rendezvous in Poulsbo, WA last week I discussed the problem of plastics in the ocean and the garbage patch and I was surprised to find several sailors who had no idea it existed and wanted to know who put it there.
Of the 11,000+ miles we covered, we sailed about 8,000, based on fuel consumption of 498 gal. of diesel. Using a rough estimate of four dollars per gallon, we spent $1992 on fuel. Our food costs were less than they would have been in Washington since the food in Mexico is much less expensive. We ate at restaurants very in frequently and when we did it was usually lunch. Our "entertainment" costs were less than $200 and included renting a car on Hawai'i (which was more for provisioning) the fees for the La Paz museum, various small donations and the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. We're a frugal couple.
I over provisioned, no surprise to Greg, and returned with much of what I took - BUT we didn't want for food! Almost everything you could want is available. In Baja, where refrigeration is rare in the villages, the vegetables can be a little limp and in Hawai'i they are EXPENSIVE but they are there. Wine and some forms of spirits are hard to fine in Baja outside of the major cities.
Everyone seems to want to know about sailing on the open ocean. It was less dramatic than I had anticipated. Greg's use of the grib files (wind speed & direction, wave height and barometric pressure), weather faxes and the net forecasts keep us out of nasty situations. We were careful and didn't take any shortcuts. We only encountered overcast skies and a few squalls. Our most exciting weather experience was in Baja when we sailed through a lightning storm and had a sudden down draft of over 70 knots. For the most part we sailed between 5 and 7 knots per hour. We only had one day where we were close to becoming becalmed and it only lasted a few hours. Our friends on Cadence were becalmed twice - for five days each time. Since you have to be careful to allocate your fuel, you can't just motor your way out of it.
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| Pacific squall |
Night sailing in a moonless sky was stressful the first two nights but it became routine as I realized that there weren't any ships around and I couldn't do anything about the small stuff. My idea of using forward-facing sonar to see cargo containers and sleeping whales didn't pan out. They are too close to the surface and are lost in background "noise". The AIS on the other hand was worth every penny we paid for it and took the tension out of "meeting big ships". It told us exactly where ships were and what the closest point of approach would be.
The best part of passage making, as far as I am concerned, is the 360 degree sunrises and sunsets. You just can't experience this anywhere else (except maybe on Mt Everest).
Comocean, a Catalina 42' sloop with wing keel, turned out to be a very capable and fast "blue water cruiser" even though it wasn't designed to be. We had very few problems which I attribute to the great care and thought that Greg puts into her upgrades and maintenance. The fresh water pump was our first problem. When it failed we just switched to our redundant pump (it still needs to be replaced). We had a voltage regulator fail and had one flown into Mulege (we should have been carrying a spare). We had some sail problems: Our 19-year-old main sail tore but Greg was able to pull it through the center window and repair it with his Sailrite sewing machine (a new one is on order this year). Our Yager spinnaker, which did a phenomenal job, came undone once at the top and once at the bottom due to parts that weren't up to the task (we know the problem and are fixing them) and Sonia promises not to fly her kite in 20 knot winds.
Two issues were actually related to sailing offshore: the autopilot and the rudder thrust bearing . The pounding we took at sea and a bad stop had caused the autopilot to overextend. This allowed some retainer pins to drop out of place consequently allowing the magnet portion of the clutch to turn. This caused two little wires to twist until they broke. Fortunately for us they broke far enough out to allow Greg to splice them. Even tough Raymarine
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| Autopilot repair |
Did we enjoy our travels? Yes, most definitely. We proved that it isn't really possible to do the round trip every year like we had originally planned but after a year or so to rest up we will be heading back south again. The boredom of the passages is still a problem for me but I will continue to try to find a way to solve it.
The cast of Characters:
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| Cinnamon in a rare "awake" moment |
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| Cinnamon in his usual state |
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| Greg and Mahi Mahi |
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| Sonia |
I have been convinced to continue this blog by friends who have enjoyed it. I will post new blogs each time we do something new or especially noteworthy.
