Well. The time finally came for Cricket to go home. She took her tourist visa to the limit, but needed to get back to business. It was pretty tough for me to return from the airport.

I imagine that every single handed guy cruiser harbors a small fantasy about meeting an adorable woman and sailing away into the sunset, heading for fun and adventure. Maybe I'm just lucky. For a little while.

Being on a small boat is like living in an 8x10 foot room... but no one can leave. There are no secrets on a small boat. People with unresolved personal problems, or who aren't comfortable with themselves, will find all that stuff bubbling up when trapped on a small boat with other people. Some people spend entire lives hiding from themselves,
but there's no place to hide on a small boat.

I have had crew on board who, after three days, became so weird I considered pulling out and reviewing my manual on
"Death and Burial at Sea." <VBG>

So, heck, Cricket and I were together 24x7
in an 8x10 foot room for 4 months,
and got along pretty darn well,
with only a few rough days,
and only one that I can remember. That's pretty special.

 

 

 

Anyway, she's gone, so I did what any self respecting guy
would do in this situation.

I hid on my boat for a few days, nursing a bottle of tequila,
smoking cigarettes and watching Clint Eastwood movies.
Now don't tell me I've nothin' to do... <smile>

 

As always, there are a few projects to take care of and things to fix, and maintenance chores. I needed to equalize and de-sulfate the batteries after being in anchorages for a month, defrost and scrub the fridge/freezer, and stuff like that.

The cabin top winch for the main halyard and other cockpit lines needed servicing. It's been making a weird noise ever since the Baja-Haha, when one of my crew abused it by using muscle instead of brains. After completely disassembling it and rebuilding it, all the parts look fine.
That's good, because the Barient 19 uses smaller pawls that aren't made any more. (The Lewmar pawls fit the bigger Barients, but not this little one.) Perhaps it just had all the grease mashed out of one side of the bearings. We'll just have to see how it sounds under load again.

 

Marina Mazatlan is becoming a ghost town. Hurricane season is approaching. The seasonal cruisers are all gone. The folks who are going to winter in the Sea of Cortez have just about all headed north.
Am I late? I don't know. There are some long term Sea of Cortez cruisers here, who are waiting and aren't worried. This is just how it worked out. I think it will all be fine, unless I'm wrong.

I need to get north of latitude 27 soon. San Carlos is 350 miles away, but I've planned a route that will knock it down into chunks of less than 90 miles. My insurance won't cover me if I'm single handing for more than 24 hours at a stretch, and I'll be sailing in unfamiliar waters.

For some reason, I'm nervous, because it's been months since I've single handed this boat for any distance. Nervous is a good thing, because it will force me to plan my routes carefully, double check that all my backups are functional, and focus on safety.

Before leaving, though, I need to run up to San Diego for a day, renew my visa, and pick up some much needed parts. The plan is to leave Mazatlan on May 14th, and high tail it north.

But I really want to stop in Altata. So, what the heck.

Respectfully submitted,
Wal

April 25, 2010