Tawodi Sailing Adventures

22.39 N, 109.54 W.
We’ve finished with the tiniest of detours into Cabo San Lucas. The lure of fuel and medications that didn’t strip our wallets bare was too hard to resist. Although we love to be under way neither of us can complain over our stay. The water was 75 degrees and Stephen got to share the story of our adventure with the fuel dock guys, the pharmacist, the butcher, the cheese counter lady, three waiters and one drunk group of men at ‘The Office’ restaurant, the guy on the corner trying to reel us into

a timeshare ordeal, the nice girl at the internet cafe and a ponga driver. Again proving that no one can accuse the Captain of being unfriendly or taciturn.

We’re underway again enjoying port tack and wind while it lasts. Forecasts paint a thousand mile stretch of 5 to 10 knot breezes followed by another thousand or so miles of water called the inter-tropical convergence zone, which seems to have nothing going on. Nothing at all. The little wind arrows seem to lose their purpose and will in that stretch of water.

And then there’s that small matter of another thousand or so miles left before we arrive at Easter Island. So, without overworking our math skills, that gives us about three thousand miles between here and there.

But it’s 85 degrees outside and the water slipping below us is 75 degrees and somewhere farther along on this journey we’ll look back on these light wind, hot days with a fondness and longing that we cannot conceive of right now.

23.21 N, 112.47 W Today’s lesson from the sea: Don’t make declarative statements about voyage times when the ocean is your highway, a sailboat is your vehicle and wind is your fuel. The Captain had been in the habit of calling the transit to the bottom of the Baja Peninsula a 4 1/2 to 5 day trip. The ocean and the wind raised their collective eyebrows and decided to debunk that claim and so here we are on day seven apologizing to the air and the water for our arrogance. After days of light wind underscored by even lighter wind, last night we had a romping good sail- we moved from the 3 knot speed zone into the 8 knot speed zone. It’s almost like running. The hopped up activity not only increased the rate of miles slipping under our keel but also exponentially increased the flying fish and squid massacre that happens every night. We went from Stephen plucking two or three off the boat, to him shoveling 20 or more into their watery graves. All I have to say about that is; Yuck. We were running twin jibs until yesterday when we shifted back to main and poled jib on port tack. The weather’s semi-tropical and the water temperature is an almost agreeable 70 degrees. Short of last nights doubling of speed the closest thing to excitement we’ve had involved whales crossing our path. One sounded close enough to our bow that we could have thrown a tissue into the wind at it and made our mark. Stephen’s naked most of the time. I’m still the product of a New England upbringing so I remain clothed because you just never know who might be dropping by. Other than that all’s well.

28.44 N, 117.20 W. 7:53 PST. Rolling along on starboard with a poled-out jib and prevented main. Well it’s been a couple of days and nights. We left San Diego with a good breeze that deflated into more of a wheeze. We have continued to experience light winds that at moments promise to be more, only to patter right back down into lightness. It’s kind of like dating. The weather’s cool and the skies are mostly gray and I have spent the last two days watching Stephen eat and wondering how he can do that. My stomach and the ocean always need a little time to adjust. The ocean itself just rolls on like a strange animal. Excitement on board amounts to 1) water over the floor board- the packing nut was loose-and 2)my ability to finally lay around in bed as much as I want to. That last one I’d been daydreaming of over all those days of paid labor. Stephen’s last minute addition- a hydrogen production unit that runs whenever we’re motoring- bubbles away in the engine compartment like a mad science experiment. It claims to improve fuel efficiency- we’ll have to let you know if that’s the case- other than that it’s kind of fun to watch. That’s all from the good ship Tawodi.

It seems as though we’ve done nothing but smile, answer, laugh, nod, barbecue and drink for the last three days.

We are TIRED but happy.  Who knew we had so many generous friends?  Who knew people would eat that many hot dogs? 

And so, much like the academy awards, it’s time for us to stand here with our trophy of party memories and thank all the people who make our voyage possible.  The list is really, really long but we have a special thankyou for Gretha Record, sales manager at the big West Marine in San Diego.

Gretha sat in our cockpit one night drinking with us and came up with a money making idea for our adventure.  The store set us up to barbecue in their parking lot- bought all the food and drinks and then gave us a shiny, stainless steel, new, in the box barbecue to raffle off.

Keep all the proceeds from the raffle, she said.

What began a bit slow turned out to be a smashing success.  Strangers and friends alike stopped to eat and chat and learn about our adventure.  In the end we made many new friends and enough money to fill our pantry.

Thank you to everyone who contributed and to Gretha for putting it together for us. Now we’ll have a little more than saltines, rice and beans to nourish us around the globe.