Tawodi Sailing Adventures

The outer waters from Cabo San Lucas to San Fransisco can be punishing, especially for those wishing to go up the coast.  I flew down to La Paz with my friend Jeff of the sailing vessel “Tika” and once there met with the rest of the crew, Mike and Linda from the vessel “Aquavit”.  We took a 38 foot Catamaran up to S.F., but not before loading it with fuel and food.  I purchased a number of 50 litre plastic containers for additional diesel, as the boat’s own tank was small.  We stocked the larder from the C.C.C. grocery store and we were off like a prom dress.

Uneventful 25 hour motor-boat ride down to Cabo from La Paz.  Hot weather, warm water, dolphins, all the stuff they write about in the brochures.  We topped the fuel in Cabo and had an ice-cream break at the fuel dock, then around the corner just before sunset.  By the time the Sun went down, we had 25 knots on the nose, the prevailing noserly.  And cold.  The wind direction was unforgiving and the velocity varied from 15 to 25 most of the way up to San Diego.  The cold just got colder.

We did stop for fuel in Turtle bay.  They’ve got it down so well, we were out of there inside half an hour.  We arrived at Turtle bay around 0930 Sunday morning and were met at the enterance by a panga who informed us that the fuel barge near the anchorage could accomodate us.  They even had fenders and lines all ready to go, saving us from digging in the cockpit lockers.  We took on our 125 gallons or so and departed.  We remained well offshore for the bulk of the passage, only closing with land for Turtle bay and again when we arrived in San Diego.

We cleared Customs late and then rafted up to my boat on its mooring in Commercial basin, but not before dropping Jeff off on his own boat.  The next morning we collected Jeff and went to the Fuel dock.  Topped off diesel, propane and water and went to San Diego Plastics to by a new piece for the Head door, which broke enroute.  By mid-day we were back at sea and bound for the home stretch to San Fran.  The wind, however, had other plans and smacked us down in the Santa Barbara channel, so we ducked into Santa Barbara for 3 days.

While there, we ran into many friends, some of whom were blown in also.  Ken Roper, the General was there, on his way up to do yet another Single-handed Transpac race, his 11th officially, 12th unofficially (One year he became frustrated with the race commitee and sailed to Hanalie without their sanction).  This race only happens once every other year, and all his haven’t been uninterupted, so he’s been doing this race for over 30 years.

I also ran into a group of old friends who live in the area.  John Paine, Matt Ridge and Daniel Bean are all former employees of the Santa Barbara sailing center and I know them from those days.  We all went out to a show one night, then returned to John’s boat to have him sing and play his guitar until early hours while we all enjoyed ourselves.  The next day Daniel took me for a back-country hike and then to a Tavern with a funky band.  I got down with my bad self on the dance floor and had a great time.  Despite all this distraction, I still managed to replace the broken head door, repair the broken dingy davit, service the engines and top the oil, fill the fuel again and so on.

Finally Monday dawned calm and both Ken and I decided to go for it.  We both left in the morning and motored as fast as we could toward Pt. Conception.  By 3 pm the headwinds were gusting to 35 but it didn’t stop us from making it to Coho, where we anchored in the lee of Goverment point.  At 0200, Tuesday morning, the wind was down to less than 10 and we weighed the anchor and got underway.  We saw a few puffs over 25 just past Pt. Conception, but the wind soon abated and actually became a slight tailwind later in the day.  With such a clear weather window, we motored non-stop the rest of the way, arriving at Richmond Marina Bay around 4pm on Wednesday.  The owner came in the evening and we settled up and went to the rental car outlet at the airport.  We were on the road by 9pm and I drove us straight through to San Diego.  We stopped early on for dinner at a Carl’s Jr, then only once more for gas.  We arrived in San Diego just after 4 am, having hauled ass.  I had the cruise control on 85 and often exceeded that as the road was nearly empty, even through L.A.

Now I’m sitting on the boat in standby mode, which is always a little hard for me.  I have to return the rental car this evening, but planned to us it for some errands today.  The only trouble is I had Jeff move the car to the parking lot last night after we unloaded our bags, while I rowed out and retrieved his dingy, and he did not return the keys to me.  Now I’ve spent half the day looking for Jeff, who does not have a phone, so I can get the keys back.  Let’s hope I don’t have to pay for a second day.

Such are the adventures of a sea-life.  I hope everyone is well and that you all enjoy a happy Memorial Day holiday.

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