The results are in and Rhiannon has won her class in Leg 4 of the 2009 Puerto Vallarta Race!
We feel especially good about this win because this was the only leg of the event with good wind for sailing, and we were closer than ever to our competition.
Because the PV09 race is a handicapped event, we were able to finish about 3 hours behind the much faster boats and still pull out a victory based on our slower hull speed.
But don´t think for a moment that we were lollygagging - we gave this race everything we had.
Coming out of San Jose Del Cabo, we found seas to 10 feet and about 25 knots of sustained wind for the first afternoon and night. To borrow a phrase, the tiny ship was tossed! No one slept much that night, and all hands were occupied keeping sails trimmed for maximum speed. We saw over 8 knots just on our Genoa and main sail.
The wind abated somewhat on the second day of the race, but kept up enough that we didn´t need to run our engine until 11 PM last night. We motored into Banderas Bay with almost no wind, and the race rules require every boat to sail the last mile of each leg unassisted.
Luckily for us, we found a perfect breeze and crossed the finish line at a respectable 4.5 knots.
Puerto Vallarta is a sizable city, and we´ll head out and explore a bit tomorrow (after doing some much-needed laundry) and the next day. I´ll get some photos up of Leg 4 and San Jose Del Cabo tomorrow as well.
But right now, the beer is flowing and we´re just beginning to realize that we´ve sailed 1200 miles in a 44 foot sailboat and made it here in fine form - with enough left in the boat and crew to take a win in the last, toughest leg of the event.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Leg 3 - fishing derby - and San Jose Del Cabo
When last we left our intrepid heroes, we were bravely running away from some potential weather in Bahia Santa Margarita. Luckily for us, Leg 3 of this event is a non-race leg for the non-spinnaker boats. Instead, we were supposed to concentrate on our fishing.
This we did, but were skunked, and because we were just way out to sea (the coast curves eastward and then back out west, and we were on a straight line to Los Cabos) there wasn't
much reason to take pictures.
But after a pretty gnarly approach to Los Cabos, with winds up around 25 knots and 5-10 foot swells, we rounded the end of the Baja peninsula and into the Sea of Cortez. This is also known as the Gulf of California, but I think Sea of Cortez has a more romantic ring to it.
You can hear Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbosa from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies
saying it in his best pirate brogue and it's just better that way.
We made yet another night approach to the bay (that's 2 out of 3 harbors we've had to
find our way into at night, for those keeping score at home) and found our slip.
The marina at Puerto Los Cabos is all brand new and on its way to being very very - I mean VERY - posh. It's a man-made harbor, big enough to hold some yachts that are big enough to be painted Navy grey without too much irony. The ironic part is that the little town that's still here around the periphery of the poshness is still dirt roads and a cacophany of chickens and dogs running loose through the neighborhood. That's the area I took off to visit as soon as the sun was up.
I first went into a little restaurant under a palm-thatched roof called Ali's International Place - there was an old guy watching TV in the shade. That turned out to be Ali - a North African ("Well, it goes double for Berbers") man who settled here many decades ago. I asked about the possibility of breakfast and he told me I could have a ham and cheese omelet or huevos rancheros, with fresh squeezed orange juice for $10US. I agreed and specified the huevos (duh!) and sat down. Ali's cat came over and hopped into my lap and settled right down.
Well, the huevos were awesome - he cut the onions and peppers and a generous helping of fries for me and cooked it all up under the Palapa roof. And he squeezed the juice from a big pile of oranges.
Oh yeah, this is the Mexico I wanted to visit. No doubt.
Later on, Bill and Stacy and I took a cab for the 1.5 mile ride into San Jose Del Cabo. This little town is about 200 years old and reminds me strongly of Carmel in California - or more properly, it reminds me of Castroville on its way to becoming Carmel. They even have a brew pub! Of course, I bought a pint glass after enjoying their fine raspberry beer. (This is Jill's cue to roll her eyes and make space in the glass cabinet.)
San Jose Del Cabo is making its reputation as the Anti-Cabo San Lucas, which is 15 miles south of here. Where CSL is all cruise ships and chain restaurants and big name mall shops, SJDC is all about little art galleries and one-off restaurants with unique menus. Of course, you can still get an awesome meal for under $20 US. There are big hotels in SJDC, but they're out at the beach, and the hotels in town are still the European-style family operations.
My favorite find in SJDC was El Tamarindo - a little arts/crafts store run by a fine fellow named Antonio. As we walked in, he grabbed some of his decorated shot glasses and poured three shots for us. "It's my family's homemade Tequila," he said. I considered passing, but he said it wasn't as strong as commercial tequila - only about 20 proof - and good for sipping. "Don't shoot it," he said.
Well, we tasted it and it was amazing. It was sweet, with hints of vanilla and just a mild touch of the strangely bitter tequila flavor. It was to regular Tequila as Drambuie is to the cheapest nastiest Scotch you ever had, only less syrupy than Drambuie. If you bought a decorated bottle, he filled it for you before wrapping it up. Needless to say, we left with three bottles! As we were heading out, he gave us a to-go plastic bottle to enjoy on the trip.
Yesterday I determined to walk into SJDC and take some shots of the neighborhood along the way. They're building a big old raised road from the marina into town, but the road is still dirt at this time. There are a bunch of buildings - some abandoned, some still in business, along the dusty route, and a swale or slough with egrets. It was a good walk.
SJDC is a small town, but with some special effort, I did manage to get lost off in the neighborhoods and side streets. Unlike a "planned" community, there are businesses on pretty much every street, so even when you're lost, you can always find a place to get a Coke. While I was lost, I stumbled into another couple of very special art shops, which I would describe, but it would spoil some surprises when I get home!
The one thing the marina lacks is a laundry, so I'm thankful for the cheap T-shirt sales on the main drag. This will keep me from seriously offending the people on the plane home!
Today we leave at 1 PM for Puerto Vallarta. We expect the trip to take between 48-60 hours, depending on the wind. I got up early to miss the crowd at the showers and get some hot water, then sat down at the marina office to write this installment. Now I'll head back to the boat and get some breakfast and start stowing things for the trip. I'm ready to tackle the last lap and then enjoy the amenities of PV.
This we did, but were skunked, and because we were just way out to sea (the coast curves eastward and then back out west, and we were on a straight line to Los Cabos) there wasn't
much reason to take pictures.
But after a pretty gnarly approach to Los Cabos, with winds up around 25 knots and 5-10 foot swells, we rounded the end of the Baja peninsula and into the Sea of Cortez. This is also known as the Gulf of California, but I think Sea of Cortez has a more romantic ring to it.
You can hear Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbosa from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies
saying it in his best pirate brogue and it's just better that way.
We made yet another night approach to the bay (that's 2 out of 3 harbors we've had to
find our way into at night, for those keeping score at home) and found our slip.
The marina at Puerto Los Cabos is all brand new and on its way to being very very - I mean VERY - posh. It's a man-made harbor, big enough to hold some yachts that are big enough to be painted Navy grey without too much irony. The ironic part is that the little town that's still here around the periphery of the poshness is still dirt roads and a cacophany of chickens and dogs running loose through the neighborhood. That's the area I took off to visit as soon as the sun was up.
I first went into a little restaurant under a palm-thatched roof called Ali's International Place - there was an old guy watching TV in the shade. That turned out to be Ali - a North African ("Well, it goes double for Berbers") man who settled here many decades ago. I asked about the possibility of breakfast and he told me I could have a ham and cheese omelet or huevos rancheros, with fresh squeezed orange juice for $10US. I agreed and specified the huevos (duh!) and sat down. Ali's cat came over and hopped into my lap and settled right down.
Well, the huevos were awesome - he cut the onions and peppers and a generous helping of fries for me and cooked it all up under the Palapa roof. And he squeezed the juice from a big pile of oranges.
Oh yeah, this is the Mexico I wanted to visit. No doubt.
Later on, Bill and Stacy and I took a cab for the 1.5 mile ride into San Jose Del Cabo. This little town is about 200 years old and reminds me strongly of Carmel in California - or more properly, it reminds me of Castroville on its way to becoming Carmel. They even have a brew pub! Of course, I bought a pint glass after enjoying their fine raspberry beer. (This is Jill's cue to roll her eyes and make space in the glass cabinet.)
San Jose Del Cabo is making its reputation as the Anti-Cabo San Lucas, which is 15 miles south of here. Where CSL is all cruise ships and chain restaurants and big name mall shops, SJDC is all about little art galleries and one-off restaurants with unique menus. Of course, you can still get an awesome meal for under $20 US. There are big hotels in SJDC, but they're out at the beach, and the hotels in town are still the European-style family operations.
My favorite find in SJDC was El Tamarindo - a little arts/crafts store run by a fine fellow named Antonio. As we walked in, he grabbed some of his decorated shot glasses and poured three shots for us. "It's my family's homemade Tequila," he said. I considered passing, but he said it wasn't as strong as commercial tequila - only about 20 proof - and good for sipping. "Don't shoot it," he said.
Well, we tasted it and it was amazing. It was sweet, with hints of vanilla and just a mild touch of the strangely bitter tequila flavor. It was to regular Tequila as Drambuie is to the cheapest nastiest Scotch you ever had, only less syrupy than Drambuie. If you bought a decorated bottle, he filled it for you before wrapping it up. Needless to say, we left with three bottles! As we were heading out, he gave us a to-go plastic bottle to enjoy on the trip.
Yesterday I determined to walk into SJDC and take some shots of the neighborhood along the way. They're building a big old raised road from the marina into town, but the road is still dirt at this time. There are a bunch of buildings - some abandoned, some still in business, along the dusty route, and a swale or slough with egrets. It was a good walk.
SJDC is a small town, but with some special effort, I did manage to get lost off in the neighborhoods and side streets. Unlike a "planned" community, there are businesses on pretty much every street, so even when you're lost, you can always find a place to get a Coke. While I was lost, I stumbled into another couple of very special art shops, which I would describe, but it would spoil some surprises when I get home!
The one thing the marina lacks is a laundry, so I'm thankful for the cheap T-shirt sales on the main drag. This will keep me from seriously offending the people on the plane home!
Today we leave at 1 PM for Puerto Vallarta. We expect the trip to take between 48-60 hours, depending on the wind. I got up early to miss the crowd at the showers and get some hot water, then sat down at the marina office to write this installment. Now I'll head back to the boat and get some breakfast and start stowing things for the trip. I'm ready to tackle the last lap and then enjoy the amenities of PV.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Race 2 - Bahia De Tortugas to Bahia Santa Margarita
When we left Marina Del Rey, the race committee had assigned us a handicap of 127 - which is computed by some formula to take into account the fact that our boat is slower than the others on the race. Captain Tarr thought we should have had an even higher handicap, but we had to race one leg to prove it. Well, we did - and the race committee then gave us a new handicap of 145. This is probably about right, as you'll read below.
Turtle Bay
We got to Turtle Bay after dark and anchored with the fleet. There's a very very small town there, and we were all pretty tired so we skipped the going-ashore. When we're at anchor, we can all sleep through the night, and I was particularly grateful not to pull my usual 11:30-2:00 and 6:30-10:30 watches!
The start at Turtle Bay
The next morning, we had another race start and took off south for Bahia Santa Margarita and the possibility of whales outside of Bahia Magdalena. This time, we made a calculated tactical risk - that we'd get better wind and more sail-time (versus engine time) if we went farther out into the ocean. Well, we went, but the wind wasn't there waiting for us. We motored on.
All around Turtle Bay, however, there are drift nets and lobster pots galore. So we had to keep two people up in front of the boat scanning for obstructions. A net would get wrapped around our keel and propeller and could seriously damage the boat, so it was slow and careful going until we got about 10 miles offshore.
Our world for 8 days
Eventually, we had to turn back in towards the second finish line, and finally we got some wind. Of course, with the wind came swells, but they were still very mild. And instead of tailing off, the wind became more intense as we pulled into Bahia Santa Margarita for the night. BSM is just a fishing camp in a partially-protected bay just north of Magdalena. By the time we dropped anchor, the wind was getting up towards 30 knots and the weather reports called for 30+ by the end of the next day and accordingly high seas.
Bahia Santa Margarita
So we made the right decision and chose to beat feet out of Santa Margarita and buy ourselves an extra day in San Jose Del Cabo. And the best news is that with our new handicap, we were very close to beating our nearest competition (G-Rated - a nice new sloop).
More later about the ride down to Cabo.
Turtle BayWe got to Turtle Bay after dark and anchored with the fleet. There's a very very small town there, and we were all pretty tired so we skipped the going-ashore. When we're at anchor, we can all sleep through the night, and I was particularly grateful not to pull my usual 11:30-2:00 and 6:30-10:30 watches!
The start at Turtle BayThe next morning, we had another race start and took off south for Bahia Santa Margarita and the possibility of whales outside of Bahia Magdalena. This time, we made a calculated tactical risk - that we'd get better wind and more sail-time (versus engine time) if we went farther out into the ocean. Well, we went, but the wind wasn't there waiting for us. We motored on.
All around Turtle Bay, however, there are drift nets and lobster pots galore. So we had to keep two people up in front of the boat scanning for obstructions. A net would get wrapped around our keel and propeller and could seriously damage the boat, so it was slow and careful going until we got about 10 miles offshore.
Our world for 8 daysEventually, we had to turn back in towards the second finish line, and finally we got some wind. Of course, with the wind came swells, but they were still very mild. And instead of tailing off, the wind became more intense as we pulled into Bahia Santa Margarita for the night. BSM is just a fishing camp in a partially-protected bay just north of Magdalena. By the time we dropped anchor, the wind was getting up towards 30 knots and the weather reports called for 30+ by the end of the next day and accordingly high seas.
Bahia Santa MargaritaSo we made the right decision and chose to beat feet out of Santa Margarita and buy ourselves an extra day in San Jose Del Cabo. And the best news is that with our new handicap, we were very close to beating our nearest competition (G-Rated - a nice new sloop).
More later about the ride down to Cabo.
Race 1 - Marina Del Rey to Cedros Island and Turtle Bay
When I close my eyes, I can still feel the boat rocking. This is after 36 hours on land in San Jose Del Cabo.
But the rocking and rolling didn't start for several days after the race began. We had a little wind as we headed out for the start 8 days ago, but within an hour of the starting gun it had died away to almost nothing. We started the boat's perky little diesel engine and kept on our way.
The fleet departs Marina Del Rey
We passed Catalina in the evening and by dawn we were cruising past San Clemente and on towards San Diego.
Catalina Island
And then not much happened for about 48 hours. We raised a cheer when we crossed into Mexican waters, but the wind stayed elsewhere. We motored. After a while, we headed farther out to sea in search of a breeze, but all we found was a bit more swell - then came the seasickness.
I tried to tough it out, but finally ended up at the rail on Sunday night. Then Stacy convinced me that a scopolamine patch was the better part of valor and I got better very quickly.
But that didn't help our race situation - we were falling farther behind the fast boats every hour. A Spinnaker-equipped boat can sail straight downwind with just a little breeze, but we need about 10 knots of wind to do better than our crossover speed (where it makes racing sense to discard our handicap advantage and use the engine).
Captain Bill Tarr
When we got to Cedros Island on the morning of Day 4, we were totally becalmed and race rules require that we sail the last mile to the finish. We had sails up, but we just drifted with the current to the finish. Then we fired up Perky again and motored on to Turtle Bay. That's when I caught my fish.
Sunset south of Magdalena Bay
As we expected, we finished second to G-Rated in this leg, but there's a silver lining - the race committee adjusted our handicap to make the second race leg more of a race.
Rose of Sharon - a lovely Schooner on our race
More on legs two and three later.
But the rocking and rolling didn't start for several days after the race began. We had a little wind as we headed out for the start 8 days ago, but within an hour of the starting gun it had died away to almost nothing. We started the boat's perky little diesel engine and kept on our way.
The fleet departs Marina Del ReyWe passed Catalina in the evening and by dawn we were cruising past San Clemente and on towards San Diego.
Catalina IslandAnd then not much happened for about 48 hours. We raised a cheer when we crossed into Mexican waters, but the wind stayed elsewhere. We motored. After a while, we headed farther out to sea in search of a breeze, but all we found was a bit more swell - then came the seasickness.
I tried to tough it out, but finally ended up at the rail on Sunday night. Then Stacy convinced me that a scopolamine patch was the better part of valor and I got better very quickly.
But that didn't help our race situation - we were falling farther behind the fast boats every hour. A Spinnaker-equipped boat can sail straight downwind with just a little breeze, but we need about 10 knots of wind to do better than our crossover speed (where it makes racing sense to discard our handicap advantage and use the engine).
Captain Bill TarrWhen we got to Cedros Island on the morning of Day 4, we were totally becalmed and race rules require that we sail the last mile to the finish. We had sails up, but we just drifted with the current to the finish. Then we fired up Perky again and motored on to Turtle Bay. That's when I caught my fish.
Sunset south of Magdalena BayAs we expected, we finished second to G-Rated in this leg, but there's a silver lining - the race committee adjusted our handicap to make the second race leg more of a race.
Rose of Sharon - a lovely Schooner on our raceMore on legs two and three later.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Jeffie the Fish Slayer
Greetings race fans!
This is our first post since leaving Marina Del Rey - we had a "Sea-mail" single side-band modem installed on Rhiannon, but it bravely quit working as we left the harbor. So there's a week's worth of news to catch up, but first I want to brag on our first (and so far, only) fish catch of the trip.
The fish in question seems to be a striped Bonito, but didn't match what our fishing book said about the meat - we fileted this bad boy and instead of the dark, oily meat expected for a Bonito, we found a lovely light filet - a bit softer than Ahi, but we turned this guy into sashimi toute suite! No spoiling nice fish with nasty fire on this boat.
Here's a shot of the mighty fish-slayer, red in tooth and claw (and t-shirt and shorts and shoes - Who knew the old fish could have so much blood in him?)...
We got this fish right off Cedros Island on our way to Turtle Bay - that's Cedros in the background - and have been skunked ever since. I checked and we're using the right tackle, so it's just bum luck. However, the fishing is said to be very good between San Jose Del Cabo and Puerto Vallarta, so we intend to keep at it. Other boats have landed Yellowtail (Hamachi) and Yellowfin Tuna, as well as a buttload of skipjack and other Bonito and Mackerel.
We've also seen a lot of whales, but I have yet to get a good picture of one.
More about the sailing and the race by and by...
This is our first post since leaving Marina Del Rey - we had a "Sea-mail" single side-band modem installed on Rhiannon, but it bravely quit working as we left the harbor. So there's a week's worth of news to catch up, but first I want to brag on our first (and so far, only) fish catch of the trip.
The fish in question seems to be a striped Bonito, but didn't match what our fishing book said about the meat - we fileted this bad boy and instead of the dark, oily meat expected for a Bonito, we found a lovely light filet - a bit softer than Ahi, but we turned this guy into sashimi toute suite! No spoiling nice fish with nasty fire on this boat.Here's a shot of the mighty fish-slayer, red in tooth and claw (and t-shirt and shorts and shoes - Who knew the old fish could have so much blood in him?)...
We got this fish right off Cedros Island on our way to Turtle Bay - that's Cedros in the background - and have been skunked ever since. I checked and we're using the right tackle, so it's just bum luck. However, the fishing is said to be very good between San Jose Del Cabo and Puerto Vallarta, so we intend to keep at it. Other boats have landed Yellowtail (Hamachi) and Yellowfin Tuna, as well as a buttload of skipjack and other Bonito and Mackerel.
We've also seen a lot of whales, but I have yet to get a good picture of one.
More about the sailing and the race by and by...
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