I didn't plan to head to La Cruz quite yet - I was going to loiter around Tenacatita for a few days first, and pay as little as possible in marina fees at La Cruz. But I pulled up anchor today in Melaque and when I got to the entrance to Tenacatita (the next bay north) I noticed I had about 10 knots of wind on my starboard quarter, which would have meant it was blowing right into the Tenacatita anchorage. It's probably not that bad, but I decided to head to La Cruz anyway, and enjoy a few extra days to see that town and then head inland to see Guadalajara and catch the plane from there. So here I am at sunset, 7:14 PM, motoring north at 5.3 knots into a big swell and almost no wind. There was a big blow from the north the last couple days while I was in Melaque, so these swells are residuals from that, and they're occasionally up in the 12-14 ft range. But I'm making good progress anyway. I actually slowed down a while ago because I was going to reach Cabo Corrientes about 2:15 AM. That's a big cape, with occasionally foul weather if you hit it at the wrong time. So now I'm on track to reach Cabo Corrientes about 5 AM, which is better. There's a full or almost-full moon tonight, so it'll be a bright night.
Best of all (I don't think I've mentioned this), I've got OV back. I completed that rebuild while I was in Santiago, and while I wasn't sure at the time that I got him back together properly, all seems very well. I wasn't sure about the electro-magnetic clutch - it has two tiny wires that I broke taking it apart and had to solder back together. But apparently I got the connection made okay, and got the orientation right. Thanks by the way to Alan Katz (aka Dr Electron) for his help walking me through the rebuild. OV Jr (the wheel-mounted autopilot) did a great job, but OV is the greatest, and much better for these big seas. His hard-over times are much better - that's an autopilot measure of how fast he can turn. He turns fast, he corrects for swells as soon as they hit... welcome back, OV.
I'm "buddy boating" this leg with Tequila Rose - friends of Al & Yvette who I met at the wedding. They're motoring along about a mile behind me, though they're heading out a bit more now to seek some wind. There might be some out there, but it's going to be straight from the north, so I'll just keep motoring here about 4 miles offshore. I've got the mainsail up to steady me a bit, and there's just enough wind for that. The idea is, non-sailors, that a big sail up there, whether filled or not, acts like a brake or a parachute to keep the boat from flopping as much side-to-side on the swells. So though the swells are big, I'm heading almost directly into them, which is better than on the beam, and I've got just enough wind in the mainsail to keep the boat a little more steady, side-to-side.
There's not a lot of traffic out here. A lot of cruisers are getting set to head north, but the four or five other boats I saw leave Barra / Melaque / Tenacatita this morning all stopped at Chamela to wait for this swell to die down more tomorrow. I like the swell, and like I told Malavika when she was trying to get used to the motion and not get sick, "Hey, you pay extra for that at Disneyland." Yes, that's dumb, I know. But it does feel good to be out here getting lots of motion and pounding a bit - Chemistry's bottom needed a good cleaning, so hopefully this will do it and I won't have to get in the water and scrub.
Right now I'm cranking Built to Spill Live ("Cortez the Killer" ROCKS!), having just finished my dinner of steak fajitas and black beans. I seasoned the black beans by sauteing some onions and a sorrano pepper and some cumin, then adding the beans. The steak is actually "arachera," which is flank steak that's sold pre-marinated down here. It's very good, and because it's marinated so long it's very tender for flank steak. I bought a package of it in Santiago, not realizing that it was almost 2 kilos. So I've got another couple days of arachera.
Getting dark now, so I'm going to send this off via SSB and preserve my night vision (by not staring at a white screen), and instead check the horizon and motor along.
TT
