Well, I've begun the last leg of my sailboat trip until November, when I'll retrieve Chemistry from the Guaymas Marina Seca, get all sorts of great work done on her, and plop her back in the water for our trip to Florida (and/or beyond?). I left Agua Verde this morning about 9, motor-sailed up to Puerto Escondido, fueled up and were out of there in a flash. It's now 5:30, I've just finished some work-work, and for most of the day I've been doing that web development stuff and some boat housekeeping, preparing Chemistry for the Sea of Cortez crossing even though it's forecast to be quiet, flat motoring all the way across.
It's a 20-hour trip (at 6 knots) from Puerto Escondido straight to Guaymas at a bearing of 10-12 degrees True. This means I'll be crossing the Sea at a diagonal, almost due north, but frankly, I could use some regular wind so I don't mind the middle of the Sea. I don't think I'll find it even in the middle this trip, though. I'm making 6.1 knots motor-sailing with a negligible wind on my starboard bow. I left Isla Carmen and Isla Coronados behind an hour ago, so there's open sea ahead with still a couple hours of light.
What great work will I have done on Chemistry next Fall? Well, we'll start with some good Mexican bottom paint that will kill any creature dumb enough to even *think* about growing there. The US EPA won't let us buy the really toxic stuff, so as a consequence I've carried around hundreds of extra pounds of weeds and barnacles at various times - and who knows, maybe infection from my barnacle-cut hand will be the end of me? Thanks, EPA. I'd like to get a new radar; this one is pretty old and barely adequate. There have been several times this trip where a boat hasn't show up on radar until just a few miles out - especially in rolly seas. I'd like a radar to have a bit better performance than that. I need to get the mainsail track re-welded to the boom - that broke somewhere around Barra de Navidad. I need to get this cockpit enclosure canvas re-done; the mildew has to be dead by now, in this heat, but it's still there. And after so many years on the hard, the canvas is pretty brittle, and coming apart at some key points of pressure. New cockpit cushions, new salon settee fabric, new rugs, a more matress-like matress, new running rigging, new (fresh scent!) sanitation hoses, a truly networked electronic system, two new tilt-able 2'X2' solar panels, an upgraded (and/or completely refreshed) battery bank, a 110-volt electrical system with a new inverter, new fridge plates and a new water heater.... And most importantly of all, a new linear drive arm for OV, since my rebuild only lasted about 500 miles.
How much of that will I actually get done next fall? Probably just the paint, boom-welding, the enclosure and the auto pilot. Truthfully, I can live with everything else. But if lightning strikes, business-wise, would I sell Chemistry and commission a brand new Oyster or Hinckley, or would I make Chemistry the prettiest 1989 Taswell 43 in the oceans of the earth? Well, assuming I'm still single-handing and don't want to go any bigger, there's no question; Chemistry is my girl.
TT
