Merry Christmas from San Carlos

Merry Christmas from San Carlos. Gosling has been alongside at Marina San Carlos for the past 2 days. We decided to come in to get the remainder of the work done before leaving for the Baja side.
After arriving from Guaymas we had a busy week working on a number of items but life at the buoy was tedious. Trips ashore invariably turned into half-day events where little progress was being made onboard but, on the other hand, were socially rewarding. After all, this is Christmas week. The main event of the week was the Christmas dinner given at the Yacht Club. For 80 pesos (approx $8 Can) we had a great lunch and lots of Christmas atmosphere, almost as good as we would have had at CFSA but without the white stuff outside..... We teamed up with Doug and Trish (Ka-Em-Te), Gil and Lexie (Sunday) , a British couple off of Fantasia and our old friends Lin and Lee from Royal Exchange who have arrived to complete the preps on their boat after an 18 month delay.
It was nice to see Lin and Lee again and recall our adventures together for the four months we sailed in Royal Exchange 2 years ago and which were the incentive that caused us to take the big step of doing it on our own.
The cruising population here is very transient at the moment with new people arriving daily to rejoin their boats, and others leaving their boats and heading north to be with family for the holidays. A few are heading south already but the majority prefer to remain here enjoying a much chillier San Carlos for a few more days or weeks. Although we still have nice sunny and warm days the nights are quite cool dipping into the mid 40’s F.
The main reason we have come into the marina is to have our batteries changed out. They were ordered on Saturday and are supposed to arrive on Monday. Trish has been helping us install the windlass and if all goes well that should be completed on Monday as well. The installation of the windlass has not been as easy as the instructions make it out to be. There had to be a few modifications made to accept the components and we found out that the 2/0 cables were too stiff to be wired directly to the windlass. Luckily Trish has some smaller, more flexible cables that we will be able to complete the job.
With any luck we should be good to go by Tuesday or Wednesday. We are still experiencing Northerly winds so it should be a good sail to the other side. During the past few days it has been quite blustery with Northwest winds gusting to 30 kts in the anchorage. We managed to get to the dock before the wind developed on Friday and Fran did a nice job of driving Gosling alongside. Keith Hanna would have been proud.
Rosie has been very thankful for the opportunity to go ashore anytime she wants to and do her business and play ball. She has another puppy pal, Cortez, a Peekapom, the same age actually that belongs to Greg and Julie of Seafire, a boat from Nanaimo. It is really cute to see the 2 of them playing in the parking lot.
Tuesday, 30/Dec
This will be a late post as we are now dependent on a few local bars for our internet.
The Windlass is in and working and the batteries have arrived and are onboard. They will be installed tomorrow. We had planned to leave tomorrow but after considering that we would be far away from anyone on New Year’s Eve we decided to stay another day and enjoy the festivities. Our revised departure date is now New Year’s Day so Happy New Years all.

Back to San carlos for Christmas

We are finally away from the noise of downtown Guaymas. We had planned on departing early in the week but delays with the mechanic and adjustments to the freezer took longer than expected. We finally cast off on Saturday and headed up to San Carlos. Had we left a few days earlier we would have been able to sail up, however, we had to slog up the coast with 18-25 kt headwinds. A big engine is an asset in those conditions and we were able to make headway despite the wind and 3-4 ft seas covering the 19 miles in just less than 6 hours.
We have rented the buoy from our German friends, Elka and Uva from Marina Seca, Guyamas. It took us 4 attempts to tie up to the buoy but it was worth the effort. It certainly takes the worry about dragging anchors, besides; the windlass is this week’s project.
During our stay at the Singlar marina we met Ron and Pattie (and Matie, the dog) from California in Bagabundo, an Offshore 40. We were really impressed with the design and comfort level built into this boat.
Since we arrived we have continued to work on projects. J-G’s priority is the wiring for the windlass. He is finding it quite a challenge to access areas to pass the wires behind cupboards that require hours of disassembly. Once accessed there is usually another task that should be done before access is closed, in this case it was replacing bolts holding down a pad eye.
Since we arrived in Mexico Rosie has been used to regular walks and good places to do her business. She is finding that sailing sucks! She doesn’t like the engine noise, rocking and rolling and that windswept look. Most off all she misses the dusty boatyard and the small patches of grass at Singlar. The thought of having to pee on a small carpet on the bow doesn’t appeal to her at all, however, by the evening of day 2 at the buoy she decided that she couldn’t hold it any longer, much to our mutual relief....
Now that we are dependent on our battery power we have come to the realization that the four old 6-volt batteries that remained from the original bank will have to be replaced before we leave. As the only source of decent batteries is north of the border we may have another delay to obtain replacements. Unless we can find someone going north we may have to make a quick trip to Tucson ourselves.
Fran set up the “Christmas Palm” today, complete with solar Christmas lights and several guy lines to keep it from being blown away by the strong Northerlies we are still experiencing in the late afternoons and evenings. We are booked into the Christmas day dinner at the yacht club but, with all of this we will miss the kids and grandchildren, this being our first Christmas away since England in the early 90’s.
Have a great Christmas all.

We have splashed!

Gosling is afloat! We splashed as scheduled last Friday. It was a harrowing experience to see the travel lift raise her off her stands and slowly traverse the few hundred feet to the launching basin but it was accomplished within ½ hour of a spring tide. With the help of many friends we were able to spin her around to face the channel and keep her centered in the basin until we finished checking for leaks. The engine started up without any coaxing and we were off across the Bay within ½ hour of launching, our German friend, Elka, along for the ride.
Gabriel, the yard owner, had marked the channel for us but as we reached the end of his buoys (tethered pop bottles) the depth reading went from 3 ½ ft to 1 ½ below the keel. Gabriel will need to do some more dredging! We reached the Singlar Marina without incident and we have been tied up here for the weekend getting re-rigged and cleaned up. Omar is arriving this morning to replace the engine mounts and align the engine. We expect to leave here by Wednesday if all goes well.
Our last week at Marina Seca Guaymas was a blur of last minute tasks, many of them in the “nice to do” realm. The anti-fouling was touched up with the local brand, Comex Americoat #3. It has a 50% copper content. I watched the local workmen apply it to another boat and they added a pouch of copper powder before application to increase the copper content to 70%. Other tasks included paint and varnish touch-ups to interior parts, completing the plumbing below the sink and making up some shelving and a base for that one. We also removed the old windlass and started to prep the pad for the new unit. Ted completed the freezer installation and I was able to begin re-assembly of the cupboard I had to take apart (to give him access to the original freezer conduits). That was quite the job. The builders didn’t skimp on screws when they assembled this boat!
Marina Singlar hasn’t changed much since our last stay but there are a few more establishments in the complex. The former assistant manager, Carlos, has left to pursue his masters in Mexico City and has been replaced by, Ariana, a pleasant young lady from Guaymas, who spent some time in Vancouver to learn English a few years ago. There are a few more boats here, including 4 on the hard and three at the dock. The main building has a few more businesses now. There is a bar and restaurant on the top level and a sushi bar, souvenir shop on the lower level to complement the coffee shop that has expanded. They have also put in a spa on the upper level of the main building. Fran and 2 of her friends, Trish and Lexie, spent a few hours getting pampered last week for Fran’s birthday on the 10th. It was also to pamper Trish, who has been caring for her husband who is battling cancer.
Saturday morning was another early start, with a drive out to San Carlos for the monthly Marine Mart cruisers swap meet. We arrived and spread our junk, er , treasures on a tarp, and hoped for the best. As usual JG bought more then we sold, but it was ALL needed for the boat....
A few local items: I don’t know why Mexico isn’t higher on the world beer consumption ratings but local supply stores are everywhere. Each major company has their own outlet or “deposito” where you can pick up cold cervesas until quite late in the evening. What a decent concept! Guaymas is decorated to the hilt for Christmas. As we left a restaurant last night we discovered that the local Christmas parade was about to pass. Our grand-daughter would have enjoyed the cheerleading squads from the local schools. It was nice to see all the children excited about it all. They are off school for a month since last week. The huge malecon/marina project is progressing here. There is much excavating being done and a lot has been done since we were here last. The main portion of the malecon near the city centre has been completed. There are nightly water shows at the fountains and people are everywhere during the evenings. The marina, itself, hasn’t begun construction yet but this ambitious project will need considerable dredging of the bay before it becomes reality. It will be interesting to see if Singlar survives the competition for the boating traffic.
We hope to leave here Wednesday for San Carlos Bay, as it is caro (expensive) here and we just can’t take too much more of the downtown nightly noise. Fran has resorted to wear ear plugs at night. Rosie will be in for a shock when we leave here. She hasn’t had to resort to a carpet on the bow since last summer, but she has adapted well to all the changes to date so we are hopeful.

Presail refit: WeeK 2

Another week of steady progress. The weather continues to be pleasant but there has been a definite cooling trend this week. Days are still hot but nights are getting chilly. One welcome side effect has been the reduction of mosquitoes so we aren’t complaining. We have been monitoring the weather in Victoria and it seems that it has been cloudy and 7-10C since we left. We just got word over the weekend that it is in the -20’s in Ottawa. I definitely prefer this climate!
The engine work is completed. The engine was flashed up on Tuesday and it ran like a top. All that remains is the replacement of the engine mounts and re-alignment of the engine and shaft and that will be done once we get back afloat.
We have made a date for the splash. The next tide that will ensure we get safely away is on the 12th at 0700. We have also made reservations at the Singlar Marina for a few days where we will re-rig the lines and sails and give the boat a thorough cleaning.
Our other accomplishments this week have been varied. We have taken several bits taken down to the work bench to be sanded and re-varnished (Cetol). We have painted more of the lower cupboard interiors and have begun to revamp the under-sink cupboard. The main problem there is the spaghetti of plumbing tubing that needs re-routing and some modifications to reflect the changes we have made to our water supply choices. Fran wants to eliminate the salt water supply to the sink and replace it with a foot pump operated fresh water supply as an alternative to the pressure system. The long lead from the inlet to the tap has always produced a stench when pumping up salt water and it will be better used for a salt water deck wash supply. All of the thru hulls have been serviced. We have made good use of local hardware suppliers for our odds and ends. There are several in our immediate vicinity but Technocrates has been our favourite. It is a small storefront but he carries an incredible amount of bits. Hernandez is the cruiser’s favourite for metal work. If there is anything you need someone on the morning net will have a source.
There are 3 people working on boats in the yard who are also refrigeration techs. Ted (tailgate wok chef from last weekend) is one of these. We had him diagnose the problem with our refrigerator unit. It took a while but he finally identified a bad circuit board which he. What a relief! We can now remove a fridge from our next year’s shopping list. Ted carries many parts with him and does quite a bit of work for local cruisers while carrying out repairs to his 1929 Albin sloop. After seeing the amount of work he has left to do on his boat it was easy to understand why he needs a job on the side. We have also asked him to assemble a freezer for us. We will locate it in the original cooler box.
All that is left to do is to touch up the anti-fouling where it has thinned out over the summer and install the windlass.

Presail refit: Week 2

Another week of steady progress. The weather continues to be pleasant but there has been a definite cooling trend this week. Days are still hot but nights are getting chilly. One welcome side effect has been the reduction of mosquitoes so we aren’t complaining. We have been monitoring the weather in Victoria and it seems that it has been cloudy and 7-10C since we left. We just got word over the weekend that it is in the -20’s in Ottawa. I definitely prefer this climate!
The engine work is completed. The engine was flashed up on Tuesday and it ran like a top. All that remains is the replacement of the engine mounts and re-alignment of the engine and shaft and that will be done once we get back afloat.
We have made a date for the splash. The next tide that will ensure we get safely away is on the 12th at 0700. We have also made reservations at the Singlar Marina for a few days where we will re-rig the lines and sails and give the boat a thorough cleaning.
Our other accomplishments this week have been varied. We have taken several bits taken down to the work bench to be sanded and re-varnished (Cetol). We have painted more of the lower cupboard interiors and have begun to revamp the under-sink cupboard. The main problem there is the spaghetti of plumbing tubing that needs re-routing and some modifications to reflect the changes we have made to our water supply choices. Fran wants to eliminate the salt water supply to the sink and replace it with a foot pump operated fresh water supply as an alternative to the pressure system. The long lead from the inlet to the tap has always produced a stench when pumping up salt water and it will be better used for a salt water deck wash supply. All of the thru hulls have been serviced. We have made good use of local hardware suppliers for our odds and ends. There are several in our immediate vicinity but Technocrates has been our favourite. It is a small storefront but he carries an incredible amount of bits. Hernandez is the cruiser’s favourite for metal work. If there is anything you need someone on the morning net will have a source.
There are 3 people working on boats in the yard who are also refrigeration techs. Ted (tailgate wok chef from last weekend) is one of these. We had him diagnose the problem with our refrigerator unit. It took a while but he finally identified a bad circuit board which he. What a relief! We can now remove a fridge from our next year’s shopping list. Ted carries many parts with him and does quite a bit of work for local cruisers while carrying out repairs to his 1929 Albin sloop. After seeing the amount of work he has left to do on his boat it was easy to understand why he needs a job on the side. We have also asked him to assemble a freezer for us. We will locate it in the original cooler box.
All that is left to do is to touch up the anti-fouling where it has thinned out over the summer and install the windlass.