2013-14 Finale. it was a great season.

What a week! The final preparations for storing the boat always are a very busy time when trying to fit in so many various facets of cleaning, storing, repairs, deciding what has to come back with you, finding others with vehicles that can take heavy of bulky items back, socializing with friends who you won't see for another 6 months or more and trying to keep some level of sanity without biting your partner's head off. The stress gets worse as the final departure date looms. In the past, when we drove back and forth, it wasn't an issue. You could delay a day or two, but these last 3 seasons we have not had that luxury and we are bound by the flight schedules made all those weeks ago when the cheap fares were available. Fran, our personal travel agent, takes care of all arrangements finding cheap flights, hotels and bus transport online.

The last blog entry had us just departing from Topolobampo with Adagio, after a short stay to avoid a windy passage.

Shrimper with pelican rigging

 

Topolobampo approaches with Adagio and tanker

We sailed our last day and night in flat calm seas with very little wind with the Iron Spinnaker continuing to serve us well. We arrived in Guaymas mid-day and took up a familiar spot at the Fonatur marina dock alongside a number of other boats who were also getting ready to haul out at Gabriel's yard. Gabriel does not have any docks so it was fortuitous that Fonatur has recently reduced their slip rates, however, they have yet to follow suit with their yard rates. Looks like there will be very few boats there again this year. Forbes and Cameron have been there for months completing a major refit but now they are very concerned about the rumors of new policies coming from Fonatur HQ in Mexico City. There is talk that all boatwork will be forbidding in the yard. With rates almost 3 times that of Gabriel's they are not endearing themselves to the cruising public.


Our 3 days at the dock were spent removing and washing all of the running rigging and sails, folding them on the docks and stowing them below. The process requires lots of fresh water, laundry soap, fabric softener, nice clean and wide docks and lots of elbow grease. This would be near impossible at Gabriel's yard where there are no docks and lots of dirt and sand. (Yes, you get what you pay for but at $124/mo we'll take it) While there, Joel and Chris on 40-Love arrived. They had a vehicle and their offers of assistance greatly facilitated logistics. In fact, they gave us a ride to the bus station last night.

 

Osprey and catch at Fonatur

 

 

Guaymas Sunset

We also saw Omar, our favorite mechanic. Within a few minutes he had diagnosed a leaky injector pump as the most likely culprit of our increased fuel consumption since Panama. He will repair that and tune up the motor when we return in the fall.

On the afternoon of the 26th we motored our last 2 miles to Gabriel's haul out slip. The following morning Gosling was lifted and transported a few hundred yards to her summer digs in the new recently completed new yard. With the lowest rates of all the local facilities Gabriel is capitalizing on the haul out and boat storage business. His original yard is near full already and his new yard should be well populated by late spring.

 



 

In the "ditch" ready to be lifted

 

 

Gosling's home for the next 6 months

 

These last 3 days have been a blur of frenzied cleaning, stowing, rearranging, talking to Francisco about paint touch-ups and to Marisa, a local sales agent who will be co-brokering with Kings Easton in the UK and acting as an on-site listing agent for us. We have also been discussing our electronic and electrical problems with Allan Smith, a local surveyor and our link with our insurance agent (and Marisa’s partner).

Capt Jack surfaced as we were cleaning. He had been lost for the last 4 weeks...



Also in the yard were Kathy and Hal (Airborne). They have been there all season so far and hope to splash and get a few months afloat before returning home to Vancouver.

So, now, bussing it just past Tuscon, all of that is behind us and our trip from Panama is just a memory. Our final totals for this season are 2920 miles traveled with just over 500 hours on the engine. In the six weeks it took us to travel from Panama we travelled 2620 of those miles. Unless we decide to take Gosling back to Canada sometime in the future this will most likely be our biggest season.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Kelowna where we will stay at Jacquie and Von's and horse sit while they traipse off to a well deserved holiday to Hawaii and we will be making amends to Rosie for abandoning her for the past 6 months. I have a feeling she'll be very upset when we take her home in a few more weeks. She has been enjoying herself way too much on the farm.

Location:On the Tufesa, Executive bus between Nogales and Tuscon