Here We Go Again!

Somehow the moments between sitting on a mooring at our beloved Howland's Landing in Catalina and our last view of San Diego from the deck of Moonshadow were separated by four weeks. We were so busy with last minute preparations, it seemed like a day or two.  

Photo by Fin Beven

Looking back through the Baja Ha-Ha fleet at our beloved home town San Diego, we realized the start of this rally also meant the end of living aboard our floating home at good ole San Diego Yacht Club; listening to music coming from Humphreys concerts just across the bay; paddle boarding with friends for a swim at Kellogg's Beach; seeing friends around the Yacht Club; and being just a phone call away from dinner with family.  It was a bit like our first farewell three and a half years ago when we left San Diego in a pick-up towing a U-Haul trailer full of "important stuff" bound for Florida for a sea trial with Moonshadow and her owners.  But different.

Photo by Fin Beven

But when you want the view through the overhead hatch to be of the spinnaker pulling you south into the tropics, you have to expect a few farewells.

The Baja Ha-Ha is a cruiser's rally which leaves San Diego each fall with over a hundred boats ranging from (this year) 19 feet to 70 feet.  Some of those who sign up have thousands of miles logged all over the world and others are setting out on their first adventure.  For some it's a few weeks off with a quick return to California. For others, the Ha-Ha is the beginning of a season of cruising to the Sea of Cortez and mainland Mexico.  For still others, it is the first step into an unpredictable future of adventure sailing to distant shores.  All benefit from the fun of meeting the sailors in the fleet, morning roll calls on the radio and stops along the way to rest, have fun and fix broken stuff (the whole reason people become sailing cruisers is to fix broken stuff).  This year was the 22nd time our friend Richard Spindler aka The Grand Poobah, has organized and lead this mob south to Cabo, the third for Moonshadow, and the second for us.  

Though Deb and John usually make passages alone, the Ha-Ha is one of those times we like to have friends along, so this year our crew included Ric and Monika Sanders, long time friends from Los Angeles Yacht Club.  While Ric has thousands of racing and yacht delivery miles in his logbook, Monika was looking forward to her first overnight passage.  We figured with a name like Sanders, they could help with some interior varnish, but that didn't exactly work out.

But what did work out with our crew was the ability to carry our spinnaker all day and into the night.  With just two of us, flying the 'chute at night is out of the question.

Like last year, we stopped in Turtle bay where the modern, lighted, astroturf baseball field stands out in stark contrast to the rest of this dusty Baja town.  Each year when the Ha-Ha fleet arrives, it's like this:  thirty fielders and a lineup of batters waiting their turn to knock it into the outfield and run the bases.  The town kids participate and, from the look on their faces, it's tons of fun.  The fleet of sailors from the US and Canada bring all sorts of baseball stuff and leave it behind when they leave.

The other Ha-Ha event in Turtle Bay is a beach party on a nearby piece of deserted sand at the northeast corner of this immense bay.  

Here, the fleet can unwind after three days of sailing by playing volley ball, boogie boarding in the surf or climbing the nearby foothills for a view of all the fun below.

Photo by Fin Beven

One of the fun activities below was a women vs. men tug of war utilizing someone's 300 foot anchor rode.  The Grand Poobah, rigs the event each year so the women outnumber the men 2 or 3 to one.  Guess who won!

Another fun activity is posing with friends and Moonshadow for a group shot.

Again, like last year, the second stop was Bahia Santa Maria, a place so remote if you find any other yachts here, that would be really something.  How about 110 boats?!! It was fun to be the first here, select the best anchorage location and watch the fleet filter in throughout the day.

By night time there was a new constellation of anchor lights from all the new arrivals.

The Ha-Ha is well organized with events at every stop, like this huge dinghy raft up behind Profligate, the Grand Poobah's 63 foot catamaran...

(Moonshadow top right with her crew arriving by dinghy - extreme right)

Photo by Richard Spindler - shamelessly stolen from his FaceBook page.

...but sometimes the best things can't be planned.  Like an impromptu paddle board outing...

Or an equally impromptu cocktail party in Moonshadow's endless cockpit!

But the one thing that set this Ha-Ha apart from last year was the sailing.  Unlike last year's light wind event where we motored two of the three legs, we sailed with the spinnaker up all three legs and had some spectacular days, like the last day when we dueled with Sea Level, a 49 foot catamaran owned by friends Jim and Kent Milski.  They've already circumnavigated aboard Sea Level and now their only purpose in life is to beat Moonshadow in an all out speed run for Cabo.

Photo by Fin Beven

They tried several times to pass us to leeward...

But the sheer beauty of Moonshadow scooting along hitting 11 and 12 knots was too much.  We think they just lost all concentration.

 But we were wrong.  They were sneaky and they had a plan.  When we weren't looking, they sneaked up to windward, which is pretty sneaky for a rally.

Then it was the Moonshadow crew that was awestruck as they rocketed past until...

...their view of Moonshadow was of our bow.  Well done Jim, you bastard!

Nobody who has ever sailed doesn't love passing another boat, nor do we particularly love getting passed, but none of that compares to winning the green shirt you get in the Baja Ha-Ha by... well, we don't know exactly... but only one boat in each division gets one, and we now have a matching set, one for 2014 and one for 2015.  

Now a familiar sight for Moonshadow, Land's End at Cabo San Lucas marks the end of the Ha-Ha Rally, but the beginning of a whole new chapter for Moonshadow and crew.

We'll now spend the winter on Mexico's mainland Pacific Coast taking a bit more time to visit some of the places we've seen before.  Along the way, we'll be studying the dozens of charts we bought in San Diego that cover the South Pacific....

 ... and doing some reading about the places that lie ahead for Moonshadow.

Cleared for takeoff

The Baja Bash just isn't fun.  You know it will be a long boring and at times loud trip, so all you can do is do it and get it over with.  This year, it was over in 102 hours, 7 hours faster than last year, and with less wreckage than before.  The experience quickly fades as you enjoy the time to reunite with family and friends....

...which is what Deb did.






Deb loves her girls!

But for John, a few days after getting Moonshadow situated in a slip in a San Diego marina, he was on his way back to Oregon to help brothers Steve and Bill with our Dad's 93 year accumulation of really good stuff.  

The first clue of what we were about to encounter was the discovery that our Dad had ordered the smallest trash you can get... and arranged pickups every other week. 

See, Dad just never threw anything away.  This is easy to do when you own a 6,000 square foot home with a 2400 square foot garage/shop building

After three weeks in Oregon, John came home for the Fourth of July weekend aboard Moonshadow anchored in La Playa.

A Fourth of July tradition at San Diego Yacht Club is the annual bocci ball tournament.  Those old farts on the right went on so long through the brackets, they almost missed the Cocktail Bingo game. Those young studs on the left? Ahem, not so much....  but they did the right thing and saved us seats for Bingo.

We both got time to enjoy our grandchildren at the club.

Team-levitating over the water.

 Natalie being adorable in a sabot.

John teaching Brandon about paddle boarding... or is the other way 'round?

 Brandon, trying to be taller than Gramma.

Natalie being adorable.

They are growing up so fast!

Then it was back to Oregon where the three brothers all worked long days, perfected our Margarita recipe, and ate very well.  For us, in a situation where the opportunity for conflict lurks around every decision, we all managed to accomplish a huge job with never an angry word or anything short of total cooperation.  We all had fun reconnecting, rediscovering what amazing brothers we have, and in a month of miracles, had the house empty and SOLD! 

And that changed everything!  It meant Moonshadow could return to Mexico with the Baja Ha-Ha fleet in the fall, then proceed with our cruise in 2016.  But first, we had to enjoy just a bit of San Diego's fabulous weather.

And time with family!

Then it was time to get to all the jobs waiting for us aboard Moonshadow.  Having repaired just about everything that had worn out or broken during the last 3.5 years of continuous cruising, it was time to get ahead of the curve by dealing with things that had not broken.  Yet.  And we went after it full bore.  A significant milestone was the realization that suddenly the fine folks at San Diego Marine Exchange on Shelter Island started greeting John at the door saying "HI JOHN!!" and later presented him  with San Diego Marine Exchange crew shirt.  

We have accomplished an impressive amount of tasks which we feel will significantly reduce the "oh shit" moments that can interfere with the fun we're after.  A short list of things we've done includes:

• New alternators
• New engine mounts
• Rebuilt injector pump
• Rebuilt injectors
• Rebuilt heat exchanger
• Overhauled exhaust manifold
• Overhauled oil cooler
• New Raw water pump
• New coolant pump
• New engine fan belts
• New engine hoses
• New raw water supply hoses
• New refrigerator compressor
• Overhauled air conditioners
• New forward throttle control in mid cockpit
• New water maker membranes
• New water maker lift pump
• New water maker pressure pump
• New aluminum AB 10 dinghy
• New Iridium Sat Phone
• Rebuilt hydraulic ram for auto pilot
• Rebuilt electric motors for hydraulic auto pilot pumps (2)
• Rebuilt hydraulic backstay adjuster
• Rebuilt hydraulic staysail stay adjuster
• Rebuilt Reckmann genoa furler
• Complete rigging survey
• New spinnaker halyard
• New outhaul
• New blocks and line for spinnaker pole lift
• Mainsail repairs and strengthening
• New Garmin VHF radio
• New Garmin 12" chart plotter
• New stereo
• New stereo amplifier
• New stereo speakers (4)
• New hoses for toilets and sink drains
• New depth sounder transducer
• New Aqua Drive shaft coupling
• New Garmin charts to Thailand
• New paper charts to New Zealand

          Whew!

We've learned the hard way that extensive refitting requires a shake-down cruise.  Well that was our excuse to take Moonshadow up to beautiful Howlands Landing in Catalina for a week of relaxing, reading, napping, and ukulele playing.  It was the most beautiful weather we can remember in 20 or more years of going there, with seawater temperatures never below 75 degrees.

(click picture for full size)

Oops, left out the best part:  Buffalo Milk!!! 

Another milestone was the moment we found ourselves renting a Rug Doctor machine to touch up the area carpets.  That must mean we're nearly finished!  Well, we better be!  As of this writing there are exactly two weeks until we cast off for Mexico!

Which gives us a bit of time to reflect once again on just exactly why we're doing what we are doing:  In the last five months, we have lost five important people in our lives...

John's Dad

Bill Rogers

San Diego Yacht Club, friend, and fellow Mexico cruiser 

Rob Britton

Rob Britton's last dinner ashore in San Evaristo with wife Lynn 

Deb's cousin 

Jan Pluim

A new friend we met just last year, but whose contagious energy while battling cancer made an unforgettable impression 

Mark Sciarretta

Mark Sciarretta receiving his initiation swats for a lifetime membership into the Punta Mita Yacht and Surf Club, administered by Commadorable Deb Rogers

And a legend among cruisers, musicians, and Mexicans

Philo Hayward

Philo Hayward on right jamming with Oscar Fuentes at Philo's Bar, La Cruz Mexico

All these people gone from our lives in such short order reminds us of one of Philo's lines:

Dream as if you'll live forever

But live as if you'll die today

So as we close this blog, here's the next segment of our dream:  

Winter in Mexico.  

Summer in the South Pacific.  

Winter in New Zealand (where it will be Summer!).  

Then?  

 Well, that's a few moons off.  Stay tuned!

Memorial Day

Between rushing home to San Diego to be with our son in the hospital with a broken neck and then racing to Oregon to be with John's Dad, we found some time to visit Luscomb's Point, a surf break on Sunset Cliffs where 5 years ago we scattered our son's ashes.  If you're ever near here, walk out to the end of the cliff and toss a penny in the water.

John's Dad's passing wasn't unexpected but such events never happen without some profound impact on those around, not the least of whom being Dad's beautiful companion Frieda, who seems to wonder what's going on and, more importantly, who among the three brothers the new Alpha Dog is going to be.  

When John's brothers left Oregon, John and Frieda stayed behind in Dad's big riverfront home, attending to the mountain of affairs associated with his estate.  Frieda was never far, usually preferring the risk of getting stepped on to being left alone.  After three weeks John's watch in Oregon came to an end and his brother Steve took over.  For the day overlap when both brothers were in the house, it became obvious who Frieda's new Alpha Dog would be:  Steve!

Just two days later, it was quite a change to find ourselves thousands of miles away from all the recent events and anchored here in Ensenada del Candelero on Esla Espiritu Santo, about 20 miles north of La Paz.  John calls it Candlestick Park.

The place gets it's name from this rock in the middle of the bay, which reminded it's discoverer of a candle.

We didn't mind the overcast day which provided some relief from the heat we remembered from last year.

But later, as the sun neared the horizon, Baja's magic came to life

The colors seem to change by the minute and the rocks appear to radiate light.  

That old candle changed from this...

... to this in a matter of minutes.

We had to remind ourselves to look away from the sun to enjoy the magic all around us...

...everywhere we looked the colorful views were breathtaking.

Someone? Please cue the pelican for the sunset picture!!

The sunsets were like this each night we were here.

We needed to start our journey north along the outside of Baja's long peninsula for our summer aboard Moonshadow in San Diego, but convinced ourselves we deserved just a couple days in the small cove and fishing village of San Evaristo, where the sunset colors work their own magic on the rolling hills and rugged Sierra de la Gigantic along the spine of the Baja peninsula.

We found a lovely spot in a cove just the right size for Moonshadow. 

Then we headed ashore for lunch and some cervezas at Lupe's restaurant.  Here, you'll find Charlotte and Steve Baker, who sailed their Catalina 27 "Willful Simplicity" to Mexico back in 2009; fell in love with San Evaristo and settled here where they help with Lupe's restaurant as well as helping the little community here.

While our lunch was being prepared, Charlotte gave us a box of paints, brushes and a shell so we could create moonshadow's part in the memory tree out front.

Later our dear friends from San Diego Yacht Club, Lynne and Rob Britton arrived aboard their ketch Aldebaran.  Sadly, Rob never left San Evaristo.  We learned by email from Lynne while on our Baja Bash north to San Diego that Rob passed away aboard his lovely ketch in this beautiful bay just two days after we'd had dinner together at Lupe's.

On Memorial Day.  

Rob Britton kept his boat Aldebaran on H dock at San Diego Yacht Club, just down from our boat Legacy.  He and his wife Lynne, and their dog Ruby began cruising Mexico several years ago and we've run into them in several anchorages since we arrived here last year.  Rob was a big man.  If you looked straight ahead, all you saw was neck.  So you had to look up to Rob, but not just because of his stature.  He was a smart guy, having worked on aspects of the Apollo mission among many other things.  He was funny and a great story teller.  You could always tell it was time to sit back and listen when Rob would say "Well:..." then take in a great deep breath.  Rob and John had lots of things to talk about; flying airplanes, racing midget ocean racers, cruising offshore, troubleshooting and fixing boat parts.  Now, there's a big hole in our lives where Rob used to be.  

 We are once again reminded we must live every day to it's fullest. 

 Like it's our last.  That's what Rob did.

Our trip around the East Cape and under the south end of the Baja Peninsula was easy, followed by a day of running around Cabo San Lucas getting our clearance out of Mexico.  Yes, RUNNING.  This year, the port captain insisted on seeing a paid receipt from the marina so he could rest assured we we not going to skip out on the tab.  Hey, do we look like those kind of people?  Anyway, we learned of this new requirement 15 minutes before the government office closed at 2:00 PM.  Needless to say, we RAN, and made it to the marina and back in time to finish our paperwork so we could leave the next day.

Besides the usual crash-bang that goes along with any 750 mile passage directly upwind, our Bash was uneventful.  We'd prefer not to have an eventful Baja Bash, so we're quite happy with that.  At just a tad over 100 hours underway, we never had wind more than 10 degrees from straight ahead, but we were happy.  Happy it was over!

We did however have some visitors.

For some reason, Moonshadow seems to attract birds.  Then we look at them and they give us back this look that says "Whada YOU looking at?"

But this dove paid it forward, taking a turn standing watch, steering Moonshadow, and keeping a beady eye on things.  Being the bird of peace, we were happy to have him along, and hope his visit signals the onset of more peaceful times ahead.

For a review of other freeloaders, check out our Stowaways page.