Surprise passage

Bahia San Francisquito, Baja California (BC), Mexico

The astute reader will have noticed that we are no longer in Baja California Sur. That's right! We are now in Baja California. For those who don't know, the Baja peninsula is divided into two states; the northern half is Baja California and the southern half is Baja California Sur. It is just this kind of information that could win you a round of Trivial Pursuit someday - so pay attention!

We left Santa Rosalia at 2:45 in the afternoon. Almost immediately we got our double-reefed main and full genoa launched. The weather forecast called for NE winds, changing to east, then SE overnight - should be perfect for our planned 77 mile passage to the NW.

Everything started well, with the 10 to 11 knot NE winds finding us close-hauled on a starboard tack, averaging over 4 knots, until about 5PM when the wind veered to the east and seemed to be dying.After bobbing around for about 15 minutes, the wind came up from the SE and we enjoyed a broad reach (downwind sail), still in about 10 to 11 knots of wind, now at a sedate 2.5 to 3.5 knot pace. Just before midnight, the winds shifted to the SW and we were forced to gybe to a port tack. To gybe this boat, we needed to furl in the headsail, and before we had a chance to let it out again, the winds freshened to 15 knots and we found ourselves moving along at better than 4 knots with only the double-reefed main.

 Over the next couple of hours the winds kept increasing and shifting till they were coming directly from the west. At this point we had to unfurl a scrap of the headsail to keep the boat pointed the way we wanted and soon found ourselves screaming along at better than 6 knots, close hauled, in 20 knots of wind and seas that were beginning to build. Needless to say, Susanne was seasick - the motion was really quite bad, and we were starting to get occasional splashes over the side of the cockpit.

With the ever building winds (around 24 knots), we elected to "heave to" around 3 AM. This is a maneuver that we have seldom used - the basic idea is to let the bow of the boat come through the wind, without allowing the headsail to tack. Then you turn back into the wind until the headsail and back-winded foresail are balanced and the boat makes no more forward motion. Once I achieved this, I locked the wheel in that position and we both went below to see if we could get some sleep. The boat's motion was much better and we were just drifting backwards on our course at less than 2 knots.

This lasted till about 5:30AM, when the boat tacked back over by itself (I probably did not have enough of the headsail unfurled) and I had to scramble to get it under control. I decided we may as well continue on our way (the winds were still around 18 to 20 knots) but then the autopilot started screaming at me "RFU NOT FOUND", and refused to engage. I was able to get the boat going in the right general direction, still close-hauled on a port tack, and locked the wheel to let it find its own way. This worked so well that I was able to spend some time tracking down the "RFU" problem. Turns out that this is the "Rudder Following Unit" which had a little mechanical problem, caused primarily by the fact that I had the wheel turned so forcefully during the heaving to. I was able to correct the problem and get the autopilot on track again, but continued without it while the boat was so happy to set its own course, until around 8:00AM when the wind shifted to the SW.

We then continued on a beam-reach, turning into a broad-reach as the winds continued to veer to the south. At 9:20AM, the winds died to less than 10 knots and I started the engine and furled in the genoa. We motorsailed the remainder of the way to our current location in Bahia San Francisquito, where we arrived around 1:30PM. A real highlight was encountering a large pod of dolphins around 11AM who kept us company for about 1/2 an hour, playing in our bow wave and showing off their athletic abilities with leaps out of the water.

All in all, an exciting passage, with a few surprises thrown in to keep us honest. We sailed for over 18 hours and only motored for about 5 - some kind of record for us.

{GMST}28|26|N|112|52|W|Bahia San Francisquito, BC, Mexico|Bahia San Francisquito, BC, Mexico{GEND}