The rigging on Gato Loco was just replaced and the rig tensioning was way off at the start of the trip. We went very conservative to this point and had only tightening the inner and outer shrouds. Funny enough, last time in Santa Rosalia I went up the mast too, that time to clean the contacts on the Windex. Up I went to tighten the upper and lower forward diamonds (they had been floppy). The forestay was also looser that it should be and we tried to tighten it but without going back up the mast again we couldn’t get access to the upper nut above the turn buckle. It would be good enough for the remained of the trip.
Groceries were the next order of the day, with four people it made it much easier to haul them back to the boat. Then water and ice from a nearby tienda before attempting to fill up water. Of course 9:00am came and went and still not water on the dock. Around 9:15am Lowell tracked down a security guard who called for permission to turn on the water. Whew, we were near the bottom of our tank and adding water was absolutely necessary. The water tanks filled, Marcia and I did some laundry and off we went just after 10:00am.
A bit of motorsailing to start and as we reached Isla San Marcos we landed a nice Sierra Mackerel. Through the channel we had good winds that with the motor kept up in the 7 knot range. Things got even better on the push into Bahia Conception, with stronger winds which allowed us to shut down the motors. Finally! Another Sierra in enroute added to the freezer. It turned out to be a good test of the rigging tensioning with 12-17 knots (with everything looking very good) and gone was the pumping of the mast. Expecting to lose our wind as we entered the bay instead the wind picked up (after a short period of calm). Sailing continued into apparent 20-23 knot winds, which we managed to harvest all the way until we turned into Santispac (our anchorage for the night). What a great way to end the day.
After a beer, we piled into the dinghy to run into Armando’s for dinner. The place was packed… We started chatting with a couple next to us who are finishing up their first season in the Sea. Denis and Rosario (SV Counting Stars) had sailed down from BC last year and joined the Haha on October. Due to work it was a short season but they had a great time and are looking forward to next season which they can spend the entire time cruising allowing them to slow down to explore the Baja more in-depth. Quite the familiar theme for a lot of first year cruisers.
The long wait ended with some great food was delivered along with a second set of margaritas. Maybe the slow service was on purpose…just kidding. Bellies full we tumbled into the dinghy and found our way back to Gato Loco with our heads hitting the pillows shortly after.
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