October 20, 2018
Start of the fall sailing season! Excitement had been building for a few weeks, as had the pile of boat parts. This year rather than the 11 hour bus ride I opted to meet my crew member Mike in San Diego, where we would use the CBX border crossing to the Tijuana airport for a flight to Hermosillo. I had…
September 1, 2018
I put together this map after trying to find a source for anchorages in the Sea of Cortez and the western coast of Mexico. Please consider it a work in progress as I am sure I am missing a number of great spots. If you have a favorite I missed please send an email and I’ll add it to the…
June 4, 2018
Before the rally my step-father asked if I could make the Stanley cup finals if he bought tickets. Um, hell yeah! It did however present a significant change of plans. Instead of a relaxing final month it would be a sprint to the finish and a rush to shutdown Strikhedonia for the hurricane season in San Carlos where she would…
May 24, 2018
Last year five catamarans shared a week long rally in the Sea of Cortez. For the 10th annual rally Kurt Jurman (owner of Westcoast Multihulls) stepped it up, big time to the tune of 15 multihull sailboats! West Coast Multihulls is opening a sailing school and charter business in Puerto Escondido and Kurt was able to arrange a couple free…
May 15, 2018
Making the break from Bonanza we were able to quickly get our sails up and make some good speed (8.5 knots). Not unexpected, the valleys on Isla Espirtu and Isla Partida acted as funnels channeling and increasing the wind speed. Moving up the islands was a pattern of reefing the sails followed by shaking out the reefs as we moved…
May 12, 2018
We attempted to take advantage of the morning wind but after three sail changes in fifteen minutes we started up the engine and motorsailed along. Duh, oh well at least it is a beautiful day to be on the water. It turned out to be a good thing that we left Bahia Muertos early because before we came up on…
May 9, 2018
The planned Sunday departure from Mazatlan was lining up for a nice passage with 10-15 knots of wind filling in by the afternoon. Up with the sunrise, we threw off the dock lines and made our way out of the Mazatlan marina channel for the open ocean. I took the first shift and it wasn’t long before I was hustling…
May 5, 2018
Leaving Mantachen in the early morning meant we had time for a day stop in Isla Isabel (the Galapagos of Mexico). A whole fleet of shrimp boats were taking up the eastern anchorage so we ducked in to the south anchorage. Four attempts to set the hook (anchor) and three jumps in the water (into look at the anchor placement)…
May 1, 2018
The Seawind err, Multihull rally in Puerto Escondido was calling, making the push north necessary. Two new crew members would be joined me for the trip, Sabrina and Jess. Both had been traveling for the past nine months, in separate but with shockingly similar itineraries, visiting South-East Asia, Central America, and now Mexico. And both women were ending their long…
April 1, 2018
My sister-in-law Cindy has wanted to visit Strikhedonia for a few years and her 60th birthday seemed like the perfect reason. I mean really, who doesn’t want to spend their birthday on the beach, sipping margaritas, and eating lobster? No one. We worked our way into the trip with an afternoon by the pool at Paradise Village. I’m still trying…
March 24, 2018
Joining me for the last few days in Barra were Aaron and Marketa. They were even crazy, err adventurous enough to come to the St. Partrick’s day festivities. When flaming explosives were nearby, and Marketa and I ran for cover, Aaron would rush to get closer to the action. Clearly this was going to be a fun trip north. Our…
March 17, 2018
It was a bit like being a kid getting to summer camp, excited to catch up with your friends. Arriving in Barra my crew probably had a good laugh at me excitedly pointing out cruising friends as we came into the lagoon. Truth be told, I felt guilty because it would be a few days until I could make the…