After a few days of wind in Bonanza, it was time to move north to Isla San Francisco. With the valley’s along Espirtu Santo and Partida, I kept the main down and just used the jib and engine to propel us. It was an easy passage with not much besides nice views and a low key day on the water. Arriving in Isla San Francisco I found it moderately busy but with plenty of room to anchor. I took a nice swim around the nearby boats checking everyone’s anchor set and was comfortable with what I found.
I had Rafa’s guys paint my bowsprit bracket and it was done very poorly, with very little paint coverage for a part constantly exposed to sea water. So I ruffed up the surface and applied two coats of epoxy primer. That should keep it healthy, even if the color is grey – oh well, it will be a talking point when people ask. Also, I took on the SB holding tank. Of course it was just as restricted as the Port side. I started with Barnacle Buster, first and in a few days would do the drill bit rototiller treatment to the inlet tube.
A bit before sunset, I paddled to shore and hiked the south peak in a loop. It might have been the most amazing view from that vantage point yet. Wow, so glad I made the effort to get out. Some dinner and the start of a movie before heading to my bunk.
I had been keeping an eye on the forecast and there would be west winds (Isla San Francisco is exposed to the southwest) but PredictWind showed the island being in a windshadow. I knew better… At 9:45pm winds picked up from open ocean causing the boat to pitch violently. Thankfully all of the boats in the anchorage held on their anchors. I turned on the instruments and had the engines ready to start should there be an issue and began monitoring my anchor alarm. Around 11:00pm the wind began to back down, drifting from around 20 knots down to 9 knots over forty minutes. The seas were still rough as it takes time for the waves to subside. I headed back to my berth to try to get some sleep. Around 1:00am the wind increases again but the direction shifted from the northwest, the island gave me some protection. There was still pitching but much smaller and less concerning. I had the anchor alarm set tight, due to the shifting wind direction, and the alarm sounded a number of times, each time waking me up to take a look. Around 1:45am, I increase the allowable boat movement on the alarm to get some sleep. I was woken a number of times; waves, wind noise, and once more for the anchor alarm. All is good, just a patch work of periods of sleep. As the sunlight creeps in, I see one boat, that was close to shore, moved in the middle of the night. Otherwise, everyone rode it out. Shame on me, I knew better and shouldn’t have stayed here overnight.
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