January 30, 2017
Such is the common saying that La Paz is like a rubber band trapping people for weeks or months longer than planned. It is a nice city, beautiful malecon, restaurants, large cruiser community, and lots to see and do. Making it easy how it gets its reputation. After the rudder bearing repair and new anchor roller installation we were ready…
January 24, 2017
Yet another substantial, multi-step process… Point of note, Seawind 1160s from the factory have 50 meters (165 feet) of 8mm short link galvanized chain. After the mock up that Baja Naval completed in Ensenada it was up to me to fabricate a new anchor roller bracket once back in the US. Before leaving the boat in La Paz I took…
January 21, 2017
Whew, this is a job I am extremely happy to have behind me. I can’t say it was fun. The removal, with the proper procedure, wouldn’t be that tough and would take a maximum of two hours. The installation, well that is another story. But I’m getting ahead of myself. In my communications with Seawind I found out that there…
January 10, 2017
Okay I will be the first to admit I can be a bit, um, well, anal. I like things to be done correctly and the right way. To help those that join us I have put together a number of guides. Do I like having the defined procedures and feel it helps the boat run smoothly? Yes.Is it overkill? Probably.…
January 1, 2017
Whew looking back at 2016 I am feeling very good about the outcome. The long awaited trip to the Sea of Cortez accomplished, not only accomplished but thoroughly enjoyed. It is funny how different an experience will be from what we had dreamed about. Not at all in a good or bad way, just different. The trip to the Sea…
December 14, 2016
I’m in the middle of upgrading the center steering bracket. The Seawind design had a single Ronstan Traveler Car to support the Steering Bracket. My understanding is the newer 1160 catamarans have relocated the Steering Bracket from a vertical mount to a horizontal mount to reduce stress on the ball bearings. This would be a significant change so instead I…
December 10, 2016
One of my chief concerns about sailing for an extended period of time is not staying active enough. Chris would read me blog posts about someone who does yoga on board, or he would tell me about island hiking trails. But that didn’t seem enough. I have been a runner all my life. Even if there were decent trails on…
November 17, 2016
This adventure started on Sunday October 2nd wrapped up today, Thursday November 17th, six weeks and five days later. The crew varied with Vicki getting the most time aboard at 32 days and she was a tremendous help. The energizer bunny of the crew, she was in the water twice a day snorkeling or diving and when aboard never stopped…
November 17, 2016
UPDATE January 21, 2017!!! – Rudder bearing installation, see the new post for more information: Update What a process… I had reached out to Van at Seawind Catamarans for assistance on how to remove the rudder bearings. But I suppose I should start from the beginning – for a while now I have had a vibration when making a sharp…
November 16, 2016
Here are the spots we snorkeled from October 30 through November 12, the orange lines indicate the area we snorkeled and there are notes on each spot: Cabo San Lucas: We piled into the kayaks and started at Lover’s beach, then moved back towards the marina to the second spot Highlights: Watched a stingray swimming below at Spot 1 and…
November 13, 2016
Let me start with this was the highlight for everyone on the trip. If ever in La Paz, you must make the trip to swim with the sea lions. They are so playful, so silly, and so much fun to watch. Plus there is really good coral and fish, So come on, get out to Isla Isolates! The first challenge…
November 8, 2016
We stopped over in Balandra for a few days before the final, short hop into La Paz. This is home to the famous, and somewhat underwhelming, feature “Mushroom” rock. As it often the case it was smaller that expected and was rebuilt a number of years ago after it collapsed. Still it was something to check off the list. We…