My friend Aaron was lined up to join me for a few weeks but weather being a fickle beast, I had to take a weather window a few days earlier than he could make the trip. This meant I would be single handing. I really enjoy single handing, but prior this never had I made a multi-day passage by myself. Strikhedonia has lost speed since I last owned her, resulting in the necessity to use 5.3 knots as an average passage speed rather than the 5.8 knots I previously used – this would result in a 37 hour passage (assuming the worst case that I don’t get any assistance from the wind).
My plan had been to depart at 3:30am from Isla Pajaros just outside the marina entrance and right on time I raised the anchor and followed my tracks from the day before out to the open ocean. Off the bat, I had a nice current pushing me along in a calm sea state and zero wind. No complaints from me. It was a chill day on the water, I found myself optimistically patting myself on the back for picking this weather window. The drone of the engine continued, but around 1pm I was able to raise the main and jib. Being single handed, I put a reef in the main, just to be safe. With the power pulled back, I was seeing 6.8 knots with 10.6 knots of wind from 070 degrees. Sweet! The wind moved around a bit and the wind speed drifted slightly higher and then back down, leaving the most excitement of the day being a visit by a pod of dolphins. Always a smiling event.
Soon night arrived, with radar and AIS alarms set, I went into low key mode and around 9pm took my first nap. Throughout the night I would set an alarm for every 30 minutes, spend five minutes checking things out before going back to sleep (in the saloon). Around 12:30am the wind dropped to zero, so the jib was furled and I kept motoring along until 3:20am, 075 degrees at 8.8 knots of wind pushed me along at 7.0 knots. Calm conditions continued and I was a happy guy. The sun rose on time and I was treated to a pretty view with clouds on the horizon. Soon enough I was dropping the sails and setting the anchor in Bahia de Los Muertos at 9:55am. Wow! This was the easiest crossing that I can remember, with 30.5 hours (average of 6.3 knots). Luck was on my side, and I truly appreciated having it!
No Comments