Yet, another humbling experience.

I thought I was done getting humbled and done having the shit kicked out of me….Mother Nature says otherwise!

I had been checking the Wind apps for two weeks, daily, and knew we needed to use whatever wind we could get. However, I also knew that Saturday and Sunday would bring solid wind if we were still on the Baja side of Sea of Cortez by Thursday and Friday. I made a big mistake relying on that vein of that thought. BIG MISTAKE! We left super excited to have some of the solid wind that was forecasted. “Predict Wind” and “Windy” (all eight models) forecasted 12-22 KNOTS of winds throughout Saturday. Sunday. They also forecasted up to 25 knots with some gusts up to 28 kn. Beuatiful, I thought. We will get a cross on Saturday if we leave early on Saturday morning.

On Friday, we sailed north and I decided to keep going without anchoring. During the lulls on Friday night, I kept the sails up and slept in the cockpit. It was the most gorgeous night I had ever experienced so far; sails were always full even with 1-2 knots of wind, of course we hardly moved. With zero wave action, Sarantium moved beautifully at .5-.8 knots. The combination of an burnt orange full moon and sounds of nature, was surreal. Whales were all around me. I could not see them, however they were breathing very close by. In fact, they were so close I could smell their breath.

Around 01.00 the wind started to pick up and I unfurled the genoa. Right away we began to move into the Sea of Cortez and headed perfectly towards Guaymas. Even though we were close hauling, the first 12 hours were one of the best sailing I had ever experienced on Sarantium.

Then the EL Nortes kicked in with force. The wind strengthened steadily throughout the next 12 hours and gusts reached gale force consistently. This is a lot when wind is “on the nose”. Consequently, the waves were building with the wind increase. At one point waves were as I high as 10 feet and at one point Sarantium dropped off the wave. Most of the time the bow just plunged off the waves though. Eating full meals and sleeping stopped and all my energy was being spent on making sure our heading was stable, Sarantium was approaching each wave well, she was clear of boat traffic and that the mainsail was reefed enough. We reached the mainland within 27 hours, and had managed to sneak in just north of the bay entrance (Exterior Bahia Entrance) were Guaymas was located. But we had a bit to go. On the map you can see my planning route (pink line and our actual track (yellow track).

The wind and swell direction was Northerly so arriving at the very south end of the bay, presented some risks with a lee shore. A lee shore describes a dangerous situation in which a ship gets closer and closer to a lee shore due to onshore winds, swells or strong currents. Some might say, why not tack out of the situation? With winds of 30+knots and waves of 8 feet this was a less attractive option. I had also noticed a tanker behind us with an identical plan as ours, so tacking away from the shore could place us in a precarious situation in front of an incoming tanker. Looking at my screen another boat appeared in front of us. So, with strong North-westerly winds and large swell, a tanker behind us, a large commercial fishing boat in front of us and land east of us, we are running out of options. One option was to abandon plan, cancel my haul out appointment in Guaymas and just get the hell out of there and head to Mazatlan, two to three days south or on a short down wind sail into the nearest anchor. The problem was, I could not find any anchorages nearby. The shore line in this area looked like it should have many good anchorages, however the entrance into these, presented zero depth at low tide. As well, Sunday’s wind predictions stated an increase in wind strength. Being tired, I had to really concentrate to think and make a safe decision. I figured, with some sails up (staysail and a tripple reef in the mainsail) and with the engine on, we could stay far enough away from shore and keep us moving north towards Guaymas. This worked and in 6 hours we approached Guaymas Harbour. Now, it is midnight and it is dark so I resort to navigating by electronic devices. I find my two iPads and open up Navionics to run a plotter. I switch my B abd G plotter at the helm to Radar screen. I locate all the markers, such as light buoys, AIS markers, and anchored tankers and freighters. I can also locate land masses on my radar, as well sea lions popping up 😉 I am in good shape. I stick to my planned route; keep the tankers on my starboard, land (and their lights) on my port side and sea lions will be ignored, even though they are vocal around me.

Soon, I am motoring into the two way traffic lanes and I see the red light blinking on the island I planned to anchor behind. I dropped the anchor within the hour. But with fatigue kicking in and get-to-bed-itis, I forget to turn up into the wind so boat can fall back, with enough clearance of the beach. But right away, I realized and pulled the anchor up again. Such a rookie move. Let’s do it again! Tired, wet and hungry, but humbled AGAIN, I crawl into bed (around 03.00) and sleep like a rock for 10 hours! The next day, I will do nothing except drink coffee and play my yukelele. Well, practice my C, D, E, F and Gs, anyways…