We had an 8:00 a.m. start from Turtle Bay It is Saturday afternoon and still no fish although others in the fleet are catching Dorado and Tuna. It was a slow start out of the bay with little wind to help propel us to Bahia anta Maria. We had hoisted the Spinnaker and most of the fleet had done the same so it was quite a sight with 140 boats all heading out to sea. The wind soon gave out and we took in the Spinnaker and turned on the engine

On the way out of Turtle Bay we had many Squid attacking our fishing lures. If you pulled the lures in slowly, close to the boat, you could see them come up and put their tentacles around the lure and then slide off it. They were about foot long and strong swimmers in groups of four or five. Some of the boats had crew pull their lures from the front of the boat while crew at the stern gaffed them aboard. There was a lot of chatter during the afternoon on the radio about cleaning and preparing Squid. All we managed as a couple of tentacles that got caught in the hook.

Having worked our way offshore about 15 miles we finally found some wind and again hoisted the Spinnaker. Unfortunately, the wind angle was not good and the only way we could keep the sail full was to continue heading offshore.

After dinner, we finally got a bite on the blue and white lure that we had on the rod and reel. We pulled in a nice Dorado (Mahi Mahi) of about two and a half feet in length. We were not really prepared to deal with it and it was quite a bloody affair trying to dispatch it. I had whacked it on the head four or five time with the winch handle before it finally lay still. The cockpit, crew and boat were all covered in blood however we had our first fish, even if it was something of a primitive and primal event. It took some time to clean up the boast from al the blood and afterwards, I took it below to clean and fillet.

Today, I went into town as we needed to obtain some fresh provisions at a small store. It is a rather typical rural town with no paved streets without any order to how the streets are laid out. Everyone we encountered was very friendly and helpful. With over 500 “Gringos” spending US Dollars, I am sure it is a major boost to the local economy.
Friday was the day assigned for the Beach and Pot luck party. The beach was around a small headland to the right of the town and not visible to most of the boats at anchor. It was quite a crowd with lots of food, beer and beach games. After school was over, many of the Mexicans brought their families to the beach to share in the fun. One of the catamarans in the Baja Ha-Ha got too close to the surf and became stranded as the tide was ebbing. Despite a number of attempts to pull the boat into deeper water by a couple of Pangas, they were stuck there until the tide turned. We saw the boat a few hours later after it had floated off with the rising tide.
We all managed to shower on Friday evening and I finally switched fresh water tanks having used up about 25 gallons over five days. We carry just over 70 gallons in three separate tanks so we are in good shape and plan on refilling these in Cabo.
The weather was pleasant during our stay and we could feel some warmth from the sun. The sunsets were pretty and at night, the entire fleet’s anchor lights lit up the bay, all bobbing slightly with the gentle swells that make their way into the bay. We enjoyed two restful nights at anchor preparing again to head off -shore to Bahia Santa Maria, 220 miles further south on Saturday morning.

Wednesday night we navigated down the western side of Cedros Island in very choppy seas. The island which had no visible lights on its western side until you turn east off its southern end was totally invisible to us in the dark. Daylight on Thursday saw an anxious crew looking forward to arriving at Turtle Bay and we finally dropped the hook in 30 feet of water off the small town at 12:10 pm. There were already a lot of boats anchored and more still arriving.
Our passage time from the start off San Diego was just over 64 hours and we had officially used the engine for 75 hours although the actual engine use including the rolling start allowance was 95 hours. We had covered a distance of 364 nautical miles.

Everyone except me went ashore in the afternoon, anxious to put their feet on dry land. I stayed behind to work on the head, tidy the boat and take a shower. We had done well with just two boat issues, the head and the boom washer, although the latter could have become quite serious, especially if the boom end had dropped onto the deck. I still do not understand how the cotter pin managed to work its way out however it is now securely fastened with the washer back in place the cotter pin ends nicely curled up. I had the head plumbing redone in San Pedro however the pump used to flush the toilet just pumped air. I managed to jury rig the system by stuffing a cork into the vent which allowed some water to flush the bowl after a number of pumps however it still proves unsatisfactory and will need to be fixed in Cabo.
The bay is quite large and the entrance easy with good holding in about 30 feet of water. The town has a jetty and is spread along part of the northern section of the bay. It is easy to get fuel and go ashore by hailing down a Panga with a horn or by calling for one on VHF channel 16. The charge for going ashore using a Panga is $2.00 per person. The Hilbre crew returned in late afternoon with some supplies and a report of good, cheap beer they had had in a small bar overlooking the bay.
I did not get to see the town until late Friday afternoon

Today was Carl’s Birthday and as a small Squid had landed on the deck overnight, we offered this and a gazoo to him as Birthday presents. By now the fleet had spread out and only sometimes did we see a mast in the distance.

At night it was easier to see other boats with their navigation lights. We continued on a steady sail south towards Turtle Bay.

Tuesday morning we again hoisted the spinnaker and continued south under moderate seas. As we all had Mexican fishing licenses, as soon as we had passed into Mexican waters we rolled out lines with lures but had no luck all the way to Turtle Bay although others in the fleet did manage to land Tuna and Dorado closer to Turtle Bay.

It is 2:00 am and quite dark outside, everyone is asleep below. There is nothing out there except for a small light far, far away. It is July, 1971 and I am standing the midnight to 4:00 am watch on a sailboat. My compatriots are two South Africans who own the boat and an American who, like me, is extra crew. We are off St. Lucia and it is really hot with almost no wind.
It is also dark outside but this time I am surrounded by at least a dozen or more lights of the other 140 plus sailing boats, all partaking in the Baja Ha-Ha sailing rally and en-route from San Diego to Turtle Bay, Mexico, our first stop. It is October 24th, 2011 and everyone is asleep below. I am left to my thoughts of tonight, previous sailing experiences and sailors past. The Chart plotter is on as is the Radar and all of the other sailing instruments. Sometimes the VHF springs to light with news of other boats as some have AIS installed which gives the position, size, name, speed and direction of boats over 100 tons. They relay this information to the fleet.
Some years ago, I had read my Dad’s journals that were a part of his sailing experiences in 1928. He had taken a contract with Lamport and Holt as a ship Medical Officer for two round-trip voyages from New York to Buenos Aires His journals were really a photo album in which he had extensively annotated each of the pictures he had taken. He had remarked that on passing Dominica, that he could smell sulphuretted hydrogen from the sulphur springs on that Island. That was almost 80 years ago and there was no Radar or Chart plotters, everything was done by Sextant and plotted on a paper chart. Morse code was the standard for communications.
The light in the distance had grown closer and now had my full attention as I could make out the navigation lights. We were just a small craft on the Caribbean Sea, without Radar. In fact our total navigation equipment consisted of a Sextant, some charts, a hand bearing compass and a small portable radio with directional antennae on the top into which was embedded a very small compass. We used this to tune in various radio stations and plot a rough estimate of our position. We had no way of communicating by radio and no engine to use to help us get out of the way.
I can watch the boats in the Baja Ha-Ha around me on Radar and plot their position, direction and speed automatically and even overlay them on the chart plotter. Of course I can communicate with the other boats via VHF radio. It is a nice night and we are motoring along at just over five knots using our diesel engine.
My Dad was on a coal fired steamship called the S.S. Vauban and he had talked of being coaled in Santos by hand with baskets of coal being handed up from a barge. The Vauban was one of the famous ‘V’ ships and she was built in 1912 with bunkers for 3,000 tons of coal. This ship was one of the many Passenger-Cargo boats that plied the world’s oceans before the age of air travel. A type of ship that is almost gone except for a few like the RMS St. Helena which sometimes still travels between the UK and Capetown.
It is 1971 and the light had grown brighter, the navigation lights indicated she was headed directly for us. She was about three miles away. I went below and alerted Andy who came on deck. We put the deck lights on and put our spotlight on the sails. The boat continued on its course. At less than a mile away, we raked her bridge with our spotlight. Suddenly we saw her sharply change course to port. She passed less than 400 yards from us, using a spotlight to look at us and leaving us rocking in her wake. She continued on her way disappearing into the night. She looked like a passenger-cargo boat, one that was still somewhat common in 1971; she was probably one of the famous Banana Boats.
Looking at what capabilities I have on my small sailboat is a far cry from my Dad’s boat and the boat I had sailed on almost 40 years before. As I thought about the tools at my disposal, I was reminded that it was time to go below and plot our position on a paper chart. Sometimes, things do not change, except in this case, I used the GPS coordinates provided from the chart plotter. I did not need to take a star sight and compute my position, even though we have a sextant on board.

Unlike Monday night, Tuesday night was rolly with quartering seas so Hilbre was moving around quite a lot. Neither Anita nor Carl had experienced a coastal passage in quartering seas and Anita got somewhat frustrated with the constant motion of the boat, but that is sailing.

It was an interesting start. We had been staying for a week at the California Yacht Marina in Chula Vista making our final preparations for the Baja Ha-Ha and awaiting the arrival of George and Carl who were to crew for us to Cabo San Lucas.
On Monday, October 24, we let go the dock line as 7:45 am and headed out from Chula Vista Marina to join the rest of the Baja Ha-Ha fleet who were assembling off Shelter Island in San Diego. As we left the Marina we were joined by Distant Drum whose skipper was doing his seventh Baja Ha-Ha. We arrived at the assembly point at 9:45 am, ready for the fleet parade out of San Diego Harbor.

Grand Poobah was checking off all of the boats by radio and we along with everyone else checked in for the start. Some were no shows and others had issues which delayed their departure, including one boat with a broken prop shaft.

Finally, about midnight, the wind was gusting to 18 knots so we took the spinnaker down. On the way to the foredeck I noticed a large washer sitting on the cabin top, this is not a good thing. While tying up the Spinnaker Halyard at the mast, I finally noticed the cotter pin keeping the main boom in its place was sticking up. On further investigation the cotter pin was working its way out of its socket and as it did so, the washer that I found on the cabin top had dropped out. We re-centered the boom spindle and then pushed the cotter pin back into place. We wrapped a small piece of line to cushion the spot where the washer had fallen out. We did a full repair on this in Turtle Bay.

We attended the obligatory final briefing for the Baja Ha-Ha which was held in the parking lot of the West Marine store in San Diego. Afterwards, we dropped the car off and headed back to Hilbre.

We went to the Airport in San Diego to meet Carl & George, our crew for the trip south to Cabo. In the afternoon, the rigger arrived to replace our deck light and Radar reflector. After visiting Walmart for some final things and having a meal. we filled the extra fuel cans with Diesel before heading back to Hilbre.

We prepped the boat on Sunday morning for the trip to San Diego by hoisting the new cruising spinnaker that I had bought over a year before but had never flown. We were expecting a nice run down the lee of Catalina Island, perfect conditions for a spinnaker and as it turned out, we were correct. Hilbre picked up speed and we were topping seven knots under beautiful sailing conditions and clear skies with about 14 knots of true wind. Off the eastern tip of the island the wind changed direction then promptly disappeared, so onwards we went under power for a couple of hours, then a few more hours of nice sailing then back to motoring which continued through the night.

Arriving off San Diego Buoy #1, at 4:30 a.m. on Monday, we were greeted by the Celebrity Cruise ship “Century,” returning from a Hawaiian trip. We let her go ahead in the narrow channel into San Diego Harbor as the weather was beginning to go downhill quickly with dense fog rolling in.
It can be something of a trial to enter any harbor at night particularly one you are not familiar and this was to test our navigation and piloting skills to the fullest. As we entered the main channel, the fog became thicker and we had to resort to using both GPS and Radar to maintain our course within the narrow channel and into the harbor. Keeping to the very edge of the channel, ready to turn quickly into shallow water if something big appeared, we groped our way forward at a steady three knots. Hand steering was a little erratic at first although keeping a compass course helped considerably.
I discovered the autopilot was the most useful tool and having set the compass course used the one degree button for port or starboard to maintain a nice even course along the edge of the channel. This was constricted, close quarter navigation and it was quite eerie catching a glimpse of vessels passing us that had been just a blip on the radar for a while. Finally, we decided to seek a break and await daylight and hopefully some rest on Shelter Island where there is a public marina.

Having passed the Quarantine dock we made a right turn into the marina and tied up at 6:30 a.m. alongside the walkway. By 6:45 a.m. we already had the Police, who manage the dock, show up and ask us to leave. After some discussion, they finally allowed us to stay until 8:30 a.m.
We were again under way by 8:10 a.m., but now, it was daylight but still with dense fog. Again we continued groping forward deep into the San Diego Harbor and our berth at the Chula Vista Marina. At last by 9:30 the mist began to lift and visibility improved up to a half mile. By the time we reached Chula Vista it was clearing to a warm, sunny day. We had covered just over 103 nautical miles since leaving Isthmus harbor on Catalina at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday and finally, at 10:30 a.m., we were in our slip and ready to relax. After lunch, Pat left to return home while we await our new crew, George and Carl who arrive Saturday for the sail to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in the Baja Ha-Ha which starts on Monday.
Since leaving San Pedro, we had been confronted with some grim navigation challenges and had risen to this by our safe arrival at Chula Vista. I could again feel the warmth on my face not from the coal fire of my youth but now from the San Diego sun and the satisfaction of having taken the first step into cruising to faraway places that was just a dream all those years ago.

At last we were ready to cast off, for the start of the new adventure, first stop was to be Two Harbors on Catalina Island and the annual Latitudes & Attitudes cruisers party. We were to be joined there by our sailing friends and their boats as a send-off for our trip.
Our crew Pat had arrived Thursday afternoon and Sailing to Catalina was to prove an omen of what was to come. We had motored as there was little wind and at nine miles from our destination we ran into a wall of fog with under a quarter mile of visibility.

This dim, cold wet and miserable fog lasted until we were just short of Isthmus where it finally lifted. Friday became Saturday and we did not expect the day to turn into a glorious warm and sunny day for the party, but it did. There were only a few cruisers heading south for the winter, still it is always good to listen to the yarns from Captain Woody, Bob Bitchin and others who have “Been out there.”

With sailing guests helping as crew, Hilbre is back in San Pedro at her usual slip after a 10+ hour cruise yesterday from the Channel Island Harbor. We passed through a large group of Dolphins off Point Vincente that were feeding. While we saw a few whales spout, we were not close enough to see them directly.

The swells were up to 2 feet and the weather was overcast all the way until we reached Palos Verdes where we finally saw some sun. We had the usual high winds off point Fermin which gave us a good push into the LA Harbor. We left the Channel Islands harbor at 8:15 a.m. and pulled into the slip at the Cabrillo Marina at 6:20 p.m. unfortunately we had to motor all the way.

Maintenance still going on

Hilbre has a nice fresh coat of bottom paint on the hull and a new strut/cutlass bearing. The old strut had a serious case of electrolysis and needed replacing (see photo gallery). She is ready to return to her usual slip in San Pedro (LA-Long Beach) as soon as the work is complete.

At Two Harbors, Catalina Island.
A sunny and fun filled Catalina Yachts Rendezvous on Friday and Saturday. A good breeze had us sailing at a nice 7.5 knots from Angel’s Gate all the way to Two Harbors on Thursday morning. On Sunday morning, we left at 5:15 am for the trip to the Channel Islands Harbor so we could pull Hilbre out of the water for the hull to be cleaned and painted. This was a quick trip of 9 hours with a couple of hours in a heavy sea mist with a half mile visibility near Malibu.

We met lots of interesting fellow Catalina Yacht owners over the weekend including the Millards’ on a C42 MoonShyne who are also doing the Ba Ha-Ha. Gerry Douglas and Frank Butler were at the meeting along with Sharon Day. There were a number of useful seminars

Cabrillo Marina, San Pedro.

Hilbre in her slip at the Cabrillo Marina, San Pedro. She is being prepared to sail south to Mexico and beyond. In the meantime, we are enjoying exploring the LA Basin, Catalina Islands, San Diego and Ensenada. Adventure calls and we will fulfill this soon.