So summer is starting off a little bit harder than we had anticipated but we take it in stride. We try really hard not to let the looming issue of the motor ruin our day. For us the motor is a safety device. Up until know we had it in our minds that if anything gets too bad we can just motor out of it. That is hardly the right way to think of it. After all, what do you do when you put all your eggs in one basket? When you place all your trust in the one piece of equipment and it fails you. You better hope you have the sailing experience to make your boat move in light wind, slow it down when it’s to fast, to stop it when you need too. Did you know a sail boat can do all those things if the skipper tells it to?
In theory we know how to sail. Basically. Sam more than Jes. We’ve read a bunch of books, watched a bunch of videos, even had our own little day sailor that we learned on. We ran over emergency protocols everyone in a while through out the years. We would do a crazy man overboard lesson once on each one of our charters we took. It always got the job done but usually was clumsy and clunky to be completely honest. These practice serious were all the same. We know that every situation is different and there are several ways to accomplish the same task.
So this idea of sailing with out the motor for the entire summer is both intimidating and exciting. We are now forced to sail and only sail. What will this really look like? Is it a daunting as it feels? We are heading out into the unknown. A lot like when we first left Rio Vista. The feelings of nervousness and anxiety build as I try to push that aside.
Leaving Santa Rosalia means we need to cover close to 80 miles before we reach our first anchorage San Francisquito. We know that the motor could have pushed us at an average of 5 knots and get us there in 16 hours. Leaving very early in the morning could get us there just as the sunsets. We don’t imagine that we will have a consistent sail for 80 miles maintaining 5 knots. We set out with the realization that we will be sailing all night long.
As we are making plans Kirby announces that his wife Jodi will be meeting him in the Bay of LA area in September stopping first in California. So if we wanted to ship any parts to her she will bring them over the boarder with her. That sounds like a good plan and with a wild guess we order parts.
Our plan to get out of the marina will be by dingy. We will then keep the dingy side tide in case of any emergency that might creep in. We check the tide too. It just so happens that a front is passing now making the seas chopping. In a few days the seas will calm the wind will lessen to manageable levels and the slack tide will be just before sun up. This will make for an easy departure and to our delight give us a few days to walk around town, visit the famous bakery, eat tacos, hike to the top of the hill where the cemetery over looks the bay and we fall in love with this town. We make big plans to stop for a while we head back south.
Our morning comes and we wake before the sun. Quietly get ready and leave Santa Rosalia under moon light and dingy power. There is no wind and no current. Only the hum of the dingy motor and chirps of crickets float through the air. As we enter the Sea and begin turning North we can see off to the east in the distance over the main land Mexico flashes of lights. Chubasco! These are knarly squalls most feared for their high winds and lightning. Everyone seems to enjoy the bit of rain that comes with them. We watch the storm and wonder how far away it is. Which way is it going. Do you think it’s faster then us? In reality its about 100 miles from us. But they build on the east and shoot across the Sea to the west. Fingers crossed we don’t have to experience this today.
We putter along half wishing for wind but then wondering if it will bring with it the Chubasco so we hold our wish quiet. As the sun begins to rise we notice that the cricket chirps haven’t gotten any quieter. In fact they seem to be right with us. Funny. A few moments later I spy a cricket then another. They have hitched a ride! The sun continues to rise and we continue puttering along. Still watching the eastern flashes that seem to be paralleling us we notice now that there are flashes in the west.
We keep a weary eye out for the distant squalls. Not really understanding which direction they are going or if they are faster or slower than us. All we know is there is absolutely no wind and we dinghy on. Into the unknown. Not sure if we are about to get slammed or not. Thinking any moment the wind is going to go up to 40 plus and we are going to regret our decisions. We later find out that those ahead of us and those we left back in Santa Rosalia watch the storms come together in both places which left them worried about the “little green boat with out an engine”. We however staid in our little doldrums (no wind) for hours not a puff of wind nor drop of rain hit us.
The sky cleared as the morning air warmed up. It was mid after noon when the wind kind of sorta filled in giving us a chance to sail. We took it and raised all the sails. We soon had to keep the dingy motor going and motor sailed along. Trying to give us any push we could muster. Soon Kirby caught us and passed us. As the day went on we started to accept the fact we would not make it to San Fransicquito by night fall. We sent a message through the Garmin to Kirby to not worry if he didn’t see us until mid morning the next day.
An hour before sunset we had a dolphin leap out of the water right next to the boat. Looking out over the Sea the waves came to life. As far as we could see in all directions dolphin were jumping, flipping, and flying through the air. They took turns ridding near our bow and all along Hiraya. Looking us in the eye and talking to each other as they jumped and played. This display carried on for over 45 minutes. All of a sudden we were lost in the moment. We watched in awe and encouraged the dolphin show with our laughter and cheering. The more we cheered the more they danced. Faster and higher.
They escorted us on through the night. Their blows of air keeping us awake through our night watches. The stars light up the sky and we sailed on. We were able to sail a lot of the night with out the dingy which added to the magic around us. Arriving to San Fransiquito about an hour before the sun came up we got ready to enter the bay turning the dinghy on again. Two sets of nav lights appeared to be coming out of the anchorage. We watched as they came out and headed North. We enter and as we get closer we could just make out Kirby on Lodus. There appeared to be a space big enough for us between him and the next boat. Perfect
As we are approaching our spot suddenly a boat with out an anchor light came out of the darkness. Making a hard and fast u turn we decided to anchor on the other side of the bay and take a nap until morning. We anchor and turn of the dinghy and fall fast asleep.