It was an exhausting 54-hour, 212 mile sail from Zihuatanejo to Barra
de Navidad. And that doesn’t take into
consideration the 36 hours of our first attempt to make the trip the week
earlier when we had to turn back to Zihua due to weather and engine
problems. On both trips, we endured
30-knot NNW winds that were not forecasted. And both storms occurred in the same place,
off of Caleta de Campo, 60 miles north of Zihua. I thought that
we were caught in a vortex that we would never escape.
On our second attempt, although we were again slammed with unforecasted 30 knot NNW winds we were determined to continue north even with damage from the second storm amounting to a blown out main sail, a jib damaged when the roller furler line snapped sending the reefed jib full throttle into the winds, an auto helm that failed, and a crippled engine. And just to ramp up our stress levels, we encountered significant freighter traffic during the night. At one time there were five ships bearing down on us from different directions. I called every one of them on the radio to confirm that they had us on radar. Two of them had not noticed us. We stood one hour watches after the auto helm failed, sleeping in the cockpit. We were making 2 knots and had watched the light at Punto Campos for five hours when finally at dawn, we limped past it and into the anchorage at Las Hadas.
Later that morning, we called a mechanic in Barra who drove to Las Hadas and rigged a fuel by-pass system that got us to Barra where we finally tucked into the lovely marina, the high winds and high seas behind us like images in a rear-view mirror.
We are now waiting for engine parts which will take a week or more to get here. In the meantime, we are “stuck”. Now, this isn’t such a bad place to be “stuck” with its five-star hotel, beautiful pools, hot tub and morning yoga on the beach. I can think of plenty of other places that I would not to be waiting for engine parts, but this place restores the body, mind and spirit. It’s a great place to recover our momentum.
On our second attempt, although we were again slammed with unforecasted 30 knot NNW winds we were determined to continue north even with damage from the second storm amounting to a blown out main sail, a jib damaged when the roller furler line snapped sending the reefed jib full throttle into the winds, an auto helm that failed, and a crippled engine. And just to ramp up our stress levels, we encountered significant freighter traffic during the night. At one time there were five ships bearing down on us from different directions. I called every one of them on the radio to confirm that they had us on radar. Two of them had not noticed us. We stood one hour watches after the auto helm failed, sleeping in the cockpit. We were making 2 knots and had watched the light at Punto Campos for five hours when finally at dawn, we limped past it and into the anchorage at Las Hadas.
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| Repairing the jib in Las Hadas |
We are now waiting for engine parts which will take a week or more to get here. In the meantime, we are “stuck”. Now, this isn’t such a bad place to be “stuck” with its five-star hotel, beautiful pools, hot tub and morning yoga on the beach. I can think of plenty of other places that I would not to be waiting for engine parts, but this place restores the body, mind and spirit. It’s a great place to recover our momentum.
