Febuary 21, 1998-Pumps Are Us

Pumps are us.

When one looks at a sailboat they see a hull, mast, and sails. They can easily imagine that there is an engine, radios, a stove, toilet, and beds. But what some people don't know is that a sailboat is really a collection of pumps.

On Wings we have our share.

We of course have bilge pumps: A big Whale Pump, a small Rule Pump for incidental water, a Whale Gusher Pump with a long hose for sucking little bits of water out of little places, and a Shower Sump Pump, plus a Portable Manual Pump.(5)

For our household water usage, we have a Groco Fresh Water Pump, a Manual Fresh Water Pump, Groco Salt Water Pump, and a PUR Water Maker Pump.(4)

For engine cooling water we have a Raw Water Pump, a Fresh Water Circulation Pump, and two Outboard Cooling Water Pumps.(4)

For fuel, we have a Diesel Lift Pump, a High Pressure (injector) Pump, two small Dingy Tank Pumps, two Outboard Motor Gasoline Pumps, and two Diesel Heater Pumps. (8)

There is a Toilet Pump and a Holding Tank Evacuation Pump.(2)

We have, for inflating the dingy, two Low Pressure Air Pumps.(2)

And we have one Tank Tender Air Pump.(1)

For repair materials, we have two Epoxy Measurement Pumps.(2)

For rig tension we have one Navtec Hydralic Pump.(1)

For removing used engine oil, we have one Hand Oil Pump.(1)

Total: 30, but I may have forgotten some.

We also have some spare pumps, some spare impellers, o-rings and gasgets and other assorted pumping stuff, plus almost all of these pumps have hoses or pipes, and hoseclamps attached to them. We probably have a small fortune in hose clamps, (some people keep jewlery).

You may think it is a case of "pump envy" but some of our friends have pumps which we don't have:

Baitwell pump,
Fuel Transfer Pump,
Macerator Pump,
Watermaker Boost Pump,
or Refrigerator Coolant Pump.

Sometime I'll talk about how many switches and wires we have.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico

Febuary 20, 1998-Manzanillo

It's funny when something you've never seen turns out like you imagine it.

Manzanillo did, for me.



We arrived here from Tenacatita the day before yesterday. Actually we arrived in Las Hadas. You know… the "Bo Derek" place. It too is just like I imagined only I cheated, having seen a bunch of photos over the years, not counting Bo's movie, "10", since I never saw any scenery in that movie.

Manzanillo Anchorage

Today we went into town.

It is a nice, old, Mexican waterfront town, with a sheltered harbor, lots of ships, big and small, and a quaintness about it which reminds me of Mazatlan's old town, only more tropical.

Shopping

About twenty years ago I said I wanted to sail my boat to Manzanillo, and I imagined what it would be like. Here we are, and it turned out pretty close. Today we walked around a bit, took some photos, had lunch in an old hotel restaurant, and bought a map.

The hotel was fancy, if old. It had high ceilings and ceiling fans, and a waiter dressed in white who was about 70 years old. There was a TV on the wall with soap operas and the waiter watched it intently. The windows were large arches with turned wood grillwork, no glass, and the door was open to the sidewalk. It was cool inside but the patch of sunlight which fell on the floor inside doorway was bright.

As we ate our enchiladas and tortilla soup we watched the cars and foot traffic outside the door. Judy remarked that she "really loves Mexico".

There are some hills right in downtown with houses stacked up on them looking down on the downtown streets and the houses are brightly painted. There are no roads to them, just stairs, and the streets below are narrow and paved in some odd shaped bricks.

Manzanillo Hillside Houses

We glanced up a steep alley which looked like it came out of the Cazbar in Algeria, and saw a pretty girl coming down it. Judy said it would make a neat picture so I raised my camera but the girl ducked into a doorway just as I snapped the picture. When she got to the street she laughed and followed us for a block, at a distance though.

We walked by the navy base and saw sailors at work, and when we got on the bus to go back to Las Hadas where Wings is moored, we passed a container terminal as big as Seattle's (it looked) and there were six ocean going container ships alongside the docks, which were busy. We also saw a large lot full of brand new Japanese cars.

The only thing we didn't see in Mazanillo was a good place to come ashore with our dingy, which we wanted to find. If we had that we could anchor in the harbor and we wouldn't need to stay at Las Hadas.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico

Febuary 17, 1998-Tenacatita Again

It's been a year, nearly, since we've been in Tenacatita.





Today we dropped the hook here again, probably for the last time. It's gorgeous here. The light today is crystal clear. On the beach at the hotel you can see the dayglow orange of the women's swimsuits and the white t-shirts of their men even when they are so far off you can't even clearly delineate their bodies with binoculars. The long Pacific swells roll in to Tenacatita and when they hit the shore you can hear them for half a mile. The spray goes up into the air and blows inland like a grey cloud. Then, after a delay, the sound. Thrrr-ump!

Tenacatita, again.

We set the hook, folded the sails, and opened a bottle of rum. I put on some Beatles and sat on deck with the long eyes and looked around the harbor. Nineteen boats including us. They all looked sharp in the clear air and bright sunlight following the cold front which came through yesterday and they all rose and fell in the swells, like some kind of quiet ballet. Nineteen fellow cruisers, all enjoying Tenacatita, and it's unbelievable beauty... and I realized again that life is good.

River Trip

Craft Seller

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico