June 3, 2021-Fast Sailing and other Cruise News

Happy Sailing 

I first got an inkling that this was going to be a fast passage when we saw we could lay the white house  only 45 minutes out of La Cruz..

The white house on the beach is a landmark when sailing to Punta Mita. It’s there that we want to be close to shore in order to catch the most of the right hand shift. If we haven’t managed to stay close before we get to the white house that’s when we have to go in, hard. 

It surprised us when we first noticed where we were already and I doubted it. Could we really be there now? Sometimes it takes us two hours to get to the white house.

I guess there were other clues. We had strong breezes and a bit of southerly showing when we set sail in La Cruz, and right shift appeared early. 

But we had been relaxed and just having fun; finally out of the marina with no obligations to get back anytime soon. I was steering and working the waves and actually enjoying the salt spray which was coming back and we weren’t really paying attention to where we were. The J4 and full main had us just on the edge of too much sail for21kts true and I was feathering slightly, traveler down and we were pointing high and sailing fast, in the sixes.

Judy was enjoying the sail too and smiling.

Then we saw the white house. We were already sailing past it. Now we started to pay attention. This could be a record for us. We tacked and sailed way in towards the beach, to under 40ft, and the surf was breaking just ahead. Judy, as usual, got nervous when we got so close. She called for the tack back out and I ignored her. On the third call I relinquished.

“Ready About”

Her answer was instant, “Ready!”

We tacked.

Now we were on starboard tack in the offshore wind. There were no waves and we had the steady right hand shift. We footed along the shoreline, staying just outside the reefs and surf and the boat speed went up.

Great sailing!

So in that way we arrived at Pta Mita in 1 hour and 50 minutes from La Cruz, a new record for Wings when sailing without the racing sails and without the racing crew.

This is the third “get-away” attempt this season. Twice before we left La Cruz this year to go cruising, but both times we had to go back. Once after the Mexican health authorities called us to come get our second covid vaccination shots and once when we were notified that the new windshield for our car had arrived and we had to take the car in to get that installed.

But now there were no more expected recalls. We were free.

Free except for possible boat problems and weather issues. The boat has been keeping us pretty busy since April. We’ve had dozens of minor and not so minor issues and it seems like every day we’ve been fixing something or the other. Luckily we’ve managed to get it all sorted out but the reliability of the boat this year has not been comforting. The next failure could be something big. Let’s hope not.

And weather…This is the time of year the weather picture starts to change as systems roll by off shore and southerly winds appear. One day we had a southerly wind and uncharacteristic waves at Pta Mita which caused Wings to rock and roll wildly. It was miserable. More southerly winds would result in a repeat of that. We might find ourselves hoping from place to place to find calm anchoring conditions.

But today it is calm and we’re again relaxed. Judy got out a steak for the BBQ tonight and we have ice for the cocktails and nothing new broke on the boat.

Cruising can be great.

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Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Punta Mita