We’ve jibed over are heading east towards Tenacatita It’s rough and instruments are glaring out the story: we are still seeing over 27 knots of wind out of the north and 7.6 knots of boat speed. We are sailing with just a reefed main and no headsail and the windvane is steering, as it has been all night. Renee has been on deck as I worked on the broken bilge pumps but I finally finished , went on deck, and took over the watch. Renee is getting some rest. It’s about time.
Frankly, we’ve overstood and that’s on me. We should have jibed two hours ago.
Why is it that it aways seems to be stormy and problems happen when we start out on a passage? I can’t tell you how many times on the first night out of port I’ve been head down in the engine compartment trying to get something fixed or something sorted out while outside the wind is howling. Right now it is as dark as the inside of a cow and Wings is sailing fast through the black night. It is pretty scary for the crews I’d guess, they are often new to sailing, especially sailing at night, but they have always turn out to be tough. Renee is.
We don’t plan it that way. Usually we leave port during the day, often by lunch time, but even then things happen.
This time when it got rough we found water in the bilge and the pumps decided not to work. In the end the boat was not found to be leaking, it was just left over water I missed, and after I got the pumps all running we were fine.
We made it to Tenacatia at sunrise.
Tenacatia Bay is beautiful. We had a day of rest and then while Renee did her workout routine and went for a swim I went about lining up some crew for the race.
I keyed the mic on my VHF, “Hi, this is Fred on Wings, may I speak to Dave?”
“Speaking”
“You interested in racing?”
“Yeah, I think so, I’ll let you know.”
Bingo! I got the best guy in the bay. Others good sailors soon followed. By race day I had a full crew and a great one at that. Renee was navigator and everyone else just sort of fell into place. We practiced; it went well. We were ready.
Speeding across the bay in the dingy on race day with the flags for the Race Committee Renee and I must have been a spectacle. Anyhow the pre-race excitement around the fleet was tangible as crews were being ferried to the race boats and those already aboard were busy rigging.
In this race trash talk is encouraged and the teen and pre-teen girls were already into it.
“Hey you guys over there with Jim, look out, we are going to leave you in our wake”
“You just think so, beware we have secret weapons.” Then the water ballons broke out.
But we had none of that, we were serious (in a fun sort of way) and it paid off. While the kids played around with the radio and threw water ballons we sailed with intensity . Renee called the start perfectly, Dave called trim (he was the star) and we all worked as a team. We knew the weather leg in this bay, with its persistent right shift, was similar to the pattern we knew well from Banderas Bay, and it was the key to this race. We played it exactly the same as going to Punta Mita, rounded the top mark first and led the rest of the way around. A great day for Wings.
Next stop Barra. We weren’t so lucky. The race there, the Flamingo Cup, is a very well attended charity event and we were keen for a repeat but we missed the entry deadline and were not allowed to race. Dang!
But Renee and I were invited to sail on John and Donna’s Carmanah, a great custom C&C race boat from the late 70’s with an excellent record. John wanted to work the foredeck so he turned the helm over to me. We sailed hard and finished second, missing a possible first when the spinnaker tack line failed on the final leg. Congratulations to Baja Fog.
After the race we volunteered to pick up some of the inflatable marks. Renee had to fight to get them fully deflated for the ride back to the marina.
I may have cut it a bit fine at the start however and we may have been a second early. I didn’t think so and we were not called by the RC but anyhow a competitor notified the race committee after the race. He was sure we were that we were over early, and he complained, “They should be thrown out.”
The RC asked me, “Fred, were you guys over early?.”
“Could be, it was close”
“Did you go back”
“No, we didn’t hear any radio hail or see any recall flag., so we figured we were good”
That was true, but how could we have heard? The radio was filled with a shouting race announcer and the trash talk was in full force, and there were no flags. We heard nothing so we went on, and I acknowledged that.
It was a deciding moment. We could have been disqualified. But the complaining skipper allowed us to exonerate ourselves by buying him a drink at the bar, Whew!
So that was Tenacatita and Barra this year. All that was left was the sail home to La Cruz.
Renee and I had a good sail then, all night again, with the wind on the nose (wouldn’t you know it?) and a bit more breeze than we wanted but not too bad, and the rounding of Cabo Corrientes in the morning with flat water and a nice brisk cool wind, was glorious.
I’m on watch and I’m just sitting on deck, watching. I guess that’s what you do when you are on watch; you watch
It’s midnight and we are running down wind in a strong breeze. We have a reefed mainsail and a small jib polled out on starboard jibe. The windvane is steering. The boat is fast. I’m seeing 10’s on the speedo but I don’t like it. The waves are big and the boat is rolling and swerving and the ride is a bit wild. I’m just waiting for something to break but thankfully so far nothing has.
We need to jibe towards our destination, Barra de Navidad. Judy’s watch is starting and she is getting ready to come up. I tell her, “Turn on the deck light, I have to go forward and we’ll jibe”.
Using the wind vane we turn the boat to the new heading and get the mainsail across. I put the preventer on. Now we need to get the pole over and the jib to the new side as well. I’m going forward to do that. I’m clipped in and I mostly crawl to the foredeck because the motion is wild.I shout directions to Judy. She handles the lines from the cockpit. On my hands and knees I deal with the pole and barely avoid getting conked as it swings around. The motion up here is extreme and it is exhausting just to stay on board, even though it’s only for a few minutes. I compete my task and retreat aft
Now the boat is jibed, the pole is out on the new side, and we settle down, there is 62 miles to go; less than 10 hours. By daylight the wind drops, then shifts to the south. We go close hauled and start tacking. It’s only 10 miles to go now but the wind and a strong current are against us so it is painfully slow. We’re tired and a bit frustrated. It takes three hours to get to Barra.
Judy and Mike from Honu catch our lines. It’s good to see them. Hugs.
The next week goes pretty good. We hang out with our friends and enjoy the Barra de Navidad experience. There are parties and drinks on the Malecon, which prove exceptionally strong and I barely avoid getting tipsy. But we have fun. I am busy planning the races next week for Tenacatita and meanwhile I’ve got to prepare for the single race in Barra, the Flamingo Regatta. I need to line up some crew. I get a bright young guy named Imas to grind and I get a guy named Cliff to do the main. Both are new to racing. Greg and Gloria also join. Greg is my jib trimmer. Gloria is doing halyards.
The Flamingo Regatta doesn’t go exceptionally well for us, 9th place out of 22. We start last, as our start time requires, and pass 15 boats, but the wrong sails for the light air and some weak crew assignments prevent us from doing better. To win we need to pass 22 boats but we don’t. We normally expect to do well and a lot of spectators thought that we would too and they bet heavily on us. We’re sorry we didn’t perform for them but their bets make money for the charity. It’s OK, we have the second highest number of bettors so we made good money for the regatta even if none of the gamblers made out on us.
Next we sail to Tenacatita. It’s supposed to be a rally but the other boats were worried about strong winds and left earlier. We sail alone. Nice sail though; there were no strong winds to worry about. Tenacatita is fantastic. Great anchorage, great weather, and many of our friends are here. The Tenacatita Race Week looks like it will come off as planned except only two races ins
tead of three.
Three days of racing seems to be too much for many of the competitors so we are cancelling the third Race.
But what good racing it is. I’ve wanted to race in this bay for decades; it is beautiful, the wind is nice, and the sailing is outstanding and here we are on the starting line with six boats. A great start gets us off the line at speed and we are first to the top mark (which is the sailboat Karvi). The spinnaker work is good and we romp around to the finish. First Place! >Day two the breeze is up; 19 knots. We set the small jib and again have a good start. Nobody can touch us upwind in this breeze either.
On this beat we get the rare sight of a very near whale encounter. I am steering but due to the people sitting on the high side I can’t see the water off to our side. They start telling me of a whale nearby. Suddenly a large humpback whale breaches within 50 feet of our boat, next to us. After landing it swims directly towards us and then dives under our keel. Within a few feet of us its tail slides out of sight. I half expect to feel our keel hit the whale but it does not.
We put our focus back on sailing and get to the top mark first. We set the big symmetrical kite and head off almost directly downwind. The other boats are sailing higher but we are sailing deep with the pole back and the sail is pulling well. Every minute we are gaining.
Then comes the jibe. We need to jibe to get to the next mark. In the breeze it needs to be well done but the crew is new and we’re short one person. Then I spot a snag at the end of the pole which would be a big complication.
I chicken out and say, “We’ll set the jib, take down the kite, we won’t try to jibe it.
That is successful but we’re much slower without the spinnaker. Now the boats behind who still have spinnakers are catching up. What can we do? Those boats gain inexorably and the group of closes up. Brainwaves, the nearest one, gets by.
We still have the last upwind leg and as we turn the corner toward the finish we again do well and start to regain what we lost but at the finish Brainwaves is still leading and they cross us. We finish second but are in third place on corrected time.
Third place is OK. Two other boats got places ahead of us and they are really happy. We’re happy too, because they are happy. Everyone is a winner, Tenacatita Race Week is a success.
Two days later we are heading home to La Cruz. The weather doesn’t look good. We see projections of brisk northerlies and worse the following several days. Not wanting to be pinned down we head out.
The forecast is wrong. The wind is very strong: 25-29 knots against us. That is true wind. Over the deck we are seeing 34 knots of wind. We only brought the racing mainsail and with one reef it is too much. We are overpowered. The boat is sailing fast and pounds into the waves. In trying to slow it down the sails flog. This is unpleasant. We are passing Chemala at 4:30 PM. We could go in and get out of this rough weather but the next day is forecast to be worse. We decide to carry on. The sailing continues to be very difficult however.
By 10:00 PM we decide to take down the mainsail. This is also difficult and dangerous. Our mainsail is not attached to the mast; only a bolt rope holds it on. When it comes down it comes free of the mast. In this breeze the danger is of losing it overboard, a very big hazard.
I go forward and pull down the main with two hands and try to hold it onboard with my foot. Judy handles the lines aft and controls the helm (and injures her arm when the waves briefly take control and yanks the helm over). But we do it. The main is down and lashed to the boom. We now sail with just the small jib with still over 50 miles to go, all upwind. We are surprised how well the boat sails with just the small jib. It is a lesson we are just now learning after 38 years. Wow!
With this configuration the sailing is much easier and, while the wind does not ease, we carry on with little trouble.
By noon the next day we round Cabo Corrientes and head for La Cruz but the wind is dying and we sail slowly.
We arrive safely in La Cruz at 9:00 PM.
The Tenacatita trip is over, successfully finished.
At least the rain from hurricane Enrique has filled our water tanks.
That and being able to spend some time with our friends Kirk and Heidi from Due West are about the best things we can say about being socked in by a hurricane. At least we had fun with Kirk and Heidi (and their two super cool boat cats).
Otherwise it’s been a bit of a drag. We were planning on being out in one of the anchorages around here soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the clear waters of Mexico’s Gold Coast. Instead when we saw Enrique coming we scurried into the marina where we knew we’d be safe from it. Maybe we could get back out in a day or two, but no it’s been four days now and no let up from the solid rain. The winds are gone but who wants to get underway in solid rain?
This year’s cruise has been filled with interruptions.
When we were up north we had to return to La Cruz three times when we thought we’d be out kicking back. Those times were caused by things like doctor’s appointments, car appointments (yes, even while cruising our car, sitting under a cover back at our marina there, made demands on us) and boat repairs.
The boat repairs were shocking in themselves. For nearly a month we had breakdowns and failures every day, many times more than one. So even when we were not interrupting our cruise to go back to port we were working on the boat. Well, that’s boats I guess and finally it’s all sorted out, for now, thankfully (but stay tuned, there WILL be more! we’re sure of it). Most of our problems we were able to solve ourselves, and with spare parts we already had on board.
And, we’ve been subject to some shocking weather. Besides hurricane Enrique, we’ve had nighttime squalls which got us up and out of bed, usually at 3:30 AM. It’s like this, you’re sound asleep when all of a sudden a powerful wind hits your boat followed by pouring rain. And of course that wind is from a direction which you’re not prepared for. Like you’re in a bay with good protection from southerly winds and the squall comes from the North! So you get up, throw on some clothes (after turning on the instruments and the navigation computer) and hurry on deck to monitor the anchor. That’s because if the wind came in from the opposite direction than you expected now you have to worry that it will drive you ashore. If you are lucky the anchor holds and the squall blows over in an hour and you go back to bed.
The next day you decide to move to the other side of the island so you’ll be protected from northern squalls, AND THEN THEY BLOW FROM THE SOUTH!
But, weather, boat problems, etc, that’s cruising. We’ve been doing it for 35 years. I guess by now we should know what to expect when we leave the dock.
Still, we’re out here and even with all these challenges we’re relaxed and enjoying life, and still cruising after all these years.
After finally hitting escape velocity in May, and breaking free from the gravitational pull of Banderas Bay we travelled south to the Coasta Alegra (“Happy Coast”) which includes places like Chemala, Tennacatita, La Manzanilla, Cuastecomates, Melaque, and more. These are beautiful coastal towns, and bays, very quiet this time of year, and we enjoyed orbiting around this coast for a bit more than two months.
I say orbiting because we just went around and around from one place to another and back again, being lazy mostly, but when the beer ran low we had to go to town, almost any town. Otherwise we stayed at anchor and read books or worked on boat projects, of which we had several. We only put the dingy together once. In Barra we did go into the marina for a few days and hung out with Ted and Brenda on Firefly and saw a few other cruisers who were still out and about during this late-in the-season time of year. Mostly the anchorages were absolutely empty.
Now we are back in La Cruz and experiencing re-entry; re-entry into marina life, cars, shopping, dealing with marina officials. We have stuff to do. Can’t just take long naps every day.
I actually miss the lazy days anchored in Barra Lagoon or Tenacatia.
Of course there are also still boat projects to be done, a whole list of them await us. How far we get on that list nobody knows but we’ve started.
Then there is the marina staff to deal with. First of all they gave our slip to another boat even after confirming it was ready for us two weeks prior to our return. The owner of that other boat promptly left town and his boat can’t be moved. We got a back-up spot but it’s not really ours. Bummer.
Then they raised the marina rates on us for the second time this year and another rate increase is pending in November. Has the facility or the service improved? No. We just pay more.
Well, we’ll survive all of this. We’ll just settle down and get on with our project list.
Oh, one other item, we’re back in the gym and that feels good. We’re a bit off our pace from three months ago, but it’s coming back.
We spent a couple of few weeks bouncing back and forth between Tenacatita and La Manzanilla, going to Tenacatita if the winds were forecast to be northerly, and over to La Manzanilla if they were forecast southerly.
The problem is that neither anchorage is safe in all winds. In reality what we’re up against boils down to two things: We are cruising in Mexico during hurricane season and there are few good anchorages. During this season the winds can be northerly, southerly, easterly, and westerly, any direction, really, and we don’t like to be caught in a lee shore situation so we watch the weather closely to try to anticipate where the wind will come from and we move if we think we need to.
Despite all this we have enjoyed the peace and quiet of being anchored by ourselves in Tenacatitia. Our only company has been the wildlife. Recently we had a school of Jack Crevalle, which are pretty big fish, (36”) hanging out under our boat. When they took off after some of the smaller fish they made a lot of racket, splashing and sometimes running into the boat with a bang. There is also a pair of dolphins, big ones, who have been giving themselves back rubs on our anchor chain. Now that was startling!
We launched the dingy one day and did a river run, chased some birds, and visited the hotel at the end of the canal. We finished the day off with a great Rollo de Mar (rolled fish fillet with shrimps and almond sauce inside) at the La Vena restaurant.
After a few of weeks we ran low on provisions and we went back to Barra de Navidad. The marina is nice, sort of pricy, but the lagoon is the one great anchorage we know of around here. After doing provisioning and filling the water tanks, fuel, propane, etc, we went out to the Lagoon and anchored.
Today the wind went east of south for the first time this year.
We were a little surprised as it wasn’t in the forecast, but not shocked; there were storms brewing out in the Pacific and those storms could mess up the weather without trying and, after all, the summer winds should be predominantly southerly.
We shifted our anchor closer behind the nearby headland for more protection in case the SE wind came in stronger, which it might in the next few days. We circled like a dog getting ready to lie down, just to check out the surroundings before dropping the anchor in 15 feet.
It looked safe but if a strong easterly comes in we’ll move over to the bay at La Manzanilla. I don’t worry about that eventuality, I even relish it, as we’ve wanted to see Manzanilla for a while. An easterly wind would give us a good excuse.
All of this is taking place in Tenacatita where we arrived two days ago from Barra De Navidad, and we can see ourselves staying here, weather permitting, for a week or two. It’s quiet here; no other boats are anchored here and, other than a few surfers and some hotel guests walking on the beach, we are alone. We’re thinking of setting up the dingy and going ashore ourselves. There is a restaurant here which has a good fish roll with shrimp and cheese inside, Rolla Del Mar it’s called, and cold beer. Although with our new refrigerator our beer is pretty damn cold itself. Same with the cokes; one blew up yesterday so we turned the refer down from seven to four.
We’d been in Barra de Navidad for the previous few weeks. We spent a few days in the marina, but mostly anchored out in the lagoon. We were the only boat in the lagoon. It’s been OK though, it’s really quiet there. We love the birds, the solitude, and the scenery. We have friends on their boats in the marina so we take a water taxi and go in almost every day.
The friends in the marina at the Grand Hotel are all from La Cruz, people we know well and like. It has been fun to socialize with Chris and Monica from Sea Glub, Kelly and Deborah from Simpatico, and Ted and Brenda from Firefly. We’ve had a great time with them at various restaurants in Barra and going to the hotel pool and swimming laps with Ted and Brenda. The swimming has helped our bodies recover from the sedentary life at anchor. There are five other boats from La Cruz here for the summer but the crews of all of them were gone somewhere. I won’t be surprised to see more boats in Barra in the future. The summer prices are cheaper and the facilities much better than La Cruz. For us though, the community at La Cruz will keep us going back there.
Yeah, we got a new refrigerator. The old one was acting up for a few weeks but I kept thinking it was a wiring problem or some other thing I could fix. Then, boom! It went down for good.
I was depressed at first but in the end it wasn’t bad; we ordered new parts and started living on bags of ice which, other than not so cold beer, was fine.
It took two weeks for the parts we ordered to make it through Mexican customs and while waiting we refurbished the refrigerator box. The new refrigerator was costly but refurbishment was worth it; the new setup takes less power and has more room for frozen goods.
We’ve had other boat repairs to do, but they have been less expensive. A loose wire on the alternator needed to be refastened. The impellor on the engine finally wore out and we replaced that. There have been a few other repairs we needed to do but not too many.
But then the osprey showed up.
We’ve not seen this bird around here before, but coming back to the boat on Saturday night there he was, perched on our wind instruments. Holy cow! He could break them!
The osprey flew off as we arrived and I saw his huge talons knuckled under his belly as he flew away. That was an omen. Then I noticed the wind instruments: they were broken! That bloody bird and his huge talons had crushed the windvane and there was not nothing left of it. Oh Damn! The wire probe I put up to dissuade frigate birds was apparently no issue for the osprey. He simply pushed it aside.
The whole way to Tenacatita I was thinking of how I was going to fix those instruments, but first I had to get them down and take a close look. Shortly after the anchor was down in Tenacatita Judy ran me up the mast to retrieve what was left of the wind instruments. I found that mostly they were OK but the vane, which provides wind direction, was simply missing. Gone! I looked all over the boat to see if it fell somewhere so I could repair it, but no luck. It was nowhere to be found. The bird must have knocked it off and it landed in the water and sank.
OK, I went to work. I found some aluminum in the lazerette which I could cut with tin-snips, and after making a paper template, I cut out a new wind vane. It looked a little crude but I thought it would work.
Such is cruising. Unless you are lucky something will break every day. You just go to work and find a way to fix it, or you live without it. We don’t know what will happen next, but for sure, something will.
We’ve finally turned around and are headed back towards La Cruz. For the last month we have been cruising alone on what is called the “Mexican Gold Coast”; all the other cruisers who were on this coast over the winter months, and there were many, have all departed northward. It has been a good cruise for us, the weather has been spectacular, and the anchorages and towns have been fantastic. We think the boats that have gone north already have missed out on a good thing but maybe they got their fill of cruising this coast during January and February while we were up in La Cruz racing.
Whatever the reasons, we haven’t seen a soul for weeks, so coming to Barra de Navidad on our way north was like arriving into a small frontier town after being in the wilderness; seeing people was pleasant for a change.
There is a lagoon in Barra de Navidad where we like to anchor. The lagoon is one of the few places on the Mexican coast which we’d consider a “bullet proof” anchorage. It can get windy in the afternoon but it is safe from storms. The very nice little town of Barra de Navidad sits on the sand spit which separates the lagoon from the Pacific Ocean. This is where we shop, get laundry done, and enjoy good food and drinks. We don’t put our dingy together when we are anchored in the lagoon; instead we call “taxi aquatica” on the radio and get a ride to town from one of the pangeros (the Mexican men who drive the panga water taxis). During the winter months we can also call “the French Baker” who comes around the lagoon in his boat every morning with fresh bread and goodies. Umm! Delicious! Too bad the French Baker is not here this time of year either.
There is also a marina, largely empty by the way, which is part of the Barra de Navidad Grand Hotel, where we occasionally get a berth for the night but we prefer to save our cash by anchoring in the lagoon. We did however come into the marina for one night to wash the boat, fill our water tanks and play in the hotel pool. The pool is awesome with different levels and waterfalls and water slides and, of course, a pool bar. We had a great time, loved the pool, and the next morning we even got up early and went back to swim laps for exercise. We really miss having a pool like this in La Cruz.
Water Sliding in the Grand Hotel Pool
Leaving Barra, and getting totally frustrated trying to sail to Tenacatita in light, light light winds and lumpy waves, and getting only half way of a 10 mile trip in 3 hours, the motor went on for the rest of the way. At least that way we did get there that afternoon and anchored near Nakamal.
The sailing the next day, however, was fantastic. We sailed to Chemela Bay, and upwind sail of 25 miles, and we had moderate breezes, wind shifts to play, a lot of tacks to do, and we arrived at the islands of Pajarera and Cocinas tired and sunburned, but happy. These islands are home to thousands of Pelicans, Frigate Birds, Boobies, Sea Gulls, Vultures, Ibis, Ducks, and many more kinds of birds, and they are all flying overhead all day and making a racket 24 hours a day. We anchored right in front of Pajarera Island and it really feels like nature there.
Now, after four days at Pajarera, we have moved to Perula. This is another nice anchorage with more wild scenery, a quiet little town with a few bars and restaurants, and a great beach where you can walk for miles and miles if you want to. At night, however, the anchorage is rolly.
To be honest, except for the Barra Lagoon, all of our anchorages on this trip have been rough. We can take it, but sleeping is sometimes difficult when you are getting rolled around all night. It will be nice to get to La Cruz and back into our berth in the marina there.
Tomorrow we will set sail for La Cruz.
Click here for many more photos and even another video.
The daylight awakens me and it starts my morning ritual.
When the ports and skylight over my bed turn into purple blue rectangles and the surroundings in my cabin change from soft dim shadows to solids my day begins and I slip out of my bunk without awakening Judy and I turn on a flame under a pot of yesterday’s coffee.
I pull on my jeans and a warm shirt for I know that even in Mexico it will still be chilly at 8:00 AM in April.
With my favorite starbuck’s cup filled with steaming joe I go on deck and watch the sun rise.
I shift the solar panels to face the rising sun and I sip my coffee and see the day begin.
When the sun’s rays on the panels are generating enough electricity and my cup is empty I go below and turn on the computer.
The world’s news stories flash across my screen, and I look for mail and messages. I read whatever interests me and relax in the quiet of the morning.
When Judy stirs I go to the galley and make a new pot of coffee so it will be fresh for her.
That is how we do it at anchor. At sea I choose a watch schedule so that I am on watch when the sun comes up and my ritual then is similar: I want my first cup of coffee in my hand when I go on deck to watch the sun rise.
Judy, on the other hand, gets her best sleep when the sun comes up, so this works for both of us.
We are now in Barra de Navidad, anchored in the lagoon, and life here is peaceful.
Things are going well for us on the boat, the systems are all working. One very good development has been the electricity situation. For the first time ever, in thirty years, we are nearly self sufficient electrically without using shore power or running the engine. The combination of bright sunlight from 9:00 AM until after 6:00 PM gives us over 90 amp-hours of daily power. The fact that we change the angles of the panels in the morning and afternoons to get the most out of the sun’s rays helps. The cool air and water that surround us keep the boat cool and the refrigerator electrical load down and this helps as do our efficient LCD lights. We’ve also been more careful to turn off devices when not in use and we’ve refurbished some of the wiring and serviced the batteries. It all helps, apparently. The bottom line is that rather than running the engine for an hour or more each day, we get by with 30 minutes or less, or we can skip it entirely.
One thing we haven’t done much of is swimming. The water in the lagoon is not clean and we don’t want to go into it, and in the other anchorages it has been cold. This has been a surprise to us. We did take a trip to the “Aquarium” while we were at Tenacatita, and we were glad we had our shorty wet suits. What we didn’t have was any underwater photo capability, which we have never had, and we decided this year that we will solve that void before we cruise next year. I don’t know what we will get but next cruise we’ll have some sort of camera for underwater shots.
Next week we have the chore ahead of us of taking a bus ride to Vallarta to attend to a visa issue. We’d hoped to put this off until our return to La Cruz in June but it was just too impossible. Well, maybe we could have worked out something locally but the logistics and red tape were daunting. So we’ll park the boat in the Barra Marina and spend a few days going to Puerto Vallarta and getting everything handled.
Now day is nearly over and the shadows grow long and the evening activities begin.
Since I have fixed the stereo’s outside speakers and put a bunch of music on thumbdrives so I don’t have to run the computer to play music, and I have some ice in the freezer and some good scotch whiskey, I am looking forward to lighting the BBQ, which is my nightly job, my peaceful joy, and my other private ritual. Judy has defrosted a steak and it is time to cook. I go on deck again and watch the sun fade away, listening to some blues, sipping my whiskey, and I think about the day as the steak sizzles.
The cruising life for us is good, it is mostly very peaceful and quiet, and we love it.
Just a quick note to keep our followers up to date:
We sailed for Barra de Navidad on Dec 3, spent a night anchored in Melaque after a quick reunion in Barra with Gene and Sue and our sister Serendipity 43 Peregrine and then on to Puerto Vallarta, arriving in Nuevo Vallarta on Dec. 7 and moved to La Cruz on Dec 8, 2014. We had another two great sailing legs. The last section up the coast to Cabo Corrientes was amazing; 20kts of wind on the nose and some healthy waves but it was wonderful sailing and Wings went to weather like the thoroughbred she is. We wound up doing two sail changes as the wind lightened again as we crossed Banderas Bay at dawn. It's great to be back in Puerto Vallarta after sixteen years.
In La Cruz we've run into some old friends and the new marina, Riviera Nayarit, is truly luxurious.
Tomorrow we fly out to return to Huatulco to fetch the car.
I am a sailor, born of a nautical tradition passed to me by my father and my Grandfather Alfred. I’ve spent most of life on my passion which is the sea and the vessels which go upon them. I have had many such vessels and now I live on and sail on the sloop WINGS.
which I acquired in 1986 with my wife Judy
who shared my passion. For ten years we lived on Wings in Seattle and sailed, including racing. Then we left the Pacific Northwest and voyaged across the world, across the seven seas, to faraway places, and made them our own.
For thirty-eight years I have lived and loved this life. I still live on Wings, in Mexico, and sail and race often. Judy passed away in June, 2023 and I miss her but you can still join us and sail the seas as we did for all those glorious years. Fred Roswold, SV Wings, Mexico
Instruments tell the story
Frankly, we’ve overstood and that’s on me. We should have jibed two hours ago. 
Here come the race flags
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Fred Steers
Ready to Tack
Renee fights with the mark
Cruising main, reefed, and a small jib.
We're home
Judy takes us out
Flamingo Regatta
Close Racing
Upwind in a Blow
Easy Sailing
Wings' Cockpit
Judy on Watch
Re-Entry
Tucked in at Tenacatita
Ready for the BBQ
Friends in Barra
Ted & Brenda at the pool
Judy winches me up
New wind instrument
Wings in Barra
Barra de Navidad
Wings at Chamela Islands
At least the Vultures were quiet
Punta Perula
On the Beach at Perula(Chamela)
Waiting for the sun
Drinks at the bar with John and Elinor.jpg)
