wingssail images Leading Swan Fun

Javier was head down in the engine compartment fitting a new shaft coupling. He was quiet for a moment, not unusual because Javier usually goes about his work with quiet competence. But this time was different. He grunted and then said, "It doesn't fit, I have to go back to the machine shop and have this re-machined." 

This wasn't the first time that we had a setback on the engine and drive train project we embarked on in July, after I got back from my spring cruise, there had been plenty: parts which were unavailable, replacements which didn't fit. It seemed endless. But we got through it. Engine work

By the end of August the whole engine project was completed and my car was also finally fixed right. That too was a bit of a struggle. "I have no more ideas senior, maybe Jose over in Mescales can figure it out." That's the polite way of saying ,"I no want to work on your car any more." One car mechanic after another thought he knew what was wrong with the engine and transmission only to fix that with no results. Fair enough, so I trekked over to Jose's shop in Mescales. But eventually, gradually, the car got better. And there were a ton of other nagging projects to be addressed. I never took time to write about it all, I guess I was just too busy to update my blog. Sorry to leave you in the dark.

But then November rolled around. Racing season was on the horizon.

Time to line up a race crew.

One day Terry stopped by, surprise! "Hey Terry, great to see you, want to come aboard. What's up?" It turned out that Terry wanted to rejoin the crew, as fore deck. SUPER! That's one down. Mark and Linda joined. Vicki came back. Then Arjan. The crew came together. A group of women signed on and became good friends and when they helped Terry and Geoff on the bow the began to call themselves "the foredeck bitches" Racing was good in December and January. When we dominated in the Punta Mita race we all partied hard.

Happy Crew Tequila Sandy came aboard for several weeks as live aboard crew and she and I sailed down south to Tenacatita to participate in a couple races there. Sandy

Sandy has been great as crew and companion but not the whole crew could make the trip.

I needed a full crew and particularly a jib trimmer and I didn't have one. At the bar the night before the race that came together too. Vicki called me over and said, "You should meet Joey, he might want to sail." "Hi Joey, I'm Fred, I hear you might be interested in sailing?" "Yeah mate, I might be." I liked his down-under accent immediately. Auzzie or Kiwi, they are often great sailors. "What do you like to do on the boat?" "Anything, bow, trim, steer, what ever." "Great Joey, we are in the anchorage. Be on the boat tomorrow at 11:00." So that's how we got our jib trimmer and he was really good. We won that race too.

Vicki says, "First Place" Now we are back in La Cruz. I am sure there are more adventures to come. I'll try not to wait so long to update you.

Cartel Wars UPDATE: FIRES AND DESTUCTION: When we arrived back in La Cruz the whole Banderas Bay area was in shock. The day before the drug cartel had struck back at the government and community for the arrest and death of the drug cartel’s leader. Cars and buses had been burned in the streets and in Puerto Vallarta every OXXO store has been torched and burned to bare bones. People were in lock down, airport was closed and most businesses were closed. The streets were empty. But by Monday everything was quiet. Traffic had resumed. We got the car started and went to the store. It was busy. By now things are normal. No civilians or tourists had been killed, but it was a big fight between the government and the cartel. We don’t know who won or what is next. But for now, life goes on as normal. Fredrick Roswold, SV Wings, Mexico

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Fred Roswold, SV Wings, Mexico

December 2, 2024-Work and Play in The Final Days of Summer,

wingssail images-renee oake First Beer Can Race

Summer in Mexico is a time of boat work; winter is our sailing season. 

But as the end of summer rolls around and racing dates are looming if the boat work is not finished I begin to scramble and this year was no exception. 

wingssail images-fredrick roswold

Hit the deck running

 I did have a long list including a new bow pulpit (after a disastrous port starboard collision when we were on starboard and a boat to leeward decided to cross us on port. He didn't make it and I couldn't' avoid him, big OUCH) and propellor shaft and flange replacement. There was other work to be done on the topsides where the Imron paint needed attention and new epoxy deck paint with non-skid was also needed. There were new toe rails fore and aft to be crafted and winch revisions to be completed. The hydraulics needed attention and instrument upgrades were in the works. A lot of other projects were checked off including many interior upgrades (some of them major) such as important maintenance including keel backing plate replacements as well as a significant enlargement of the aft cabin berth. 

Actually, the list this year was really long but I almost got through it. 

 Almost. 

My trip to Oregon earlier for a short break was really fun but hadn’t helped me keep on schedule. 

So here I was in in November about to start the 39th racing season with a to-do list which was still a little bit intimidating. 

I needed some help 

wingssail images-fredrick roswold 

Renee and Rhonda

wingssail images-renee oake

Fred and Rhonda Sew

Fortunately my friend Rhonda came down to Mexico to pitch in. A day later a new friend Renee joined us. We got right to work and the progress with two willing hands was excellent. One of my regulars, Mark, spent a day too and I think the list was finally completed. 

This year getting my crew in shape is also going to be a challenge. Some of my most loyal crew are aging out and replacements are hard to find. Neither Rhonda or Renee will be able to sail much this winter either, if at all. I recruited new people aggressively and fortunately I found some great new talent but bringing them to a high level will take time. We went sailing a couple of times for training.

  wingssail images-fredrick roswold 

Setting sail for the first time, Tressa and Al

But it is not all work. In Mexico we like to play too; there was music to be enjoyed and time at the beach to swim in the ocean and soak up the sun. 

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Sunset at the beach

Finally it all came together and we had our first race. 

We won. 

wingssail images-fredrick roswold 

Time for my helpers to fly back to the cold North

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Fredrick Roswold, SV Wings

April 7, 2024-Moving on in March

wingssail images-fredrick roswold Anchored in La Paz

La Paz, anchored in front of Abaroa’s Don Jose Marina with a dead motor. No working starter so no motor. The starter burned out on the way here from La Cruz when a crack developed on the engine’s water system and salt water drenched the starter. Got out the spare. Oh No! the spare starter needs repair. I was going to do that last year but when Judy went into the hospital and then passed away, my mind went blank and a lot of things got away, like fixing the starter. So here we (Rene and I) were in Baja with no motor. Still had 67 miles to go to La Paz though, so we had no choice but to set sail without a motor.

Those 67 mile were rough. Lots of wind and waves and tacking, and spray and sail changes, (I got drenched at least three times) but we sailed fast and we got to La Paz and anchored in front of Abaroa’s. Now I had to fix the starter and a lot of other things, like the crack oin the cooling system, like the water maker, and a few others, but I got to work and by now Wings is in good nick. 

But what else has been going on? 

Wings in Boat Yard

In March we hauled out Wings for a bottom job and new propeller shaft. That was some but it went well. The new bottom was fast. 

Wings Crew

We also sailed in the Banderas Bay Regatta and got second place, but not without a lot of drama. The worst was a serious collision we had with another boat, it was their fault! They tacked onto port right in from of us and I had about 5 seconds to avoid them but a seco0nd move on their part, another wrong move, made avoidance impossible. BOOM! Fiberglass flying everywhere and bent metal on the bow. The other boat was badly damaged and they had to retire from the race. I decided Wings was OK to continue and we wound up finishing in second place for the regatta. There was a protest meeting and Wings was completely exonerated. 

 

It was fun at the awards party but the damage on Wings put a pall over it all for me. 

Temporary Repairs

But life goes on, 

  Fred & Rene Sailibg

I still had my plan to sail to the Sea of Cortez for three months, each month with a new crew member on board to help me. The first leg was to La Paz with Rene but we had a lot of work to do to get ready and only four days to do it. Many of my wonderful race crew helped and by March 28 we were ready. 

Rene in Colors

So then there was the sail to La Paz which I mentioned above. On April 5 Rene flew back to La Cruz and the next day Sarah joined. She is great too and I’ll write more about our trip together later.

Meanwhile I am getting on with life. Not always as I wanted it to but we have no choice, do we? 

Sarah

Click here for LOTS MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS 

Frederico, SV Wings, La Paz

Paint jobs on sailboats always look nice when they are new, but they don't last forever.

Especially dark blue paint jobs on heavily used race boats; like Wings.

In the years that we've owned Wings it's been painted three times: in 1993 we had Sterling sprayed by Seaview East in Seattle. In 2009 we had Awlgrip sprayed by "Oh", a Burmese refugee in Thailand (Oh was a young Burmese man who spoke no English and how he became a race boat painter is an unknown story, and how we found him is another story, but not for now. Anyhow he was really good at it.) And now we have gotten it painted for a third time.

That last paint job, in Thailand in 2009, was beautiful but 13 years of hard use and many dings and scrapes, plus endless exposure to the tropical sun had left Wings looking a bit dingy. We needed a new paint job.

Paint jobs are expensive. We'd saved some but not enough. The bids we got were far higher than the amount we had saved up. Plus, the painters and boat yards were all busy; nobody could get us in. And the time window before racing season was running out. I had almost given up on getting a paint job for Wings this year.

Then Adrian stepped up.

We've known Adrian for years . He's kept our bottom clean and the boat waxed. He also did a bottom job for us a few years ago. It was fine but I no feeling of confidence that he could do a topsides paint job; that is a big job and needs a big team with some real skills and experience. But I let him prepare a bid, what did I have to lose?

Adrian presented us with a competent bid for new topsides paint at a really good price. He proposed using Imron, which he has experience with.

"Wow, this is good, but can you do it in 21 days?"

"Let me talk to Antonio, my painter."

Next day he came back, "Yes, we can do it."

So I signed a contract with Adrian (Marvel Professional Boat Care), gave him a 50% deposit, and off we went to the boat yard.

Now, less than 21 days later, the boat is painted and it is beautiful. Adrian and his team worked hard and, I have to say, effectively. 

The paint job is excellent and we got all the other project finished as well (including rudder bearings and instrument through-hulls). Wings is back in the water and looking good.

Sometimes boat projects work out.

Click here for photos


Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico

wingssail images judy jensen
Working on the Mercury

Here we are, the middle of October. Summer is almost gone and what have we done in the last four and a half months?

Well, summer is for boat work, air conditioners, and long siestas.

That’s what we’ve been doing.

After the work on the dingy that I mentioned in last post, and the winch work, and the hydraulics work, we worked inside. We replaced Mr. Faucet in our galley. Yes another new faucet. Mr. Faucet was leaking. Boy do I hate that job. It’s hours laying on my back under the sink and numerous getting up and back down, plus skinned knuckles, etc, I hate it, but we got it done, Judy and I, and it looks nice and does not leak.

We also finally got our Mexican License plates, the Chrysler has gone native.

Then the dingy motor, our old 15 HP Mercury 2-stroke. It had a few problems and needed some maintenance and TLC. We kept it in the shop forward and worked it over. New wires, new kill switch, fixed up accelerator pump, new lower unit lube, and a good clean up and touch up with new black paint, it looks and runs good now. Not sure how long it will last but at least now we got it purring.

Moving on, a couple more car projects intervened. Lost brakes one day. That was scary. But it was just a blown brake line (replaced), and a transverse rear suspension link got loose (fixed) and a power steering pump belt went out (replaced). We had a dent in the left front fender where I pulled out in front of a truck (also fixed). Not sure what will go out next but I know it will be something.

Rain: Boy has it rained this summer. We’ve been collecting water with our shade awing water collection system and it has worked really well. We use 100 gallons a week and we’ve gone 12 weeks without filling our tanks other than rain water. That’s 1200 gallons we’ve collected (and consumed). The rain has also flooded the town, but that’s normal.

wingssail images fredrick roswold
Judy

Work outs: Judy and I have kept up our three times a week routine at the gym and it is showing. We both feel healthier and are doing well in the gym. I’ve even lost weight. Judy’s time for the mile on the treadmill is coming down and she is really giving the weight machines hell. I think she’s about to break some of them. On the treadmill her mile is consistently under 17 mins and on the stair-stepper she’s heading for a 14:00 mile.

I’ve been working hard on the rowing machine (as well as other machines) and I’ve really made some progress. Since 2004 I’ve been trying to get my time for 3000 meters under 12:30. (I’ve had the same type of machine since 2004, isn’t that cool?) Now, this summer I finally beat 12:30. Then I beat 12:00 with a time of 11:48. Since then I’ve gone faster every week and my latest best time is 11:08. That is unbelievable for me and I don’t know if I can ever beat that. But I’d like to get under 11:00. Can I? (one problem is that the timing device quit on Monday, so I’m stuck).

wingssail images judy jensen
Pork Kebabs

Cooking: We usually eat at home and Judy always prepares great meals. This summer she decided to document her cooking. She has been photographing her results every night and she has a blog post with all of the results. They are as good as they look. I’ve got one photo here but Judy is posting a month’s worth are here>> Thirty Days of Meals

Next up we’ve got a haul out coming and a new paint job for the hull, plus some instrument upgrades and new rudder bearing. It will be busy. We’ll try to keep you in the loop.

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Click here for Judy's cooking photos

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico

Sunday, August 21, 2022

August 21, 2022-Back In La Cruz

I am writing this blog entry just to update you readers to that which you might already suspect: we are no longer in the Sea of Cortez. We returned to La Cruz on July 1. Sorry if we kept anyone in suspense. 

The trip back was typical, too much motoring, except the last 48 miles when we had a wonderful spinnaker run. With Judy driving we hit 10.5 Knots; the best Wings has seen in many years. 

Since then nothing much has been happening. We're doing boat projects including winch repair, hydraulic panel refurbish, dingy repairs, car maintenance, and a few other mundane things. 

As everywhere else it seems it's been hot so we don't do a lot outside but that's life in Mexico in the summer. 

One good thing has been the rain. We've kept our water tanks filled with rain water which is better than dock water. 

Other than that it's quiet here.

wingssail images fredrick roswold
Wings is flying and Judy is steering fast

We'll try to keep you updated better if anything exciting happens.

Click here For more photos and details of the projects.

Fred & Judy SV Wings, La Cruz, Mexico

Saturday, April 16, 2022

April 16, 2022-Catching Up With Febuary

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Wings and Jazzy II

February was even more hectic than January.

We were looking forward to some peace and quiet in February. After all, the racing schedule was reduced and there was not much else on the agenda.

But the Wednesday Beer Can Races continued. We had wind, wind, and more wind. On the windiest days we had breeze into the 20’s and it didn’t seem to stop. Pushing the boat hard in that wind on those short courses was exhausting. We wore out our sail trimmers, actually experienced loss of control at times, blew out a spinnaker and, to top it off, we had engine and other boat problems.

The boat problems included broken blocks, broken battens, bent stanchions, plugged fuel lines, blown out exhaust mixing elbow, of course a totally blown spinnaker and minor issues. I was fixing things every Thursday.

As for control problems, in the strong gusts of wind the boat became unruly as the wind took over and I had to fight to keep the boat under control. Our crew had to scramble to stay on the boat and at their jobs. That included me.

In one strong puff I lost my grip on the deck and slid dangerously close to the edge of the boat while hanging on to the tiller! Of course, my death grip on the tiller while I fell caused the boat to round right up into the wind AND RIGHT TOWARDS THE SIDE OF ANOTHER BOAT GOING THE OPPOSITE WAY! It was a T-Bone between two boats going 6 knots in opposite directions about to happen. All I could do was pull the tiller farther which caused the boat to do a sudden tack and put us out of danger. Whew! Dodged that bullet. The crew on the winches never even noticed my pratfall; they just frantically completed the tack and wondered why I didn’t call for it ahead of time.

But we got through those tough races and afterwards thought they were fun. One thing about it: it turned out that they were good practice for the windy Banderas Bay Regatta which came later (we’ll write more on that soon.)

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Beach Party

Also in February, spontaneous social activities kept us entertained and busy.

Beach parties were organized and we attended some of them. Dinners out, dancing in the moonlight. Yeah!

We had an opportunity to actually sail on other boats, including John and Lynn’s 54 foot EDWINA and Peter & Eileen’s APPLESEEDS, and spent time on various other boats with friends we’ve become close to in Mexico.

In all, February, instead of being quiet, was a very busy month, but a good one for the Wingers.

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Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Jan 21, 2022-One Cowhide Over the Moon

Norma, from the gym, told me about the tapiceria in Bucerias. 

 A tapiceria is a upholstery shop and we'd been searching all over Puerto Vallarta for a tapiceria which could fix the leather seats in our car.  Not having much luck either! 

Then Norma told us about the shop right across the street from the gym. 

Same old story: when you can't find what you're looking for, look closer to home. So I walked over to the tapiceria and met David, the main guy. And I met his mom Zanaida, who runs the desk, and Ceasar, David's brother. I met the whole family. 

I showed David our ripped upholstery. 

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
David

He said he could fix it. His mom gave me an estimate, "Not bad",  I thought. But their leather selection was not what I wanted. "Can I bring my own leather?" I asked. "Sure." 

Next I searched for leather in Mexico. That should be easy, I figured, Mexico is rich in leather. 

I found a shop n Guadalajara and ordered a whole cowhide, black, fine finish, $73. 

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
One Cowhide

I took my cowhide to David. "Looks fine" he said. We made an appointment and on the designated day I took my car to his shop and pulled it into the back yard. 

When it was supposed to be ready I went back. The seats were perfect, like new, but there was a problem: the electric seats didn't work! 

Well, I knew they were bad before but when David and Ceasar worked them over they stopped working. 

David's English wasn't good. 

We talked with Google translate. He said, "He fixes the engine and I fix the upholstery" meaning the electric seat motors were my problem.

No problem, I found a used seat adjuster in a wrecking yard in Ohio, near the town where we found the car itself several years ago, and ordered it. 

Now I have replaced the seat adjuster (big job, actually) and the electric seats work and the leather is very nice. 

All good. 

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
New Seats

We're over the moon with it.

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Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz Huanacaxtle, Mexico

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Dec 19, 2021-B&G Instrument Project-Part II

We said good bye to a long time friend this month and it was sad. I escorted the B&G Hercules instrument system off the premises, in a box, and wished him well.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold How I'll Remember B&G

For nearly 40 years, like a loyal employee, B&G served quietly onboard Wings providing accurate and timely wind and boat speed information. We did have our ups and downs; I had to work hard at times to keep B&G operating smoothly, but I was proud that the teamwork was successful, that we had our forty year old instruments still going! And even though it was 40 years old, B&G gave us information and flexibility that few modern systems could equal. I loved that system.

But there were signs that its time was drawing near. Accuracy was becoming questionable and, some functions were unreliable. I’m sorry to say so but it was clear that it was time for B&G to go.

I brought a replacement system, a newer B&G Hercules system, onboard for a tryout. The old B&G must have seen the handwriting on the wall, retirement in a box? What an ignominious end he faced ; but what could he do? Nothing.

One day at the gym when I knew I was going to go home that day to disconnect B&G for the last time I actually had a tear in my eye. But all good things must end.

Now the newer B&G Hercules 2000 system is in place. The old B&G Hercules 390 is gone.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold New B&G H2000 system in place

Things with the new instruments are not completely smooth, and at times I still miss the old system and wonder if we made the right decision, but we had to move forward.

It wasn’t cheap though either in terms of time or money. The new system came in a couple of boxes filled with used pieces with no guarantees that they would work. I spent about 100 hours testing and installing it all. I still needed quite a few pieces, so I was on Ebay most days.

Some of the software was out of date and though I had the latest versions of it stored on my PC, they have to be burned into Eprom chips and physically installed to be useful. I bought an Eprom burner and learned how to use it.

The mast head unit I built works, but I have doubts about the 40year old cable to it which we still have installed. I may need a new one of those. The performance CPU is not outputting data and even a new Eprom didn’t help it, so I had to find a another one on Ebay and it’s now on the way. Then there is the issue of spares. For the old system we had boxes of spare parts. I now have to find some spares for the new system. Keep in mind that while it is 22 years newer than the one it replaces, it is still an old system, and spare parts are rare.

But in the end we should have a better system at a pretty substantial cost savings. A new B&G Hercules 5000 system would cost over $10,000. We’ve got one a little bit older (but still an improvement over our previous system), at a fraction of that cost.

Now if only it will be as loyal and reliable as old B&G.

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Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz, Mexico

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Oct 17, 2021-B&G Instrument Project

wingssail images-fredrick roswold 

B&G Hercules 390: 40 years old

We’ve had these B&G Hercules instruments since we got the boat in 1986. They actually date from 1979, most of them.

We’ve maintained, fixed, upgraded and babied them for 35 years. They still work, but barely, and parts are getting thin.

We’d love to upgrade them to newer model instruments but the cost is prohibitive. 

Then I was given a box of slightly newer B&G Hercules gear which was taken out of a boat which was hit by lightning. They were not working and the owner said, “Replace them all”.

Opening them up I did find burned out circuit boards. 

But I thought they might be repairable so I set them up on the work bench and chart table and began an “bench test’. 

  wingssail images-fredrick roswold 

Bench Testing 

I found most of a complete system could be created out of the box of pieces but a lot of them were trashed. 

One of the most challenging parts was the wind sensor which goes on the top of the mast. It was broken and also, I wanted a newer vertical version (the new part lists for $4600, so that was out!).

It took several tries but finally I had even that wind sensor working and I engineered a vertical spar. 

Hoorah! 

wingssail images-fredrick roswold  Wind Data Works! 

Well, I still have to do some work, including a new mount must be made for the wind unit, and some other parts need to be fabricated to install the stuff, but it looks like we could have newer instruments for a pretty good price (fixer – upper instruments). 

Of course we don’t know if they will really work once they are all installed, or how long they will last, and honestly, I’ve been pretty proud of how long we’ve kept the old ones working, and I'll be sorry to see them go, but I think it’s worth it to try this. 

wingssail images-fredrick roswold  Nikon Down 

 Now if only I could get my trusty Nikon to work again. This month it died after 12 years of hard use. I’ll definitely miss that one. 

Click Here for more photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico

Friday, September 17, 2021

September 17, 2021-700 Gallons of Free Water

wingssail images-fredrick roswold  Cooking in the rain

Right now it’s raining like hell.

That’s OK, we’re getting water in our tanks thanks to our great water catching system. Rainwater is sweet, much nicer to drink than the dock water we normally use to fill our tanks. That water is supposedly safe, and we did drink it for a few years, now we avoid it because it has a bad taste; we buy bottled water. But rain water…that is Sooo nice. Since August 1 when we got back to La Cruz we’ve collected about 700 gallons of sweet rain water and still counting! We have not had to buy water at all!

Yes, the season has been wet. We’ve had daily rains, often an inch or more. And we’ve had a near miss by a hurricane, which brought several inches.

But Hurricane Nora brought more than rain. It brought winds and waves. We were safe here in the marina but some boats had decided to weather the hurricane out in the anchorage. Two were lost.

La Cruz anchorage is not protected and not safe. Out of four boats out there three dragged their anchors. Two went aground and were wrecked. One was just dragged close to shore but in the end his anchor held. A fourth boat did not drag and held OK during the hurricane. We are glad we are not in the anchorage.

These boats were permitted to come into the marina for free but they declined. We don’t know why they choose that. Now two boat owners who lived on their boats are homeless. It is sad.

I am going to say this: In the last several years about seven boats have dragged ashore in this anchorage, onto the rocks, and all but one were total losses. Now here is the weird part, all were owned by single men, mostly men without much in the way of financial means. Guys without much money get boats on the cheap, they come to Mexico, and then they can’t afford to really take care of their boats, and too often, they lose them. I become disgusted when I think about that.

Other than hurricanes, rain, and boat wrecks,  things are pretty normal here. We’ve been doing boat projects, and gym workouts, not much else.

I think I’ll make some coffee and look outside and see how much rain is happening.

Click here for a few more photos.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz Mexico

 

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

March 14, 2021-New Paint

New paint

Peter Vargus was not too surprised when I told him to mix up a custom color for Wings' bottom paint, two gallons black and one gallon blue. After all, we've asked for that before. It's been over two years since we did a bottom job but the Comex paint has been holding up pretty well. But it was time. Now, in a little over a week we'll go racing in the Banderas Bay Regatta and maybe the new paint will help. The effect was quite nice we think.

Hauling Out

Wings looks small in the big travel lift

Meanwhile we attended a party at Deborah and Kelly's Beach house and it was fun.

Life in Mexico goes on. Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz Huancaxtle

Feb. 6, 2021-Fixing the Lowrance

Screen Burn

Our Lowrance GPS plotter was losing it’s screen. LCD Burn.

The machine worked but numbers were barely visable. I found a used one on Ebay. It came with a 30 day guarantee. $139.00. Cheap. 

Today it arrived and in a few minutes I had it hooked up and running. It looked fine. But I wanted to keep all of our data, including waypoints from our circumnavigation. So I thought I would try to put the LCD from the newer one into our old unit. 

I took the old one apart, thinking I had done this once before and it was doable. 

It wasn’t. I broke the LCD connectors. Now I had only the newer one. 

But stubbornly I decided to try something else. There was a memory chip which was removable. I thought to try swapping these chips. Pretty easy, I thought, but maybe some risk. I wondered if I was being foolish, but I plowed ahead. Judy watched me dubiously. 

With the chip from the old one in the newer unit I turned it on. Nothing! Well, not nothing: It flashed once then went dead. 

OK, Maybe I have ruined two of these things in a short 15 minutes. Still trying, I disassembled it again and put its rightful chip back in. Turning it on, another flash and then dead! AGAIN! 

One more try, maybe I had the chip backwards, it could go two ways. Another disassembly and I turned the chip around. THIS TIME IT WORKED! Hurray! 

But not willing to let well enough alone, I dissembled it another time and tried the old chip again, this time I turned it around too. AGAIN IT WORKED! 

Well, the waypoints weren’t there but some of the settings were. 

I could do no more and was actually totally happy to have a working GPS with a good screen. I completed the installation and called it good. 

Click here for more photos of the project.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz Huanacaxtle, Mexico

December 12, 2020-Making the Red Dragon

wingssail images-fredrick roswold

The Dragon

 Sometimes we get these ideas that are really dumb. We don’t exactly know where they come from and if we’re smart we just let them pass.

But when Luis pulled the Red Dragon out of the bag onto the grass I was inspired, I had to have that spinnaker. It was so…stunning.

But it was a dumb idea.

Who in God’s name needs a 2.2 oz blood red symmetrical spinnaker with a giant dragon on it. Especially since we never have the kind of strong winds here in Mexico where you would need such a sail, and if we did have those kind of winds we wouldn’t be flying a spinnaker, and anyhow I already have a heavy duty symmetrical spinnaker, which is also nearly new.

And what’s with the red color and the Chinese dragon? I have no connection with China.

But this sail was so beautiful! And, while second hand, it was apparently unused (no surprise, who would ever use it?).  And the price was right, very right. Oh I wanted that sail.

Then I had an inspiration: What I did need was a heavy duty asymmetrical spinnaker to fly on those windy reaches we have here so often. Why not recut this sail into an asymmetrical? With its weight it would be bullet-proof.

So I bought it.

Now recutting a symmetrical spinnaker into an asymmetrical might be a bit tricky I thought, especially if I want it to work well enough for racing, and what did I know of such things? Nothing.

But no harm in trying, and actually, I was sure it would turnout all right, I never believe that things won't turn out OK when I start a project. I just plow into them, you could call it over confidence. Any anyhow, if it doesn’t work, Luis wants it back to make kites out of it. I’ve got nothing to lose.

First we had to take a look at it.

We got some of the crew one day and went out to put it up and see what shape it had.

The Dragon, in symmetrical form

Everybody likes it

It was big and a bit flat (OK) and it had narrow shoulders (also OK) and a narrow head (also OK, really OK). It was also pretty. I took some photos. Now I was really encouraged.

Back home I did some research into asymmetrical spinnaker dimensions, and played around with Photoshop until I could create an image of what it would look like as an asymmetrical.

Cut out on the white lines

Next Judy and I hauled it and the Sailrite sewing machine up to the VIP room and tore into it. We measured and cut and taped and sewed. Seven hours later we had an asymmetrical. Retaining the dragon logo in the middle made the job a little trickier, but I found a way around that.

Sewing

Now to try it out.

We were scheduled to sail on in the Beer Can Race on Wednesday so when the crew arrived I told them we were going to again use the Dragon, but now it was an asymmetrical. They shrugged, “Whatever you say, Fred.”

But it worked!

Terry sets the Dragon, asymmetrical mode

Oh I saw some flaws and the leech needed some re-shaping, and we had trouble jibing it, but it definitely worked as an asymmetrical. The crew thought it was fine.

Back in the “loft” for a second re-cut. This required less time.

And back on the boat for the next Wednesday’s race we gave the dragon a real workout. We still had trouble jibing, but the sail worked even if my steering didn’t. After the race, in which we were last, we went back upwind for more practice. We got the jibes sorted out. Then we decided to see what that sail could do.

In 15 knots of wind we came up onto a reach. No problem.

Then a tighter reach. Still no problem.

Then a really tight reach. Apparent wind at about 45 degrees. WOW!

Flat Sail, Hard Reaching

That Dragon transformed itself. Downwind it was full but when strapped tight it became flat. It really was gorgeous! And the power was forward, where it was needed. Wing’s rudder had no problems holding that sail in that wind, It was Fun! Everyone was grinning. What power, what speed!

Hard Reaching Fun

So we don’t know if it will really be fast (compared to other boats, I mean) but we’ll find out soon enough, and in the meantime, we had some real fun doing it.

Sometimes dumb ideas work out.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz Huanacaxtle, Mexico

PS. Where did this sail come from?

There was a boat here for a few years with an absentee owner. He’d gone to China, apparently (funny, so there was a China connection with this sail) and some say he met a girl there and wasn’t coming back. He stopped paying his berthing fees, we were told, He also stopped paying Luis to maintain the boat.

“Sell the sails and get your money that way.” He wrote to Luis.

Then the marina foreclosed on the boat and sold it, but Luis still had the sails. I helped Luis flog the sails and when it came to the red one, he gave me a good price.

windcharmer images-don deil

Coming In

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Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz, Mexico