Author Archives: Melissa

Feeling Ready

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This is how it goes in this life. Mike and I have been trying to head south for over a week now. We’d like to be in La Paz by Christmas, and that could still happen and probably will. But we thought maybe we’d be a little further along by now. All the cool kids are already down south on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Some of our followers are wondering if we’ve lost our sanity, we’ve been on this side of the Sea this far north for so long. But the truth is we are going as fast as we want to go. And also, we can’t leave until we are ready: both the boat and the people on board.

We came to Puerto Escondido because we wanted to see our friends on S/V Blue before they left to go back home; because we have friends in Loreto we also wanted to see, and we hoped S/V Slow Motion would catch up with us. I guess we just enjoy being with our friends lately.

Endless entertainment.

Then Mike decided he was worried about some debris in our fuel filters. So we paused for a day to do a little fuel polishing aboard. I think he’s working on a post for that. That small delay cost us actually three days, as a great north wind was coming, and it was coming sooner than we thought. Anyway, we are still here, right outside the door of Puerto Escondido hunkered down at our favorite anchorage that’s protected well from the north winds. It’s not that we have a time schedule because we don’t. We could stay here for weeks if we want to. We just think maybe it’s time to experience something beside strong north wind and the accompanying big seas.

 Our plans were loose. We were going to leave today, December 18.  Maybe they were too loose to be put into play. Here’s how that goes; the story of our day for those of you who still don’t really ‘get’ why we can’t make solid plans written in stone. Is there anyone left who still expects that of us, really?

I get up around 8:00 and the sun is shining and the seas are calm for now. I’m ready immediately to spring into action on our plan to go into Puerto Escondido to their guest dock, fill up with water, get a bit of fuel for the jerry cans, go to the little store there and then get the hell out of Dodge. The wind is supposed to pick up later in the day and I’d like to get on with it.

I hear voices in the cockpit and realize Mike is on the phone with Andrew and Jill, in Paris. All plans come to a screeching halt because phone calls with our kids trump any other plan at almost any time. We enjoy our chat, lingering on the phone, missing them. They are having the time of their young lives.

Mobula Ray, jumping for joy.

An hour later the wind is already picking up. I say to Mike, “The wind is already picking up.”  He denies the reality of my statement, commenting that it’s only a little wind. He’s right, of course, for now; right this second anyway. I check weather on my phone and it’s changed just a bit. Higher winds, sooner than predicted, are moving in faster than I remembered. There will be winds of 15 with gusts to 20 by noon. In an ordinary place, this is no problem. In fact, up in Commencement Bay, this would be great sailing! We would be chomping at the bit to get out there. We’d practically be running down the dock to untie the lines.  But we are in the Sea of Cortez. It’s going to be no fun in the port.  And the seas are going to become sea monsters.

We put on our bluetooth radio sets, a tool we cherish, and raise anchor, a dance we’ve become very accustomed to and that almost always goes without any hitch at all. Mike begins to deploy the fenders, which will keep the boat from rubbing against the dock. We make way through the narrow, shallow channel into the port, wondering when the last time was they dredged it as we see the depth guage begin to read 3.5 feet under the keel. I am following all the gps tracks from our previous entries and exits. I know we are fine but my heart races anyhow.

Through the worst of it, I drive the boat toward the blessedly empty long dock.

Puerto Escondido as viewed from the ridge by our anchorage. You can see the long dock separating the marina from the mooring field. It’s right in the middle of the photo. The narrow channel entry is out of the photo, to the right.

“I’m going to head gradually toward the very far end of the dock, past that last electrical box. The wind will be blowing us onto the dock and I am concerned we will hit the box with our dinghy engine on the way out.”, I say. Mike concurs, thinks it’s a good plan. My anxious brain is already strategizing our exit, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily. I know that the winds are going to increase, and getting off the dock might be ‘interesting’, a word which here means mildly terrifying. I like to mitigate damage to the boat or dock when at all possible. And I like to have more than one plan.

Mike stands on the deck, aft and midship lines in hand, ready to swing into actio as we approach the dock, keeping enough forward speed to keep control at the helm.   “Looking good, Melissa. Give her a little reverse when you get past that electrical box.”

“Got it. I’m in neutral, just letting the wind blow her onto the dock.”

I put her in reverse (to stop the boat, there are no brakes, you know).

“Reverse hard now. Harder. OK perfect.” He steps off and cleats off the lines. The fenders groan under the pressure of Galapagos, hard against the dock. We’re there; sighs of relief in my head for now.

Viewing Galapagos from the ridge.

I get the water hose ready and attach the little garden water meter we use to keep track of our water useage. We love that the water here is pure and potable. (Even though we have a .5 micron filter on our water supply on board.) Mike grabs the two jerry cans for fuel, grabs the trash and goes to shore to take care of that business. He spends about 4$ per gallon for fuel. We’ve decided we won’t pull up to the fuel dock and fill up because we want to use up the old fuel in the tank first, and then clean the tank.

Meanwhile I’ve been in touch with our friends on S/V Blue, safe at home in Gig Harbor. Kevins needs us to go aboard their boat and check a few things. We would really love to be able to do that for him. We agree we will check on Blue if possible.

Fueled and watered, we walk up to the little store, pushing the button on the security gate (which did not exist last season) to get out of the marina. We buy a few cold beers, a couple of packages of fresh tortillas, some fresh-ish tomatoes and jalapeños, some mineral water, and some of their hand made empanadas for breakfast. We hadn’t eaten, because we were going to get an early start. Chortle.

“What’s our plan now?”, I say, as though he will actually know. It’s too late to head south to Agua Verde. We would arrive after dark. And that wind… On some level I knew we would not leave today so this is not a surprise to me. Also that wind is probably going to create seas that I will not enjoy. I’m no longer in a hurry to get out there. “If we stay here we are looking at a mooring ball for at least 2 nights and a very sporty ride to the dock in the dinghy anyhow. We can just go back to the Wrecked Sailboat Anchorage, or we can try Honeymoon Cove and see if that’s full. If it’s full, then we can go back to the Wrecked Sailboat Anchorage. We can’t get out of this area until Thursday either way now.” (Winds are expected to reach 30 knots on Wednesday. No bueno, as they say around here.)

Mike replies that he would prefer not to get a mooring ball. This is our month of lean living, one of several, probably, after all the money we spent since June. He suggests we try Honeymoon Cove, a 2 mile sail across open water to Isla Dazante. If that’s no good, it’s easy to get back to the Wrecked Sailboat Ancorage (our name for this particular place to anchor), a place we’ve come to know well that is just outside the entrance to Puerto Escondido. It’s not great, but it’s safe, has good protection from the north,  and has good cellular signal.

By now it’s noon which, on cruiser time, means we only have a few hours before we go to bed. Mike says we will check Kevin’s boat and then go. The wind is definitely picking up. The waters in the mooring field are filled with whitecaps. I check my weather app. Yep, definitely time to get out of here.

Beautiful views all around.

We take our groceries and get back to the security gate but no one is there to let us through to the docks. Wtf. We wait. I use the ladies room. We wait some more but there is no one. Our beer is getting warm. Since we are not mooring the boat there, we have no access unless someone lets us in. We get in to come spend money there, but it’s hard to leave. Hmmm. Mike walks back to the store to find someone with a key card. Meanwhile I wait at the gate and eventually an employee comes by and lets me in the magic door.

Back at the boat sea water is surging over the edge of the dock and Galapagos is hard against it, fenders bulging with the strain. Honestly, how do they keep from popping like bubbles?

Mike says, as sea water soaks him with spray, “No. This is already too problematic. We can’t go check Kevin’s boat right now. We’d have to deploy the dinghy and then we don’t even know if we can get safely aboard. We’ll have to say no to that and he will understand.” I really wanted to do this for our friend, but I also really, really want to get this boat off the dock immediately. The winds and waves are only going to get worse; she is going to be pressed ever more firmly in place as time goes on. We need to go. Now. Just outside the port the sea will be fine. Then maybe we can come check Kevin’s boat.

We strategize, get our radios on. I’m worried about the stern of the boat getting blown onto the dock and hitting the swim step or worse. I am pleased to have thought ahead to being well positioned in terms of the electrical box, which was an issue last season. Our dinghy engine clipped it getting off the dock one time and though no harm was done, it wasn’t cool. We removed the dinghy engine and put it on the aft rail, just in case.  I deploy our largest fender to that area of the boat and cleat it off. It hangs like a huge earring, waiting to do its job of cushioning the side of the boat against being damaged by the dock.

Mike releases the mid-ship line. The boat doesn’t move, most of the lines are completely slack anyway because the wind is abeam of the boat and gusting to 20. We could untie each line and the boat would stay put, the huge hand of God holding it firmly in place.

Mike says, “I’m going to let off on the bow line and try to pull the stern in toward the dock, getting the bow to point a little off the dock.”

“OK. Want me to go forward and hold the line?”

“Uh, sure. You can do that.”   Of course, he already knows I don’t need to hold the line. May as well take it completely off.

 I hold the line, it’s really completely slack, doing nothing. He pulls in the stern but the boat laughs in his face. It’s never going to hold that position for even 4 seconds. But it’s important to try these little things first, before you go for the big things.

“Ok, you’re going to have to release the bowline completely and give the boat some forward momentum while I push her away from the dock. Then I’ll get on.” He says, as though he were Superman. He’s so calm.

Great.

I take the helm. “Ok, she’s in forward, I’m going to go as slowly as possible and give her just a touch of starboard, the tiniest amount,  while you push the stern away.” (Turning too sharply to the right will result in the stern of the boat hitting the dock, which we are trying mightily to avoid. I want to leave the dock at a gradual angle, giving her just enough acceleration to stay ahead of the wind and whatever current is down there.) I’m glad we have plenty of room, the dock is long, no one else is there. All these things I’m grateful for. Galapagos moves forward, Mike keeps pressure on her stern. We are inching away from the dock safely.

“Give her some more juice.” He says. I crank up the rpms a bit. She leaps forward.

“Get On! You need to get on!” I say quietly into the microphone as the gap between Galapagos and the dock widens. I can just see me leaving Mike high and dry on the dock and having to turn around to go get him. No, gracias!

“Don’t worry, I can get on fine.” And he did. It was actually no drama, he just stepped on as I gunned it away from the dock and into the safe loving arms of open water, stern beautifully free of the danger of hitting a hard object. I steers us into the narrow channel, another successful leaving of the dock without killing ourselves or others under our belts.

Our view from the Wrecked Sailboat Anchorage

We set course for Honeymoon Cove, 2 miles away. As the boat came out from behind Coyote Point, we are slammed with the wind and big seas. At this point, we aren’t even interested in sailing the short distance. We don’t even bother with the headsail. We just want to get there (and we also want to burn the fuel in that tank). We’re going 6.5 knots, so we’re looking at maybe 20 minutes before we have more manageable conditions. We power through the sea, waves not quite abeam. It’s all chaotic noise from below from the motion of the boat. We aren’t prepared for a passage, just coastal cruising. Things are stowed, but they rattle and hum like crazy.

I hate this kind of thing. I hate these seas, I hate this wind. I think to myself that leaving today for points south would have been the stupidest thing ever. Even if we were in a following sea with these 6-8 foot waves behind us, they would be uncomfortable this close together. These waves are practically stacked on top of each other. These are the times when the fun/suck equation is in danger. It sucks enough that I forget all the fun we are having. But fortunately, that doesn’t last for long because it’s only 2 miles.

Plus, it’s not really dangerous. I mean, it COULD get dangerous if we lost steerage or something, but in the absence of any kind of gear failure, we’re safe. Just uncomfortable and my brain is a bit on fire. I think it’s the over stimulation of all the noise, wind, and motion. It’s like I could use a Thunder Shirt or something.

It’s blessed relief as we get behind the land again and motor into Honeymoon Cove. There is some wind here, but the water is flat because it’s protected by the land. It’s a really pretty cove and I’d love to be able to stay there.

There are already 4 boats in the cove. We begin scouting for a possibe spot when one of the boats picks up anchor to leave. Score! The guy on the boat behind that one yells at Mike that the south end of the anchorage has good holding. Huh? Why would we want to go there when the wind is from the NW? It would be wide open. Maybe he wanted this spot we are about to take. Hmmm. I slowly circle the anchorage waiting for the other boat to vacate. We deploy our radios once more.

Mike on the bow, I’ve got the electronic version of the Blue Latitude chart in front of me and can see our position. I creep forward toward shallower water. In this anchorage it stays very deep until you are close to shore. I’m looking for about 20 feet under the keel, maybe a little less.

“30, 28, 25, 23… ok go ahead and drop it”, I say. Because it seems like we are getting too close to shore for comfort. Galapagos is a big boat and has a 6 foot draft. We need room. Mike deploys the anchor.

“Tell me when to mark it, I remind him.” We always hit the Man Overboard button on the GPS when we drop anchor, marking the position where it hits bottom. This information has been extremely useful to us when I get worried we might be dragging anchor.

He lets out 100 feet of chain. We are waiting for a northern blow and want plenty of chain out. After he’s got the snubber on, which means another 30 feet of chain, and the boat has settled, I see that we are probably too close to the boat behind us. Damn it.

“Hey, take a look behind us, honey. Does that look a bit close to you?”, I say lovingly into the microphone. I see the guy on his foredeck watching us, probably the Canadian version of bitchwings going through his mind. (Bitchwings: hands on hips at the foredeck, scowl on the face as someone anchors too close to you.) Canadians are all really nice, but who knows what people are thinking. I’d hate to see a Canadian with his dander up.

“Yeah. That does look too close. Let’s pull it up and try to get closer to shore. That guy won’t appreciate us being this close.” Mike says. And yeah, that’s the right attitude. We are grateful for our electric windlass. He pulls anchor and I nose up into about 15 feet under the keel, feeling a little pushed about how close we are to shore now, not really liking it. He drops the anchor, I use wind and a bit of reverse to lay out the chain and wait for the boat to tell us she’s caught, bow swinging into the wind. She catches easily and we wait to see how she is going to settle in.

(For the non-boaters, what’s happening here is a big north wind is coming tomorrow and we are looking for a safe place to wait it out. Now we’ve anchored in front of two other boats, because that’s literally the only place in this anchorage that is workable. The cove is deep and small, staying deep until you are quite close to land in all but a couple of places. But anchor etiquette and safety require that you keep a reasonable distance between your boat and boats there before you, especially those who would be behind you should your anchor give way during the wind storm. I mean, Karma, you know, so we don’t like to crowd others. )

I see the guy on the boat behind us watching our anchoring dance. He’s probably thinking exactly what I would be thinking if I were him. “Keep clear of my boat, bitches.” I mean, he does have a nice looking, well kept boat. I’m sure he’d like it to stay that way. I use our range finder and relay to Mike that our stern is coming to rest about 68 yards off his bow. As a rule, if we have to break out the range finder, we’re too close. We look at each other, each waiting for the other to blink I suppose.

“How are you feeling about this?”, I ask mon capitan. “I think it’s important that we feel confident that we are in a good spot and that we are able to leave the boat and go exploring if we are going to be here. We need to both feel good about it.” After my therapy-speak, I wait.

He replies: “I’m feeling about like that guy in that boat is probably feeling; like maybe he won’t sleep well at night with this big boat in front of him and maybe I won’t sleep well worrying about BEING in front of him. I think if he asks us to move we will move. And also if I were him I’d ask us to move. “

So I say, “Then let’s go. I agree. This is not tenable because no point in being here if we feel like we are crowding people and no one is comfortable. We’ll go back to the Wrecked Sailboat Anchorage and call it good.”

These guys are so elegant.

By now it’s about 1:00. The winds are what they are: terrible. The waves are, if it’s possible, higher. Immediatey outside the sheltered cove we are grabbed by the high seas, almost on our beam, and thrown around a bit. I watch while a big roller gets almost as high as our toerail and then look away. May as well not focus on that. It is what it is. I experience a moment of calm acceptance of my fate in this life.  The auto pilot cannot be expected to steer in this crap. I put it on ‘Standby’ and take the wheel, one foot braced on each side of the cockpit, feeling grim and probably looking grimmer. It wasn’t the time for selfies, so I’ll never know. The cockpit is already a mess because we are just terrible at stowing everything in the cockpit before we go out, and we practically live in that cockpit. Don’t even bother asking why we don’t get everything put away. It’s called Denial. It ain’t just a river in Egypt, people. It’s what keeps this lifestyle going. It’s also what allows you to leave your home every day and drive on the highway, so there’s that. Actually, once I begin thinking about it, Denial is the only thing that allows most people to leave their beds each day. My cockpit mess is nothing compared to that.

Gripping the wheel  I perform the sailor’s version of Pilates, all muscles tensed and poised. Hands gripping the wheel, steering up and over the waves. Thighs taut with legs braced. Maybe it’s yoga I’m thinking of. Triangle pose? Surely this must be getting me into shape? Burning calories? Making me a better person in some way? Mike is doing something below, consumed in the caucophany of noise. I steer up and over the waves, keeping them off the beam as much as possible while making way for the safety of Coyote Point, grateful that this is actually a really short trip. There’s a different kind of sailboat out here. He’s sailing along going south, crashing down the waves at the speed of light. In that moment, I hate him just a little.

Rounding Coyote Point I spot the wrecked sailboat laying on its side on the shore. Home! The irony is not lost on me.

I know where to go! I know how deep the water is! I know what the bottom is like! I know precisely where to drop anchor!  I know how to do this! It’s such a relief in some ways to be in a familiar place when you know a blow is coming and the seas are a little overwhelming and you’re beginning to want your bed. I know some people get used to those kind of seas. I’m certainly better than I used to be about them. At least they don’t terrify me. Not much, anyway.  I just don’t like them.

I find 15 feet of water over a bottom of sand and rock and Mike drops the anchor, lets out the chain. I back down on it good and tight.  He puts on the snubber and we call it a day.

Home.

I have a cookie. Mike has a nap. His way of coping with the adrenaline rush is probably better than mine, but I don’t judge and neither should you. After Mike’s nap we dinghy over to S/V Blue, noting that the hideous conditions in the port have calmed down somewhat, which is a little confusing considering what we know about the sea state outside. We check Blue’s batteries and see that the boat is doing fine.

We’ve got an hour of daylight left so we dinghy over to Coyote Point and walk on a beach and observe hermit crabs in their natural habitat while the clouds turn pink with the sunset. On the dinghy ride back to Galapagos we say goodnight to a Mobula Ray, his little wings held high, slicing the water like twin baby sharks.

Back aboard, it’s dinner and fighting sleep until 8:00, the earliest time we can hit the sack without feeling super pathetic.

We are watered up, have some fuel, have enough food for 5 people, and we are ready to go. Just waiting on weather. And to feel ready.

S/V Galapagos, Out.

Splish Splash!

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“So long you guys! Thanks for everything, it’s been so much fun. We’ll see you soon, somehow. We’ll just make it happen.”

These were our final parting words to our friends the Brownlows and the Baergs as we stood outside of Hammerheads, a local watering hole close to Marina San Carlos. We’d started the evening at JJ’s Tacos down the road, but the music was too loud and the band’s groupies weren’t really our crowd. We wanted to visit with each other; an impossible thing at JJ’s that night. S/V Blue was heading across the sea the next day and we were taking their slip in Marina Real for a couple of nights to wash the boat down. We planned to leave this side of the sea ourselves in a couple of days. S/V Slow Motion was still stuck in Marina Seca Guaymas, awaiting a new water tank; one of those unplanned expenditures that seem to happen all too often with boats. We didn’t know when we’d all be together again.

All the cool kids hanging out waiting for Galapagos to splash.

One should be very very careful of the words they use when saying goodbye to people. It’s almost like throwing wishes out into the universe and asking for trouble. When I said, “ See you soon, somehow. We’ll just make it happen.” what I really meant was “We’ll find you in a nice anchorage soon and have a great snorkel together.” Instead what the universe granted us was something altogether different.
It went like this. The day before we had successfully launched Galapagos on a windless morning at highish tide. With the Brownlows and the Baergs in attendance, Curt and Kevin got our big boat turned around, walking her stern into the slip adjacent to the dock. Cressie and Lynn stood by on the other side of the fairway, just in case we went crazy and needed help on that side. You never know. Shit happens sometimes. I love a lot of support at the dock.
With her nose pointed in the right direction, we were off. Within 15 minutes we were lying at anchor in the bay, breathing sighs of relief and drinking champagne in the cockpit.

I’ve gone to full on real glass here.

It was great being back aboard and remembering how we do things around here. I thought I had probably forgotten a great deal, but it all came rushing back: how to get off the boat and into the dinghy safely, how to tie the dinghy off on the davits so it doesn’t swing around, how to move around the boat without falling and stumbling into things, which toilet to use when, the dance of anchoring, watching the weather, so many little things that become second nature when you live on a boat. It’s just a completely different way of living. Yes, I thought. It’s really time to get going. It felt great to be out on the water once more.

Here we go! Thanks for the photo, Curt Brownlow? Kevin Baerg? Who took this? How did it end up in my photos file?

Not that houses are bad. We love houses, too. We’ve really enjoyed having a house to live in with friends while Galapagos was in the boatyard, but San Carlos was starting to grow on us too much. I think we’ve been here too long. We are getting familiar with all the places to eat and shop. The folks at the local grocery think I live here; just another gringa looking for canned stewed tomatoes and ice cream made with actual cream, items which do not exist in these parts.
Driving to Guaymas no longer terrifies me, although I prefer not to go too deeply into town. There are many one way streets that are not marked. Ask me how I know. I know all the largest potholes around here by heart and work to avoid them in advance. That’s how you know when it’s time to go: you know the potholes personally, by name, and driving is no longer terrifying. That level of familiarity happens alarmingly quickly.
After our fond farewells last night, we were ready to head over to Marina Real early this morning; our final stop before crossing the sea. We planned an early morning departure to stay ahead of the wind that builds during the day. I was enjoying my morning coffee watching the sun shine on the surrounding rocky hills when Mike popped his head up the companionway.
“Well, we’ve got another problem now.” I love how he says that stuff, all deadpan-like. “The starter battery is dead.”

Well, damn it all to hell and back.

Our yard neighbor had some extra blue bottom paint, so… why not? And how about the repair on that bottom, huh?  Go Team Galapagos!

I knew things had gone too well. We had got Galapagos’ bottom repaired beautifully, got the new boom painted and deployed, the bottom job was spectacular. And those were just the big jobs. If you know anything about boats you’ll know that there are unlimited smaller jobs that happen at the same time. It’s a quantum physics thing, the amount of jobs that can be squeezed into one day at the boatyard. Science has not yet devised a way to measure such things so we chalk them up to the unlimited mysteries of life.

Mike puts a paint roller to the area where she was supported on the hard. Thanks for the cool photo, Kevin Baerg.

Galapagos was shiny and ready to go, all systems great. Or. So. WE. THOUGHT.
So now, the start battery. Once more it’s important to be grateful for the timing of such things. We are in port, we have a car, we have friends. Mike has known that replacing this battery was going to be a pain because it’s really big, heavy, and located inconveniently. Mike has determined that one cell in the battery is bad. That means the entire thing is toast.
So we’ll see how quickly we can get this replaced. He plans to replace this flooded wetcell 8D battery, an Armor Plate 36,  with two smaller more nimble units. The battery, by the way, is about 6 years old. It was installed by the previous owner. Apparently one cell has gone bad. And if one cell is bad, the whole thing is bad.

No bueno. See the water line? It’s in the red.

Why is this man smiling? He just looks so satisfied here! You’d think he enjoyed this kind of thing. Wait a minute…

So that “See you soon!”? Yeah. Soon as in TODAY.  Mike and Curt now have a special date to muscle this baby up and out of the boat. We’ll get to say farewell to them all over again! Hey, maybe we’ll get another go at those tacos at JJ’s after all.
We’re paying 33$ US per day to stay tied up in this beautiful marina, meanwhile, so I cannot complain. After all, we already know all the great places to go eat. And what could be more important than that?

I’m not complaining. Not even a little bit.

We’ve decided to go south with the wind this year. When all systems are ACTUALLY a go and the weather looks good, we’ll sail back across the Sea of Cortez towards Santa Rosalia and try to catch up to S/V Blue. Maybe S/V Slow Motion will be close behind. And then go south from there. We are both positively stoked to get snorkeling again. We’re coming for you, fish!

Wild Welding Times

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Today was a banner day! Months after breaking our boom in a following sea, we finally have another one. In our last post, we talked about how we located and purchased a used boom here in Mexico, right down the road from our location in San Carlos. That was a stroke of good fortune but we still needed to splice part of this new old boom onto our old old boom. Capiche? For the mathematically inclined (not me), the metal extrusion on our boom is exactly 17’4″ long. We had two pieces of extrusion; the new ‘old’ boom which was 14′ long, and the good piece of our previous boom with a jagged end where it broke in two. We had plenty of material now, but we needed a metal worker to marry two pieces of aluminum extrusion together for life. And we wanted someone who had experience. We wanted someone who was at the top of the pyramid of life among machinists.

Not a very happy face, really. He’d rather ride in the back of a pickup truck than tool down a Mexican road with metal sticking out the back of the van.

Word around the boatyard was that we needed a man named Luis Hernandez. He was said to be the best metal worker in Guaymas/San Carlos. His reputation is such that we should probably be giving out autographs since we have not only met this man, we have touched him. We have shaken his hand, have conversed with him, and have paid him the fine sum of $15000 pesos (About $750 US) to fix our boom.  Luis is at the point in his career where he picks and chooses his jobs; where potential customers seek audience with him in his workshop in Guaymas, and where you have to have a job that is interesting enough to him to make it worth his while. We approached this man with caution and humility.  The man is a legend around here.

Getting the boom to Luis’ shop was an exercise in caution. I guess this is what cruising memories are made of: tooling down the road with heavy pieces of metal hanging out the back of the car, hoping not to hit a pothole. Fortunately, this is Mexico. People drive with much worse than this all the time. No one even gave us a second glance as we slowly swerved around the road, avoiding the worst of the holes. The trip was a non-event, but we were dead happy to get those things out of the car and to see both the windshield and our dashboard plastic Jesus in one piece. We’ve been relying on our Jesus on the dashboard way more than I thought we would. Hey, we will accept all the help we can get. We’re not too proud down here.

Why we have a cheap car.

Amazingly making zero wrong turns, we cruised up the narrow street looking for anything that looked like a machine shop. Noticing a couple of guys ( one with only one leg and a crutch ) standing in front of an opening in a wall, Mike rolled the window down and gave them a nod. ‘ Luis Hernandez?’, he asked out of the side of his mouth,  in his best imitation of a guy who speaks no Spanish. The one-legged guy nodded back and waved his crutch in the general direction of the open space. We pulled over and they guided us to back up by using the international hand signal/hand waving that everyone knows means ‘back up’.  Mike walked into the shop and greeted Luis.  I stood by as the men unloaded all the metal from the back of the van.

Can we just stop here for a moment of and recall our heros of yore: Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler?[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de2TWo8NTCw[/embedyt]

I know this dates me, but I can’t help but recall all those episodes where Marlin says, ‘While Jim wrestles the (insert wild animal here: angel shark, white tiger, unicorn, pretty much any wild thing will do)’, I’ll just stand by and hold the cage door open’. Honestly, it was something of a joke that Marlin was always staying safely in his crisp safari uniform, probably having a cool drink,  while Jim did the most death defying animal wrestling known to TV land at the time. Jim’s down there wrestling with snakes and alligators, and where is Marlin? Maybe taking pictures. You see where I’m going with this.

Photo courtesy of Intobirds.com

It’s almost exactly like that for me. These kinds of places like machine shops, while interesting, are pretty much like wild kingdoms. I have absolutely no idea what goes on in there. Not only do I not speak Spanish very well, I also do not speak the language of machine shops so I’m two down. It’s a little like walking into some kind of wild world; a world where I’m just going to stand by and hold some random door open while Mike goes mano a mano with an artist named Luis and we come out $15000 pesos poorer, but with an entire boom that almost certainly will never break in the same spot again. It’s that kind of kingdom. And we needed the king to gift us with his time and attention to our problem.

The men carried our material into Luis’ kingdom and placed them carefully on a table full of assorted metal things. I stayed out of their way. Luis was quick to see our issue as Mike described our breaking of the boom and what we wanted. Worried he was getting lost in the explanation I stepped out from behind a tall drill press (??) and usefully created a small drawing, not to scale, of a long, skinny rectangle. Now in my element, paper and pencil, I wrote the numbers 17′ 4″ in strong black writing above the rectangle, clearly indicating that was the total length we wanted. By the way, Luis speaks English. All he really needed to know was that we needed one piece of boom 17’4″ long. No more. No less.

Luis pulled out his phone and showed us photos of many of the projects he has going on currently. I’m not sure if this was just to give us the heads up that he’s a very busy man, or if he just is proud of his work (and justifiably so). Was this a part of this machine shop animal’s natural behavior; some sort of display of prowess that would prepare us for the price he was going to charge? I may have been lurking safely behind a table full of steampunky equipment, but I got the impression that it was going to be awhile before we got our boom back. This was further locked down for us when Luis told us he might be able to get to our project in about 2 weeks. Then it might take him a week to finish it. Oy vey. Our heads hung metaphorically low.

By that time we really didn’t want to 1) find someone else to do this job 2) put the big metal sticks back into the van and drive away with them.  We agreed to his time frame and asked the price. He hedged on that one, too and then, accepting his status as the most alpha animal in the machine kingdom,  we did the unthinkable. We left our booms with this man purely on the promise that he would text Mike the following day with the cost for the repair. We did this because of his reputation. Everyone knows this Luis. Still, I was uneasy.

Luis shows Mike some of his recent work.

He did follow through and text us the following day. His charge of $15000 pesos was way more than we thought it would be, but take a look at the work Luis did. It’s really good. Plus, he got this boom back to us in less than a week AND he delivered it to the boatyard. That was a bonus we didn’t expect. We figured we would have to hire someone to get it for us so this was a huge relief. When he delivered it to us, he said that this boom might break again in the future, but it would not be breaking in the same place ever again. And I think he’s right.

Luis has owned this truck for 29 years. It’s pristine.

What the welds look like on the outside.

Luis took this photo of the work in progress. That’s 1/4″ aluminum plating he used to build the sleeve that fits inside and is welded into place. Seeing this amount of work makes me feel like we got a good deal for that $15000 pesos.

We got to work on the boom right away sanding around the old holes where gear was attached and filling those with epoxy. Next I’ll prime and paint the part that was repaired and then she’ll be ready to deploy. Galapagos will sail again. And I’ve survived yet another foray into the wilds of Mexico.

There she is. The fiberglass repair on the bottom is coming along as well. This photo makes the bottom look like it’s freshly painted, but we still have to do that. Lots of work left for the boatyard, but it’s coming along nicely and we are trying to just live this way and not be in a hurry.

We’ve got a lot going on right now and life is nothing if not entertaining. As our boatyard time drags on, we are grateful to be sharing a house with S/V Slow Motion and enjoying the time we have with these friends. A hot shower after a dusty yard day is an excellent thing. Today perhaps I will paint stripes on that boom. Until next time, S/V Galapagos, out.