Pacific Crossing
San Diego US to Mexico – 14th January 2011
After bringing SKIE down from Seattle I went back home to Melbourne for four months to help in the business and attend our son Chris’s wedding.
This the longest period we have not been on her since she was delivered to us back in June 2007.
This was certainly a busy time for me, and Margaret flew into San Diego three weeks later giving me a chance to attend to getting SKIE shipshape for the Pacific crossing which is looming so very quickly.
Acquiring spares was a big chore as well as having her hauled for cleaning, running gear inspection, and zinc replacements.
Kelp cutters and stabilizers
I also had two new kelp cutters fabricated out of stainless steel as one of the originals fell victim to a Canadian log and snapped off.
A kelp cutter is a sharp blade that cuts kelp that may try and get between the hull and the stabiliser fins.
Our stabilisers are affectionately known by Margaret as Sammy, and when every time we head to sea, her first question is whether Sammy is on, and the second is whether I could switch on the generator so she can do some washing.
Stabilisers are just like flaps on a planes wings that you see moving up and down as a plane is taking off and landing, and on a boat this counters the natural rolling motion through digitally controlled hydraulics.
Departing San Diego
We finally left San Diego on Monday 14th of Feb with our final destination La Paz, Mexico, where I plan to jump off from to head westwards to home.
In San Diego we met up with some old friends, Clark and Suzy Straw, whom we met in Brisbane after their five years crossing the Pacific on their Mason sail boat “Final Straw” which follows on from “Last Straw” their previous boat. However I’m not convinced that another “Straw” will come along as Clark was salivating over some of our upcoming adventures, and convinced me to slow down and take our time.
I saw the light and agreed with this common sense position, and now our return home will be 18 months at the least, if not longer.
Clark and Suzy are joining us for a week in Mexico and Clark will get me up to speed on my SSB radio hopefully.
The plan is to leave the boat in French Polynesia, go home for a couple of months, come back and cruise to Fiji via the Cooks & Tonga, go home from Fiji, then back to get SKIE down to NZ before the cyclone season starts in November.
Then in March 2012, sail up north to New Caledonia, Vanuatu, New Britain, etc.
Still working in the business requires me to be in Europe twice a year, and this year we are relocating our office/warehouse and have to find a property to buy.
Whilst in San Diego we made a visit for the third time to a beautiful Nordhavn 76 that is on the market, and we are exploring the possibility of upgrading in size, but this is a different proposition as it will require full time crew, so Margaret and I just have to sit down and draw up the pros and cons as an exercise.
The downside for me is that a lot of the fun for me is the challenge of passagemaking, and all the planning and preparation that goes into it.
Margaret likes the idea of letting someone else do the worrying, and cleaning. Etc.
Every day I spend on the boat I’m learning something all the time. I’m absolutely flabbergasted by how little I know after running her for 23,000 nm. My learning curve has been steep as it is, but having so little problems so far has robbed me of some knowledge gaining acquisition. I have said before that if something goes wrong, then read the manual, but I have been spared so far, but as night follows day, I’m know I’m heading into an expected time frame when things start to wear out.
Just taking on so many spares has alerted me to what can go wrong, and I have been helped by “Lugger” Bob Senter, and Barry Kallendar from Seakits to this end.
For example, a spare stainless steel raw water elbow for the generator. What is that, where is it, why does it fail, and finally how in the hell can this fat old shoe salesman get in there and change it.