Where do I begin? We departed Ensenada with a great weather window literally a motor boat trip due to lack of wind. Seas reported to be less than 5 feet. Sooooooo……… Let me first explain what the devil a Chubasco is. According to AI a chubasco is a Spanish word for sudden, violent rain squall with thunder and lightning, common during the rainy season in Mexico and Central America, often described as a fierce, intense downpour that arrives quickly and leaves just as fast. It can also refer to very strong winds and heavy localized storms, sometimes reaching hurricane-like intensity in northern Mexico. Normally this happens in the Sea of Cortez. Well weather is weather and the chubasco decided to visit the Pacific Ocean for a visit exactly where we were. We later receive ed reports from other boats heading south with us of recorded winds of at least 65 mph! The most wind I have ever encountered at sea. Sosiego was built to cross oceans she has convinced me of this attribute. For the first time in 20 years of Ocean sailing we deployed our storm trysail. This is a very small triangular sail of heavy canvas just for sailing during storms. The boom is lashed to the deck and the sail is independent of the main sail. Once I had deployed the trysail I lashed the tiller to leeward and went below to ride it out. The motion eased as we lay hove to but the boat still moved erratically as we fell off square sided waves. Lets just say we where still finding odds and ends that where launched across the cabin two days later. Then just as quickly as it started it stopped and we were left in a washing machine of an ocean and had to start the motor due to lack of wind. The following day we arrived in San Quintene it was calm and safe. The bay is large with room for many boats. We dodge lobster pots and found good holding in 25 feet of water outside the surf line. Time for a well deserved rest. Keep tuned as we make are way to Bahia de Tortuga next.

Well, here we are now, 10 years later with many upgrades to the boat and many miles on this body of mine. The boat is in great shape with new chain plates throughout, new rigging, and new sails for starters. Debbie and I have worked hard to make this happen and now it is finally here. What can I say, we are persisting when all avenues of progress seem closed to us. Sometimes the world throws up barricades to any path that is not perceived normal but I’m here to tell you that normal is for the faint of heart. Don’t let societal norms dictate your future. Many years ago, I became a nurse. A male nurse is not a societal norm. Neither is living and cruising on a sailboat but here we are. Welcome aboard for our latest cruise to points south and beyond. The plan? Well let’s quote a famous cruising couple that set the hook in me. Lin and Larry Pardey,” for as long as it’s fun” and,” go small go now”. 

We launched our current adventure with the 2025 Westsail rendezvous. A quick trip to Pier 39 in San Francisco Bay after both our retirements. We rented out the house and the slip at Glenn cove Marina. We made our way to Half Moon Bay without too much drama only to discover oil under the engine. We monitored the situation as we made our way to Monterey. More oil. I called our engine installer from 2006 and received some diagnostic suggestions. We delayed our departure for a day which turned out to be significant. The weather ended up being our next dilemma as we worked our way south through a mixed swell that tossed us this way and that as we progressed down the lost coast of California.  Predict Wind and the NOOA weather service predicted gale force winds and we retreated to Morro Bay only to discover more oil in the bilge. The oil came from the transmission and most likely from the input shaft. I ordered new seals and we received bad news. Debbie’s mother was not well. She had surgery recently and it seemed to be too much for her failing heart. We divided to meet this new challenge.

Debbie returned to Vacaville and stayed with dear friends Mike and Kathy as we navigated these new challenges. The boat was on a mooring which added to the complexity of fixing the leaking seals. The weather was against us as an atmospheric river set in to make things ugly. The race was on. The new seals were overnighted to me from the east coast by H&M Marine. H&M are the best marine company on the west coast. They are the local Beta Marine dealer and a cut above the rest! Debbies best friend Kathy Modin volunteered to do the notoriously bad passage around cape conception to Santa Barbara. I quickly inserted the seals, reinstalled the transmission, provisioned, and made ready for sea.

The trip around the corner ended up being slightly anti climatic except for rising water in the bilge. Yes, you read that right. After we rounded the corner at Conception, I got the bright idea to turn on the water maker. Yes you guessed it we sprang a leak and the bilge pump started cycling way too often. Easy fix for now I just turned it off. Santa Barbara was a sight for sore eyes. We tied up to the harbor patrol dock and checked in. We got Sosiego settled in her berth, Kathy returned home and I rented a car to return to Vacaville.

More fun to come as we continued to work our way south to Ensenada. Keep tuned.

I am posting the Garmin tracker link even though we are not setting sail till October 1st more or less due to weather. https://share.garmin.com/OGMMG . Keep on keeping on……

This is Elskan our boat we had prior to Sosiego. She had sailed the sea of Cortez prior to our ownership. She is a Carl Alberg design and was a great sailor (forward). Though she would not back down to save your life. Our first night at anchor was a test of our marital skills. I tried repeatedly to back her down to set the anchor with no success. Debbie insisted on trying with equal results. She was sea worthy and nimble but she had a bad tendency to leak. Not a dry boat at all. the stuffing box always leaked because the cutlass bearing was bad and strange drips from who knows where sprouted from the coach roof.

This was the love boat! (literal translation of elskan).

We found her through Latitude 38 a local sailing magazine. Her owners had been there and done that . Sent us off with a bottle of whiskey and red wine and here we are today set for the next adventure into the unknown!

We have a new video on you tube about are radar installation. We bought the radar over a year ago and have not been able to find the time to install it. We used the WiFi option so I simply had to provide a power source to both items and convince them they should talk to each other. We are very pleased with the results and can’t wait to use it in a real life scenario. We will keep you all posted. Video link

It was time to redo the deck. It was a mess after years of hard use. We had painted and applied non skid paint over the years but it was finally time to do it again. Crazing around the mast step had become more pronounced and stains from endless projects had become an eyesore. The project began in the fall of 2022 as a 1-2 month endeavor or so we thought. Check out the video ( https://youtu.be/HcgjlFezzA ) on YouTube. It is now spring and the rains have finally stopped and the decks are done. Next we will finally take on the radar installation after Jake’s wedding. Jake is the youngest of the flock and has come home to have his wedding here in the states. If you look far back in the archives you will find this young intrepid traveler as the youngest member of the crew. He now lives happily in China and is a teacher.

2023

The recap of 2022 Improvements

We have moved to a new marina under the Carquinez bridge, Glen Cove Marina. We had some trouble finding a reliable diver but now we are on a set schedule, and all is good. We also moved our home so let’s just say 2022 was a very busy year. With that said we got a lot done on the boat. New kitchen counters, double sink, pressurized water, varnished the interior, new stack pack, rebuilt raw water pump and finished the firewood box for the cubic mini wood stove. I have prepped the decks for new paint and just need the California monsoon season to end. We plan to do a lot more sailing this summer instead of projects. We have purchased  a radar and I will try to document the installation.

More to come

As soon as I unlock the mysteries of the cloud I will post more pictures. Keep on keeping on!

YouTube Video

click herehttps://youtu.be/LdVd3Jv_7nc

So much has happened since my last blog post. I think I want to begin by letting a teaser in of the up coming posts I will try to cover. I want to keep this focused on the boat and what we are doing to her to get her ready for the next chapter. The last two seasons we spent in Mexico and the Sea of Cortez where expensive in a career sort of way. We plan to retire before we take off again. My work as a NICU RN is rewarding and the hospital I work for has a great rule about maintaining seniority if hired back with in 365 days. My wife on the other hand gave up being vested and is now working on achieving that. So….. we will now wait for retirement and prep Sosiego for a multi year sail. The projects we have already competed and the ones to come will be the subjects of up coming posts.

• New Chain Plates
• Lower V berth
• Interior paint and varnish
• New rigging
• Cubic mini wood stove
• 2 speed manual windlass
• Top side paint
• Deck paint
• Composting head
• Sailrite stack pack
• Etc…………..

 

                                                            Half Moon Bay

 

Half Moon Bay is part of our home waters as we often sail there for the weekend, however, this time was a little different. We were in need of groceries and to do the mountain of laundry that had piled up to the ceiling. We believed there were facilities right at the marina to accomplish our tasks. We checked in with the harbor master in the morning only to learn they had changed their policy about renting bathroom keys to visiting yachts. If we wanted a key we would have to rent a slip at $37.00 dollars a day. In the past we would rent the key for a flat $10.00. In addition the marina didn’t have any laundry facilities. Since there was no easy way to do our laundry we went on to plan B.

In Mexico we got quite familiar with the bus system so we broke out the smart phone and discovered that Half Moon Bay proper was an 18 minute bus ride away complete with a Safeway and a Laundromat. We chose to re-provision first and set out on an adventure in our own back yard. Safeway had all the things we needed and we caught the next bus back to the boat. A short dingy ride back to Sosiego and that was enough for one day.
The following day we loaded up the laundry in the dingy and repeated the bus ride into town. We found the laundry and started two loads and it was time for lunch. A short walk around this small town that seemed like a post card from the 50’s and we stumbled upon a small diner. I thought we were in scene from Happy Day’s. We both had a Reuben sandwich, mine with a side of fries and Debbie’s with potato salad. The food was excellent. After our wonderful lunch it was time to return to the laundry.

The Laundromat turned out to be a great place to meet people. We chatted up two couples on Harleys on a whirl wind cross country trip. We shared notes on our adventures and I couldn’t help but note the similarities. We became fast friends and promised to keep in touch. Angie and Paul with Eileen and Larry provided us with endless amusement as they posted pictures of their open road trip to Sturgis and beyond.

Back at the boat with chores done it was time for some fun. We launched the Bali paddleboard and hoisted the sail on Rock n Roll our dingy. Now it was time to take a bubble bath, NOT! Cockpit solar showers are only so much fun in northern climates and Sosiego doesn’t have an indoor shower. Using our collective minds we decided to introduce ourselves to the Half Moon Bay Yacht club in hopes of a shower. We landed the dingy on the beach and sure enough they were very friendly and invited us in for showers and cocktails. With all our needs met we settled in and enjoyed our time here hiking, sailing, and lounging. On our last day we went to dinner at Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. and ran into our old dock mate Mike. It was time to start weaving the sea yarns while the IPA flowed. A good time was had by all. We finally heard from Brickyard cove regarding our new slip assignment and it was time to push on to home.

The GRIB files teased us with fair winds and we hoisted anchor and went to the fuel dock to top off the tanks with a thick marine layer not letting the sun through. The fuel dock in Half Moon Bay is a commercial dock and is covered in a thick slime of guano. I have refueled many times on this trip but this one proved to be a disaster. When I tried to stop the pump when the tank was full the handle caught on the lowest setting and continued to pump as fuel ran across the deck. I tried to move the nozzle to the second tank but the hose wasn’t long enough. Debbie gave me more slack on the hose, but I had already soaked our nicest outdoor captain chair. I moved the nozzle into the second tank and grabbed rags as Debbie ran to get the attendant. Several rags where lost to the fuel spill but it was contained on deck. Between guano and fuel, things were a mess. I paid the bill and we got out of there. Did I mention I had to actually rinse my sandals of poop before stepping back on board? YUCK!

We left the breakwater and rounded the green buoy from the west and set sail. We couldn’t believe that we were actually shutting the motor down. The Sail home was truly amazing as the sun broke through the marine layer. The golden gate was in site and the wind clocked around to a broad reach. In other words the wind was coming from behind us. Debbie heard on the radio another yacht call the Coast Guard about customs information. She hailed the yacht and discovered they had sailed all the way from Victoria, Canada. It turned out that we both sailed under the gate about the same time crossing paths within a few feet. Sosiego with single reefed main and stay sail and them flying a blue and white spinnaker only, while toasting champagne on the bow. They yelled out to us “Welcome Home”. What a glorious finish to an awesome adventure. We finished sailing across the bay and made our way back to our slip in Brickyard Cove. It was then time for sundowners with our good fiends Eric and Emmy.

As I sit safely at my computer in my mother in-law’s (Carol’s) house I’m watching the tracks of hurricane Iselle and tropical storm Julio bear down on Hawaii. Most know of our original plans to sail to the Sandwich Islands. We were originally willing to accept the risk of losing the boat in the advent of a hurricane since we couldn’t afford the insurance. However, after our third attempt to head for Hawaii was thwarted, we resigned ourselves to the Baja Bash and had a truly amazing sail home. Sometimes things happen for a reason!

 

 

The Half Moon Bay Trip

This is a great time of year for sea trials and the weather and tides were with us. 4-5 ft at 7 seconds seas and 10-15 knots of wind made for a fun run to half moon bay. We wanted to try out the new double kayak we purchased to replace the two single ones we had. I’d like to say the Twister double is light, easily stowed under the companion way stares, and is a blast to paddle.

 During are last trip I had an issue with the engine running warmer than usual. When I overhauled the cooling system I replaced the impeller with a new one. The new one, a Jabsco unit, had fewer fins than the original but I had ordered it from the installer so I thought it was what was recommended now. Well after are trip to the Aeolian yacht club and the higher than normal temps motoring up the estuary I decided to replace the impeller with the one like the original. Problem solved. Motoring out to the gate to meet the slack before ebb on time showed no abnormal temps from the engine. In 06 we had re-powered Sosiego with a new Beta Marine unit from Hirschfeld Yacht Contracting.

 video link

2nd video link

I have included a video of us sailing out the gate into a south west wind on are way to Half Moon Bay. Enjoy!

 

I have dedicated the last two weeks of my life to learning all the necessary information to become a Ham operator. Here is the hook. You must be a General level Ham to use the free WinLink system or pay an annual $250.00 fee to Sailmail in order to be able to use the email function of the 802 ICOM radio with PACTOR modem. We decided on the SSB over the sat phone and have finished the instillation. What they don’t tell you is that for the DSC function to work on the little red panic button you have to install a second receiving antenna. Now it can’t just be any run of the mill antenna but one that receives HF band transmissions. More fun with holes being drilled in my deck and crawling around in tight places.

Now as for the test. This is truly an electronics geek club with private membership and a difficult hazing test to get you in. Yes, they removed the Morse code requirement but who knew about all that spurious transmissions going on. I mean did you know that for DX skywave transmissions that you need to set your frequency just below the MUF! This stuff should be required in the public schools. We’ve been going at this communication thing all wrong. They stress things like being courteous. Ok enough for now back to studying about propagation. Hmmm…….

6/13/2013 Update on SSB

We have passed the General Ham test and received an official call sign (KK6EYE) from the U.S. government agency of the FCC. We have downloaded the Airmail program checked propagation connected the computer to the SCS modem and the HF radio and made contact with a station in San Diego. Winlink is now up and running and all systems appear to be a go. Now I just need to create my, “White List”, and learn how to down load grib files from NOAA and saildocs.com. I would like to add that technology is out pacing the idiot guides to use it. Which means a lot of tech manual study to fill in the holes.