3rd Sea of Cortez XCing and Soulstice De-Commission

Third Crossing of Sea of Cortez and Soulstice De-Commissioning

May 30, 2019 - June 13, 2019

On May 30, 2019 Stephen and I left Isla San Francisco for a third journey across the Sea of Cortez. We made the decision this would be a decent launch point back to Mazatlan. We left Mazatlan and met SV Arctos on Isla San Francisco when we did our 2nd crossing on our way to explore the Sea of Cortez so we had made this passage before. It ended up being a full 3 days with some our biggest winds and decent size swell and wind waves. Our 1st day was more mellow and we finally pulled out our spinnaker. This a very large sail we had for primarily broad-reach/downwind sails under 10 knots. We really did not use this sail this year because we were afraid of it. That is the truth! She is a HUGE sail and if she were to get wrapped around the forestay, the front pole/standing rigging on the sailboat, or fall into the water and get gift wrapped around the prop, or more bad things, well those events are enough to frighten you not to use her. 

Our fear of using this sail stemmed from taking her out in Seattle with a friend to help us get learned on how to launch her and douse her and to get the rigging set up properly. We had her out only a short time when the wind piped up.  She definitely showed she could over power the boat and it was a scurry to get her down. It was important to see the power of the sail and it also gave us some fear about using her. Stephen and I never crewed on racing sailboats and I wish we had to be more familiar with all the different sails and gain some expertise at trimming them.  Anyway, after our Seattle experience we put our beautiful spinnaker back in the bag and she stayed there quietly.

Finally, one day in Banderas Bay we had another friend go out with us and help us set her up again but the conditions were ideal. We sailed beautifully and finally got to experience the grace of using a spinnaker. They are delicate sails and often given more attention to a collage of colors when being sewn. They remind me of butterflies for some reason. It would be a one winged butterfly with enhancing colors that are translucent in the sun. Ours is orange, red and yellow. She radiates a marvelous sunset display. It was a successful spinnaker flying day that fueled the much needed encouragement to use this sail and become more comfortable with the rigging process. 

When we left Isla San Francisco, we were on a  broad reach and wind under 10 knots. We thought to ourselves what a great way to end the sail season with us rigging the spinnaker and allowing this billowy, colorful wing to guide us on our journey across the Sea.  We launched and she was a beauty! We felt so gratified with this accomplishment and really look forward to using her more next year. 

Our 2nd day of sailing was with crazy wind, big wind waves and a few splashes in the cockpit and that HAS NOT Happened ever. The conditions got choppy and chunky and were not forecasted to be so with our satellite Predict Wind weather. Unfortunately, this has happened to other friends where  where the wind is forecasted to be 10 or 12 knots but now is 18-25 - Big difference. We hand steered all day, reefed our jib and mainsail and started making 7-9 knots consistently. Soulstice was handling the conditions fine and we were making progress.  We hand steered because our autopilot was grumbling aka making noises in the gearing that this was too much for her to handle. We took turns steering an hour on and an hour off for the both of us. 

Conditions on our 3rd day remained somewhat similar but we started to get a better direction of sail with a beam reach and not so much a close haul/close reach. This is a more comfortable point of sail. When we got to Mazatlan it was too late to enter the narrow channel to the marina that requires high slack tide to enter, so we decided to anchor in the Municipal harbor which has more forgiving channel entrance that the cruise ships use. 

We stayed overnight and got a good nights sleep. So much so that missed the 5:30 am high slack and now needed to wait until 5:30 pm that day to enter. There had been big swell these last few days that cause breaking waves in the very shallow channel and a sailboat does not have the power of a power boat to out run a breaking wave. We chose to  anchor off a tiny island called Isla Paraja which is just right outside the channel. 

We kept saying on our sail over this was our last sunset or sunrise at sea with Soulstice or the “last time” we would put out the anchor…. I started to secretly feel that Soulstice was avoiding being put away for the Summer and was trying to extend our time with her. We did some re-con while anchored out on the island and watched some boats enter the channel and when the ideal time arrived we too made the passage through the channel without any issues. 

Arriving at Marina Mazatlan, we pulled into our slip where Soulstice would be docked until at least December. It was a single slip that we had arranged previously with the marina feeling this would be safer during hurricane season not to have another boat next to us. We scouted out the slip the last time we were in Mazatlan. They were kind enough to accommodate us. Quickly, we met most of the dock neighbors and were pleased with our new neighborhood. 

We spent the next 12 days working 12-14 hours de-commissioning the boat. This included washing all the sails and taking them down, taking down all the running rigging and sending up messenger lines for the halyards and covering all the plastic with aluminum foil after a healthy dose of 303 aerospace protectant. All the canvas was removed and the solar panels as well as they are considered “windage” during a named storm and insurance requires this. Each space inside the boat was cleaned with white vinegar and 3M Mildew Block applied. All food was removed and soft goods vacuumed packed. We cleaned up the dinghy and put her inside. 

The inside was getting very crowded!!! Our 40ft boat space was getting even smaller and the humidity and heat were rising in Mazatlan although we kept our cool - ha! 

We pickled the water maker and disconnected our electronics for protection against possible lightening. Water and fuel tanks were filled to avoid condensation build up. The outboard was serviced and the diesel engine had a new coolant flush and impeller change thanks to Stephen. The oil change was only 70 hours old so we will wait until we return. Toilet tanks flushed with fresh water and cleaned with vinegar and sealed. Through hulls exercised and closed except our sink which has a dehumidifier hose draining into it. 

It was a three page list front and back that we slowly started to cross off each chore. Many of our friends shared haul out lists for wet or dry docking and I reviewed them all composing a list specifically for Soulstice. It was an exhausting time but one of the reasons we picked Mazatlan was the convenience of surrounding stores, all walkable and an airport only 30 minutes away for a quick return. 

During our time there we did enjoy time our new neighbors going out for late dinners and sharing many dock talks. We made new friends again and look forward to seeing them in the winter. Some of our dock friends stay all summer but most leave and were doing preparations like we were to leave their home in the safest possible way to endure a hot, humid summer and to hopefully withstand a gale. We realized if a true hurricane hit it would be hard to avoid any damage but you do the best you can to try to minimize the potential damage. 

We left Mazatlan on 6/13 and arrived to Reno at 10:30pm. It was a very familiar feeling arriving at the airport. Fortunately all FIVE of our bags arrived - uggh - yep we will NOT bring that much stuff back to the boat! We Ubered to our friend’s house where we will stay for the working season and begin the “re-entry” process as we call it. My friends and I a long time ago when taking bigger holidays would call the return “re-entry” and it stuck. The process of going back to work and being back on the hamster wheel. 

We do love Nevada and our friends here. We are grateful to have such a beautiful landscape to return to, there is still lots of snow on the peaks right now. Gorgeous here as always. I will return to Carson Tahoe Hospital as a Nurse Practitioner in the Hospitalist setting and Stephen is working on a critical care transport opportunity. 

Our adventure continues but in a different format. We will embrace this change of pace just as much as our sailing adventure and that way you can truly incorporate being mindful wherever you are. 

Our track from leaving Seattle to arriving in Cabo, crossing to Puerto Vallarta and down to Zihuatanejo, back up to Mazatlan, across to Sea of Cortez and back across Sea to Mazatlan

Our home made sunshade! Kept boat 20 degrees cooler -Wow! would be removed by our boat watcher if a storm rolled through

Stephen at Reno airport! We will NOT bring this much luggage back to the boat. How did we fit it? We did somehow- all the nooks and crannies of a boat. We realized we brought too many clothes, camping gear we did not use and also Stephen's bow. We will downsize to 2 bags each for the return.