[PUP] Fwd: [kensblog] Update # 17 - Preparing for Departure in San Diego

[John Ford]

Begin forwarded message:

> Greetings all!
>
> This is it. Tomorrow morning, early, we will cross the border into
> Mexico.
>
> Today was a fairly light day. I think everyone, on every boat, had
> last minute errands to do. This was the last chance to buy food
> prior to entering Mexico (boaters call it provisioning). Things like
> fresh vegetables had to wait until the last minute, and that minute
> arrived earlier this evening. It was also the last chance to make
> any repairs prior to crossing the border.
>
> For Sans Souci, today was a day of refueling, provisioning,
> cleaning, and last minute fixes. We had a bit of a scare when our
> diesel furnace suddenly stopped working. It provides hot water for
> the boat, as well as space heating. On one hand, it wasnt a big
> deal, in that we have a backup system, but getting parts in Mexico
> is difficult. We wanted to get it fixed today, but with all that was
> going on, it was tough to find time to focus on the repair. Late
> tonight, Jeff solved it by discovering that a sensor on the hot
> water tank had failed. A little jiggling got it going, hopefully
> permanently, but probably not. It was more of a nuisance today than
> a real issue. I mention it only because it seemed it added a layer
> of tension that we really didnt need. The bottom line: We are back
> to 100% operating status.
>
>
> I attending a couple of Fubar meetings today. At the first meeting,
> John Rains, who wrote the Mexico Boating Guide, gave an overview of
> our upcoming trip. John was introduced as having run the west coast
> of Baja over 100 times. I arrived at the meeting expecting a site-
> seeing slide show on Baja, and didnt bring my charts. Instead, John
> gave an overview of the days ahead by detailing which islands we
> should go inside of, and which to go outside of, and which cliffs to
> hug and which cliffs to avoid. I suspect it was great information,
> but much of it went over my head. He was speaking about places Ive
> never been and couldnt mentally place on a map. Someone did raise
> their hand and say All of these hazards you are describing. Are
> they on the charts? John said yes, and I felt much better.
>
> After John spoke, we had a presentation by Bob Jones, a weather
> router, with Ocean Marine Nav. For those not familiar with weather
> routers, they are weather experts who provide assistance to
> boaters while under way. These people charge a relatively modest
> fee, and make predicting the weather much simpler for a boater. You
> call them, tell you where you are going, and they help you make the
> critical go/no go decision (sometimes it is better to stay in port
> for a few days waiting for the weather to improve). The weather
> routers can also suggest alternate routes to help you avoid bad
> weather. I know boaters who never use, and dont really trust,
> weather routers, preferring to do their own analysis of the
> available weather data, and I also know boaters who use multiple
> forecasters to get multiple opinions, and then pick the one they
> like. The weather itself, of course, uses no weather router, and
> does whatever it wants. I personally would always use a weather
> router on any major passage.
>
> Bob Jones job should be fairly easy on this trip. He told us what
> we were all expecting: This should be a comparatively easy run. We
> have reasonably light winds (under 20 knots), with the wind behind
> us. For tomorrows run he was projecting even lighter winds; 5-10
> knots with calm seas (2-4 foot swell, on 20 second intervals). The
> only negative in the report is that we should expect fog for our
> departure. This will make leaving port interesting.
>
> John Rains presentation was intended to give us the big picture of
> the route south. It was not intended as a detailed briefing. Prior
> to each leg there will be a captains meeting in which the leg will
> be discussed in intense detail. I attended the captains meeting,
> and was curious to find out how we were going to sequence the boats
> for the journey. When it appeared this would not be discussed I
> raised my hand to ask how we would be grouping the boats. Bruce
> Kessler, our chairman, gave me one of those looks which immediately
> helped me understand that this was a dumb question. His response:
> Ken. This is a 65 mile run. I think everyone can find their way to
> Ensenada with no problem. Still not quite understanding, I pushed
> and  said So, does this mean I can leave whenever I want? He said:
> Absolutely. Bruce then went on to explain that he was mentally
> thinking of the  rally as getting its real start in Ensenada, when
> we begin the 335 mile run to Turtle Bay. This will be roughly a 36
> hour run and require much more planning.
>
> Half of the boats in our group will not be requiring fuel, and half
> will need to take on fuel whenever possible. I mentioned yesterday
> that Buddy Bethea, a Nordhavn 55 owner, traversed this same route
> just last week. Heres what he had to say about taking on fuel in
> Ensenada:
>
>
> It is an impressive port with large cranes for cargo ships, and a
> significant presence of sail and power yachtsbut no fuel docks!!
> Diesel is sold only by the 55 gallon drum, rolled to the boat and
> pumped a barrel at a time into the tanks!  We tied up at the Baja
> Naval Boat Yard with plans to top off AF with about 600 gallons,
> however, they could not get more than nine barrels (495 gallons),
> and for that we had to wait for its arrival by pickup truck at 2 PM!
> 
>
> I do not know, but Im guessing that most, if not all, of the boats
> requiring fuel, will depart at dawn, in order to get to the fuel as
> quickly as possible in Ensenada. Bruce Kessler has reassured
> everyone that adequate fuel will be available, but I know that
> people will sleep better after the fuel is in their tanks.
>
> We have our own reason for wanting to arrive early in Ensenada. I
> was supposed to have met with the people from immigration in
> Ensenada here in San Diego, but because I arrived late, I missed
> that meeting. I will have more paperwork to do than the other boats,
> and want to get started early. I also want to get into a slip, and
> will not really feel comfortable that I have a slip until I am
> physically in it. Today, my slip assignment switched three times. I
> started the day assigned to the Cruiseport Marina, had a voice mail
> that I was now at the Coral Marina, and heard later tonight that I
> have a nice slip at the Ensenada Marina.
>
> Its now midnight, and I want to be underway at 6am. More tomorrow
> from Ensenada!
>
>
> Thank you!,
> Ken Williams
> Sans Souci, Nordhavn 68
>
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