Sail to Mexico!
Nov.29
Landed in the beautiful little town of Los Angeles, California. A direct flight from Calgary taking 3 hours with a local time of 17:00
Met up with Ryan from British Columbia. Uber to the Redondo Beach Marina took 20 minutes and cost $25.
Met our Skipper Maxime (Max) from Quebec!
Grabbed a quick bite at a rad little bar restaurant on this quiet, run down little marina. I never knew it was going to be so cold down here. The temp feels about +8 or +10.
We have a quick chat over a big pint and dinghy out into the marina break where we meet ‘Le Patriote’ the 42 foot steel gizel gaff rigged ketch built in 1982. She is moored here for $30/day.
Max purchased the boat 3 months earlier in Monterey, CA at an auction for a great price.
His plan is to slowly sail south to pick up his lady love from Mexico City. He plans to live aboard and work remotely until they have too many kids to continue living on the water. This boat needs some SERIOUS love and TLC. We start a little fire in the saloon stove and find our way to our bunks. Ryan is in the aft cabin which is more like a large storage room that used to be the captain’s quarters under the poop deck at the stern. Max is holding up on the midship couch. I make up my bed in the V berth up front in the bow of the vessel. I’m rocked gently to sleep in the small swell entering the marina mouth.
The sound of Seabirds, halyards and sea lions make a good “sleep noise”
Nov.30
Nice morning with coffee and oats. We make our way to the dinghy dock and walk to the local grocery. $550 later we have an overfilling cart listing to port with every provision you can think of for the next 3 weeks. Since there is no fridge on board the Patriot, a lot of canned goods and pastas are stocked up.
Plenty of apples, oranges, cheeses, dried meat, eggs, and other cooking ingredients are packed away below the seats and in the bilge area below (to stay cool)
The wind, weather, and our fast approaching December 1st removal date from the marina are making way for a departure tomorrow morning. We plan on clearing immigration and customs in the am and being out on the open ocean early afternoon. We have a 1,100nm passage ahead of us to La Pa with our first planned port of call stop at Ensenada, Mexico.
There is a list of jobs posted up on sticky notes on the galley walls. We pick away at jobs including autopilot install, new reefing points/lines, register and instal EPIRB. I take on the job of building a lumber handrail around the pushpit railing which will protect the solar panels from a possible boom crashing down while underway.
The job takes me all afternoon but will definitely do the trick. Max has spent hundreds if not a thousand dollars on every tool needed for all boat jobs. Feels like you could almost built a new boat from scratch with these tools.
Spaghetti for dinner after we finally learn how to pressurize and ignite the alcohol stove. Cleaning and stowing gear. More random jobs and off to bed at 9:00pm.
“Worship deez knots”
Dec.1
Up on the bow deck with a warm wind and coffee. I’m the only one on board that drinks coffee or caffeine for that matter. Max is gone to customs and immigration until 9am. Finishing some random jobs while Max arrives back to the news from Ryan that his mother is sick and must fly out right away..
Sadly we are down to a crew of two for our first leg to Mexico. Bummer on the timing since Max just made the Uber trip to long beach and back and now must return there to change our crew number to 2!
The day is spent staying busy on deck. Safety jack lines installed, sails lifted to check halyards and running backstays, charts downloaded and printed, and stowing of tools and random stuff complete. We plan to cast off at 20:00 hours but Max reposts the crew add online and waits for any last minute sailors that may be available in LA