The ship sailed South
Dec. 16
Up at the crack of dawn for coffee on deck. I think we might have crossed a time zone because the sunrise is an hour late?
09:30
Departure of Bahia Tortugas.
We lift the hook, raise the mains’l, wash, scrub, and dry the the anchor chain before dropping it into the locker below (this is a great habit to get in if you have the time). Sailing off an anchor without the use of the engine is the sweeetest thing going. We are back sailing!
Straight downwind is a tuff point of sail on this lunker but we point in the direction of Cabo and spend 8 hours comfortably gliding along at 4.5 knots. We try a few different sail configurations but nothing balances as well as the full main only.
The heat feels like it’s finally here. It’s been a pretty chilly 2 weeks so hopefully the next 2 will be are a bit warmer. Keeping the nose, cheeks, and lips sun screened up.
We received a message from Kailey on Oxyd and they landed a massive tuna. They are doing well and sailing towards Magdalena Bay. If we didn’t have to be in Cabo for Xmas we would have loved a few day stopover in this anchorage.
18:00
Slight wind shift to Starboard allows us to lift the Staysail and Mizzen sail. Full sails up until sunset. Winds continue to increase. We reef all sails and rush through the night. Maintaining 6 knots until dawn.
Compass says 180°South
60 miles in the first 12hrs.
Goodnight
Dec. 17
Warmth! First night watch without all my clothes on. The heat at night is a relief. It has been pretty cold lately especially on the 04:00-08:00 watch.
Our first 24 run on this passage shows 105nm sailed. 1 gybe and lots of sail configurations.
Very little wildlife out here. Few birds and even fewer fish? What’s the deal.
4 hours on watch
4 hours off.
24 hours a day.
Although we can both single hand this boat fairly easily, we try and make any major sail changes on watch changes. This way it goes faster and is safer.
“2 good men work 3 times as fast”
Full day of light winds coming from the port aft. No sail changes and 3-4 knots of speed. We take this downtime to fix the starboard navigation light that took a whipping from the jib sheet last night and popped the lens off and severed the wiring. We also installed our AIS receiver. With all the wiring complete, we fire it up and instantly see all the ships and fishing boats in 100 mile radius. We set the alarm to a 2 mile radius around us. This is another nice step forward in making this a bit safer out here.
18:30
Fish on! Was bringing our hand reel in for the night when it got a big hit. Slowly I reel it in and Max lends a hand on the net job! First fish on the trip and first on Le Patriote is a beautiful Mahi-Mahi (dorado)
We scrap our chili idea for dinner and have fresh fish with herbs and fresh lime.
Night watch feels good with a belly full of fish. Thank you to that fish for feeding us for a few days to come.
Dec. 18
Quiet and still on the mighty Pacific. Not much wind until late afternoon. Fresh Mahi-Mahi fish tacos for lunch. Sponge bath up on deck in the sun. Change of clothes too. New underwears for the whole crew.
The water is changing, glowing more shiny blue and teal now and warming significantly.
Averaging 3 knots all day. Very little wind variation.
‘Dilly Dally’ Great boat name.
The moon rose, smiling over Le Patriote under full sail.
Dec. 19
Sunrise coffee heading downhill. Swordfish or Marlin jumping and playing to stern.
08:30
Sailing yacht ‘AUKAI’ is a 50’ catamaran registered to the Marshall Islands and sails within a hundred feet of our bow. Motorsailing by at 8knots. I really don’t mind the company and the close contact in daylight is fine but damnnnnn a bit close don’t you think Captain?? It’s almost like there’s an entire ocean directly to your left and your right for that matter. Good show though!
16:30
Winds start to freshen up. We gybe to make a 120 degree route straight to Cabo. Large sea turtle spotted during the tack. A tack to perform a gybe you ask!? Yes it’s a fairly odd idea to me as well. This gaff rigged ketch has running backstays for both main and mizzen masts. Maximes idea of performing a gybe downwind is to tack all the way up into the wind and switch the backstays from port to starboard while in irons (or vice versa).
It works yea but it’s a giant operation taking 20-25 minutes to simply gybe. The idea of a controlled gybe in a sloop is to pull the main sheet in and simply gybe over through the wind. Takes under 30 seconds. So I suggest a more controlled downhill gybe by heading dead downwind, bringing in the sheets, switching the mizzen mast backstays first, instal a preventer line, go wing on wing, and then do the same for the main second. Lastly you just switch over the headsails and blam, She’s tacked over. We end up preforming this twice in the day and it works well (in light airs).
To me this makes more sense then going into the wind and applying all that pressure to the rigging. Will report back on this.
Things are really starting to heat up now. Very noticeable. Undies only in bed.
Night watch is a real pleasure. Pullover hoody only with no foul weather gear.
“I sat along the deck that night, thinking of loves, and watching the constellations on their voyage through space”-Joshua Slocum
Bow slices through bubbling phosphorescent waters. 5knots.
22:30
Maxime sleep talking?! I hear him softly asking: “What’s going on out there? Are there people up there with us? Are we going in the right direction? They’re waiting for us you know” HAHA
(He later asks me if he was confused and sleep talking last night)
I can relate to this type of thing and I’m happy to report I have not slept walked too far from my bunk this trip.
I’m not a morning person and never have been but dawn is by far the best time of day on a sailboat. You can finally see with your eyes what the hell you’re doing out here and the possibilities for the day are optimistic. Enjoy a hot coffee with some oats and honey. Could use some fresh blueberries or even sliced Luisa plums from the Crums.
Dec. 20
09:30
4 days on this passage. It’s a slog going downwind in such light winds! Spinnaker or at least a nice big Genoa needed for that extra boost. Maxime says there is a symmetrical spinnaker in a bag down below that looks new. He doesn’t want to use it because there’s no boom? I would like to give it a go with the staysail boom as a pole? Or maybe try free flying it.
Boobie bird has spent some time on our vessel. It’s almost as if when a bird lands on a boat they just relax and become comfortable with humans being close by. I’m not sure if it’s curiosity or exhaustion but they lose almost all fear of humans when they come aboard. It’s a free ride south I suppose.
“It’s good to have you with us. Even if it’s just for the day”
Something I like about Maximes style of sailing is the laid back positive outlook on it all. ‘It’s all good’ Don’t look too far ahead at the weather forecast. Wasted energy on something that will definitely change. Always think everything is possible. This all may not be the best way to be a sailor but I can most definitely relate to this style.
I also like the thorough overview before and after watches. He likes to sit and chat for 5 to 10 minutes after a watch and debrief. Even if it’s just chatting about sailing in general it’s good. To be honest, sometimes it’s annoying in the moment but this is something I could work on myself with future crew and boats. After my watch I usually just say “yup yup it’s windy out here and we are going in the right direction. See you in a few hours”
I have heard lots of people say that it takes at least 3 days to get into a rhythm at sea. I feel Max and I can now get into a sailing rhythm right when we leave port but to actually start feeling comfortable, confident, and content it takes more like 3-5 days for myself.
Not drinking at passage is great. Hard to believe Max has no sugar, caffeine, drugs, or alcohol while offshore.
I journal when we race with the wind. I sleep when we are halted on a whim
Im not looking at the weather anymore. We’ll sail with the wind that shows up.
How is it that at 3:50am I never want to get up and by 8:10am I never want to go back to bed?
