S/V Pacific Mystic - We're in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

We're in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico

S/V Pacific Mystic

Eric & Valerie Wagoner

Sun 8 Nov 2009 00:00

We're in Cabo San Lucas! We arrived at 4:30pm on Wed 11/5, 10 days after leaving San Diego on Mon 10/26. We were part of the Baja Ha Ha XVI 2009 cruisers rally fleet. (See entry number 172 in the Baja Ha Ha XVI roster here.) Imagine 193 sailboats cruising together down the entire West coast of Baja California, roughly 750 miles! We made 3 stops down the coast in Bahia San Quintin (155 miles south of San Diego), Bahia Tortugas (another 165 miles south), Bahia Santa Maria (another 220 miles south) to get a couple nights rest between overnight sails, and finally sailed the last 165 miles down to Cabo San Lucas. All this at an average of 5 miles per hour!
Cruising with the Baja Ha Ha XVI fleet has been one of the most rewarding experiences of our sailing life on so many levels. All 193 boats started each leg at the same time. It was a magnificent sight to see 193 sailboats with their sails up all going in the same direction. At the start of San Diego, the fleet filled the entire harbor. It was so moving, I had butterflies in my stomach! Most of the fleet was travelling at the same speed for the most part of each leg and was spread over a perimeter of 20-30 miles and kept in radio contact the entire time. It was very comforting to know there was this network of cruisers out there with us, especially in times when conditions got tough offshore. It was also heartwarming to see how crews helped each other out when equipment broke. One boat got its prop tangled in a crab pot line and another got his keel wrapped in the middest of several hundred feet of fishing line. Both received help from other boat crews to remove the tangled messes. A couple boats lost their engine power and got towed in by other boats in the fleet. Pacific Mystic did great. We had a couple mishaps - a ten foot section of our foresail tore, requiring hand sewing; our boom detached from the mast, requiring some remachining of the boom fasteners; our spinnaker jammed as we were trying to pull the sock down during sudden gusting conditions and ended up in the water and almost yanked Eric off the boat. We were able to overcome all these obstacles and stay with the fleet. All in all, offshore conditions have tested Pacific Mystic well beyond anything she had been subjected to before. We're very proud of her performance. We also discovered that in double-handling there is no downtime. All we had time for was sailing, keeping the boat in working conditions, eating and sleeping (very little of the last 2). Miette has continued to be a comforting presence on the boat, especially during our nap time, and overcame all situations too.

Speaking of overcoming all situations at sea, we thought it necessary to mention a freak incident that happened during the Baja Ha Ha XVI rally. On the third day at sea, as the fleet was dealing with some pretty rough conditions with big following seas and swells of 15-20 feet and winds gusting at 30 knots, one of the boats suddenly found itself unknowingly in the middle of a pod of humpback whales. As the crew was realizing the situation they were in and were unable to run away from it in the rough conditions, one of the whales started attacking the boat and created a big gash in the prop shaft. The boat started taking on water very quickly. The crew evacuated the boat before it sunk and were rescued by the US coast guard, The full story and dramatic footage of the rescue can be found here. It was the first instance of a boat being attacked by a whale and also the first instance of a boat being lost at sea in the sixteen-year entire existence of the Baja Ha Ha rally. Needless to say Eric and I were a bit shaken by this. But on a positive note, it reinforced the importance of being prepared to evacuate the boat on a minute's notice and to review our evacuation procedure.

Here are a few highlights in pictures of our 10-day run down the West coast of Baja California:

The Baja Ha Ha XVI fleet leaves San Diego - 10/26

San Diego harbor filled with sails all going in the same direction in the morning of October 26. It was so moving!

As far ahead... and as far back as we could see.

Left turn outside of San Diego harbor around noon on August 26 It's all downwind to Cabo San Lucas, baby!

Some like our friends on Rocinante were ready to fly their spinnaker as soon as they made the left turn... ...while others took a little longer. :)

End of the first day at sea on October 26

The sun sets on the Baha Ha Ha XVI fleet and on tranquil seas on the first night out

Departure from Bahia San Quintin - Early morning of October 29

Big seas outside of Bahia San Quintin

Just don't look behind!

Now you see me... ...now you don't.

Conditions are almost back to fair by sunrise the next morning.

Except that our genoa tore. So Eric is rigging out the jib on the inner stay.

We saw a grey whale on the inside passage of Cedros island just a few miles North of Bahia Tortugas

All we could capture on the picture was the whale plume

One of the Baja Ha Ha boats sailing on the inside of Cedros island

Arriving to Bahia Tortugas at the end of day on Oct 30

Entrance to Bahia Tortugas

The Baja Ha Ha "floating city" of 193 vessels and approximately 600 people has arrived in Bahia Tortugas

A well-deserved couple days of rest at Bahia Tortugas for the Baja Ha Ha fleet

Last one in the water is a rotten egg. We finally reached water warm enough to swim in!

Baja Ha Ha's enjoying the last few hours of the day at the beach

View of the Baja Ha Ha "floating city" from the beach

Pacific Mystic with her genoa on the foredeck awaiting hand stitching repair... ...and the seamstress hard at work the next day.

Arriving at Bahia Santa Maria - mid-day on November 2

Pacific Mystic arrived among the first boats - we motored most of the way as our mainsail became out of commission when the boom separated from the mast a few hours outside of Bahia Tortugas

Views from the top of the Bahia Santa Maria bluff

Back down at the beach party after the hike up the bluff

Antonio (in the red shorts) is talking to Eric just as Antonio and I got back down from our hike up the bluff

Leaving the beach party Eric is rowing us back to the boat

Last leg: Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas - November 4-5

Approximately 25 miles south of Bahia Santa Maria a solo humpback whale like the one that took down J-World crossed in front of our bow. It was enormous!

Shortly after we saw the humpback whale, we turned off our engine and sailed 95 miles till the next morning sunrise when we turn the engine back on with only 45 miles to go

when the Northwesterly night winds died. It was a relief the overnight winds lasted that long because we only had about 20 gallons of fuel left (that is approximately enough fuel for 120 miles).