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September 19th

I am starting the web page today. We have been working on the boat for a couple of weeks now. We have pretty much decided what projects and purchases we are going to do for the trip, and are starting to put them together. The windlass mount is all made, the dodger and bimini frames have been made and are installed. Radar, radios, batteries, solar panels, and refrigeration have been purchased and are on the installation list.

October 4th

I haven't gotten around to working on this site as much as I would have liked to. I was visiting my sister and then my father for a few days. Now I am back and have been working on preparing the boat.
The bimini and dodger are progressing nicely.
The battery box is in.
The refrigerator is in.
The salt water wash down pump is in with a faucet in the anchor locker and in the cockpit.
We also put in a foot pump for salt water in the galley.
The second water tank has been installed in the forward berth.
The windlass and fortified anchor locker should be done tomorrow.
We are working on the electrical system, tying all the new pieces together.

Monday October 22, 2001

We planned to meet at noon to leave, but both of us were late. By the time we got everything ready to go, it was almost 4:00. We stopped for diesel at the marina by Fort Mason. We finally made it out of the Golden Gate at about 6:00. The tide was strong going out, into high winds. We made it out about five miles before we realized we were way overloaded, and to continue would not be safe. We returned to San Francisco and stayed at the Saint Francis Yacht Club for the evening.

Tuesday October 23, 2001

Our friend Ed came with a big truck and helped us move some of our excess baggage into storage. We also took this time to replace a bolt on our boom gooseneck and the key switch, which had gone bad. We also reran our reef lines which had become fouled. We finally made it back out the Golden Gate at about 1:00. The weather was still pretty bad, strong winds and a large swell. I was feeling terrible, I think it was the vaccinations I had received last week. I was pretty much out of it for the whole afternoon, Larry drove us to Half Moon Bay. We spent the night at Pillar Point Marina with all of the fishing boats.

Wednesday October 24, 2001

We left the marina at 5:00 in the fog. The weather was still bad, strong winds, big swells. It is physically very hard to drive the boat through this kind of weather. You must stand and muscle the wheel up and down with every swell. The swells come from behind about every 10 seconds. If you get the rhythm down, you can surf down the fronts of them. If your rhythm is bad, they roll you around and head you up. It was like this all day and all night. The water has a kind of phosphorescent algae in it which glows when it is disturbed by the wake of the boat. We have a kind of glow in the dark tail for most of the night.

Thursday October 25, 2001

The wind died down about 5:00, changing from the north to the south. Now we are going directly into the wind. We are off the central California coast. We have to motor all day as the only wind is coming right at us. Along about dusk, there was a large whale that breached close to the boat. After dark there was a school of dolphins that was swimming alongside the boat for a few minutes. We motor all night into the wind.

Friday October 26, 2001

We run out of diesel about 8 am. There isn't enough wind to sail, so we are just floating around. About 11 am we flag and radio a fishing trawler down. The Sun Hunter gave us 5 gallons of diesel. We had to bleed the fuel lines and filters. It was about 1:00 pm before we had the engine running good. By this time the wind had come up, so we put up the spinnaker and had a great run to Santa Barbara. We filled up our tanks at the fuel dock and then went to the Santa Barbara Yacht club. They have a reciprocity agreement with Larry's yacht club in San Francisco, so we were able to have dinner in their restaurant and take showers. We then left refreshed on a direct line to San Diego.

Saturday October 27, 2001

There are oil rigs, drilling platforms throughout this area. You can see their lights from about 25 miles away. They are about the size of a 25 story building, with cranes and pipes going in every direction. They have an arm with a big flame to burn off the fumes. Quite a site to come up on in the middle of the night in the middle of the ocean. Our course takes us close to Catalina Island, so Larry wants to go in and take look at Avalon. I was sleeping, but he had a great time. He also caught the first fish of our trip just after leaving the harbor, a couple pound skipjack which he threw back.

Sunday October 28, 2001

We arrive in San Diego about 7:00 am. The marina office isn't open yet, so I hang and try to dry sails while Larry sleeps. The office opens at 8:30, they give us a slip to use, but someone else is in the slip. It is almost 9:30 before we have our own slip and are berthed. We need to have our releases signed for the Haha by 10:30, but when I get to the table, they have lost our paperwork. I guess they thought my bio was boring or the pictures were bad. I had to fill out the application again and finally had the paper work finished in time for the skippers meeting at 12:00. After the skippers meeting, we walked over to the airport and rented a car. We made it back in time for the Halloween party. Larry dressed as a witch with green hair, I went as a tired sailor who didn't care what he looked like. After the party, we went on round one of our provisioning trip.

Monday October 29, 2001

I worked on the ground plane for the ham radio while Larry did some shopping. In the afternoon, we went on round two of our provisioning trip. We finally got back to the boat about midnight.

Tuesday October 30, 2001

We got up early, I packed while Larry took the rental car back. We then found a fuel dock where we filled up on both diesel and gas for the dingy.

The race started at 11:00. More than a hundred sailboats, a few large Navy ships, Navy fighter planes and helicopters, the Baha Haha photo helicopter, and the boats that are normally there. The entrance to the bay was just too crowded to start the race, so we went out a little bit further. It was a great start, most boats were flying a chute (spinnaker), so it was very colorful. We went out a few miles and then headed right for Turtle Bay. It was a nice sail, strong winds, strong waves, but less than we had in the beginning at San Francisco.

Wednesday October 31, 2001

The winds were good, the waves consistent, and we were moving along fast. When you go almost as fast as the waves, you can surf down the fronts of them, going a knot or two faster for as long as you can stay on top. This technique adds a lot to your speed, and we were able to do it frequently.

Thursday November 1, 2001

We finish leg one of the race and arrive in Turtle Bay after dark. It is supposed to be a tricky anchorage to get into in the dark, but we have no problems. We appear to have beaten more than half of the boats to the anchorage.

Friday November 2, 2001

We sleep in before working on the boat for the day. I manage to finally finish hooking up the ham radio. Larry went to the town, I went to sleep. He liked the town a lot.

Saturday November 3, 2001

We have a beach party and barbeque. The haha people worked out something with the mayor of the town who worked out something with the local fishing co-op. We ended up getting a little piece of lobster for $5. We were lucky we brought our own hot dogs to cook for desert.

On the way to the barbeque, I saw a Japanese boat anchored, so I went and invited them to go with. A very nice family who are spending a couple of years going around the world. It is even stranger for a Japanese person to do this than an American. The Yamashita Family, their card says they have a web page, but I haven't checked it yet.

 After the party, we go into town and walk through the dirt streets. It is a very remote village. We buy a few provisions and have dinner at a restaurant overlooking the ocean.

Sunday November 4, 2001

Leg two starts at 8:00, but there is not much wind so they change it. You can go straight offshore as far as you want to find wind, your time starts when you head south. This is great for us as we are late to the line. We go out about five miles and turn south at 9:00. The wind is good, and we are flying the chute. At about dusk, I am driving when the wind and the waves combine to turn me hard to the left, and then swing back hard to the right, leaving me pointing into the wind with the spinnaker flying back. We let the line go to release the chute, it flew up in the air off to the left, and we are able to get pointed in the right direction. We decide that is enough of the chute for today and go wing on wing (the front sail held out on one side with a pole and the main sail on the other side) through the night. 

Monday November 5, 2001

At sun up, we decide to put the chute back up, but have problems rolling the jib (front sail) up. We then see that it is jammed on the bent jumper struts. We decide we must loosen the cables enough to roll the jib up. I go back to sleep to rest up. We turn the boat and drive off course at the least shaky path while I go up the mast. I only had to get up as high as the spreaders to loosen the lower bolts on the jumper struts, but I still got fairly banged up being bounced off the mast. We then continued on, having lost a few hours time. We finished leg two and made it into Bahia Santa Maria before midnight.

Tuesday November 6, 2001

I went up the mast and checked things out while I removed the damaged jumper strut. If you do not know what jumper struts are, they are wires and a brace added to the top of the mast on the front to strengthen it when you bend it back to shape the sail. You can see them in the picture on the opening page. Since there was no apparent damage other than the bent strut brace, we decided we will continue on and watch carefully. There is another barbeque on the beach, this time it is lobsters and fish for $10. We are late as usual, so they have run out of fish and we have to take 2 pieces of lobster instead.

Wednesday November 7, 2001

This leg starts at 6:00 am. Early enough to allow most boats to finish by the following night. Even though it is an early start, we are almost on time. Another great day of sailing, mostly with the chute up. We get some great pictures of the other boats and hope they are taking some of us. We are finally far enough south that I can wear shorts all night. 

Thursday November 8, 2001

We are having wind problems, not enough and what little there is is from the wrong direction. We put up our asymmetrical chute, that doesn't do any good so we put up the regular chute. We work hard at flying it and finally get going. The wind picks up during the day, until it is very strong by the time we finish leg three in the afternoon. We then sail around the tip of the Baja peninsula and into the bay at Cabo San Lucas. It is dark by the time we get anchored, so we stay on the boat and get a good nights sleep. 

Friday November 9, 2001

The goal today is to check us and the boat into Mexico. But first we go to the Baja Haha check in, then we go for breakfast. By the time we get to the Port Captain office, it is almost 1:00 and they close at 2:30. I then realize I forgot to bring some papers we needed. Luckily, the officer working at the desk and the people in line behind us were both nice. The people in line behind us gave us the paper we needed and the officer photocopied it for us. We then had to go to immigration for our tourist cards. Then we had to go to the bank and pay for both immigration and the port captain. We then took the receipt back to immigration where they stamped our passports and gave us tourist cards. It was already after 2:30, so the port captains office was closed, but I wanted to try anyway, so I didn't fight or argue with the immigration officer when he wanted a $10 bribe to finish our paperwork. We walked quickly back to the Port Captains office, and it was our lucky day, they couldn't find the keys to lock the door so they were still there. The officer was very helpful again and got all our papers processed for us. Once again, we were late to the beach party.

Saturday November 10, 2001

I went to the internet cafe to work on the web page and download email. Larry went for a shower at the marina. I took way too long and was late getting back for our snorkeling appointment. Luckily, the other snorkelers were also running late. About ten of us went over to the arches and went snorkeling. The water is clear and warm. There were a lot of tropical fish to see as well as sea lions hanging out on the rocks. We also went body surfing on the ocean side of the point.

The award ceremony for the 2001 Baja Haha was held in the evening. They stress how this is a fun event, how everyone who finishes is a winner, the lowest you can place in your division is a tie for third, etc. All of that is fine and well, but it sure felt good when they announced our name as the winner! Synergizer won the Burrito Supremo Division of the 2001 Baha Haha. I even went out and had a burrito to celebrate.

Sunday November 11, 2001

We again slept in. I was just making coffee about 9:00 when our friends came by to see if we wanted to go on a trip with them to a village about 50 miles up the coast - Todos Santos. I declined, deciding to concentrate on the computer instead, while Larry went with. It was a quiet, peaceful day.

I am now just making a new page for each destination with pictures and text. I will no longer be updating this page.

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Synergizer does the Haha