Pierless Adventures - April 10 - A Vane Crew

Another warm day here in Mazatlan.  We are quickly wrapping up on the projects list.  Tony will be here soon as well, so we are getting the dirty laundry out of his bunk...  We are planning to move our itinerary up a couple of days, so should have no problems sticking to our current schedule.

Pierless With Dodger:

 Today we caulked one toerail on the boat.  Will do the other side this week.  I shipped caulk in the UPS package that never arrived, so bought a tube here a couple of weeks ago.  Apparently, I bought black caulk instead of white.  It took me an hour or so to convince myself that black toerail caulk would be great, so I used it and I do like the look.

Dave took on the setup of our wind vane.  Ours is a Monitor brand.  I have never had one on a boat, so this is a new thing to learn for all of us.  Wind vanes are an ingenious contraption that has a wind vane that aligns with the direction of the wind.  If the boat veers off course, the wind hits the wind vane which in turn changes the angle of a small rudder in the water.  As the rudder moves to the side, it pulls a rope which is connected to the helm and steers the boat back on course.  It all sounds complicated, and is to a degree, but once you see it and set up the lines, it makes sense.  In any event, Dave jumped to the challenge and got things properly rigged.  We are anxious to give it a try tomorrow.

While I was caulking and Dave was being vane, Scott was working through the features of our chart plotter.  I am something of a luddite when it comes to navigation.  I prefer paper maps or charts and a compass.  A chart plotter is like jumping into some new age of navigation.  I do appreciate the advantages the plotter offeres and will appreciate it on our trip.  It's just not the same as working out your route on a map...  Scott quickly sorted out how the thing works and will help the rest of the crew learn the ins and outs of the device.

After the caulk job, I set up our jacklines.  These are long pieces of flat webbing that are attached at the bow and run along both sides of the boat to the cockpit.  They are used when we need to be more cautious when moving on deck.  At night or in rough conditions, crew will wear safety harnesses with tethers.  The tether is then connected to the jackline so you can move along the deck while connected securely to the boat.

Our last project today was to set up our running backstays.  These lines support the mast when we are using the staysail.  It was all much simpler than I expected, so went quickly. 

 Overall, a good day.  We are enjoying a cooler evening and we plan to go out tomorrow for more practice.

From Scott:

Mazatlan has a curious bumblebee that I have seen a few times now.  It's about the size of a filbert but seems much larger due to all the black, bristly hair it sports. Its aerodynamics boggle the mind and it flies like it is controlled by a faulty drone mechanism controlled by a one-eyed drunk.  It's big enough to require air traffic control. I  don't know if they sting, but I imagine it would be a laborious project and one that could take several minutes to accomplish.

I feel his pain.  I woke up with severely swollen feet and maneuvered around much like the bee.  What caused the swelling, I don't know, it's just part of a general plan by Mexico to get me to leave . I have more cuts, scrapes, bruises, bites and odd rashes than I have ever had, proof positive that I have been outside my favored environment for too long.  I will be happy to head north.

From Dave:

Been down here in the sweltering heat for a week now.  As fast as you drink water it turns to sweat and the cycle repeats.  Sleeping at night began as an experience of waking up soaking wet in sweat and then waking up freezing, but I have now acclimated enough to sleep mostly through the night.  The sun is intense from sunrise to just before sunset.  It will be nice to get out to sea instead of baking at the dock.

I have been told that Mazatlan is the mecca for food in Mexico.  I have found that to be true so far.  I have experience some excellent seafood, shrimp the size of your hand and wood fired pizza that was right up there with the best.  Before we set sail for San Diego, I hope to reach out a little further into the heartland of Sinaloa.

The marina has large silvery fish that have competition morning and evening, with practice sessions in the afternoon, to see who can leap out of the water the highest with longest footage.  Some attempt multiple leaps for extra points.  There are Catfish and Red Snapper sharing the area between the slips at the dock. Unfortunately there is no fishing in the marina.  But then again the water here is pretty nasty with all sorts of pollution.  There are 3 different species of iguanas here that I have seen so far. I have been lobbying to bring one aboard to train as a guard lizard and mascot.

I have an unknown allergy that had my nose running constantly.  After a week of taking over the counter Mexican allergy meds, I have seem to have found the right combination.  The humidity made it a real challenge, but all is good now.