Muertos to La Paz and the Great Crash

I was in that twilight zone between wakefulness and sleep when I thought I heard voices nearby. Was someone anchoring too close? As I pulled myself upward out of the fog of sleep toward consciousness, I thought I heard cries for help. I popped up on deck and heard two men yelling for help, that they were adrift and getting blown out to sea. After fumbling around unsuccessfully trying to get my powerful spotlight out of its storage bag, I quickly grabbed my most powerful flashlight and found the two men about fifty feet away frantically paddling a dinghy with their hands. They sounded panicky at this point because my boat was the last they would come close to before being beyond likely rescue. I reassured them that I saw them and would launch my dinghy, get them and give them a tow back to their anchored boat. Which I did. They were a lot more relaxed and casual about it all once I had them in tow. Turns out their outboard had failed and they had not bothered to put oars in the dinghy for “such a short trip.” Shaking my head, I just wanted to get back to bed at that point.

I had been watching the weather carefully for several days trying to pick a good weather window to leave Muertos and get around the end of cape to LaPaz. It's a challenging bit of planning and navigation when the prevailing winds are northerly. You also have to try to time your passage through the Cerralvo Channel to avoid battling a strong tidal current as well. The tight Canal de San Lorenzo also requires careful navigation. It's pretty common to hear about other boats having to turn back or having a real bash. It looked like departing about 4 am on the next day would be my best bet.

I did as much prep for departure as I could the night before. I also tried to get as much sleep that day as I could, but getting rudely awakened by the alarm at 3 am was still unpleasant and resulted in some rather nasty mumbling on my part. By the time I was pulling out at 4, I could see another boat doing the same. It turned out to be an easy, if rather long motoring passage. I even had the pleasure of dolphins coming with me to play in the bow wave for a while. I was just starting to congratulate myself on my good planning when the engine quit after running fine for about 8 hours. I switched tanks again and it restarted and continued to run fine. But the mystery deepened.

Made it into my slip at Marina Cortez about mid-afternoon with some help from the marina staff. I quickly learned about the issues created by the strong current flowing through the marina, especially on the side of the dock I was on. Most of the boats had turned around (backed in) the slip so the worst of the current hit them bow-on. I checked the tide tables and picked a morning with a slack tide to turn Circadian around. I also conscripted some help to handle lines when I came in, as Circadian is not maneuverable in reverse. I did all my usual pre-departure checks, including steering and shifting gears. All okay. I pulled out, started maneuvering and noticed there didn't seem to be much response in reverse. So I decided to do the prudent thing and bring her back in forward. Fifteen feet from the big concrete dock I realized I could not get her out of forward gear. All I could do was yell “Can't stop!!” and brace for the impact. The staff couldn't stop her 28,000 pounds before the big ugly crash. The result was pretty big hole in the bow a couple of feet above the waterline. I had to use a big primary winch to pull Circadian off the dock. At least the dock wasn't damaged, so no hassles with the marina or Mexican liability.

So, I've spent the last several days starting the repair and hunting down very expensive supplies. Not exactly what I had planned. But I've discovered the quickest, if not the best, way to get to know your new neighbors is to punch a big, highly visible hole in your boat.

At least I think I've solved the engine problem. I noticed fuel leaking around the Racor pre-filter. I discovered that the little pink o-ring to seal the “T” handle had been installed wrong, resulting in fuel getting out and, more significantly, air getting in. That would certainly explain the problems I had been having.  Time will tell.

One of the more positive consequences of the great crash is my having to explore La Paz on my quests for repair supplies. Found a few interesting things, but I'll save them for another post that is more dedicated to the city itself.