San Jose, the anti-hell.

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Greetings from Sunny San Jose!

No, we have not made it up the coast in three days. I'm still here in Puerto Los Cabos, working on the boat, and awaiting parts, crew and AnnMarie. Not in that order. Ann managed to locate the correct part (so we hope!) and it turns out to be cheaper and easier for her to fly down here than to try to ship it. She arrives tomorrow, will spend the weekend and then fly back for work on Monday. There are very few men alive that have as wonderful a partner as I do. Not a day goes by I don't appreciate her being in my life.

In other good news, two folks have signed up, and are going to come along. They fly down next week. Mike, who sailed with us from Trinidad all the way to Panama, in addition to being a great guy and competent sailor, is also a paramedic fire fighter. So, if I have a heart attack from the boat catching fire, he'll know what to do, which is probably jump overboard and swim for shore.

Also joining us will be John, a friend of a friend. I'm told he has extensive sailing experience and has always wanted to make this trip. He expedited getting his passport to be able to do so, which says a lot about his motivation. This will definitely be a trip to put at the top of your sailing resume.

There is also the possibility that some others might join us. Some other friends of Mikes, and Charlie, one of my paramedic preceptors, is also possibility. There has also been interest by a number of locals including the first mate on the beautiful Lagoon 50 next to us in Cabo, someone on the docks here in San Jose, and someone else from Cabo.

So it is feast or famine. Actually, it would have been interesting to do the trip alone, but I'm thankful for the company. It is simply safer to have someone else on board, and anything more than two people is luxury for this boat. Now if only the weather would cooperate, it will be a cake walk.

I am certainly much relieved to have the additional help, and can now concentrate on the tasks at hand, which include getting grease permanently ensconced beneath my fingernails, ripping the skin from my knuckles, abrading my forearms on fiberglass, and having to pee while scrunched into an impossible position in the bilge. Ah, the good life.

In the meantime I wish you all a maintenance free, sunny, calm day and free of customs officials, port captains and pot holed roads.

Cheers,

Robb

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Trouble In River City

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Hey Folks,

Well, today was a pretty sad day for me. Robinson and Jessica were asked to leave the boat, and under pretty unpleasant circumstances. I'm sure that their story will bear no resemblance to mine, nor is it one I really want to rehash, so I won't bore you with any details, but a general explanation is in order.

Suffice to say that I have very few restrictions about what goes on aboard the boat, but those I do have are pretty important to me and I don't tolerate exceptions. They are all stated repeatedly in previous blogs, and are things I mention explicitly to every crew member that comes aboard. The most important ones are 1) do not bring illegal drugs on board, 2) put in at least one solid hour of work a day on the boat, or whatever is required at the moment, 3) man your shifts sober [that includes not being hung over], 4) respect me, my boat and its equipment, 5) do not yell or argue with the captain during critical situations such as docking, anchoring, bringing in sails, etc. [save that discussion for a calmer moment], 6) do nothing that will endanger yourself, the crew, or the boat. Most importantly, don't whine, pout, fume, grumble or bitch. In under one week, both Robinson and Jessica managed to violate all of those rules in one manner or the other, repeatedly.

It was a very difficult last few days, there were several arguments, and a lot of tension. I understood that introducing Jessica to Robinson might create a distracting dynamic, but I underestimated how much of an impact this would have. I believe, on their own, either of them would have been perfectly reasonable and capable of pulling their own weight. But together it was like throwing gasoline on a fire. Bringing them to Cabo San Lucas was like tossing in hand grenades. Their party animal attitudes quickly became a costly liability, resulting in hundreds of dollars in additional costs to me, and unnecessary delay, not to mention having to deal with very drunk behavior and a complete lack of help. They were more interested in getting wasted than getting things done, and it became apparent to me that this pattern would only continue if not get worse. So we parted ways.

Unfortunately, that means I am without crew for the moment, and facing a pretty difficult trek north by myself. On the bright side, this is a solid boat that I have sailed almost four thousand miles in blue water through some pretty tough seas. It is easily handled, stout and capable of taking on whatever you throw at it. I'm not sure I can say as much for the captain, but I am looking forward to the challenge. I've researched this next leg pretty thoroughly, and many folks have done it single handedly, even in winter. There are some risks in going alone, but none that aren't already part of sailing.

In the meantime I jumped back into the marina for a day, but it isn't cost effective to stay there, and need to look for a better harbor to rest and prepare. There are some additional items that I need to address before heading north alone. Minor things that could have waited, but items that I want fixed now if I'm going to be out at sea by myself. I'll probably head up the coast a bit first and look for a quiet anchorage where I can accomplish these tasks and rest up.

In the mean time I wish you all a happy new year, fair winds and following seas.

Cheers,

Robb


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Greetings From Shelter Bay Marina

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Greeting from Shelter Bay Marina, natures little pond of delight just minutes away from mankind's little industrial canal of the colon.
We returned back from San Blas today and pulled back into the marina to regroup. This meant long, uninterrupted, hot showers. And cheeseburgers with French fries. And iced tea with real ice. Its funny but one of the things that define Americans is their copious use of ice. European cultures don't seem to go in for cold drinks the way we do. Two nights ago we had a big party on the boat and invited all the other cruisers. Peter, a German cruiser came aboard and said "Okay, where's the ice? You Americans always have ice."

And he was right! I'm not really sure what it is, but I'll tell you that I won't go cruising again without an ice maker and working freezer. After two or three days with only warm drinks, you suddenly appreciate how much better it makes things taste. It also seems to make whatever you're drinking refresh you more, even if it is just a glass of water. It isn't that hot down here, but you do desiccate a bit and the cold makes a huge difference.

Oh, and another interesting observation I never thought I'd make: Coke is better than all the cola competition put together, including Pepsi, 7-up beats Sprite and other such alternatives, and all of it is made ten times better over ice. It is surprising how much of a taste difference there is (even for someone like myself who barely ever drinks this stuff) when you are suddenly looking at the last can of Coke and know that what remains are three six packs of Fanta and a quart of Gingerbeer. Honestly, I don't drink soda pop, I prefer seltzer (no calories, no phosphates, no sugars, no salt) but there is a real difference in taste. I realize I'm offending Pepsi drinkers, but there you have it.

Its also been very interesting how certain food items can brighten your day. We got off the boat this morning after twenty four hours of rolling waves and high winds, and not enough sleep. We stumbled up to the restaurant and slumped into the chairs. The Shelter Bay harbor manager walked over with a plate of freshly baked brownies. I thought Jeff and Mota were going to cry. They relished them and their whole mood changed. It was like watching someone come back to life. I'm thinking of adding some to the first aid kit.

Jen, Mike, and MaryAnn left earlier. Mota leaves tomorrow for the states, and Jeff is headed off to Panama City for a few days of solo exploration. They will be sorely missed. What's more, I'm beginning to realize that Jeff, Mota, Jen, Mike, and MaryAnn have become the standard by which I will judge all other crew to come. I really lucked out this trip and had a string of really great individuals that worked as a team. Everyone got along fantastically well, coped with adversities like clogged heads and non-functioning autopilots without even the slightest frown, and did more than their fair share of effort, including scrubbing out bilges, putting up netting, rerouting plumbing, fiber-glassing and many other thankless tasks. What could have been a horrific slog across the ocean was actually a fun filled, laughter strewn skip across the pond. I am much indebted to them all.



If it sounds like I'm blathering on about it, I'm not. Finding good crew is really hard. I've spoken with many, many cruisers along the way. They all have relayed their disappointment and frustration in finding folks that work hard and still have a good time. There have been quite a number of horror stories about crew quitting halfway through, or getting into fights, or freaking out, or breaking expensive boat parts. None of that happened, and everyone arrived in port safe and sound. A better trip could not have been had.

Now comes the much ballyhooed canal crossing itself. We are scheduled for the 3rd and it is supposed to take less than 24 hours to get through, but given the direction we're headed, we'll probably get scheduled with an overnight stop in the big lake. This is considered to be a great treat as there are numerous birds, monkeys and other exotic life (including giant crocodiles) to be seen along the shores. We'll take pictures and share them with everyone when we return.

Otherwise it has been a relatively low key last few days. We did some more snorkeling before we left San Blas with Slater and his wife Julie. It turns out that Slater also worked for the Berkeley West Marine, but a year before I did, and we figured out that we had once met in the store. It is a very small world. They lived in Europe, but had flew to Richmond to buy their boat, and lived there and worked at West Marine for about two years. He came on the boat and said "Wow, you have all the same West Marine parts I do!" Funny how that works out.

I also spent several great hours with Folkher and MaryLou, a lovely German couple sailing on a really nice Privilege Catamaran. They'd been out cruising for several years and had been around quite a lot of the Caribbean. Their attitude was that it made more sense to leave now while their health was still good and they could enjoy themselves. On one hand, I agree with them, but on the other hand, I've been meeting a lot of folks in their seventies that have been out cruising for thirty years and look to be about twenty years younger than you might guess. This life style is definitely good for some folks.

I've also come across quite a number of families with children. A big part of their cruising life is home schooling them. If the folks I've encountered are anything to judge by, I'd say that this form of education beats anything I've seen in either private or public schools. I'm regularly amazed at the high levels of knowledge, poise, intellect, maturity and responsibility displayed by the children of cruisers. They are still playful kids, but are invariably achieving several levels higher than their land based counterparts. You regularly hear about some child turning sixteen and being admitted to college early. It is very impressive.

There hasn't been much else to report. We spend a lot of time making snide comments, laughing about them, then realizing that nothing we've said can be transcribed in any fashion that would make another person laugh, or even smile. It has all been location jokes that would take about three hours of typing to explain just ten minutes of on the spot humor - and then it still wouldn't be funny, so I won't try.

The boat continues to perform well, although with each day I find another thing about it I'd like to modify or improve somehow. We've enjoyed ourselves immensely, managed to avoid getting seriously hurt and have spent most of our time giggling at each other. Sounds trite, but its is the truth.

I hope all is well back home and look forward to seeing everyone again soon.

Cheers,

Robb


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