SFBANTA Rendezvous 09 - Petaluma

WOW – What a party! The 2009 SFBANTA Rendezvous was a fabulous event, and we were privileged to participate in it.

The party started early for us with a mini rendezvous off of the Pt Richmond channel on Wednesday morning with ourselves (Carmen), Riley, Emiko and Buoy Toy. This elegant procession made it’s way across San Pablo bay in near calm conditions and found the entrance to the Petaluma River without difficulty. Of course the task had been made easier by the coordinating committee choosing a low low tide for the run so that we could actually see the banks of the channels! Norma Jean joined us in flight up the river and we had a grand time upon entry into the Petaluma Turning Basin deciding who was going to face which way as we side tied to “reserve” the requisite amount of dock for the whole group.

Thursday morning saw a lot of debate surrounding when the remainder of the fleet would arrive and what we would do if any alien boats came through the bridge before the last Nordic. I will spare the reader the sordid details of that plan and merely report that we had a great time in getting everyone in and stern tied in a row. Your correspondent lost his hat in the excitement and more factually the wind. Mother Nature provided the wind to assist with stacking the boats, and it worked out very well, aside from the hat. The group elected not to pursue yet more fun by untying everyone and then sorting the fleet by size and alphabet – Our superb dock master Bob Scura just wasn’t keen on doing it all again. Thursday evening the group settled in and the partying began in earnest.

Friday saw about 30 folks squeezing bags on the dock at 0845. This is an integral part of the Bud’s Boiled Bag Breakfast which was again a great success. This was planned to be R&BBBB however Richard and Kathy were unfortunately unable to be at the Rendezvous due to last minute family events. It was a feast to remember.

The presentations that morning in the Petaluma Yacht Club were well attended and very interesting. Marilee of Waypoint enlightened the group with a very timely talk on electronic navigation and the related cartography. Your correspondent can testify to the fantastic service provided by Waypoint and would encourage anyone who has questions about electronic navigation including the computer versions to contact Marilee. Following Waypoint was Trident Funding.

The “Pair’s Pizza lunch” was great fun when the pizzas arrived. Good pizza and the delay to allow us all to work up a good appetite was a nice touch.

The afternoon was taken up with US Coast Guard Auxiliary Safety Checks and tours of the new Nordic 42 that Len and Steve of Ballena Bay Yacht brokers had kindly brought for inspection (oh and it is for sale in case you were wondering).

More fun was to be had in the PYC bar including a very lucid and I am told (by those who claimed to understand it) uplifting speech by the prime candidate for SFBANTA president (Bud Sheble) was followed by a really wonderful dinner at Graffiti.

Saturday saw the group with Mike Mirata of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary for a discussion of the major safety equipment and procedures to be aware of in their deployment. Mike was an entertaining and very informative source. Then the business of the day was conducted- this consisted of the general membership meeting and the election of the new officers. The pre inauguration concerns as to citizenship etc. having been satisfactorily resolved Bud Sheble was elected President; there being no physical ballots a recount call was not heeded. Scotty Irwin was elected Treasurer as we figured that if the ex pres didn’t know where all the cash was then nobody would. Richard Smith was elected in absentia as Secretary and the meeting duly adjourned.

Following the business meeting Christmas came again in the form of the raffle prizes so very generously provided by our sponsors. These businesses have seen fit to sponsor this event in these trying fiscal times and they truly deserve our support. What makes this even easier is that they all provide excellent products and services. Not to belabor the point but they are in alphabetical order;

Alameda Canvas and Coverings

Ballena Bay Yacht Brokers

The Boatyard at Grand Marina

Cummins West

Outboard Motor Shop

Pier 29

Star Marine Electronics

Thomas marine Propeller

Trident Funding Corporation

Twin Rivers Marine Insurance Agency

Waypoint

West Marine

Special mention to Nordic Tugs Inc our founding sponsor.

The cocktail party and BBQ Dinner hosted by the Petaluma Yacht Club were superb and the event ended on a high note with Del Shannon singing Runaway on the juke box at the club.

On a final note I think I speak for everybody when I say a big THANKS to the retiring board members and also to everyone who put in all the effort to make this event the great success that it was. THANKS GUYS.

Accolades to retiring board members:

Cathy Robie

Jim Moore

Wayne Farris

I am sure that they each thank their parents, first girl/boyfriend, significant pet, significant other etc. etc.

Accolades also to Mother Nature for the clement conditions and to the City of Petaluma for the great American Graffiti weekend event.

Submitted by your humble correspondent, Anthony Thorne from Carmen.

Back in the USA – post Armageddon

So anyway we chickened out and had a delivery crew bring Carmen back to Ventura. It was supposed to be San Francisco, but the alternator quit at Santa Catalina and Ventura has a large Cummins dealer. Fate always has a way of exerting the upper hand.

We arrived in Ventura with our new extended family, Farley, our now six months old Havanese puppy came with us for a three day drive from Sidney, BC to Ventura. It all went very well.

So we relaxed after our trip, sorted out the boat in Ventura, and began looking for weather windows for the trip north. Weather windows are very similar to PC windows in that they are not very stable. If anyone had told me that calculators that sometimes crashed would become perfectly acceptable business tools before we entered the “personal and desktop” computer age, they would have been laughed out of town. Those days it was mainframes as big as today’s condos to do the payroll.

So our view was that we had to find several windows, one for the trip to Santa Barbara, a mere 2½ hour run, one for Pts Conception and Arguello to Morro Bay, another for the run to Monterey and yet another for the run up to SF Bay and Alameda. A study of the various weather forecasts showed that they were very similar to economic forecasts. Use with great caution and a good dose of sheer disbelief. Simply put the number of different forecasts equals the number of sources -1. The truth lies…….somewhere out there.

Speaking of economic forecasts – the atmosphere in the USA is very different from last fall. Now it is post Armageddon (the late fall and winter US & World financial meltdown) and it shows, things are very quiet, no one around at the marinas and such. Diesel is now nearly affordable. Of course the Canadian $ has fallen in exact proportion so again fate rules.

The micro climate of this area shows that two distinct windows are required, one across the Santa Barbara channel to Santa Barbara and the other out of Santa Barbara round the terrible duo and on the Morro Bay. On April 30^th the 1^st window opened. So we took it and had a fairly uncomfortable 2½ hour run. Farley was sick! Yes he was not a happy camper. Very little roll but boy the seas were short, and that was with no wind. Our new strategy is to concentrate on wind; if there is little wind we figure we can handle the rest of it. Wind waves on top of swell makes for bad news.

A change in the forecast saw us head out the following day instead of taking the break. We had a reasonable run to Morro Bay but again Farley was sick. Carmen, our feline companion, of course was not sick but also not overly pleased. We gained Morro Bay without incident, other that the use of a lot of paper towels. The forecast indicated a stay in Morro for the day so we did just that. On Sunday the 3^rd we set off for Monterey, a long but calmer run. There was again no wind but the seas were quite big, 8-10ft swells. The view from the pilothouse was like an alien landscape, gentle rolling water hills with a series of mountain ridges marching across the scene. The mountain ridges proved to be benign as we just went up one side and then down the other, quite an experience. Farley was not sick! Everyone was pleased.

The forecast for Monday was poor and so we lounged around for a day and then decided to split the next run into two days, one to Half Moon bay where we would take on fuel – seeing we were getting low, and the following day head up to Alameda. Both days were easy runs with no wind to Half Moon and little wind to the gate and beyond. Foggy though, yes the days without wind are very poor visibility days.

We passed under the gate at 1130hrs on Wednesday the 6^th and went over to Alameda. Visibility was poor at about ½ mile.

We made fast, and then pretty much crashed – had to catch up on our rest. Journey’s end.

Now we are looking forward to the SFBANTA Rendezvous and the special weekend that follows.

Winter in La Paz

La Paz has its good, bad and ugly.

The “good” - the weather is nice, a little too hot, but no rain. The water is warm, or was but it has now fallen to 68 Fahrenheit. The wind blows a lot, in fact it nearly always blows whenever we go out to the local islands to anchor out, making the night decidedly uncomfortable. It seems to be calm when we are in the marina.

The town itself is quite interesting it has a newish walkway alongside the bay with some very striking sculptures. The actual commercial district is a few blocks wide and long. It has some very nice streets of residential houses, small but immaculate. It has no sense of a sidewalk. Those that exist do so in isolation of their next door neighbour both in terms of material and LEVEL. Grade is an unknown word here.

To walk anywhere, and we walk everywhere for the obvious reasons, you have to angle one eyeball on downwards to navigate the uneven sidewalk – pavement – dirt – cobbles – blocks – cement – whatever, and one eyeball angled upwards to see the low slung trees – cables – signs – awnings etc. It is most suited to mountain goats. The other neat thing is that all unused poles, iron stays, signs etc. are cut off at about 4” just to catch the unwary!

Folks here are proud of the safety of La Paz. We do not have any tourists like Cabo (used to have). However I see this as interesting for a town that has four different police forces plus armed military forces on show most of the time. All windows and doors are covered with iron/steel bars and our marina gate is covered with razor wire. So five armed militia groups and security guards everywhere as well as iron grilles – I suspect there might be a reason for it – but then again this is Mexico.

After about 5 blocks up from the waterfront it all goes to ugly, Mexico has a lock on brown and it also seems to know how to do real ugly. The folks are nice though.

Most restaurants and street vendors serve Mexican food, which seems to consist of corn (in a multitude of varieties) and beans. No one seems to be starving, however one must remember that two of the police forces are devoted to separating the non wealthy (make that real poor) from the in town poorer ‘non wealthy’. So although we don’t see them around town I have heard enough to know that they are out there … on the edges of town.

Places with real chutzpah charge in US dollars while most places work in Pesos, probably due to the fact that this is Mexico. If it has to do with Boats and Gringos then it is (way over) priced in dollars. See previous post about $56 burgers with limp fries in Cabo. Avoid if at all possible.

The language is interesting; Spanish is an old and cumbersome language that has been modernized by making it far more staccato and loud. So they do a lot of what seems like shouting, very fast, with no tonal variations. So pass the salt probably will sound very like abandon ship. It is a twisty language at best.

And so to the “bad” – no nation can succeed by eating Mexican food morning noon and night. Their meat cuts are weird and small. Their music is - well I guess Latin is the word. OK for the first five minutes, thereafter …..

The “ugly” you just don’t want to know. Believe me.

Life sans TJs

Life sans TJs

So for those who are not familiar with TJs you are both blessed by being immune to this affliction and of course cursed because you do not know the joys of TJs. For all others this account may be a warning not to wander too far.

Is there really life without TJs? It depends upon your definitions of course. You can survive and find some alternatives; however you will forever remember that which you cannot find. Conversations with people you meet will have either as the third or fourth sentence something like “do you know where we can find TJs?” or “have you found anything like TJs?”

We search for anything that might be comparable –so far without success. We think that we should start one, and then realize that starting a business just to cater to ourselves is not very wise. Better than toxic debt perhaps, but not assured of a big bailout when the penny drops elsewhere. We play golf in the wrong circles.

So stock up is the key, but how do you stockpile non freezable perishables???? The affliction is relatively mild in its side effects – lack of sleep, dietary unhappiness, severe treat discontent, mild headaches and vast longing.

It’s like grieving – the stages thereof. We have done with denial. “it’s OK we can find everything here, well almost”. Moved through anger. “!!!!!” [Edited out]

We have identified that ”a longing to return to Canada for Christmas” is in reality, a want/need/desire to stop at TJs on the way back to the sunshine!

This one is obviously bargaining. In reality a $2000 trip just for a store? – It’s nuts. Next is depression – and so for cheap chemicals. Acceptance looks like giving up on life and accepting Fox News.

So take care where you go and think thrice if there is not a Trader Joes within range. Strange things will happen.

Carmen – sans TJs.

South to La Paz

Santa Barbara Channel and the voyage south to La Paz Mexico

Our cruise of the Santa Barbara Channel was a wonderful experience. We went to the Channel Islands Harbor and Ventura. Both were great but Ventura with its harbor development was our favourite. Great for long walks, an easy run to shops and also to Santa Barbara by rental car. We resupplied and took in both Santa Barbara as well as a run up to Port San Louis and Pismo Beach. Well, as our time to move south was approaching, we set off to Avalon and spent another few days at this delightfully Mediterranean spot. Then into San Diego to get both our last TJ supply run and to get a water maker installed. After a week we were totally shopped out and we visited the Port Office to turn in our cruising permit. At San Diego we met some really nice folks in the marina.

So early on the morning of Oct 18^th we cast off and headed south to Ensenada, an easy run. There we took on diesel, at much reduced price and went to Costco and the Super Mercado to get our Mexican supplies – meat and long life milk. Checked out the weather and made ready for our first 36 hour run. An overnighter- our first. It turned out that if we left Ensenada at 0500 then we would make Turtle Bay at around 1700 the next day. So at 0500 on Tuesday October 21st we set course for Turtle Bay. It was dark and the sea was lumpy but our adrenaline was up for the challenge. The day came quickly and then departed even faster at sundown – the sunset here is a really short affair. The night was long, Jane took to 0100 and then I took the watch till 0800. During the coming day it was apparent that the northbound flood was quite effective as we had to speed up around noon to ensure our arrival at Turtle Bay before dark. I have no desire to enter an unknown foreign port at night. At 1710 we dropped anchor in Turtle Bay and immediately renamed it Dead Fish Bay. Lots and lots of small headless fish floating in the water. Alternatively hot and humid or warm and dry depending upon whether the wind was onshore or offshore. Periods of no wind merely stank. Our recovery was under way with the two of us deciding that disturbance of our sleep patterns was no easy thing at this age.

The SSB was not performing very well, it improved somewhat when the operator learnt that there were filters installed but we have no ability to get weather faxes yet. Received a voice forecast from Pt Reyes but could not understand the sea areas referred to. More research at the Internet Café in Turtle Bay solved that issue but the coverage is in no way coastal – which is what we need. Heard the Manana Net but the Sonrisa is too noisy to make out the words and the Baja Net is just noise. Will keep trying.

The weather information at the Internet Café showed all as ‘reasonable’ for seven days. So after declaring the town as a definite Hugh Huckley (read pug ugly) we decided to make our second overnight run to Magdalena Bay another 250 nm southeast. The second run was lumpier, darker and as we were not as well rested it was a major pain for me. Jane was better rested and therefore not so beaten up. Anyway we made “Mag Bay” on the afternoon of day 2 and dropped our hook at Punta Belcher, a beautiful anchorage.

At Mag Bay the weather decided to be hot. A spectacular electrical storm produced an unhappy cat and about a teacup of rain. Humid! Well after an evening attempt to start acclimatizing, and just short of killing each other, we elected to start the generator and run the air conditioning. Dispositions returned towards normal and so it was that the a/c proved to be invaluable. Little did we know for how long we would need to run the a/c.

From Mag Bay it is 155 miles of inhospitable coast to Cabo San Lucas. A 24 hour run. As it stayed hot we did this with the a/c running. Unfortunately this causes the infra red heat of the generator to radiate outwards to the water tanks on each side. They got progressively warmer, almost to the point where one could not shower - the water was so hot.

We turned into Cabo at 0630 in the morning after nearly being run over by a large fleet of sport fishing vessels literally tearing out of Cabo harbor. Our choice, due to the vast cost of the local marinas, was to anchor in the bay. Some anchorage! water skiers, parasailors, jetskis, water taxis and just to top it off, two very large cruise ships just on the outer edges of the anchorage. Somewhat like pitching a tent in the middle of Victoria station, or perhaps the middle of the junction of Yonge and Dundas streets. We had heard that Cabo is a unique experience, well it is very true. Unique. A zoo, party central and yes I do believe that I noticed my age!

We launched the tender and went ashore to find the Port Captain. All cruisers have to report their arrival and departure from each port area. There was confusion when we left Ensenada and we did not get our stamped “crew list”. This document lists all persons on board and it is the captain’s responsibility to keep track of them. Well we had to go to the Port Captain and have our Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas list stamped and then a Cabo to La Paz list issued and Stamped. These nice folks accommodated us.

Some shopping after a ferociously expensive burger at the Hard Rock Café – well it was air conditioned!. U$56 for two burgers with limp fries sets the tone of the place perfectly. Note that the boat a/c is still running as the day time highs are over 100 and the nights over 80. Jane and I wonder what the hell we have done. Pardon French.

The anchorage became more rolly and so on Nov 1^st we moved to Cabo San Jose, some 15 miles up the coast to see if the fuel dock was open as we needed to fill up with some fine Mexican diesel. No joke – Mexican diesel is different than US diesel, it is much cleaner, burns cleaner – no smoke – and supposedly has more power. We sure like it. After arriving at Cabo San Jose on Saturday afternoon we learned that the fuel dock was closed until Monday – or maybe Tuesday. I was not happy as I had only budgeted one night for a marina. Negotiation time.

Still we did manage to get in touch with Jane’s cousin Jill who has moved to Cabo San Jose so the visit had a very positive side. The road to the marina is something that defies any reasonable description and would be best tackled by a helicopter. Anyway after a great visit on Tuesday we set forth for Los Frailles an anchorage on the East Cape that is about a day’s run from CSJ. The anchorage was a bit crowded and we left the next day for Los Muertos. This is a really nice anchorage at the north end of the East Cape and a day’s run for Los Frailles and a day’s run to La Paz.

We stayed for the night and as we felt a need to get to La Paz, left the next morning. That morning I wondered why the local fishing Pangas that had returned to Los Muertos the previous evening were not setting out. After getting clear of the headland we discovered the reason, a Norther was running. We now know what that means but back then we didn’t. We should have turned back; but we carried on and the sea got progressively worse.

A Norther – and as we have since learned anything else here in the Sea of Cortez, causes a phenomenon universally known as square waves. Short sharp steep ugly things. We plugged on to the north for several hours before turning to cross into the Bay of La Paz. Then it was downhill to the port. Not a nice day but we survived it to arrive in Marina De La Paz at 1554. Time for tea.

More fun to come.