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12/4/2005 8:00:00 PM
Ensenada, MX
On anchorage in Ensenada, Mexico

HOLA MEXICO - What a shake down, we had it all

We re-started our adventure and have arrived in Ensenada. Wind was all over, light, strong, waves were OK and we did a lot of good sailing. HOLA MEXICO!

Some thought we never were going to leave ? some didn?t want us to leave ? and even I started to wonder the last few weeks if we ever going to make it out ? but now it is official, we arrived about 2 hours ago in Ensenada, Mexico after a busy but fabulous day sail from San Diego 60 miles south to Ensenada, the first town on our way south the Baja. Niki told me she will cover all the social aspects of our last few weeks and our trip ? I got nominated for the more technical and sailing parts of our reports ? so here we go.

What a day to leave, the weather was gorgeous, though a bit on the chilly side ? for San Diegans that would be not for the hardy Austrians (we are NOT anymore ? hardy that would be). We motored out with no wind and flat seas to be surprised by some pretty rolly and confused swells of up to 5ft once outside the protected waters of San Diego Bay. Motor running (yes we have a working engine again AND the watermaker is working too without smoke ? HURRAY!!!!) we were doing a nice 7 knots, kind of noisy but who cares when you are starting a trip like this and when you can leave all stress of the last few weeks behind.

Everything was setup for a couple hours of motoring and I decided to take a nap since we had gotten up at 6am, kind of early for the morning grump I am. 10 minutes later, Niki comes down below, ?Robert we have wind, we can sail? ? back up, into my foul weather gear (it was cold ? really) and back on deck pulling up sails ? weird winds that felt like Santa Ana?s coming from the NE and piping up quite a bit. So after some short discussion we put our first reef into our mainsail ? funny when you consider that we haven?t even rigged our first reef until 3 days before we left because in San Diego you NEVER need it ? Dave Kusmik herewith I prove you wrong, we need reefs also in San Diego ? :-)

We were cruising along nicely at 6.5 to 7.5 knots, closehauled (wind coming from ahead) which isn?t the most comfortable sail because of the heel you have and Niki and the boys were feeling a little bit anxious about it despite the reef and limited sail plan. We all rotated around steering which I think took Niki?s mind off a bit the heel and the kids and we were cruising along without motor ? NICE. Sitting there and nodding off on deck I was looking over the horizon to notice some spray about ½ mile away ? and here it was our first whales of the trip (we had seen dolphins before). They were traveling up North so going the opposite way then we expected ? or were we going so fast that we overtook them ? LOL. In either case, it looked like they were 2 gray whales that we were passing by. No big breaching going on but we saw there bodies come out of the water a little bit once ? what huge animals and what majestic site ? not sure I want to see them any closer to the boat though.

Cruising along nicely right before the wind died again ? not the usual pattern either but since it was lunch time we started the motor again and ate. Just when we started to get comfortable guess what ? the wind changed and we had wind straight on our stern out of the N or NW so it was time for a downwind run. Downwind is a double sided sword since it means that you need to fly a spinnaker in order to really make good progress which is a more difficult sail to put up and down or change course to fly our gennaker (a cruising spinnaker) which is a lot easier to fly. Following our 10 minutes rule (wait 10 minutes before you change anything to see how it settles out), the wind kept picking up to over 20 knots which made that sail decision a mute point (too much wind for either sail) and we only flew the mainsail which still had us cruising along at over 6 knots all the time.

The day started dwindling down, the sun started to set and we started the motor 2 more times and changed sails twice more to accommodate for the changing conditions, but the highlight of the sailing was when we were cruising along on a beam reach (wind coming from the side) and we had our strongest winds of the day (measure on the ?ego meter? ? Frank term) of 27 knots and we hit for a second our best speed of the day of 9.1 knots ? here is the proud boat owner talking ? Frank said there was a glimmer of hope to get the racer out of me and the cruiser spirits going but when we hit over 9 knots and I got all jumpy and excited, he seemed to give up on me again ? LOL

On to Niki for the social aspects and off to Ensenada for check-in (this report started in the evening but got finished the next morning),

Robert

Well it looks like Robert covered the essentials and since I have to get up tomorrow at 4am, I will keep it short (promise) this time. It is hard to believe that we really have made it ? Jipee! The last couple of weeks were so intense and busy with preparations, errands, work on the boat, clean up of storage and cars, shopping (all kinds of things, presents for Christmas, spare parts, food, etc) good byes that at the end I was physically and mentally exhausted. Frank came from Santa Cruz on Friday November 25th and we are super thankful to have him around. He helped us so much this last week in many ways to get ready, not without his own interest to leave and go cruising rather than sitting around in San Diego at the harbor. He either helped Robert or me on one of our endless projects or took care of the kids, which they appreciated a lot being a bit neglected lately. They both really like him and have great fun with him.

Originally we had hoped to get out the Sunday after Thanksgiving but due to our problems with the watermaker and motor that was not possible. With the help of many professionals Robert finally managed to get it going and it looks like it is all working well ? we?ll cross our fingers! It was a big project and lots of work ? well done, Robert! I in the meanwhile sold out 4 different grocery stores and almost sunk the boat with cans, glasses, and other provisions. It amazes me how much food I brought on to Lawur, in panic I will not be able to store it all. But it also amazes me how many little places there are on it to find room for storage. On Saturday I got all the fresh stuff and I think I don?t need to go shopping for the next 4 weeks. Bonnie and Lisa helped me to repackage it and find space in the fridge all the way up to the rim. In the afternoon Chuck our friend and hairdresser came to give the boys and me a clean cut, now that?s what I call personal service (I think he had fun working on a boat and out of the salon for a change!). I certainly was very sentimental and used up a lot of my tear fluid with all the good byes, leaving an era of 10 ½ years of living in the US and the anticipation of all the new things ahead. I can hardly believe it that we will actually continue further South tomorrow and not turn around to go back in our marina slip?.

We had a great first day in Mexico, the check-in was fairly easy with the help of a local marina worker and we were done in the early afternoon, going for a ?last? land shower and having a nice home cooked meal. As I said I will have to get up early tomorrow, we will continue along the coast to the next anchorage about 70 miles away ? approx. 12 hours drive. I will certainly write a bit more detailed Niki reports but for today I will find an end, since the eyes can?t stay open and the fingers don?t work as fast anymore.

Until soon, big hugs and kisses

Niki and her gang

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