Misery

Before I get started today, I just want to make one point perfectly clear. I love sailing. It's one of my favorite things. But since we started living our lives as full time adventurer's, sailing just for the fun of it hasn't happened. Sailing for us is now about transportation. It's about getting from point A to point B and bringing our floating home and all of our worldly possessions along with us.

Back before we left on this big adventure, I used to spend a whole lot of my free time sailing. I could generally find 2 or 3 after work sailboat races per week and the occasional weekend race where I could waste my time on the water, going round and round in circles with good friends. I loved everything about it. The tactics, eyeing the water for extra little puffs of breeze, trimming the sails for an extra tenth of a knot of boat speed, and the feel of the helm on a powerful boat with a well oiled crew – simply amazing. But being rail-meat is where the most fun and all of the action happened. It's where the jokes, the catching up, and the stories took place. And on the days with a big breeze, being rail-meat is where you would get soaked as you were pounding through the waves going upwind. Yeah, I loved it.

If you would have asked me a few years ago what I was most looking forward to on this big adventure we were about to undertake, I would have probably answered with, the sailing. I've read books and talked to old salty sailors who have mentioned that they are happiest at sea, that they just love hearing the wind and the waves and the boat creak while she's working her way through the ocean swell, and that being on land had no appeal to them. They just wanted to be at sea. That's where they were the most comfortable. I assumed I would have the same sentiment. I thought the passages would be the highlight. I thought the passages would be like another sailboat race, except instead of racing another sailboat, I would be battling Mother Nature and the elements. Tactics would take on a whole new meaning as I would plan around weather systems and ocean currents, and trimming the sails would be more important because a tenth of a knot of boat speed on a long passage can mean the difference of reaching land hours if not days sooner. Landing would be the end of a race and that would mean I could get back to sea and start another race that much quicker.

We just did a 3 day passage from Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's mainland coast to Bahia de Los Muertos on the Baja Pennisula. The big surprise to me is that the passages have been my least favorite thing about what we've been doing for the last 3 years. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't like sailing anymore and I'm not going to complain about our time at sea, it's just that the reality of what our big adventure has become to us has nothing to do with sailing. Well, sort of. We are sailing. A lot. That's a fact. But more, we are traveling and exploring, and sailing, that's simply our mode of transportation. The boat is our home and it get's us from point A to point B so we can explore. That's what this adventure is about. Getting to a new place and exploring. That's what we love the most.

This passage we just completed was supposed to be a pretty easy one. 3 days of sailing in warm tropical Mexican waters, just Brenda and I, with a new place to see on the other end. Sounds great, doesn't it?

I know that some of you reading this are experienced sailors, but, the vast majority of you have never spent any time at sea, and I also know there are quite a few of you reading this who have never even set foot on a sailboat. For those of you who are on the less experienced side of things and possibly thinking of going cruising, what I'm about to say isn't intended to sound overly dramatic and it isn't intended to scare you off. It's just that Mother Nature can be a real b**** sometimes.

Before we set out on any passage, we go through a pre-departure ritual. I go through the systems, mechanics, and rigging on the boat to make sure she's in tip-top seaworthy shape, and yes, I have a checklist to make sure I don't forget anything, Brenda over stocks with food so there is no question we have more than enough stuff to eat, and we check the weather, check the weather, check the weather through multiple sources...then we check the weather again. We have zero fear about heading to sea. We know the boat is strong and seaworthy and can take a beating if needed, and we know we have enough of a skill-set to tackle any problems that may come up. But, having said that, we shoot for an easy and comfortable forecast to make our time at sea as enjoyable as possible. No one wants to get beat up by Mother Nature.

The multitude of forecasts we looked at for this passage all pointed towards easy and comfortable. We should have been able to sail out of Puerto Vallarta for about 12 hours where we would hit a wind hole and have to motor for about the next 12 hours. The following 2 days should be an easy sail to Los Frailes on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. The entire passage would be an upwind sail, which is generally not the most comfortable point of sail, but with a light wind forecast and almost zero swell predicted, it wasn't supposed to be too bad.

The first 24 hours out of Puerto Vallarta were exactly as predicted. I remember thinking, “wow, for once the forecast is right on!” But around 24 hours out, things changed rapidly. Just about the time when our forecast said we should be able to shut off the motor and start sailing again with a light and comfortable breeze, we were hit. First, it was with some steep and nasty swell, and then right after that, it was with the wind.

Our forecast of 10-12 knots of breeze and 3-4 feet of swell was in reality 20-25 knots of wind and 6-8 feet of swell with quite a bit larger waves rolling through at times. Quick math will tell you that's double what was predicted. Depending on which direction you are sailing with regard to the wind and waves has everything to do with comfort onboard. Downwind with those conditions would be “spirited” if not even comfortable and exhilarating sailing, but upwind, it's misery. And really, everything is entirely dependent on the sea state.

A 6-8 foot swell that is steep and tightly packed together is much worse than a 15 foot long period swell that is spaced far apart. The motion of the boat with the 15 foot long period swell is comfortable, easy, and dare I say calming. The motion in the boat going upwind in a 6-8 foot steep, short period swell is violent. There is crashing, rising, falling, and slamming all happening at the same time.

The direction of the wind and waves made our intended landfall of Los Frailes nearly impossible. So, in the interest of being more comfortable, and yes comfortable is a severely relative term, we veered off to get the most comfort available to us and still make it to the Baja Penninsula. The veering off still had us crashing, rising, falling, and slamming all at the same time, it was just slightly less violent. And yes, slightly is another severely relative term. Waves were crashing on the boat, sending spray and foam every which way, so much so, that we found squid all over the deck and even underneath our dodger in the cockpit. They were little treats left over from the crashing waves that we could smell before we could find. Thanks Mother Nature.

Eating and sleeping were nearly impossible. We couldn't set a dish down without it sliding or flying away. Eating was entirely made up of things we could hold onto firmly and stuff in our faces with zero preparation – granola bars, snickers bars, fruit – you get the picture. If we did use a dish, our usual routine of cleaning up after ourselves didn't happen either. Dirty dishes were crammed into the sink with towels to keep them from flying away. And sleeping, well, that's nearly impossible when you are wedged in a bunk and still have to hold on. We still took our 3 hour shifts in an attempt for the other person to get some sleep, but really, sleeping turned into laying down, closing your eyes, and holding on. It just didn't happen.

But the good news is that we did catch a tuna on this passage, and even though it was rough out, I wasn't going to let Mother Nature entirely get the better of me. I don't know if you've ever had it, but freshly caught tuna sushi is heavenly. The only thing better better than sushi, is a lightly seared, sesame crusted, freshly caught tuna loin. And again, even though it was rough out, it was happening. With creative bracing of myself, and with dishes, sauces, and sesame seeds sliding and jumping around, our kitchen was destroyed, but, that tuna got seared and went into my gullet.  And what do you know, it was delicious.

Probably the worst part of our trip, was the fact that our beautiful blue multipurpose bucket eventually got used for one of it's may intended uses as seasickness set in. The beautiful blue bucket will never be the same.

While we are at sea, we can download current weather data through either satellite or our SSB (it's like a ham radio). We can then load that weather data into our navigation software and see what the forecast says is supposed to be happening in relation to where we are currently located and what is happening in real time. The funny thing is that the current weather data we downloaded at sea said that we were supposed to be enjoying 10 knots of breeze and 3 foot waves, not the violent washing machine we were getting. See the problem? Forecasts are just forecasts. They are unfortunately far from reality at times.

About 6 hours from land, the wind and waves completely went away, and for the final 6 hours of this passage, we enjoyed the relative peacefulness (other than the droning of the diesel engine) of flat seas and zero wind as we motored our way to Bahia de Los Muertos where we dropped the anchor in the middle of the night.

Once the anchor was set and the boat was shut down, we slept. It could be the hardest and fastest sleep I can remember having in a long time. It was great and it was needed.

Today we awoke in a beautiful, new to us place. It's completely different than the southern tropics of Mexico's mainland coast. Here, it's desert and cactus with sand dunes lining the beach against a crystal clear but deep blue sea. Yeah, it's beautiful here.

Were we ever scared on this passage? No. Were we miserable? Definitely.

So, the big questions is this. Do I still love sailing even after getting beat up for a few days at sea? The quick answer is yes. But, the passages are far from the best part of what we are doing. I can't lie about that. There are still magical moments during our times at sea that can't be replicated by being anywhere else. The sunsets, sunrises, stars at night, sailing under a full moon, being greeted by dolphins and whales, catching a fresh tuna for dinner, the sound and motion of the boat gliding through the water, and the fact that our little floating home is taking us from one place to the next with nothing more than the power of the wind - all of those things can't be denied. Those things are all truly magical and I couldn't and wouldn't want to have this adventure any other way. But what I also can't deny is that the greatest part of our adventure is the fact that we awoke this morning in a new place that is begging for us to see it. Getting somewhere new, exploring, meeting new people, tasting the food, and soaking in our surroundings – those are the things which make me want to go farther and want to see more. The sea is at times an incredibly amazing part of our journey, but at others, it's pure misery.

We call this being "on our ear."   For 3 days we were living on our ear as we leaned our way to the Baja.

You guessed it, that's a tuna!  Brenda catches it and I "get" to clean it.  Pretty tasty...mmmmmmmmm!

And after all of that, if you are still looking for more, here are our 2 newest episodes from our video series.

Here's Episode 31 - A Mexican Road Trip

If the link on your device doesn't work, copy and paste this:

https://youtu.be/rAGNV5OWxks

And here's Episode 32 - Welcome to the Jungle

If the link doesn't work on your device, copy and paste this:  

https://youtu.be/xm--lOcK9KE