After a few more nice days in Mazatlan, socializing while letting the sprained foot rest, and noting a good weather window to cross the Sea of Cortez to the Baja, we departed Mazatlan on Monday, April 9. We expected a 48 hour crossing, so leaving at 10 a.m. got us off to a good start. Weather was mild for the first several hours, so mild that we didn't even raise sail. With no wind, sails just flop around, making noise and also putting undue stress on the sails and rigging. Late afternoon and early evening we jostled around a bit in slightly choppy waters, but nothing to complain about. We raised the jib when we had about 7 kts of wind from the east. Since we were heading NW, it gave us a little extra help. On Tuesday we faced headwinds, but the water was so glassy that we had no complaints other than we had to use motors rather than both sails (jib was still up). Tuesday evening was so calm that both us on watch charted "oily or flat seas" giving us peaceful three hour sleep shifts. Around 10 p.m. wind picked up to 9 kts, alas on the nose, but seas were still "flat." When we checked into the evening net we advised boats at the anchorage we were headed toward that our ETA was 4 to 5 a.m. and to please be sure to have their lights on. Someone replied, "we have 20 kt winds here - so be careful!"
At 11 p.m. wind was now up to only 10 kts, but the sea was angry! Short pounding swell turned Damiana into a bucking bronco! This continued until around 2 a.m. Wednesday when the wind started increasing, first to 14, then 17 kts, still with pounding swell. At most we were making 1-2 kts (per hour), never making it to the anchorage by 4 a.m. At 4 a.m. we slowed the boat down by using only one motor, trying to give us a smoother ride. By 5 a.m. we had 25 kts of wind on the nose, bare poles (we took down the jib), 4-6 foot waves. We put up with this for another hour but by then knew it would be late afternoon at best before we could reach our destination.
So, we turned the boat downwind to Meurtos, a comfortable anchorage south of La Paz and by noon we were happily at anchor with several other boats also seeking refuge from the Corumel winds that were kicking up such a storm. Funny thing about Corumels, they are unpredictable -- but they do occur in the southern part of the Baja peninsula and we always need to be prepared - and know where to go if you can't get where you want to go!
Even today, we saw 20 kts of wind here in the anchorage. Hopefully we'll be able to get up to La Paz over the weekend.
~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~
skype: sfwoman
