I have been putting off buying foul weather gear, in part because I have not needed it in the Sea of Cortez, but mostly because it is so darn expensive. I have been saving my pennies for the past several months, and am now in a place to pull the trigger on several purchases. To make my funds stretch, I have been keeping my eye out for good deals on eBay.
The first purchase was a Gill OS1 jacket (top left). This is a jacket for extreme conditions that retails for $650. I found a “new” one on eBay for $200 that had been the (unworn) backup jacket of the seller. I couldn’t find used OS2 bibs, so I bought a new pair on Amazon for $210 (they retail for $250). From the same seller as the OS1 jacket, I got the yellow bibs for $70. I also purchased the “coastal” (looks like an OS3) jacket on the right for $60. So for less than $550, I got a complete medium-weight and heavy-weight set. The total retail for the four garments new would be about $1,500. Three of the four garments are essentially (or actually) new.
I had been sailing for about a month, crossed from San Carlos to Santa Rosalia, and made my way slowly south down most of the length of Baja, about 400 miles. On March 26th, I was anchoring at Muertos in southern Baja (marked with the red X) and the engine stopped suddenly … on a dime. I immediately checked the temperature and oil pressure, and they were fine. I pulled the injectors and tried to turn over the engine with a wrench, and it would not budge. The engine was clearly not hydrolocked. There had been a catastrophic internal failure. The engine was seized. Considering my predicament, I decided it did not make sense to sail to La Paz to try to get the engine repaired. It appeared there had been an internal failure.
Without an engine, I had to consider a route back to my home port that did not require maneuvering in tight places. As a first step, on March 29 at 4:00 AM, I sailed for Isla Espiritu Sato. Not wanting to negotiate the Cerralvo Channel, I sailed east of Isla Cerralvo. About four-fifths around the island, about 16 miles from the anchorage (Bonanza), the island blocked the prevailing westerly winds and I sat becalmed for about four hours, The north current eventually floated the boat past the island. At the point there wind changed to the SSE and stabilized at 15 knots. The sea conditions were poor with 5′ waves from the east. I anchored at Bonanza at 9:30 PM. I note that my trip from Bonanza to Muertos a few days earlier had taken one-third the time.
The next morning, March 30, sea conditions were not ideal, but there were 15 knot winds from the south, so I left for Isla San Francisco at 8:30 AM, moving briskly at 6 kn with just the jib. While I tries to stay well offshore of Isla Espiritu Santo, I nonetheless got Becalmed about halfway across the island. Around 4:00 PM the wind build quickly to 22 knots, still from the south. I double reefed the main and shortened the jib, but still made the remaining 15 miles before dusk. I reached the eastern anchorage of Isla San Francisco just as it was getting dark. There were five sailboats and a powerboat anchored there. I radioed ahead for advice and was told there was room for me. I explained I would be coming in under sail. Over the next ninety minutes, I tried three times from three different angles to reach the anchorage, but the wind was howling through the notch that connects the southern and eastern anchorages that drove me off each time. Eventually, I radioed that I was abandoning my attempt to anchor and was heading offshore.
After fighting the ever changing wind and sea condition around the islands, I decided to sail directly to San Carlos. I plotted a path well offshore and sailed through the night in a close haul and an average of 22 knots of wind, at times surfing at 8.5 knots SOG. I sailed 60 miles between 9:00 PM and 5 AM (averaging 7.5 knots). I thought about anchoring at Bahia Salinas on Isla Carmen about midday, but upon looking at the weather forecast, I realized this would be the only chance I would have for crossing this week, as later in the week 5-6′ seas were expected. Thus, on March 31, Easter, I decided to continue the 135 miles to San Carlos. There was, however, a problem. I had been sailing about 24 hour since my last anchorage at Bonanza. Sailing overnight, I had run the radar and AIS to geofence the boat and used the TillerPilot, depleting the batteries to 65%. At 50%, the batteries are cut off to protect their health. My pattern had bent rely on the instrumentation and autopilot at night, dozing thirty minute intervals, so I needed power for the next night.Unfortunately, there was very little sun. In fact, the weather was very squally. To save power, I shut down all power consumption, including the instrumentation, radio, autopilot, and even the fridge. I broke out the compass and engaged the wind vane.
I dodged squalls most of the day, sailing 4-6 knots in mostly light winds. That evening, the wind picked up to about 15 knots from the NW and I made good time overnight using the instrumentation and the wind vane. Early afternoon the next day, April Fools day, the wind died down. At 2:30 PM, about 24 miles from San Carlos, I became becalmed. About 6:30 PM, right at dusk, I spotted a squall to the NW. About 9:00 PM, I reached the squall and rode it in to San Carlos. The last mile or two, dolphins swam next to the boat. I anchored at La Posada about 1:00 AM on April 2nd. I had been sailing about 65 hours non-stop.
The next morning was sunny and there was a light breeze of about 8 knots. I sailed around the corner and into the mouth of the Bahia San Carlos. Unfortunately, the wind was blocked by the shore at the point, and I eventually called a friend on S/V Infinity to help tow me in with their dingy. They also towed me in the next morning when Aegir-Ran was hauled out,
On April 8, there will be a solar eclipse. There is an interactive map that you can use to view the path for total eclipse. The path follows open ocean south of Baja and intersects Mexico’s mainland around Mazatlan.
Many of my boating buddies are head to Mazatlan to view the eclipse, but it is likely to be a zoo there, so I have decided to pick a random point in the ocean to view the eclipse. I am currently naming my way down the east coast of Baja. When I make it the Puerto Los Cabos (23.0550o N, 109.6705o W), I am going to head for 22.1211 No N, 107.1240o W (about 150 miles). At that location, the following is expected:
We’re currently experiencing a strong El Niño that’s been creating some wild weather for the past few months. One of reasons I have been concerned is the first leg of my planned circumnavigation, across the South Pacific, may be impacted. The Humboldt Current off the west coast of South America can change direction, the Trade Winds become less reliable. and the ITCZ can shift during El Niño. However, it’s looking increasingly likely that the climate cycle will transition back over to a La Niña in the next six months. In any case, I am hedging my bets and will make my way to Costa Rica in December, where I will make a decision to head west to the Marquessa or South to Easter Island.
Sea-surface temperature anomalies are shown in the area of the eastern Pacific Ocean where a very strong El Niño is present on Wednesday, February 7, 2024. Darker oranges represent warmer than normal conditions while blues represent cooler than normal conditions. These ocean temperatures help determine the strength of El Niño. Source.
The original ground tackle for Aegir-Ran comprised 200′ of 5/16″ BBB chain and a 45 lb CQR anchor. I wanted to upgrade to 3/8″ BBB and a 55 lb Mantus M2 anchor. Unfortunately, I could not get a 3/8″ BBB for the original Monica Marine 500 windlass. Futhermore, the windlass is about 50 years old, and probably due for replacement. I chose a Lofrans Tigres horizontal windlass. While the replacement windlass is similar to the old one, its footprint is somewhat different. The old windlass partially sits on bow sprit.
It overhands the bow sprit about an inch on the port side, and a block of wood was glued/screwed to the bow sprit to accommodate the overhang. The Tigres windlass overhands both the port and starboard side, but mostly the latter. Furthermore, the spurling pipe on the Tigres is integral to the windlass. This is a bit of a problem because the Tigres is designed to be mounted directly to the deck. To accommodate the Tigres, it was necessary to build a base. I began by removing the old windlass. This was challenging because the base of the windlass was glued to the bow sprit. I drove thin metal paint scrappers between the windlass and the bow sprit. Eventually it was freed, effectively breaking away some of the wood.
The wood spacer (shown on the port side of the bow sprit was also removed with a chisel. The hole in the deck for the old spurling tube was filled with a piece of recessed 3/4″ marine plywood and the wood was patched with epoxy and fairing compound (West Systems 407).
A spacer was constructed using the CAD file for the Tigres windlass. The spacer was constructed of waterproof 12 mm birch plywood using the serviced of SendCutSend.com. The plywood was epoxied together to the desired thickness, then glued to the bow sprit using West Systems 402. A small spacer was also made for the port side, the wood was fiberglassed, and fairing compound was used to smooth the surfaces.
stainless steel insert was made for the spurling tube using a piece of 2″ round tubing that was partially fattened and flared.
The tube was carbosiled into the chase.
The deck switches were installed and the bow sprit was spray painted with Awlgrip.
The new windlass had to be mounted in a way that it can be removed from studs (as the bolts are long and cannot be lifted out past the windlass). It may be necessary to remove the windlass for repair as the Sampson post prevent the back of the case to be removed.
The solenoids were located in the anchor locker and the wires were relocated away from the spurling tube.
The anchor roller passes through the bow sprit. While steel tubes were used to prevent the bolts for the roller bracket from digging into the wood of the bow sprit, the bracket has still shifted causing the roller to dig into the bow sprit platform. I designed a brace and used SendCutSend to manufacture it out of 316 steel.
The bracket is bolted to the bow sprit with lag bolts behind the axial of the roller (outlined in red).
The bow thruster has been installed. To make the job easier, the equipment was installed from the bottom up, beginning with a bilge pump and the electronics. The electronics comprise of a Victron SmartShunt 1000 Amp Battery Monitor, a Victron DC-DC Orion-Tr Charger (which connects the lithium batteries that are under the V-berth to the house battery bank in the engine room), a Blue Sea Systems 7713 ML-RBS Remote Battery Switch (that can be used to remotely disconnect the bow thruster from the battery bank), and breakers/fuses. The electronics were mounted on a board to make it easier to service in the future. Note also two selves were fiberglassed in, a small shelf for the bilge pump and a larger shelf (at the bottom of the photo) that will be used to support the thruster motor. On the left of the photo is a support that will be used to support a third shelf for the batteries.
The transmission for the bow thruster was installed in the tube and a priming paint was applied.
A support for the bow thruster’s motor was fabricated from fiberglassed marine plywood. The stainless brackets were designed in Fusion 360 CAD software and were fabricated by SendCutSend.
A custom battery pan was also manufactured by SendCutSend.
The fiberglass tube for the bow thruster was installed. Under the V-berth, tie lines were dropped and pilot holes were drilled on the port and starboard side of the hull.
Using a string and two points on the keel, I confirmed the pilot holes were centered, then a jig was passed through the two pilot holes. The jig comprised of a steel rod that was sharpened to a point on one end and bent twice such that the point was a distance from the axis of the rod that was the radius of the fiberglass tube. Note the two red chalk marks that were used to confirm the pilot holes were centered (made by tying a piece of chalk to the end of a string that was taped to the leading edge of the hull). The jig was then used to scribe the hull.
A saber saw with a diamond blade was used to cut out the oval that was scribed.
Note the hull is 1-1/4″ thick where the holes were cut.
The tube fit the holes that were cut perfectly.
Before glassing the tube in, the hull was ground down past the gel coat.
Once glassed in, the excess tube was cut off, leaving enough of the tube protruding to create the leading hydrodynamic edge.
After glassing in the outside of the tube, the leading edge was flared to improve hydrodynamics. Cabosil (collodial silica), a very hard material, was used to flare the leading edge.
Low density (fairing) filler was used to smooth the installation.
My sister ship Arabesque (also an Alajuela 38) and the Aegir-Ran happened to both be on the hard at Marina Seca in San Carlos, just a few boats away from each other. I had only arrived in San Carlos that day and had taken the owner out for a couple of beers and some almejas chocolatas (chocolate clams) at one of our favorite restaurants, La Manga Restaurante Doña Rosita. The Arabesque was to be moved from the work yard to storage at 2:00 PM, and we arrived at the yard exactly at 2 only to find that the boat yard had begun to move Aegir-Ran, not Arabesque. While there are many differences between the boats (e.g., Aegir-Ran had a hard dodger), the hulls of the boats are almost identical, right down the the color of the paint of the hulls (Awlgrip Insignia White) and the waterline stripes. Flagging the workers down, we all had a good laugh about the incident, and in the days following, I still poke fun at them for trying to “steal” the Aegir-Ran.
Here is a photo of the Aegir-Ran on that day:
Here is a photo of the Arabesque being hauled to storage:
ρ (rho) represents the specific mass of air = 0.0752 lb/ft²
V is the velocity of the air in ft/s, where 1 knot = 1.688 ft/s
The wind-draft of the boat can be determined by multiplying the wind pressure by the wind draft area. The wind draft area is determined by the shape and the dimensions of the of the boat (its windage) and the wind angle, and the greatest wind-draft is created if the wind is at 90 degrees to the boat. An efficiency reduction factor is generally applied to account for windage, and a value of 0.75 is frequently used. To calculate the required torque to rotate a boat, we need to know the wind pressure and the length of the boat.
The Aegir-Ran has a LOD = 36 ft and the freeboard is about 3 ft, giving wind draft of 36 x 3 = 108 sq ft. Adding the cabin, hard dodger, and the sail pack adds perhaps 50 sq ft, which is why the efficiency reduction factor is often used. I will assume the lateral draft is 200 sq ft and I will not use an efficiency factor. Assuming we want to counteract a wind force of 25 knots, the wind pressure is:
P = 1/2 × (0.0752 lb/ft²) × [25 knots x 1.688 ft/(s x knot)] = 1.59 lbf/sq.ft
To counteract this wind pressure, we sill need the following amount of torque:
T = 1.59 lbf/sq.ft x 200 sq/ft x 36 ft/2 = 5,724 ft.lbs.
The thrust-force required is the torque divided divided by the distance from the bow thruster to the pivot point. In our case, we will assume we want to pivot about the stern, do the distance is essentially the LWL = 33 ft:
F = 5,724 ft.lbs. / 33 ft. = 173 lbf.
I have decided to install a 12 V Ventus bow thruster. Examining the specifications of the models, it seems the BOW7512D is the best model with a maximum thrust of 180 lbf.
