I began the morning by listening to the Amigo net. I then downloaded Stan’s weather report and Geary’s weather report from Saildocs using my Sailmail email account. That is proving to be a lot more reliable that hearing Stan’s weather read over the Amigo net or Geary’s weather read over the Sonrisa net. The nets are subject to a lot of static and the signal strength waxes and wanes. All too often, I cannot hear the report clearly when the area I care about is being discussed. It is also hard to write down the report and get all of the details right. Having the full report show up in my email account each morning is much easier and more reliable.
The forecasts calls for good weather all of this week. It is wonderful not to be dodging a norther every second or third day. I hope the predictions are correct. It will make it a lot easier to get back to La Paz before Christmas.
Just before departing the anchorage, I circled Aeoli to see if Matt and Rachel were planning to continue south today. They were undecided and were considering waiting another day for the seas to subside. I promised to give them a call on the VHF radio to let them know what conditions I encountered.
I departed Caleta San Juanico at 7:24 AM bound for Isla Coronados. The skies were sunny skies and the winds were down. When I departed the anchorage, I encountered 5 or 6 foot waves that were coming from the beam. This made the boat roll quite a lot, and I wondered if I should have waited another day before leaving to allow the seas to subside. It often takes several hours for the seas to die down after a strong winds like the ones we have had for the past two days. Once I was clear of the anchorage, I was able to turn to the south. As a result, the waves were now coming from my port quarter (i.e. left rear) so they were much more comfortable. They were pushing me in the right direction, instead of rolling me from side to side. After an hour or so, the waves began to subside and the ride became quite pleasant. I had wind from the west so I could beam reach south. Beam reaching is one of the fastest and most comfortable points of sail. That made me feel a lot better about leaving this morning.
I called Aeoli three times on the VHF radio to let them know the conditions I was encountering. I made my first call just after departing while the boat was rolling a lot. I said the conditions were bearable but uncomfortable. I made my second call after turning to the south, but before I had raised any sails. I reported that conditions were better, still a bit uncomfortable, but they might want to consider coming south. I made my third call once I had sail up and was making good progress to the south. By then, the seas had dropped and the conditions were quite good. I let them know that, and learned that they were in the process of raising their anchor to depart.
When the seas are sloppy and the boat is rolling from side to side, I often put up the staysail to help steady the boat. This often works. It does not take a lot of wind, just enough to fill the sail and allow the sail to resist the rolling of the boat. That worked this morning, and it made the ride much more comfortable. I was eventually able to raise both the staysail and the jib and was moving along at about 7 knots.
I arrived at Isla Coronados and had the anchor down by 11:15 AM.
“Aeoli” arrived at 1:30 PM.
I spent a rolly night in the anchorage, but slept well despite that.
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