Yup, our list is getting shorter and the temperatures have dropped a bit… It’s 0700 hrs and it’s 72 degrees with 78% humidity. But we’re not done yet. We plan to slip our lines before the end of the month and head across the Sea to Mazatlan, and we’re pretty excited about heading back to sea and about seeing ports and anchorages on the mainland.
We’re lucky to be here at Marina Palmira… they treat us well and have most services. As well, we’ve been joined by several vessels and friends from last season and a few new folks and boats to meet. We even had a dock party on Sunday – the largest I’ve ever attended. It was kind of fun as we used our kayak as a food table and several folks brought their instruments (Kathy too) for an impromptu, and very talented, jam session and sing-along.
 Sophie & Carolyn had ring-side seating |  Keith & Donna of ‘Victoria Dos’ |
 Gourmet cruising food |  Everything on the boat needs two purposes |
 Dulcimer, Guitar & Baritone Uke (photo credit: S/V Victoria Dos) |  Canadian musicians join in (photo credit: S/V Victoria Dos) |
A story from last season: One of the events I didn’t elaborate on last season was the difficulty I had deploying our Solent Stay. That’s a hefty wire stay that is attached at the top of the mast, very near to the forestay. The theory is that, when needed (usually in bad weather when the furling head sail just isn’t doing well in the semi-furled position), the stay is run forward and attached at the bow, just behind the roller furling gear. Once in place, a storm jib can then be hanked on and used in place of the larger furling genoa. It makes for a safer suit of sails in strong winds. So, that’s the theory and before we left we had a solent stay custom fitted and attached at the mast head. As you know we had a reasonable trip down and watched the weather forecasts very carefully… but there were a couple of times we had to deal with stronger winds and bigger than usual seas. It was on one of these days, about mid-afternoon, with seas and winds building… we decided it was time to engage our brand new solent stay and storm jib… and there began at least two hours of pain and angst. The pain came when, on my knees at the bow, I tried to attach the bottom end of the 45’ stainless steel wire to the little clip well enough to get a pin through the holes… yikes! that did not go well. As the bow pitched up and down and sideways, I slid back and forth on the fibreglass deck, on my fairly old knees – kneecaps screaming. Hanging on to the wire stay was like trying to wrangle a small heifer to the ground with your bare hands… I didn’t do well at all. It took about an hour of riding and sliding on that bucking bronco to finally get that #!*# pin into it’s place. Then, after tightening the stay I had to go back and get the sail, drag it forward, hank it on, lash it down… and drag my sorry butt back to the cockpit to wait for time to hoist it. That was not a pleasant experience and one that I vowed to never experience again!! I must say tho’, that when we did hoist the jib and douse the genoa, and put the third reef into the main, our progress went well and was much more comfortable. But, I was still determined to never go through that pain and angst again… When we arrived at La Paz, and before we drove home, I went up the mast and disengaged the solent stay. I brought both stay and sail home.
Over the summer I thought about this situation quite a bit and one night, in my sleep, the thought that there might be a better way to install the solent stay percolated into my dreams. It’s true what they say about pain… the memory of it goes away with time. Armed with those two realizations, I packed the solent stay and storm jib back into the truck for the trip south and they are now resting on the foredeck awaiting their second life. In case you’re wondering… I think that if I attach the tensioning foot to the bottom of the stay itself (rather than the foredeck at the bow) it will give me a better purchase for hanging onto the stay and I may even attach a short line and lash the whole thing down while I put the small ‘fitterments’ together.
Soooo, today is the day. Kathy has kindly agreed to let me hoist her up the mast to re-attach the dastardly solent stay in the hopes that I can figure out a better way to use it. While she’s up there she’s going to clean off our radar reflector (still wearing the sand and dust from last season’s sand storm in Turtle Bay) and re-attach a lazy jack line that went ‘astray’ when I was replacing sheets and halyards with messenger lines last April.
 Solent Stay waiting to be reinstalled |
Going up the mast: Not for the feint of heart, being hoisted up the mast requires probably more preparation than the actual work. First there’s the Bosun’s Chair and a safety harness, followed by two halyards (one that actually hoists and the other as a safety back-up), a bucket for passing tools up and down, tools with safety lanyards, and any equipment required for the actual jobs to be done. There’s also the polite two-step required to convince the biggest and strongest guys on the dock that they really should come and help do the hoisting… even though it’s blazing hot and they have their own chores to do :-)
 Our trusty Bosun’s chair |  Kathy on her way to work |
 The View from up there Jack & Lance working the winch - Thanks!! |  Solent Stay & Storm Jib back in service |
Well folks, I think that’s it for now. Our thoughts are with Lionel and Barbara on board SV Sea Whisper as they make their way south to Panama, and Karen and Jim on SV Sockdolager (Karen in New Zealand, recovering from a challenge with her heart, and Jim waiting to single hand from Vava'u Tonga to where Karen waits).
We hope all is well with all of you…. big hugs to everyone. CJ, Kathy and Princess Sophie.
