End of the Season

Hello...well I think I will try to start this again. I have had a pretty good season after finally
getting my windlass to work again. It has crimped my style for the past 3 years. So I headed out for
a couple of months around mid May. The water had been getting clearer and clearer and when I
finally reached Puerto Escondido it became almost "gin" clear.

 Stocked up on water and some food stuff and
of course some wine! Took off back out in the
Sea.
  The snorkeling was fabulous, the kayaking
as always exceptional and the water was beautiful. Unfortunately it was a bit short
lived. Hurricane Bud was heading my way.
So to be on the safe side I headed in to
Puerto Escondito where I picked up
a mooring ball. I spent the next day preparing
for the hurricane. I did it all....just in case.
The one thing is that if it isn't done by
the time the wind pipes up it can't be done. I was worn out but happy.

   Turns out Hurricane Bud became
"Bud Lite" for us. 25 knots of wind
and quite a bit of rain. Lucky for Baja
and for those of us out in our boats.
    Back out in the Sea again Bud had
stirred up the water and it was green.
I have been waiting and it is
beginning to get clear again.
   Had to swap out my alternator because
I think the belt was loose or too tight and
I burned out the bearings. Now Jasdip
charges well again when I am motoring.
I also broke the Strong Trak on my mast.

I tried to cut corners and paid for it. As usual...
any time you try to cut corners on a sailboat
you get bit!! Luckily it is an easy fix but not
until I order a new one and bring it back next
November.

  I am also spending a great deal of time on
my shoulders and back and  I am happy to
say that I really feel like I am almost there!!
Nine years trying to get them loose and free
to move. I am so tired of it but I think I can
see some light at the end of the tunnel!

 
   Well it is time for a swim so I will end this
now and hopefully be back again soon
with more pictures and info.

My Neighbors Julie and Bill on Voyager.
The whole bay is empty and he is 40 ft away!! LOL!

That missing chunk is where the sail cars can escape. No using
the main until I get a new one. 

It is old and perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. 

I never would have looked at it otherwise!

OK She's back again!!!

 I am so happy to say that my arms are
getting much better. The right is good and the
left just has a bit more stretching to go. At least
it doesn't hurt to type anymore. So here I am again.
   Well in June of 2015 I came back from the Sea and planned to pull Jasdip out of the water for a bottom painting job and it turned out she was full of blisters (big ones) and her hull was very wet.
So.."life is what happens while we are making other plans!"  We ground down (not me mind you) they....the paint and into the fiberglass and gel-coat and poked holes to let the water out then we waited........and waited....(this was July). I put her away for hurricane season in the yard and left

for the states. It was a great trip and I as ususal visited my dear friends Mark and Joyce who still let me stay at their house when I come to town. I think this year is about time for me to varnish the chairs and table on the deck again and I actually look forward to it this year.
  I also visited family in Oregon and friends along the way. By November I was anxious to get back to La Paz and Jasdip because I was thinking the yard wanted to get started.
  By the time I got back she was almost dry enough. She still had to sit a couple of more weeks.
    The fun began and I sure hope it worked.
 As it turned out she had tons of air bubbles in the fiberglass. It appears that her hull was glassed on a Monday or a Friday or at least when there was little oversight!  Folks tell me that the
bubbles are from not working epoxy into the fiberglass to remove the bubbles. What can I
say. So She got two new layers of fiberglass
then 2 layers of penetrating epoxy. After that she got two layers of Barrier coat with an additive
as well as some of Danno's ashes mixed in.
So he is now a part of Jasdip forever and
is forever with me.
    We then put 2 or 3 coats of hard bottom
paint on her. Of course there was much grinding

Drying

 and sanding and such as well as drying and
futzing. A new thru hull valve and anything
else she needed while out of the water.
  It was a long grueling process because one
must be there almost all the time to make sure
things are done the way they should be.
I had some good guys working on her and
they took care of me. I feel like I made some
good friends there. I had Pizza Friday's a couple of times and brought in tons of good old Pizza
for anyone who happened to be there.
Finally she was done.A few friends came by and we re-christened her new bottom with Champagne and she was back in the water!

New Fiberglass

Dan's Ashes in the Barrier Coat

  I made it back to the Marina where they had
been good enough to give me an extension
on my slip fees (I had paid for 6 months in
advance in July only to find out I had to pay the yard a storage fee while she was drying
out). So I now started using that 6 months

Champagne for Jasdip and US

of fees, By this time my left arm was a
mess and I decided to just hang at the marina and work on the boat and arm. Not too much happened
for the next 5 or 6 months except boring stretching but it was at least good to be back on the water
again!!!!!

How Time Flies

Mark & Joyce

    Well here I am again.  Now both humerus bones have
been resurfaced.  There is just the strengthening left.  The
shoulders haven't felt this good in 20 years!!!  Once again my real
good buddies, Mark and Joyce, put me up and helped
me with my recovery.  Those guys are just the
greatest!! I haven't a clue what I would have done without
them. They schlepped ice, took me to the Doctor,
cooked for me, took me to physical therapy and then when
I could drive, Joyce loaned me her car (it is an automatic)
which was a godsend for the first month or so. After I
started to feel better (which was pretty quick) Dave took
me on his Passport to the Passport Beach Part at
Clipper Cove.  I got to see several of my old Passport
buddies and their boats.  It was a beautiful sunny, warm
weekend and all had a blast!

looks like the right one

We had 5 boats that weekend

At low tide we even had a beach!

Davie of S/V Manana

Add caption

After healing and some physical therapy I headed north to see mt family in Oregon and my outlaws who were visiting Vancouver Island.  I drove up and met up with Warren and Candy and spent a wonderful 2 weeks with them.  I experienced car ferries, beautiful vacation rental houses, crab museums, Empress Hotel in Victoria, Butchart Gardens, beautiful small coves where one can anchor as one sails around Vancouver Island and lots of good food and company.  It is always good to see Warren and Candy Dowler. Then there was Cowichan Bay where we met up with Dean and Dee Dee on their beautiful wooden boat Unda.  I met them in La Paz this last year and we had a great time, then Dean realized he couldn't take the heat so Unda found herself on a Big Ship to be taken to Victoria, B.C. Once in Victoria they sailed about the Island of Vancouver until it was time to get ready for two Wooden Boat Shows.  There is one in Victoria and  then the flotilla heads to Port Townsend and there is the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show.  I made it to  Port Townsend for the show and met up again with Dee Dee and Dean.  There was so much beautiful wood there. I had never been to a wooden boat show before so it was a beautiful site for me. It was amazing how many folks that were there that I knew. I got to go sailing with some friends of my sister's in Oregon that were there sailing about with their new to them Catalina 42.  It was a lovely day. Warm and sunny but I knew the winter was coming and it was only a tease.

Palm Readings Anyone?

Japanese Garden

Well it was a great trip.  I saw lots of beautiful country

and my dear vehicle is now over 200,000 miles.  I hope to get 300,000. I have always 

wanted to see what that area of the world looked like and now I have seen it. It would be 

nice to take a bit more time and maybe sail around some but I am not going to bring 

Jasdip up here for  quite a while. Unlike Dean, I like the warm and will be heading

back to my beloved Jasdip in 3 weeks or so.  She remained relatively unscathed after

Odile but not all were so lucky.  I am so grateful.  

I am still on Jasdip but I am currently not sailing.  I am having a shoulder resurfacing in June and plan to be
back and sailing in October or November.  It is even hard to sit at a computer and type.  I will hopefully be
able to pick this up again then.  I miss writing it and I miss the comments.  Until then....smooth sailing to
you and may the wind always be at your back! Crit

Then it was May and now it is June!!

  I guess I am woefully behind again.  May was fun  but things started to go
wrong.  Like the Water maker and the Generator.  The switch to the water maker
needed to be re soldered but the generator still has it's problem with the fuel.
It just seems to be not getting enough fuel.  There is a leak somewhere and it is sucking air.  My rudder post seems to be leaking a bit too much for comfort as
it is triggering the bilge pump at least one a day.  That is too much. I decided to head to Escondito to have her hauled out and check or repack the rudder post.
Also repack the shaft packing.  Don't remember when the last  time it was done
but I am sure it was Danno and it probably was a long time ago.  So
I was a Nervous Nelli about anyone up here pulling my boat out of the water but
the crane operator (Raphaeal) was very good and very professional and
got her out without dropping her.  That was good.  Next.

She's Back!

  After three and one half months in the Sea of Cortez I have finally
returned to
Marina Palmira.
I must confess it
feels like "home".  Most folks (cruisers)
have gone north to escape the heat and I am working toward that end myself but there are the usual suspects still here and it is good to see all of my amigos!  Reyna brought me fresh, ripe mangoes this
this morning. Chava is around
and will help me get Jasdip back in shape after here long hard trip up in the Sea. It is nice to get up
early and go off for a walk before the sun comes up and makes it almost impossible to be out in it.  Shade is my friend!!! I had a wonderful trip.  I really did do a lot of "working on my boat in beautiful places". I really have embraced
the saying "it will never be done".  So I am learning to get some stuff done and
then the fun starts.  This year the water is so clear that it was too much fun to leave.  Last year the water was green early and full of jelly fish so it was a good time to head north. I hope to get some of my pictures and my adventures posted here in the next two weeks or so. But for now......all is well and it was a great time.

Brown footed Boobies playing "king of the bowsprit"!

More turtles this year than I have ever seen!!!

Thanks goodness for the local "7 Eleven"!

April in the Sea

I finally left the dock with a
working
water maker.   I had a great trip north.
My second stop was Calita
Partida.  I found Shadowfax and
Philiosophy there.  It happened
to be my birthday when I found
them.  We decided to try for the
cave on the other side for an
outing. (Karen it was pretty
the weather was much better).
  We made it and they were
beautiful!!  While on the "road" we
opened a bottle of Champagne
that I had been saving for my
Bday!! Then we headed back and
continued the party on
Philiosophy, Shadowfax and
Jasdip!!  I had a wonderfull BD!
I slept late the next morning and
it was a great relaxing day in
Calita Partida. The next morning
Charles on Shadowfax had to go
back to La Paz so we had a couple of
Gin and Tonics to head him in the
correct direction.

Kim and Alice

 I was off the next day and wound up going to San Eviresto.  Had a great dinner with Reel Joy.  Then we were off to Agua Verde.  It was a long trip especially for me cause my engine started to overheat all of a sudden just as the wind died. I headed up on deck and made sure the sails were good ( I was sailing wing on wing
at about 3 knots so I  left all as it was and headed down below) with the auto pilot set.  I proceeded to try to find out what had caused it.  I took out the impeller(not the problem but by the time I  took it  out I needed to replace it).  I then cleaned the
raw water strainer for the main  engine....all was well.  I headed to the fresh water cooling system and the radiator fluid as I opened the engine compartment on that side and I saw a fan belt that was broken and
off the pully!!  Well there we have it.  I tried a couple of belts that I had and I realized that they were too short.  I found one that was used but I could get it on.
I had never done this and I was looking for Danno but he wasn't there. I got the old  one on,dropped the sails (2.3 knots) and turned on the engine.  All was good but it took me forever.  So I motored to Ague Verde and showed up very late but at least I showed up!!
      Had dinner on Real Joy again (those guys are great)!  I think  I spent a couple of days there and then went north.  Stopped at Marquer, my favorite place, but
the bees and the wind were a bit of a bother.  Voyager was in Puerto Balandra so I
headed up there. Balandra is about the best anchorage around. It is beautiful, clear,blue water, lots of places to kayak and snorkel and there is even internet!!!
The pictures that are on facebook are from Puerto Balandra.

Puerto Balandra

  I did a lot of swimming and kayaking and I had a wonderful time but alas..........
my generator stopped functioning.  No water.......at first I thought it was the switch (which it was) so Bill came over and soldered the switch back.  It worked but the Generator did not start.  It was time to replace or rebuild the starter and solenoid.
  Julie and Bill brought me water for a few days and it allowed me to stay where I
was for a few days more. What a beautiful pace. Finally I sucked it up and headed to Puerto Escondito.
  I rented a car and took out the starter.  Took it to a magician.  It was ready in
an hour and a half.  The girls in the meantime had places to go and things to
procure!!  They were hard taskmasters. They kept us very busy and got all our errands done.
  Well that trip and the removal of the starter just did my arms and shoulders in!!
I couldn't move for at least 2 days
So I rested.

Puerto Escondito

Gravel and Natalie

Chocolate Clams that were spitting at the customers!

.  By the third day I actually thought about trying to put the starter in.  The next day I did.  So the generator turned over but it did not start!  I
was pretty sure it was, again, a
fuel problem.  I bled and bled and bled.  I changed the hose clamp and
cut off and replaced the hose to the engine cause it didn't look tight. It still
didn't start.  I tried to turn the
injector nut and couldn't.

You can see the water on the floor!! From the clams!

  I got to the fuel dock to get my fuel and water and I cornered the Yard manager.
I told him my generator isn't working and gave him  a brief history.  It was even very hard for him but he managed to get it loose and I had to crank the engine.  I probably couldn't have done it myself.  He got it running but alas...as usual it only lasted a day.  The next time I tried to start it it wouldn't start. So now I am going to
get Elvin to help me again.  Jasdip is hauled out right now in Puerto Escondito for
bottom paint and rudder and shaft packing replacement.  I had visitors (cruisers
headed north by car) so I left Jasdip and had lunch with them.  Now it is time to get
back to my beloved boat and get some sleep.  Much work tomorrow!!!

My bee screen.  Good to have.  They are fairly persistent!!!