So I finally arrived outside of Mazatlan around two o’clock in the morning. This is not a breakwater that you go through in the middle of the night on the wrong tide, so instead I anchored behind a nearby island.
I started the engine, dropped the main sail, glided slowly through the dark into twenty-five feet of water, and pressed the button to drop the anchor. A crunchy noise came out and the chain didn’t move. I backed it up and tried again with the same result. So then I resorted to Plan B, loosened the top cap and let the chain fall freely on its own. After I was anchored I took a closer look at the windlass and found that three tiny bolts on the plate that the chain sits on had sheared right off.
Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things—I mean all I have to do is drill the bolts out and replace them—but the timing man, give me a break.
I should mention that the sail down was really about as perfect as I could have hoped for. Winds were lighter than I’d hoped actually, but the swell that rolled along behind me the whole time kept me trucking right along. I didn’t touch the main sail for four days, and the yankee only a handful of times in and out.
I was most happy about not needing to do anything with the main because I hadn’t been able to install the lazy jacks and sail bag. When I had been removing the bag at the beginning of summer I accidentally let one of the jack lines slip and it came right out of the roller mounted halfway up the mast. Meaning that to install the jack lines I’d have to get hauled up the mast again. Pain in the butt.
Anyway, when I finally got to Mazatlan and dropped the main I realized that I have no idea how to flake a sail properly. I mean I know how, I just don’t know how one does it with ten knots of wind and nothing but the boom to balance the sail on. What did people do before lazy jacks and sail bags?
So I sat on the couch and got two hours of sleep before heading back outside to raise the anchor. By hand. Good fun, what with all that energy I had.
I motored through the breakwater which didn’t have any breaking waves for the first time in my experience. Life is a lot easier without breaking waves to steer through.
I pulled in to an empty dock space, tied myself off, and then almost immediately walked out of the marina and jumped on a bus. When I snuck into the house and surprised the kids at breakfast the swift reaction by both of them to jump off their chairs and into my arms made everything in life worth it. Even boats.
12 Comments on “I’m Back”
🙂
No words needed!!!
Hi Pat,
I asked my husband (a mechanic) about your engine issue – he thinks there might be a crack in the water jacket, either in the block or the head. Could have happened from overheating when your head gasket was leaking. To test you’d need to do a pressure test or magna flux – but he’s not sure if magna flux is available in Mexico.
Best,
Kathryn and Tony
Have followed you for a couple of years now. I Get to vicariously live through your adventure and not have to pay the bills. But then again I do not get to smell, taste, feel all the joys of your surroundings. My 27 year old is a fortunate one as he is sort of following your path. My motorhome dream 3-5 year trip is closer every day. Try to enjoy even the hard days. Makes it easier and also teaches us how good the highs are. Be safe
You’re “The Man”. Glad you got home safe and sound. Give it 48 hours and you’ll be ready to take up “the good fight” again.
Will be very interesting to hear what the “real” source of the coolant leak is. You’ll find it and feel good about doing so when it is done.
After all, you’re in Mazatlan enjoying life. I can only wish I was back in Mexico…still have half a planet to go.
My mechanic husband agrees with Lombat. I forwarded your site link to him at work.
Hey amigo, I need some fun shit to do. You want an extra set of hands while your working these bugs out?
I miss Meh-he-co.
I think I asked a few months ago and never read a reply, does you engine have cylinder liners or or is it a dry block, (cylinders bored right into the cast block. Some of the Ford / Lehman motors did and some didn’t. If your engine has cylinder liners your source of water is probably a bad o-ring at the bottom of one of the liners. They get brittle with age and just crack. Cheap to fix parts wise but very labor intensive. If you have a dry block you could have pitting of the cylinder bores due to electrolysis, a crack somewhere, or a warped head. I keep thinking liner o-rings because when they leak you get steam in the oil pan/ crankcase, it rises up and condensates on the valve cover. It is a lower pressure leak. Most often when heads crack it’s around an exhaust valve and leak high pressure exhaust gas into the oil or coolant. Good luck.
Dry block.
The quick and dirty way to flake a mainsail when you can’t do it properly is to just roll it up from the side after dropping it and secure it to the boom with sail ties. Works like a charm!
You always have great pics, but Ali, your talent is showing. That last photo of Ouest and Pat is incredible. What a beautifully lit shot of a beautiful child. Not to mention the nose distortion capture. Timing is everything.
Want to know what’s funny about that? Ouest actually took that photo. Look closely at her left hand and you can see she has the automatic shutter release in her hand. We pretty much let her play with everything when it comes to photography. 🙂 However, Ali does take some great shots. When her hands are free of children, bags, and everything else a mother’s hands always seem to be full of.