We woke up at 6:30, and then rolled over and slept for another half hour. We had a gorgeous sunrise and a clam sea. We eventually got up and got underway. After we were moving, we had breakfast and set up our course for the day.
For awhile, we motored, and then the wind came up a bit and we sailed and were able to turn off the motor and still we were doing about 6 knots. Then the wind died down and we motored for a bit, then the wind came up again and we set up the sails Wing on Wing (Jib out to one side and mainsail out to the other. We have a cutter rig, which means we have a stay sail between the jib and the mainsail. When sailing Wing on Wing, we tried having the staysail out on the same side as Jib, this seems to shadow the Jib and was not very effective, so we put the Staysail over on the other side and that seemed to help push some of the wind into the Jib. We did our devotions underway this morning, along with breakfast.
Eventually, the wind died down a bit and we checked our distance and time and since we still had plenty of time to get to Santa Rosalia before dark, we decided to try the Spinnaker (this is a large sail that is normally kept in its bag in the forward state room). I got it out of the bag, and ran it to the top of the mast, the Tack (that is the point of the sail that is at the bottom and goes to the center of the bow) tied to the line that we use as a preventer on the port side for the main sail (this allows us to adjust the Tack for the Spinnaker) Then looked in the aft lazarette for the sheets (the lines from the Clew, the last corner of the sail) back to the cockpit for adjusting the sail. I found a line that looked like it would work, it was the longest line that we had. So, we got the spinnaker up! First time and it worked pretty well. When the wind dropped to virtualy nothing, we took it down and went back to using the motor.
We arrived at Santa Rosalia at about 3 pm, and after having called Puerto Peñasco and finding out that it was still closed, we went to the marina and checked in. This means that we are here for the duration. The local port captain has said that anyone that checks in, can’t leave. We are allowed to walk to the store, but only one person can go in, we are not allowed to just walk anywhere. We are not “quarantined” but restricted. There are NO cases of Covid-19 here or in Puerto Peñasco. We hooked up to shore power and put the covers in place on all the windows and electronics. We talked to our neighbors here on the dock, and found out that the government is planning a decision in the middle of May on whether or not to open the ports, and no decision is expected before then that would allow us to leave. Salvador (the guy who runs the yard at Puerto Peñasco) sent us some texts that said that he was trying to get permission to haul one boat a week out of the water. It will take us a week to get there, and since the port is closed, there is no marina to stay in there. Oh, and it is an area of really high tide swings as in 22 feet. So, anchoring is not really an option in that area ether. Bottom line, we will sit here in Santa Rosalia for a while. We will clean the boat and work on some boat projects as well.
We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a sport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.
If you want to know where we are, click this link:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again
