This is a very short season. The plan is to get the boat, get it re-rigged, (mast up, sails on etc.) then restocked (food for the three or four weeks that I will be on the boat). Joe & Vanessa Munday will be joining me for the sail south to Puerto Vallarta. Reneé is looking into the possibility of joining us either in Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta.
I woke up earlier than my alarm 3:45, realizing I was not going back to sleep, I got a shower and then woke Reneé up and finished packing. We stayed at the Drurry hotel, they provide dinner/breakfast and a shuttle ride to the airport. Reneé will drive home later today.
My flight has one relatively short layover in Phoenix. I have about a half hour between landing and boarding so, it will be close. That is okay with me, as I don’t really like sitting around in airports.
The boat has been in the storage yard at Marina San Carlos (marina seca – dry marina) for most of the time since we left it. I had it moved to the working yard a week ago. Some work is being done now. The rigging is all stainless steel and it is being polished, since the mast is down it is easier to have that done. Also the people doing the polishing are the riggers and they will be inspecting it as well to determine any replacement needs. Late in the last season we bumped a rock with the boat, so some touch up work on the keel is being done. Bottom paint will be touched up or redone, a new through hull for the speed probe is in my luggage to be installed before the boat is launched. This is an interesting issue, when we installed the speed probe last year, we put in a new through hull for it. This is a piece of plastic about 3” in diameter that goes through the hull, it is a pipe with a flap inside that the speed probe pushes past when installed and then falls back down. When the probe is removed. This blocks the sea water from coming back into the boat. Well, the flap fell off so it does not block the water. So, instead of getting a cup or two of water in the bilge when we pull the speed probe we get a couple of gallons, this is annoying, but not dangerous. I checked with the company that makes it and asked about just putting a new flap in, and was told I could, but it was significantly easier to just replace the through hull. Oh, and they don’t sell the flap separately. It wasn’t too expensive (about $35, I think). The only time to install this, is while the boat is out of the water. So, now is the time.
I have a Project Manager that I hired for the refit in the yard. He knows the right people to do the work that I need done. This saved a bunch of time when we went into the yard. He cost a bit of money for his time, but so far he has made getting the stuff done a breeze.
Specifically, we had checked with the yard about pulling the mast, they said they could do it, until we were at the yard with the boat and they said, “oops, too tall”. So, we had to hire a mobile crane to come to the boat and pull the mast. He knew who to call and we only had a short delay of maybe a few hours. He knew who to get to make a special part that we needed fabricated. This part was available in the states, for about $800 and would take a week to get it shipped anywhere. Then import duty to get it into Mexico etc. The fabricator he took me to had it done in 2 days, for about half the cost. The biggest advantage with using a project manager is that I don’t have to guess on who to use. Alan Smith lives here, has had a boat for years, is a Boat Surveyor and knows the people who work on boats. I am paying for his experience and knowledge.
Once we get the boat to Puerto Vallarta, we will be in a slip. I will find someone to watch the boat, keep it clean and be ready for hurricane season. Our broker is Bill Bolin, he is in Florida. The reason I picked him is that he was the vice president of Island Packet (the company who built our boat) when our boat was built. He is very active in the Island Packet community, and knowledgeable about our boat.
Regarding Joe and Vanessa Munday, we met them in Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur (south) during the Covid lockdown in 2020. Santa Rosalia is a small marina with only one dock, and about 20 slips. The rules there said that we could anchor in the harbor for a short stay, make trips to the stores and then leave, or we could get a slip and have to stay until another marina in another harbor said we could come there. We had already had a month or two of anchoring out and seeing no one, or doing anything, so we got a slip. Joe and Vanessa on SV Munday’s off were there as well. In the marina we could hang out at the pool do laundry etc. but we were not supposed to wander around town. We spent about 6 weeks there before finally getting permission to move to Puerto Peñasco and having our boat hauled out.
In 2023, Reneé and I were house/church shopping in Savannah, TN, and living in Fulton Missouri. This meant an 8 hour drive on Friday to Savannah, spend Saturday looking at houses, go to church on Sunday, and then 8 hours on the road back to Fulton. If we attended the same church multiple times, we always chose a different area to sit in, so we would meet different people. We had pretty much chosen our church (Gracepoint) and had been there several times. One particular Sunday we chose a seat in the center towards the back of the church and sat down about 5 minutes before the service began. We started talking to a lady one row up from us and one seat to the right. I described our living on a boat in Mexico and she said, you really need to meet .. then the service started and we could not hear what she said or finish the conversation. After the service, she introduced her brother and she did not give his name, just said he had a boat in Mexico. We started chatting and did not recognize him, nor did he recognize us. We asked his boat name and when he said, “Munday’s off”, Reneé recognized him and exclaimed “JOE!” It is a very small world! We have stayed in touch more now, that we see Pam (the sister) and her husband in church every week.
Joe and Vanessa are selling their boat in San Carlos, and have agreed to help me move our boat to PV. This will be a great help. There are some things I don’t do alone, like swim, sail/boat, hike etc. So, having them go along helps and keeps me from having to get someone else to join me.
I have started a sore throat. Coughing and post nasal drip.
