SAILING: Ketching Waves Near Carmen

We drove south to Ensenada Blanco where we became acquainted with our fleet of 5 drascoms -- Gjoa (Shari), Liberdad (Digger), Mischief (Rick), Pacifico (Paco), and Seashell (DeVere).  We spent the afternoon rigging each boat and then anchored them offshore.  That evening, each cook group wrote and shared a haiku describing our expedition thus far to help Rick and DeVere acclimate to FSB3. The highlight of the evening was when Shannon, Trip, Paul, and Tim took center stage and presented not just a haiku, but a virtual mini-drama  -- hiking, hiking, hiking, climbing, climbing, climbing, falling, falling, falling.

In the morning, we were graced by a beautiful sunrise accompanied by a full moon hanging low over the sand dunes. We thought that packing kayaks was hard, but packing drascoms turned out to be even more challenging. It was mid-morning by the time we were ready to go.  The wind picked up and we were on our way. After a few hours we had gone the 8 nautical miles to Punta Colorado on Isle Carmen.

 Next, we headed out to Isle Monserrate. The wind was in a tempermental mood, sometimes blowing, sometimes not. Finally, we made the decision to motor and arrived at the South East Bight.

That evening, we played the squeeze game. It was a hotly contested battle between the 2 teams and there were accusations of foul play, but in the end, Marthe's team won. After that, DeVere played her guitar for us, and we spent the rest of the evening singing old tunes.

     

In the morning, Digger gave us a class on anchoring. Shari, Rick, and DeVere took folks  out for short sails and Paco taught a class on tidepools.

In the afternoon, we had a snack of sally lightfoot crabs and then Ryan taught a glass on Baja geography. That night, everyone brought a makeshift instrument, and we got a drum circle going. We followed up with a game of Digger-style Mafia and another guitar session  with DeVere.

 We peaked out of the cove the next day, but the winds were too strong and we came back in. It was good practice for us to maneuver back into the cove under high winds.

 

 We spent the rest of the morning taking hikes and exploring more of Monserrate. One group went around to another beach and found a textbook NOLS campsite. They figured that it had to be Kevin on his personal kayaking trip and left a calling card in rocks.

In the afternoon, Digger taught us whipping (no, it's not what you think) and fancy work. Later, Shari shared the history of NOLS with us and talked about how the school had changed over the years.

It was a blustery night and we were up frequently, checking on the boats to make sure that the anchors were holding. In the morning, Kevin and his friend Ian paddled over to pay us a visit. It was still blowing too hard to try to make it back to Carmen, but Mischief went out to practice hoving to and man-over-board drills.

  

 We were getting a little stir crazy by now and were trying hard to invent new things to keep us occupied.  To the right, the women are testing their aim and below, Bobby is fixing the stove (again) while Tripp tries to shelter himself from the wind.

   

After a good discussion about LNT transferrance and a quick history on drascoms, it was time to party.  We celebrated Ryan's birthday and stepped up to the challenge of the human knot. We left Monserrate the next day and had smooth sailing back to Carmen.  Along the way, we learned more about navigation using sailing charts and how to judge speed with the help of trailmix.

   
We made it to Arroyo Blanco just before sunset and set up camp quickly. It was another windy, chilly evening and we had a quick meeting to discuss our plans for the next few days. Tripp had us rolling with his pufferfish imitations and Paco read us another chapter of the book before we turned in for the evening.

For the first time in a long time, we were up before sunrise and hiking up to the top of the cliff to watch the sunrise.  We made the most of the morning, by exploring the beautiful white cliffs and spectacular canyon.

    
We were on the water by 11:30AM, heading toward a brief stop to replenish our water supplies and then on to an abandoned mining settlement.  As we traveled north, conditions began to get rougher and rougher. We were beating upwind and it was tough going. The swells continued to grow, and we were starting to take on water over the gunwales. After 2.5 hours of SAILING, we were still a long way from the water reration and we knew that our fleet would not be able to fit in that cove.  There was no way that way that we would be able to make it to the mining camp.

We checked in by radio and decided to turn around and run for it as the winds continued to build. We flew south, trying to avoid surfing the drascoms on the swells.  Conditions were too rough for us to attempt to pull back into Arroyo Blanco, so we continued further south and ducked into the shelter of Punta Colorado.   We were all exhilarated to have had a taste of really challenging sailing.

  
 

We took the change in plans in stride and spent time doing our self-evaluations. The winds remained strong, so the next morning's weather check was a no go.  In the afternoon, DeVere organized a rope rodeo to test our knot tying abilities under pressure. We spent the rest of the time working on our hand-made gifts. That evening, Paco read us the last chapter of the book. The constant wind made us all a bit jumpy, and there was a bit of excitement that evening as we turned in for the evening. Kelly and Clay had folks going with a practical joke, but finally everyone settled down.

The winds still hadn't abated by the next morning, so we did our final course evaluations at Punta Colorado. We talked about contingency plans for the next few days -- we were due back at the rendezvous point the next morning and were running very low on water.  We dropped down to one liter per day of water consumption and hunkered down in the shade as much as possible to reduce our water loss.

At our last evening meeting, we talked about the highs and lows of the course. Then it was time to exchange gifts -- everyone had been creative and thoughtful in their choices.  There were boats, worry dolls, poems, shells, a wind chime, a mobile, a lei, a pipe, and many other presents to help us remember our time together.

We were up at 4:30AM, hoping to make the journey across the channel and back to the mainland before the winds picked up. The waves were still pretty big, and the mood was tense as we left the shelter of Carmen and were exposed to the full force of the waves and wind. But we made it back to Playa El Coyote and were happy to see Joey and Lymon and Hunter waiting for us on the beach.

We chowed down on the goodies they had brought for us and then set to work unrigging the boats and loading them onto the boat trailers.  As we drove north back to the Branch, we saw the wind howling across the Bay and knew that our early morning start had paid off.

 

 

 For more on Sailing, choose a segment below:

Getting a Clew in Santa Barbara

Leaving Loreto