More tomorrow (hopefully including some pictures) but for now, sleep! We’re in Bahia Tortuga. Got in last night about Midnight. Came in IFR (i.e. using the radar to find our way). Three days from San Diego to Bahia Tortuga, with not a lot of sleep. So one more night of good sleep at anchor and I’ll add some photos and thoughts to the blog tomorrow at the Bahia Tortuga Internet Café. In the mean time, please enjoy the following blog from Ann.
Author Archives: Bob Johnson - SailMail
It’s all about adaptation (by Ann).
Early this morning we arrived in Bahia Tortuga (actually about midnight last night). I spent the last sailing leg of this trip thinking about what fun it is to be “camping” on a boat. We are on the water version of a road trip. I always wanted to take a cross country road trip and this is better!
Obviously showers are limited as is sleep time because we are doing 4 hour shifts. But there are many ways that we adapt and I wanted to share a few of these with you.
A gourmet meal can be made in a single bowl! And more impressively for those of you that know me, I made a spectacular gourmet dinner last night in a single pot. It was a chicken pasta primavera and contained not only chicken, but leftover pasta, broccoli, sun dried tomatoes, red peppers and the last of the mushrooms that were threatening to spoil. That’s how we plan our meals – what is about to spoil – that’s for dinner. But I do have to brag about what a yummy meal it was. Even my son, Andy (the chef) would be proud of me. And in fact, Bob and I had leftovers tonight while Danna and Elan went into town for dinner and to watch the World Series game.
I also wanted to share some other adaptations that make life on a boat special. Candlelight meals become meals lit by the red light of our head lamps – great ambiance.
And for my cycling/YMCA friends let me share my exercise adaptations. Sitting on a rocking sailboat is a constant “ab” workout. We are constantly using stomach muscles to keep our balance. But I’ve taken it a step farther (surprise!)
The rail from the cockpit to the scuppers has become my “step aerobics” machine. As long as I am harnessed in I can hold on to the dodger and the lifelines and have a special little step routine. Enough to get my heart rate up. And then thanks to my friend, Joanne, and my sister, Joan, I have exercise bands. I have found ways to use the stanchions and the rails to enhance my exercise routine. And let me tell you about sit-ups on the foredeck. Ouch. Nothing more needs to be said.
Other than that, thank God for arm exercises – made steering in strong winds so much easier. So to all of our fans, don’t worry. We are getting exercise! In fact, we played in a softball game with some local children today. I can’t remember the last time I played softball. And thank goodness the first basemen dropped the ball every time I hit it! (And by the way, Bob cheats when he plays first base!)
On our way to Turtle Bay (Bahia Tortuga)
29 degrees, 47 minutes North 116 degrees, 09 minutes West
Finally, a gorgeous day. Sun, wind, waves. We ended the rolling start at 0700 this morning just before roll call. Engine off, sails up. Had to hand steer most of the day as the wind was still on the light side, but starting around 1400, we hooked up Wilson (the Monitor Wind Vane) and it’s been a downhill slide with three foot waves and 10-15 knots true wind. Nice. We’re running with 130 jib and full main, wing on wing and doing about 6-7 knots. Elan and Danna have been awesome! Last night they had two watches; 1900 to 2300 and the dreaded 0300 to 0700 watch. Both times they bounced out of their bunks (OK, “almost” bounced) and had smiles on their faces as they came up the hatch with their hot tea in hand. Turns out Danna is a very accurate helmsman and Elan is all that plus a solid navigator, so I slept very well knowing we were in good hands. We are 130 miles from Turtle Bay, so will likely get in sometime late Wednesday/Early Thursday morning. Most likely same as last year, which was around 0200. Forecast is for stars and a nice breeze tonight. Here’s hoping. Funny thing about how on a relatively small boat you can still lose stuff. I haven’t been able to find my headlamp since Redondo Beach. I know I had it on as we came in there in the morning, but can’t for the life of me find it now. Maybe because the headband is camo elastic I just can’t see it 😉 Oh well, good thing I have a spare because that’s what we use at night. The headlamps have a red light so we don’t ruin our night vision while making coffee, getting ready for sleep, etc. When out on deck, usually there’s enough starlight for most tasks. OK, dinner’s over and Ann and I are off watch, so sleep is in order right now until 2300.
First Day of the Race
31 degrees, 54 minues North 116 degrees, 19 minutes West Lat/Lon 2300 on 10/24/11. Came up from sleeping since 1900 (just after dinner) to a beautiful starry night after a start earlier in the day that continued into cloudy skies with a little drizzle. A welcome change to the clouds/fog that we’ve been in fotr at least the last week or so. The begining of the rally this morning was fun. Many TV cameras were there for the parade of boats out of the harbor. There was a ceremonial “parade start” off Shelter Island that used the shotgun that is actually used to start the America’s Cup. They shipped it down from San Francisco just for this event.
Many of the boats we started near yelled; “nice costumes yesterday, but where’s Tinkerbell?”, so I guess I was successfully dsiguised with my wig!
The real start was at 1100 off Pt Loma. The only problem was no wind. So we do what’s called a “rolling start”. In other words, we’ve been motoring at no more than six knots, until such time that the wind comes in and the committee boat (that’s sailing with us) calls on the radio and announces that we turn off engines and sail. There’s a decent breeze forecast for tomorrow, so I’m guessing we’ll start some time after the radio check in (roll call), which is at 0730. In the mean time, the engine’s on and we’re motoring down the penninsula about 15 miles offshore.
We’ve already passed through several pods of hundreds of dolphins each, all jumping in unison as they swim along. Always a delight to see them and of course to see Ann’s face light up as she heads to the bow to watch them swim on our bow wave, passing just inches from the boat. Several whale sightings were announced on the radio net, but we haven’t seen any yet on Charisma.
Dinner was a success. I actually made it yesterday in the pressure cooker and left it on the stove with the top on. Letting it heat and then cool down with the pressure cooker locked, seals it so it doesn’t need refrigeration right away. That way we don’t have to cook the first night out and suffer possible seasickness while struggling with food prep in the first hours of getting used to the boat’s motion again. Split pea, barley, beans, potatoes and some penne pasta. Good stuff!
We’ll start fishing in the morning, so who knows, maybe Tuna or Mahi for dinner tomorrow (if not, there’s always SPAM.
Heading to San Diego
Left Redondo Beach/King Harbor this afternoon for our 16 hour leg to San Diego. Just a quick update, mostly to test the new computer on the shortwave radio. It’s foggy right now, but not right on the water so we can see a few miles. Dinner was a delicious Black Bean and Kale soup made by Ann’s sister Joan. She also sent us off with some wonderful chocolate chip cookies with dried cranberries. (I’ve already had three) OK, that’s it for now, will check in tomorrow when we’re in port.
A Childhood Fantasy
When I was seven or eight I had in my room, a toy chest. Not an ordinary Toy Chest, mind you. This one contained fantasies and adventures. Such an enticing item, sitting there quietly, yet always ready to play. It was actually a bench that when you lifted the seat, revealed the treasures collected by a boy of that age (a plastic “Tommy Gun”, Army Helmet, Lincoln Logs, toy airplanes, boats and I can’t remember what else). A place to store one’s fantasies and bring them out on demand to “play”.
As I sit here today, I’m struck by how I still have a toy chest standing ready to reveal new adventures. Now it’s called the Lazarette and it’s under the hatch of one of the cockpit seats. Open it and deep in the recesses of the boat it reveals toys with which to discover the world’s oceans. Snorkel gear, storm sails, diving spear, fishing tackle and other stuff. And as when I was a child, some of the stuff is only revealed when I dive in deep into the locker among the “treasures” and search. Still unorganized as ever, but as always, when you open the lid there are so many adventures just waiting to emerge.
I was also thinking about how I’ve been “planning” this adventure that Ann and I are going on for as far back as I can remember. Back in second grade I used to “doodle” desert islands that I would invent and “live on”. Elaborate fantasies that no doubt contributed to my not paying near enough attention to the teacher when the subjects were multiplication or division. Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson were my heroes and then later, Robin Lee Graham who sailed around the world when he/and I was/were 16. I was with him via his articles in National Geographic and later his book; “Dove”. Then the books from Sir Francis Chichester, Joshus Slocum, and so many others who wrote of sailing to far off places that lined my bookshelf- when as before, I should have been studying math or physics. But they kept the dream alive.
In my teens I sailed San Francisco Bay on, among other boats, a schooner named Landfall II. She and her owners had sailed around the world in the early 1960’s and being able to crew on her in the Bay was somehow getting me closer to the fantasy of sailing to the South Seas.
Just some ramblings while sitting here in King Harbor, Redondo Beach getting ready to leave this afternoon for San Diego (and beyond). This leg will be about sixteen hours, so we’re not leaving until this afternoon so as not to get in before sunrise.
So anyway, with these thoughts in mind I’m thankful that I have such a great partner in Ann Adams who is enthusiastically sharing this adventure and the support of family and friends all of whom allow me to reach into my “toy chest” and pull out a new adventure. Only this time it’s not the fantasy adventure of a seven year old, it’s a reality realized some years later. I hope all those reading this will stay with us and share our discoveries along the way!