We're looking for the trash fence...

We're about 71 NM from Mazatlan and we're sailing along on a beam reach in 11Kts of breeze with all the sails up doing just over 5kts.

We should reach Mazatlan just after sunrise. We plan to head to Isla de la Piedra (Stone Island anchorage) just outside old town. Sv Journey left Muertos right before we did -- actually, we left first, came back tightened the stuffing box on the prop shaft and then headed out. They have been about 4 miles ahead of us the whole way. They are also heading to the Stone Island anchorage.

Today we're also experimenting letting the Alpha Marine 3000 autopilot drive the boat instead of the Hydrovane windvane. A bunch of other cruisers have been using their autopilots instead of wind vanes, so I wanted to see how ours does under sail. The autopilot can only steer a compass heading, but the wind is consistent enough right now that its working great. The AMP draw is 9-12amps right now, but the stereo, computer, and NMEA network are also on and the refrigerator (6amps) cycles onoff occasionally as well. With the input from the solar panels we're only actually draining at 4.5Amps. Not too bad. We need more solar for sure...

Just wanted to drop a note to the blog. Dawn wrote a post last night with pics which we'll upload when we reach port.

All is well. Life is good!

Current Location 23°27.60'N 107°40.41'W

We caught this tuna today, but we can't figure out what kind. Any ideas?

This is a Collision Avoidance RADAR Detrctor model number 050. Works, you just need to wire it up!

Here is what that filleted serial cable looks like after you've ID'd all the wires to the pins.

Just a quick hello I turned 40 day. So go drink a beer in my honor! We caught two Bonitos this morning and they will be our special dinner tonight.

Currently sailing in very light winds but 70F and sunny. We're on our way to Bahia Santa Maria. Will be there in two days or so.

Talk to you soon!

After many months of motoring into the wind and being cold, we're officially sailing wing on wing and to top it off we're in Mexican waters ! Woo Hoo!!!

We started the Baja Ha-Ha yesterday about 11am and the entire fleet was instructed to motor due to light winds. This morning after the 0730 position reports on SSB everyone was told to start sailing and tracking any time spent motoring. The Ha-Ha isn't really a race so motoring is something they just ask that you track and report with your self tracked times. We don't really care about "our time". Nor do we even know what they will do with them, but we're using the fleet directions as an opportunity to compare what we're doing with others. We actually started behind most of the fleet and passed by some of the smaller (slower) boats during the motoring. At this mornings position reports we seem to be within 5-10 miles of most of the boats in our division (boats of similiar size) so that was reassuring.

Sojourn, a sister Pearson 424, is also in the Ha-Ha!! We had no idea, Scott the owner isn't very active on the list. I got some pictures of him as he was motor sailing yesterday. I'll upload them next time we have WiFi.

If anyone has information on taking Spanish lessons in Cabo San Lucas, La Paz or anywhere else, drop me a note. I'm thinking about doing that, but the one place I saw was over a thousand dollars... or was it Pesos.. it wasn't clear. ;-)

Anyway, things are good. Things are Sunny. Viva Mexico!

We have had several very busy days in San Diego, trying to wrap up projects, do some basic maintenance items, etc. We really needed to be here weeks ago and had planned to, but things happen (aka Charleston, OR). The weather here been cloudy and warm, or what Dawn calls… crappy! I thought San Diego was the land of eternal sunshine, ah phooey!

Every boat that wants to anchor in San Diego gets a permit from the Harbor Patrol. We first grabbed a slip at the Harbor Patrol’s transient doc for a couple of days. This dock is no longer \$10.50 a night, so call around. You can probably get a slip in a marina for the same price with better amenities. You definitely want to be on or nearby Shelter Island if at all possible. We left there and moved to the La Playa Anchorage (A1 on your charts) which is only open on the weekends. Its right next to the prestigious San Diego Yacht Club. You can land your dinghy at the beach just off of the anchorage. We did so, unlocked, tied to a rock, had no issues. A better spot for dingy landing is to not go straight in to shore, but to go to the right as you approach shore, look for a fence that goes into the water. You can land your dinghy on the rocky sand and tie it to the fence and you’re basically right at the street by the SDYC. Form there you can walk to everything. Downwind Marine, West Marine, etc. The Trader Joes and Von’s are about a 1.5 mile walk, or grab the number 28 Bus. The number 28 bus up to Sports Arena Blvd gets you to the Home Depot, Target, Big Five and Sports Chalet. Google Maps’ walking and bus directions are awesome!

On our first night at the transient dock we installed the Xantrex LinkPro battery monitor. OH MY GAWD it is awesome. My favorite thing is to watch the amp meter if its negative you can see how much power you using. If the number is positive you can see how much charging your getting from your alternator, solar panels, shore power, etc. You can turn everything off in the boat and see what each little electrical toy is costing you power wise. Being able to see what is going on with the batteries is not only helpful but gives us way more peace of mind.

Matty got us our last batch of mail. Downwind Marine takes packages for cruisers and holds them for you to pick up. Such an awesome, nice and free thing they do for cruisers! Matty’s services are available to a select few, but he’s damn good!

We are about half way round the island and on our way to Avalon. Just a couple more hours then some rest and then on to San Diego, which is German for....

We are safely around pt concepcion, passing Santa Cruz Island and headed for Avalon! It's 64 and sunny... Yay!

We thought we were going to be stuck in Eureka till Thursday because the Englunds Marine that runs the fuel dock was closed for inventory. They were kind enough to sell us diesel so we could get out of town and try to make another jump down the coast before a real storm comes through. We got off the fuel dock around 2pm and motored into the wind and seas all night.

From about 5:30pm Saturday to 3am Sunday we had winds on the nose of 20-30kts and swell on the nose of 4-6 feet and occasional 8 feet as we rounded Cape Mendecino. All of that conspired to hour upon hour of being lucky to do 3 knots! It was never dangerous or particularly scary, just tedious and uncomfortable.

Originally planned to push for Bodega Bay which we hoped to reach on Monday morning before a storm comes through the area, but decided to go to Fort Brag Noyo River due to our poor progress. This is where we are now, at the Noyo Basin Marina. This was our first bar crossing in the daytime in good visibility!! Bar entrance is about 60 feet wide but its well protected and it was flat as we came in. Narrow windy river and awesome little fishing town to explorer... more on that later!

We will probably be here till maybe Thursday when the winds are forecast to return from the North after a storm front moves through.