4/8/2011 - Anchored again

Well, after 2 months tied to the dock at Marina del Palmar, we're finally back on the hook. We got everything done that we'd planned to do while tied to the dock, including provisioning, cleaning the boat up, making side shades for the boat for this summer, etc.

It's really good to be back at anchor. It's just so much more private. You feel like an island and, really, you are.

The blissful state reflected in the above sentence came to an abrupt halt on Sunday afternoon. We were at La Costa Restaurant enjoying Bayfest and getting ready to hear how much loot we won in the raffles. The winners were just about to be announced when Karen "Toast" Congers stepped up to the mike with an announcement for the fleet. Seems a boat named Siempre Sabado had dragged anchor and was headed for the steel breakwater separating the bay from Marina de La Paz. Anchors had been provided by s/v Loose Pointer (thanks, Dan!) and s/v Wind Raven (thanks, Jay!) and she was now stable but the owners needed to get back aboard ASAP. Talk about a buzzkill! Lulu and I grabbed our stuff and beat feet back to the dinghy and then motored out to the boat.

Siempre Sabado was sitting way too close to the big steel seawall for comfort. A brisk north wind had kicked up during the afternoon and, for some reason, in spite of having set the anchor really well and having plenty of chain out, we still drug. Dan and Jay had gotten us stopped by deploying Dan's Fortress anchor and Jay's 45 lb. CQR. Jay had to get back to his boat because he was running out of gas in his dinghy and didn't have any oars with him. Dan stayed aboard until we returned.

Our first order of business was to secure the dinghy and get the engine started. Lulu went below and grabbed our anchoring headphones while the diesel warmed up. As soon as it was kind of warm-ish, we put her in gear and started trying to retrieve all 3 anchors.

Picture this: we have three anchors out, each with at least 70-80 feet of rode and each leaving the boat in a different direction. I had Lulu power forward as I pulled on each rode. First, our Rocna, then Jay's CQR and then Dan's Fortress. A little of this one, a little of that one. Since our anchor had dragged, it was the easiest to retrieve in spite of the weight of its all-chain rode. Once it was aboard, I concentrated on the other two. First we motored towards the CQR as I pulled line in and let the line to the Fortress out. Finally, we were right over the anchor and the bouncing of the bow tripped it, allowing me to manhandle it to the surface. I wasn't even going to try to bring it aboard at this point. Next Lulu aimed the boat to follow the Fortress' rode. Every foot of line brought aboard was a hard-won victory but eventually, the Fortress was also off the bottom and hanging just below the surface at the bow of the boat. I was seriously winded at this point. I could retrieve my anchor with the windlass but the other two had to brought aboard by brute strength and it's been awhile since I've had to do that.

We decided to re-anchor a lot further away from the dreaded seawall so I had Lulu steer a course to up near where Jay and Judy were anchored on Wind Raven.

Found a nice clear spot and dropped the Rocna. Let the boat drift back until we had deployed about 100' of chain. Then I snubbed the anchor and let the wind and current set it until I was comfortable that it was secure. Then, Lulu aimed the boat for a point about 30° away from where the Rocna was laying. We motored forward a ways and I dropped our secondary anchor, a Bruce-copy with 50' of chain backed up by a couple hundred feet of nylon line. Again we backed down. This time we only had about 60' of rode out but we seemed to be holding nicely. Let the engine continue to idle in neutral while we watched the boats around us and the GPS to see if we were dragging.

Once we were satisfied that were stationary, we secured the engine and I started to try to get the other anchors aboard and straighten out their rodes, which, by now, were a jumbled mess. When I got the CQR up high enough to see, I could see that it and the Fortress had melded in to one unit. This was going to be fun. Fortunately with Lulu's help and the use of a boathook, we managed to separate them and get them both aboard.

As I was working on the rodes, Jay went by in his dinghy. He was shouting something to me about using the anchor. I hollered back that we were all set. Then I noticed that he was drifting past us really fast and was frantically pulling on his outboard's starter rope. Clearly, he was in trouble. The wind was blowing very strongly and the seas were big and boisterous, especially for a little dinghy.

I hopped in our dinghy, started the motor and headed out to try to catch Jay before he hit the seawall. It was a VERY bumpy ride. The seas were maybe 2' which is about twice as high as the sides of my dinghy. And, with only one person aboard, there's not much weight up front and she tends to point up to the sky a bit. It was a wild ride but I managed to reach Jay and catch his painter and take him in tow about 30 seconds before he would have hit the seawall. We managed to get turned around (so we were headed into these freakin' waves) and headed back to our boats. We hadn't gone far when Jay signaled that he'd gotten his engine started so I set him loose. Now it was just a wild and crazy ride back. At one point, a combination of wind and wave laid my dinghy almost on its side and turned her around 180°. SHEESH! But, all's well that ends well. We both reached our boats safely.

Lulu fixed clam chowder for dinner, which we ate at about 7:30 or 8:00, 2 to 2-1/2 hours after this whole thing started. That was the fastest 2 to 2-1/2 hours that I can remember in a long time.

I didn't expect to get much sleep as I knew I'd be checking our position over and over again. However, although the evening was pretty bouncy, we stayed right in position. And, miracle of miracles, the wind died down in the wee hours and we were both able to relax. That's not to say that one or the other of us didn't get up every hour or two to check things out. But, fortunately we stayed put.

Today, I straightened our anchors out, stowed the Bruce and backed down under power on the Rocna to be sure it was solidly set. Then I returned Dan's Fortress (along with some cookies Lulu made). Jay said to hang on to his CQR a little longer until we're sure we don't need it. That's good since it'll give us time to get some eggs so Lulu can make them a thank-you treat, too.

So, although anchoring out is like being on our own island, it's nice to have helping hands on all these other islands around us.

BTW: we won dinner for two at Il Rustico Restaurant in the raffle.

4/8/2011 - weird, or maybe not

This is a photo of the ship I served on during my time in the Navy (1969-1973), the USS Tolovana, AO-64, a fleet oiler. The weird thing about this photo is that it was reportedly taken in Subic Bay, Philippines in 1971. That means that, if you could blow the picture up far enough and not lose resolution, you might be able to find a 20-year old version of me somewhere on deck. Is it just me or is that sort of freaky?

Thanks to Erich Utecht for this and many other great Tolovana photos.

4/8/2011 - The race is on

This weekend is Bayfest here in La Paz. The kick-off event for the weekend was the "Rock to the Dock" sailboat race. Racing is not something Luu and I have done, nor have we had any particular desire to do it. However, when Dave on s/v Kievit asked if we'd like to crew for him and Marge in the race, we said, "sure". He assured us it would be a laid back affair. Just a chance to go out and raise the sails and have some fun. We figure, "what the heck..."

So, yesterday morning found us boarding Kievit with our life jackets and an 8-pack of Pacifico in hand. The race was to start at 11:00 at Roca Lobos. This is the rock just off the opening to Caleta Lobos where we've spent the occasional night anchored. (BTW, in this case, "lobos" does not refer to wolves but rather to sea lions).

We left the dock shortly after 8:00 for the trip out to the rock. The wind, miraculously enough, was out of the south so we were able to sail out. Once we reached the starting line area, we milled around, jockying for position while waiting for the starting gun. There were 21 boats registered for the race which, apparently, was a record. Don't know if they all made it but there were a lot of boats out sailing around by 10:45.

Positioning for the start of a sailboat race is kind of a big deal. The idea is to have yourself just behind the starting line, going as fast as you can, when the starting gun goes off. It's really easy to go over the line early while doing this and you really have to understand your boat and the conditions, plus have a huge hunk of luck, in order to pull it off. Well, the stars must have been lined up just right because we were in the perfect position, going as fast as we could when the gun went off. Dave had things figured out perfectly it seems.

The race got off to an exciting start when we found ourselves right on s/v Eros' ass. I mean we were RIGHT BEHIND them. If it had been me, I would have chickened out and adjusted my course, but Dave stuck right in there and, before too long, Eros tacked away from us. This was not to be the last we saw of them.

There are lots of tactics involved in a sailboat race. After all, you have to rely on the wind. So, if you have to tack, you have to decide if it's better to tack often and not have to get too far off the course, or if it's better to go a long ways and then make just one tack. Where is the wind going to be? What if we tack too early and can't make the mark? What if we tack too late? Fortunately, neither Lulu, Marge, or I had to give any of this much thought. That's the skipper's job. We're just deck monkeys.

Here's a sight you like to see in a race; lots of sails behind you:

We stayed our course for a really long way. The boat ahead of us, Corina, did as well. But there were only maybe 3 other boats that followed us way the hell out where we finally tacked. But we got it just right. We came about and headed right for the entrance to the La Paz channel. We even did a little better than Corina who overshot the turn a skosh.

Once we got into the channel, things started changing quickly. Up to now we were the second boat in line; only Corina was ahead of us. And, if the wind had held, we may have even finished second over the line. But, of course, the wind didn't hold. Our nice south wind pretty much died shortly after we entered the channel. We barely made the turn around the second buoy. We were just sort of bobbing around, hoping the wind would pick up before we had to drop the anchor to keep from running aground.

Apparently, there was still some wind out where we had been because the other boast were beginning to catch up to us. They weren't actually close, by any means, but they were no longer just specks either. And, interestingly enough, a couple were flying spinnakers which meant the wind had shifted to the north-ish. Perfect for a downwind run to the finish line if the wind ever reached us. In anticipation, we rigged the 150% genoa. Dave considered the spinnaker but, with such a green crew, decided it was maybe not a great idea. The big genny it is, then.

We could see the rippled surface of the water indicating wind and it was coming towards us. Trouble was, there were a bunch of boats riding that wind towards us as well. Fortunately, the wind reached us before they did and we were off again. With the wind just over our starboard quarter, there wasn't even any need to rig a whisker pole.

Downwind we ran with the other boats in hot pursuit.

How's this for a bitchin' spinnaker?

The boat flying the señorita and the catamaran in the photo above that, eventually passed us. But they're the last boats that did. The boat flying the red, white, and blue spinnaker in the photo above is Eros. Remember Eros?

From here to the finish, it was basically us against Eros. The only special rule of the race was you had to stay in the channel. We were hugging the red buoy line (right side) of the channel as tight as we could. If Eros had gotten by us on that side, they would have blocked some of our wind. Dave wasn't about to let that happen.

It was now their turn. They were as tight on our ass as we had been on theirs at the start of the race. But Dave wasn't relenting. For one thing, he just didn't look back. That was my job: look back and report what was going on.

Finally, Eros must have realized they were not going to get by us on our starboard side, so they switched to the port side. We were sailing close enough to yell at each other for quite a ways. There were numerous times that I was sure their spinnaker pole was going to hit our boom. But it never did.

The finish line was drawing near. Now it was on! Dave kept hugging that red buoy line. Eros was coming slowly up our port side. Dead ahead, there was a little Contessa 26 sailboat anchored right in the channel, right in front of Eros. They kept trying to bully us into going further right so they could pass the anchored boat without having to veer too far off course. They kept insisting that it was our duty to give them room. Well, we had nowhere to go. We were right on the channel's edge and there were anchored boats just outside that edge. The skipper of Eros was pissed but, TS. He took what I thought was a reckless chance by passing between us and the anchored Contessa at full speed. Nothing came of it but it was awful darn close.

The upshot was that we crossed the finish line about 1/2 to 1/3 boat length ahead of Eros. That put us in 4th place overall and probably, on corrected time, 2nd place. Not bad, eh?

Lulu and I had lots more fun than we expected to. It was exciting but Dave never turned into the dreaded RACE SKIPPER FROM HELL that is so common among sailboat racers. We also got some good insight into how to actually sail our boat when we head north in a few days.

So, thanks Dave and Marge, for including us and showing us a darn good time.

4/5/2010 - Provisioning, a nuts and bolts blog

When you live in a house, on land, you call it grocery shopping. But when you live on a boat, you call it provisioning. And actually, there is a difference. Grocery shopping is something you do to try to have the stuff you need on hand. But, if you need a quart of milk or a pound of hamburger between grocery runs, you can stop at the store and pick some up on the way home. Not so on a boat, at least once you've left the marina and also left town.

In this case, you need to have on board EVERYTHING that you're going to need until you reach the next provisioning port. EVERYTHING! Just trying to figure out what "everything" is is pretty daunting. So you'll understand when I tell you that Lulu had a serious case of denial about provisioning. There's so much to think about. What if we forget something? Where are we going to put it all?

Well, our time to leave La Paz is fast approaching. The next chance we have to provision will be at Loreto which is 120 nautical miles north of here. During a passage, that would just be an overnighter or maybe a day and a half trip. But, when cruising, there are a whole bunch of basically uninhabited anchorages between here and there. Even if we leave early next week, it'll take us at least 3 weeks to get there if we do it right. So we need to have all the food on hand that we might need between here and there. And not just food. How about toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, soap, etc? It's a lot to think about.

A lot of folks have a lot of different approaches to provisioning. Our friend Carrie on s/v Madrona is very scientific about it. She's built a spreadsheet that accounts for everything they'll need based on the meals that they will eat. Very scientific. But definitely not our style.

What we finally did was to take an inventory of all the non-refrigerated, non-fresh stuff we have on board: canned vegetables, coffee, noodles, rice, beans, etc. Then we sat down and tried to decide how much of these things we'd need to make meals for 3-4 weeks. We have no idea what those meals will be but we've both cooked enough that we feel pretty confident that we can figure something out. While brainstorming how much of the stuff on hand we'd need, we naturally came up with lots of other stuff that we'd need. The upshot was a shopping list that was pretty daunting. At the end of this blog I've included a list of our inventory from which the shopping list was created. Things like spices, unless otherwise noted, we decided that we had plenty of. Armed with our list, we hiked down to Chedraui. We managed to way overfill a shopping cart and spent over $400. But, since we're not renewing our marina rental this month and that was $400, it's kind of a wash (yeah, right). We hailed a cab for the trip back to the marina. The $50 peso fare along with the $20 peso tip to the driver for his help loading and unloading was money well spent.

We still haven't loaded up on fresh produce. We'll wait until the last minute for that. We also haven't loaded up on beer yet. That's tomorrow's mission. But, other than that, we're pretty sure we have plenty of food on board to see us through a 3-4 week period without any further additions, even if we don't catch any fish (which ain't gonna happen). I guess we'll see.

Oh yeah, where to put all this stuff. I double-decked all the crap in the "garage" (quarter berth) so we'd have enough room to stow all the paint locker stuff that used to be stowed beneath the middle settee seat. That left one fairly good-sized locker for food storage. We managed to get all the food into that locker as well as our usual food lockers located behind the settee seats. However, the toilet paper and paper towels have joined the backpacks and sleeping bag as something that lives in the v-berth during the day but is moved out to the settee at night. It;s a pain but we'll use the stuff up as we go along and everything has to be somewhere, right?

So, here's our provisioning list, such as it is:

machaca, bags: 5
chilorio, cans or bags: 4
granola, bags: 5
powdered milk. bags: 5
tuna, small cans: 10
mayo, quart: 2
cheese, lbs.: 2
bacon, pkgs.: 4
popcorn, bag or jar: 1
butter, lb.: 6
Spam, can: 5
toilet paper: 50
(the goal was actually 40 rolls but since we had 2 and they came in 24 packs...)
ultrapure milk, box: 5
club soda, case: 1
spinach, can: 5
green beans, can: 3
corn, can: 6
beets, can: 4
shampoo: 4
soap, bar: 2
deodorant: 2
sunscreen: 2
mouthwash: 2
dental floss: 3
lotion: 2
toothpaste: 4
instant potatoes, envelope: 6
salmon, canned: 3
chicken, canned: 5
(we ended up getting, unbeknownst to us, chicken salad, which was OK, too.)
black pepper: some
Pam, or similar: 2
aluminum foil, roll: 2
Ziploc bags, 2 gal., box: 2
Ramen, pkgs: 12
black olives, sliced, can: 3
green olives, can: 3
(expensive, settled for 2 cans)
beef bullion, jar: 1
chicken bullion, jar: 1
soup, mushroom: 3
soup, tomato: 4
soup, chicken, dry: 4
Italian dressing, bottle: 5
chili powder: some
(actually we didn't find "chili powder" as we know it. We settled for powdered chiles to which we will add cumin to get "chili powder")
tomato paste: 4
tomato sauce: 4
tomatoes, diced: 4
green chiles, can: 6
oats, lbs: 8
wasabi powder, can: 1
nori, pkg: 3
rice, white, lb: 5
rice, brown, lb.: 1
flour, white, lb.: 25
sugar, white, lb.: 5
sugar, brown, lb.: 2
coffee, lb.: 8
Tabasco sauce: 3
ammonia, gal: 2
bleach, gal: 0.5
beans, dried, lb.: 6
pasta, lb.: 6
charcoal briquets, lb.: 10
Gatorade powder, tubs: 5
vegetable oil, quart: 2
baking powder, pkg: 1
baking soda, pkg: 1
dish soap, btl.: 3
roach traps, ea.: 2
mustard, prepared: 2
peanut butter: 2
soy sauce, pt.: 2
parmesan cheese, can: 3
coffee, instant: 1
curry paste, can: 3
mushrooms, can: 7
clam chowder: 4
chicken soup, canned: 1
vegetable soup, canned: 3
oysters, smoked, can: 2
clams, smoked, can: 1
clams, chopped, can: 4
saltine crackers, pkg: 2
hot chocolate mix, tub: 1
jam: 2
coconut milk, can: 2
jalapeños, pickled, can: 1
beer as much as we can stash somewhere

snacks (quantities yet to be determined):
tortilla chips
potato chips
salted peanuts
chicharrones
Cheez-Its
salsa

fresh produce (quantities yet to be determined):
potatoes
onions
carrots
celery
cabbage
peppers
chiles
limones

I know that for some of you, the lack of sizes on the packaging on this list is probably frustrating. But, there was NO WAY I was going to drag everything back out to find out. Suffice it to say that we generally bought the medium size unit unless otherwise notes. And some stuff only comes in one size.

Now, if you made it all the way down here, you deserve a little treat. On one of our jaunts into town yesterday, we stopped at a street taco vendor. He had fish, clam, and oyster tacos. We opted for a couple of fish tacos. Fish tacos generally tend to be a piece of battered, deep-fried fish on a tortilla. The size of the fish piece may change depending on the price of the taco but they're basically fish on a tortilla. It's the condiments that make the difference. Most places have a couple types of salsa, some limones, shredded cabbage, crema, some hot sauces, maybe some roasted chiles, and that's about it. This place had all that plus about 6 more things that could have stood as salads on their own: roasted peppers in cream sauce, cole slaw, grilled onion and vegetables, etc. It was a real treat. Here's just one example:

Lulu has declared this stand as her favorite restaurant in La Paz and it is mighty darn good.

Oh, yeah, if you're in La Paz and are trying to find it, it's on Degollado, where Madero runs into it, across the street from the front door of the Modatela fabric store.

4/1/2011 - It was 2.0 years ago today

Lulu and I celebrated the second anniversary of my retirement tonight. We went back to Buffalito Grill for a couple of medium rare ribeyes. The steaks were exceedingly tender and cooked to perfection. Seasoned just right so that we didn't even need to add any salt (and for a couple of salt lovers like us, that's saying something). Just like the burgers, the steaks were cooked over a mesquite fire. They were accompanied by grilled zucchini and scallions. It was excellent.

Can't say as I've regretted anything about the last 2 years. Retirement is GOOD!

3/30/2011 - Another blog about food

It's hard to beat fish tacos, shrimp tacos, arrechera tacos, carnitas y papas empenadas, etc., but eventually, we gringo cruisers start hankering for a little bit of "home" food. Usually this is either pizza or cheeseburgers. We haven't succumbed to the pizza urge yet as Lulu makes her own pizza that more than fills the bill. However, burgers are another thing altogether.

Awhile ago on the morning cruisers' net on VHF 22, the subject came up. Many suggestions were made and we've tried a few. The first place we tried was Bandito's right here near our marina. I blogged about Bandito's earlier. It's the place with the grill inside the hood of an old Chevy pick-up. Their burgers were good but certainly nothing special.

The next place we tried was a direct result of a suggestion on the morning net. About a block away from where we're at, on the corner of Abosolo and Navarro, there's a house. During the day, there is a wheeled cart that sits in the driveway. "Hamburguesas y Hot Dogs" is painted on the side of the cart. Sometime after 8:00 in the evening, the driveway is converted to a small al fresco dining area by unstacking the plastic chairs and tables. The cart is opened up across the front of the driveway and is put to use making burgers and dogs. We went there one evening with David and Carolyn from s/v Aztec. The burgers were very good but didn't exactly ease the craving as they were dressed with Mexican style condiments rather than plain old musard, mayo, etc.

Our next foray into the world of burgers was a result of a suggestion by David of Aztec. He said that we HAD to try the burgers at Tailhunter's on the malecón.

Being the travel snobs we are, we had always sort of eschewed Tailhunter's as being "too touristy". But, based on David's suggestion, we decided to try it anyway, and we're glad we did. It just so happened that we were going to be walking down the malecón all the way to Marina Palmira to join Doug and Jody (s/v El Gitano) in veiwing 3 of the rare and elusive Westsail 39s that happened to all be docked there. Tailhunter's is way down the malecón but not as far down as the marina. After checking out the boats, Doug and Jody joined us for a mid-afternoon lunch at Tailhunter's, where they had been before.

We sat on the second floor overlooking the street and ordered the "Malecón Burger" at D & J's suggestion. It was a large (probably near half-pound) patty on a big soft bun. Manchego cheese was melted over it and it was dressed with tomato, lettuce, grilled onion, and pickles (although mine only had a dime-sized pickle chip on it). Ketchup, mayo and mustard were provided. The burgers were served with a large pile of fries. Well, I have no complaints (other than that little tiny pickle chip). The meat tasted like meat which is kind of a rarity in burgers anywhere these days. The fries were excellent as well. The beer was ice-cold and chips and salsa were served as an appetizer. At $69 pesos (about $5.60 US) for the burger and fries, it was a pretty good deal. We decided that we'd probably come back again.

Yesterday found us walking a lot. We walked out to Wal-Mart and Home Depot which is about a 3-mile trek. We took the bus back to the boat, unloaded our stuff and headed downtown for more stuff. About 2:30, we were feeling the effects and really needed something to eat. It just so happened that we were very near another place we've been wanting to try: Buffalito Grill.

Buffalito Grill is on Madero between Ocampo and Nicholas Bravo. We'd walked by numerous times but it was never open. This time it was so we stopped in.

The restaurant consists of an open-air courtyard with tables and chairs as well as two small open structures. One of these is the kitchen and one is the bar.

We ordered a couple of ice cold Bohemia Obscuro cervezas and perused the placemat/menu. We decided to opt for the basic burger, partly so we could make a fair comparison and partly because things like avocado on burgers just makes them slippery and messy to eat.

The meat is cooked on an open grill over actual mesquite-fueled flames.

When our burgers came, we were not disappointed. Like Tailhunter's, they were stacked high with lettuce, tomato, pickles and sauteed onions and mayo. Ketchup and mustard were served on the side. The fries weren't as plentiful as at Tailhunter's but were more than enough.

The meat tasted like, and apparently is, ground sirloin and was cooked medium rare. The patty was 250 grams which comes out to pretty near 1/2 lb. The cheeses were cheddar and Monterey jack. A couple of thoughtful touches were that they bring you a roll of paper towels to use as napkins (paper napkins in La Paz tend to be tiny little things although they usually let you have as many as you want), and we each got a knife to cut our burgers if we wanted (we did).

The food was great, the beer was cold and the people were friendly. The burgers, while not head-and shoulders above Tailhunter's were, in our opinion, better and we don't feel the need to take the long walk back to Tailhunter's now that we've discovered this place which is much nearer. We plan to return one evening for either a ribeye or arrechera steak. Oh yeah, at $70 pesos, the cost of the burger here was virtually the same as at Tailhunter's.

Hmmmmm..... I wonder what we're going to eat today.

3/24/2011 - Some more ropework

My big plan today was to make a swim ladder for getting back onboard after swimming or dinghying around. We had this old piece-of-crap swim ladder that hung from the gunwales. It had aluminum sides and hooks and plastic steps. We bought it second hand some time ago. While we were in Avalon back in early November, I stepped on it while climbing out of the dinghy and the step just snapped in two. I thought, "uh-oh, better cut back on the cheeseburgers a bit" but then, Lulu stepped on the next rung and it snapped as well. Now, Lulu isn't hardly big enough to snap her fingers, much less a swim ladder step. The plastic was obviously very rotten. So, yeah, I will have fries with that.

Anyway, we bought another POC ladder at Minney's in Newport Beach but have never had occasion to use it. We just step up from the dinghy to the boat and so far we haven't had occasion to actually swim from the boat. But I knew I wanted something better. I had some extra line and I remembered seeing a rope ladder in one of Hervey Garrett Smith's books. I dug through "The Arts Of The Sailor" but found nothing. Next I cracked open "The Marlinspike Sailor" and there it was on page 49. I broke out some old spare line and started tying knots.

The ladder itself went really fast. Splicing a lanyard on to the loop took way longer, mainly because the line I was using sort of tended to fall apart as soon as the strands were unlayed. That, and the fact that the twist held the line together tenaciously and it was like pulling teeth to open the strands enough to make a splice. But, soon enough it was all done.

The rungs are about a foot apart and, yes, they are kind of narrow. Smith maintains that the one-footed rung is the right and traditional configuration. He feels that a double-footed rung is unnecessary and will undoubtedly sag badly. Good enough for me. The large diameter rungs, made of soft dacron line, are very kind to bare feet. The lanyard allows it to be tied to whatever is handy and it's long enough to hang down into the water, making it easier to climb than if the first rung was at the surface. It also folds up to stow in a very small spot. I gave the POC ladder to a local Mexican guy who likes to get free stuff from the boats. He was welcome to it.

While I was making this ladder, Gary from s/v Megadon next door asked me if I wanted a fishing pole. Gary is getting ready to try to sell Megadon and he's pretty sure he's going to take a bath on the deal. So, he doesn't feel inclined to leave a bunch of stuff aboard for the next owner. So, he had this medium weight Daiwa graphite pole with a Penn 309 open spool reel that he was offering to give me. HELL YES, I want it! One of my jobs today was going to be going to the store (Ferre-Mar) and buying a fishing pole and reel so we'd be ready to haul in the lunkers up north this summer. Now Gary had saved me a trip and a considerable sum of money. Then he offered me a tackle box full of goodies. There are even lures small enough for our little lightweight "playing at anchor" rods that we brought from home. Combined with the stuff that we bought in Ensenada, we are pretty well set.

But it didn't stop there. Gary then asked if I wanted any line. I thought he meant fishing line and said "sure". Turns out he meant lines as in "sheets", "dock lines", "halyards", etc. Never one to turn down free line, I said, "You bet I want it. What have you got?" He proceeded to unload a box that contained a bunch of old braided dacron line as well as some 3-strand nylon. It was all too big for the fittings on our boat (megadon is a 53 footer) but I figured we could at least use it as dock lines or something.

After I finished building a second swim ladder (just because I had the line and I could), I started contemplating all the line I'd gotten from Gary. There were two sheets of some sort, possibly for a spinnaker. It was the kind of old dacron that gets very soft and pliable. I thought, "This would make a great little mat to give Gary as a partial "thank-you". I measured the line out and it was about 65' long. Wasn't sure how large a mat I could make but I started working on a round one. It went fairly fast and, when I was done, I had made a round mat about 2' in diameter. The worn dacron felt very nice on my bare feet.

Now I was getting a little more inspired. Maybe I should just make the rest of the old sheets into mats. There was some really pretty red line so I started working with it. It also was about 65' long but this time I decided to make an oblong mat. No telling how big it would be. An hour or so later, I had a mat about 15" wide by maybe 24" long. It fits perfectly on the side deck just forward of the sword mat. Not sure if that'll be its final resting place but it sure makes a nice welcome mat for now. I have enough line left to make at least 3 and maybe 4 more mats about the same size. There'll be one or two more red ones, a blue one, and a white one. Won't we be festive? And patriotic.

So, that's what I did with my day today.

And what was Lulu doing during all this? Well, first she cleaned house (boat). That's why I had picked today to finally go get the fishing pole, etc. I can't go below while she's cleaning and going to the store was a good way to make sure I didn't go below. Turned out not to be a problem. Then she took a nap to try to get over a nagging headache. Finally, she worked on, and finished, the first of her new macramed porthole curtains.

This is one of the ones in the V-berth (our bedroom). The ones in the saloon will be a little less densely knotted to allow a little more light through. But these are for privacy while still not completely cutting off all the light (and air).

So, there you have it. We're just a couple of knotting fools. Might even call us a couple of knotheads.

Oh and BTW: I called Clark from Paradise Found Dive Services the other day to come and scrub the bottom of the boat. There didn't appear to b much growth but I was starting to see a few barnacles and I wanted to cut them off at the pass. Clark had distributed a flyer awhile ago where he advertised this service for a boat the size of Siempre Sabado at $1.00 per foot (length on deck). Only $28.00 to get our bottom scrubbed? Count me in. When I called him, he said that the March sale was still going so it'd be $0.90/foot. Only $25 to get our bottom scrubbed? Oh yeah! Today was the day he came to scrub.

We had lately been thinking about hauling the boat out in Guaymas this summer while we went up to Oregon for a couple of weeks. During that time we'd hire someone to sand the bottom and then we'd paint when we returned. However, the very expensive paint we applied in Newport last year is continuing to pay off. Clark said that all it took was a light scrubbing and the new layer of paint that was exposed looked brand new. He couldn't see any reason to repaint. I said that I wished we'd done a little better job of prep work along the water line because the bottom paint was coming off there. He said that it wouldn't really matter. In the Sea the barnacles and such like to grow at the water line. When you have the bottom cleaned, the first thing the diver does is take a scraper to those barnacles, removing both them and the bottom paint along the water line. So, looks like we won't have to haul out, saving ourselves a bunch of money and considerable hassle. Maybe we're not such knotheads after all.