The "Pack" on wheels

La Cruz Marina has been invaded with packs of cruiser kids who cruise the docks on scooters in search of each other, games, and fun! (Bear is front, middle.)

 

Bear Earns Advanced Yellow Belt

You wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley.... Bear earned his advanced yellow belt in karate at the Bucerias gym on Friday.  He worked hard to catch up with his group and did very well!

4 Days and Counting

Our planned departure date is only 4 days away!   We were in the La Cruz Marina the last 2 weeks for our final preparations and it has been an exciting time.   Many of our friends who are also crossing this spring are in La Cruz and we have been all working together to get provisioned and ready for the Pacific Puddle Jump.   Many of these boats are also family boats with kids.   The kids move as a pack and there have been numerous days when we had 9 or 10 boys aged 7 - 12 hanging out on our boat playing video games or having nerf gun wars.   Bear has been having a ball.   

 

Today we moved back to Paradise Village Marina which has been our home for much of the last year.   We have many friends here that we want to see before we leave.    It is starting to feel a little wierd to think we will soon be leaving Mexico, and especially the Puerto Vallarta area, with no specific plan to return.

 

In the middle of all the mayhem of getting the boat ready, I had hernia surgery last Tuesday.    I am healing well and will have my stitches out on Wednesday - the day before we are planing to leave!   Ann says I will have the three week passage to heal!    I had got to the point where I had to decide if I was going to "take it easy" to prevent further injury or to "take it easy" while healing.   Now that it is over, I know we made the right decision.   Once again, we experienced the quality, convenience and wonderful care of the Mexican health system.   It makes one wonder why we can't figure it out in the USA.

 

Jeff and Lindy Howe arrive on Wednesday for the big crossing.   With a good weather forecast, we'll be off on Thursday.

Pacific Map

Meet the Crew

The initial leg of our Pacific crossing to the Marquesas will be approximately 3000 nautical miles and should take us around 17 days. We will have 5 adults and Bear aboard for this passage. Karl Matson- Dekay, Lindy Howe, and Jeff Howe will join us in Puerto Vallarta and make the crossing.

Karl has many years of sailing experience and he and his family live aboard their sailboat, 4 PACK. He also has a Coast Guard 50 ton Master certificate. Our families shared a house in Bucerias last fall and we have spent much of the last year togther in Mexico.

Jeff Howe was the President of Colonial Craft and we worked togther for many years. He and Lindy have sailed for many years in Maine and most recently had a 40' sailboat in Bayfield, Wisconsin. They have also done extended passages with us in recent years.

Our plan is to divide the day and night into 4 hour watches, with Karl, Jeff, Lindy and Eric doing formal watches. This will give us 4 hours 'on' and 12 hours 'off'. This is a luxurious travel schedule for any boat. Ann will not take a formal watch so she can keep Bear's school schedule as normal as possible and generally keep our household in order. Bear has started to stand watches and has even done a 45 minute night watch. He will be filling in and helping us all out.

On Watch

We do most of our cruising aboard Oso Blanco with only the 3 of us as crew. We have occasional family and friend visits when we are "in port" and have had others join us for some of our longer passages. We are often asked where we stop or anchor to rest when we are making over night or multi day passages.

Long distance travel requires 24 hr attention and there is no stopping to rest. We arrange our time into 'watches' so there is always someone awake and paying attention to where we are going and what is around us. The boat normally runs on autopilot, so we are not actually driving the boat. On the typical 4 hour watch, the on duty person can read a book, watch a movie, enjoy the star filled night sky, or watch for sea life or other boats. They are free to walk around the boat, fix a snack, or just relax. On Oso Blanco, being on watch is mostly monitoring the instruments, looking for traffic, and being sure we stay on course.

Extended passages are more than just keeping the boat on track. We are also traveling as a family, a school, and general household. There are meals to prepare, boat maintenance to keep up on, school lessons to teach, and time to sleep. After a couple days at sea, assuming the weather and sea conditions are good, we seem to fall into a rhythm and pattern where it all feels natural. Keeping it all going and getting sleep in shorter segments becomes the norm.

When our passages are expected to take longer than 3-4 days, we have usually taken additional crew to help share the work load and shorten the watch schedule. Just having one additional crew aboard makes a huge diference. Knowing you are going to have 8 hours off after a 4 hour watch is luxury. Over the last 8 years, Dick and Mary Fowler, Jeff and Lindy Howe, and Brad Smith have all joined us for long passages.

Pacific Puddle Jump

We are not the only ones that will be crossing the Pacific Ocean this spring.   Each year, there is a migration of cruising boats (most of them sailboats) to the South Pacific.  Most of the boats depart from Mexico and make their first landfall in the Marquesas Islands.    Latitude 38, a west coast sailing magzine, has named this migration the Pacific Puddle Jump and they loosely sponsor and report on the adventure.   All boats are on their own for the passage and there is no attempt to coordinate travel, but most boats have signed up as participants.   There have been numerous seminars and gatherings here in Puerto Vallarta, where we have gotten to know many of the crews.   The organized part of the event culminates in a 3 day party sponsored by the government of Tahiti on June 18 - 20.   This year there are over 200 boats signed up to make the crossing.   The majority of the boats will begin their adventure around April 1, however, at least 6 boats departed here druing the last week.

 

Most boats will attempt to stay in touch with each other using SSB/HAM radio and will report into a radio net 2x each day.   Even with 200 boats out there, it is a big ocean and it is unlikely we will see anyone - other than the one boat we will travel with.   It is comforting and fun to listen on the radio and  hear where others are, what the weather conditions are, and other radio chat.

 

Check out the PPJ site  http://www.pacificpuddlejump.com/index.html

 

 

Provisioning

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

 

Provisioning is in full swing!  Yesterday, Ann, with the help of some of our friends, brought aboard 12 cases of beer, 10 cases of wine, 184 boxes of UHT milk, 100 boxes of juice, 72 rolls of TP, 15 cases of soda, 24 boxes of cereal, and we are just beginning!

 

We are trying to balance the needs for 6 people on the 3000 nautical mile (17 days) passage to the Marquesas and what we will need in the next 6 months until we get to New Zealand.    And then, there are the boat's needs .......

 

 

La Cruz Boat Show and More!

The La Cruz Marina hosted a number of sailing, boat and water events during the first two weeks of March. There were sailing regattas, kite boarding events, windsurfing races, and a boat show in the marina. The president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, made two appearances, causing for much military presence in the area. The town "dressed up" for the occassion with freshly painted buildings, new landscaping and spic-n-span streets. Marine vendors lined the walkways with tents and the Navy put on a spectacular display. It was fun to feel the excitement of all the action in this normally sleepy village!