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!

Skiing in Utah

Bear blew us away on the slopes this year! The little ripper had a blast keeping up with Mom and Dad on the black diamonds. We had to take it a bit easy because of Eric's recent sciatica issues, but he was able to get in a reasonable number of days and and vertical feet. The snow gods were good to us, dumping a couple of new feet of the fluffy stuff during our stay. We enjoyed spending time with Kat and Clay and our Utah friends.

New York City!

It's Valentine's Day and we're in New York City! We came for our niece's, Kelley, wedding to longtime boyfriend Scott Buckfelder. They married at Grand Central Station in an elegant ceremony where Bear was the sole underage guest and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Sister EB was there, which is always great entertainment for him.

We took advantage of the trip to introduce Bear to this wonderful city. It was a clear, crisp morning when we went to the top of the Empire State Building for perfect, 360 degree views. Drama was added to the adventure when Bear was “lost” during a all-out five minute search for him which included a security guard. Uncle David found him and loves to tell the story. It is sure to become a family favorite.
Other sites included Ground Zero, Battery Park for a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, a Broadway play (The Lion King), the subway, China Town, Central Park and the Museum of Natural History.

Music Abounds in Barra / Eric's Back Gives Out

Not only did we dance the nights away in town at our favorite hangouts (Sea Masters, Rey Mo Mo's and Pipers), we invited the musicians to our boat for delightful evenings of intimate concerts. Bear rocked out to Eli's magic one night while our friend, Pat Dunsworth, played his harp along with Marco's guitar and Bonnie Gibson's incredible blues voice another night.

Entertainment at home was especially welcome as Eric suffered from debilitating Sciatica for over a week. Once again we were impressed by the level of healthcare we received in Mexico. The hotel doctor personally came to our boat for five mornings in a row to inject Eric with a muscle relaxer and pain killer. He also arranged for X-rays done within an hour's notice and we left carrying the results. We also traveled into Manzanillo to see an orthopedic surgeon who had to be summoned by the ER doctor, it being Sunday. There Eric received stronger medications which resolved the pain and advice to schedule an MRI to be sure there is no vertebrae damage that the X-rays failed to show. (Eric will get the MRI in Puerta Vallarta on Wednesday.) All this care and medicine cost us less than $200USD! Can you imagine the cost in the US healthcare system?