Our stay at Club de Yates de Acapulco got elongated when motor sailing out of the bay (mainsail up, jib furled) we experienced a very loud BANG! It sounded metallic, like maybe hitting a submerged container would sound like. That made little sense. What the hell? Look at the charts. Impossible to have hit a rock here. Look around - hey, why is the backstay loose? Oh, oh. Check forestay tension at the bow. Damn! The forestay is broken. Turn boat around, douse main, and head back to CYA with the hope they will host us and help us arrange a fix.
Boat breakage and maintenance falls into various categories. “Routine & Regular” are items like oil changes and winch servicing. Failures to perform regular maintenance can certainly lead to trouble, but those types of wounds are self-inflicted. “Dammit Problems” are things like chafe wear, sails getting old or instruments going on the blink. They arise slowly, sometimes suddenly, and need to be fixed but pose no major threat aside from the associated cost and effort. Usually there is a work-around and it can wait.
“Snap Bust” problems come in three categories: Major Disaster, Close Call, and Butt Pain. A broken forestay when beating to weather in strong winds is very likely to immediately dismast the boat. We were not beating in strong wind and the furled jib helped to retain some rig tension. The damage turned out to be repairable without a huge ordeal. So it was a “snap bust, close call with butt pain”. Our location in Acapulco was really fortunate and definitely anesthetized the pain. The yacht club helped us locate a rigger who luckily had a good used part on hand (the breakage was a reverse threaded clevis rod, used for tightening the forestay) and it only took two days of work to set right (3 guys, with Greg also helping).
Leaving Acapulco on our second try it was lumpy out with about 15 knots on our nose and blowing on a strong current. So once again we were motor sailing. Alice goes below. “Greg, there’s water coming out of the engine compartment.”
The damage assessment phase of trouble can be quick or it can be lengthy. This one was quick. Water was squirting fine streams of mist out of the wet muffler connection. The boat was not going to sink from a slow leak caused by a broken hose-clamp. Not really a big deal, but holy shit was that hose clamp hard to access. With the engine now off, but still hot and with the boat heeled over and heading safely seaward we first needed to sponge up the oily water sloshing about. Then Greg had the lucky job of replacing the nearly impossible to see or reach hose clamp. Contorted to get his arm inside and around the hot engine and interfering hoses, his forehead was continuously bumping into the steaming hot engine. It took an hour. With darkness now descended, exhausted, dehydrated, oil soaked, and now feeling a bit sea-sick (you try doing that job in those conditions!) Greg handed the con over to Alice and hit the rack.
In case you are wondering, that was a dammit problem with a side-order of butt pain.
Twenty hours of motoring later (the neighbourly winds of Acapulco are generally light) and having fought a 1 knot adverse current through the night, we arrived in Zihuatanejo at noon. We woke from our nap at 4pm and faced the task of completing the clean up of the remaining oily water on and under the floor boards. With that done and just before the designated time of our Margarita sun-downer, Alice says: “Hey Greg, the head is plugged.”
Hmmm. She means really plugged. (Dammit, I hate taking apart the head system and the discharge hose is going to be brutal to replace, thinks Greg.) “Leave it for tomorrow, we can use a bucket”, says Alice. Greg considers. Peeing over the side at midnight is not so bad, thinks he. But what about after morning coffee? “The discharge hose needs to be replaced right now, no matter what it takes”, responds Greg.
Four hours later Greg concluded his chores with a thorough shower. Alice helped of course, but at the stinky pointy end of such tasks it is dirty-handed Greg who needs that shower. And while showering, you can guess that he was grumbling about a job that turned out to be a dirty, rotten, goddamned, pain in the ass.
Riggers at the Acapulco Yacht Club assessing the damage.
Upside of repairs is that we spent our Anniversary hanging like locals in Acapulco at the zocalo and beach.
Anniversary mug shot
Heading out of Acapulco a second time with our boat serpent keeping a protective eye.
Dolphins are a common sight surfing at the bow.
After a long night underway repairing the broken hose clamp and a hot day motor sailing we arrived in Zihuatanejo.
Met 2 young guys who spent CoVid in the Sea of Cortez. They need a bigger dingy and an outboard.
After a full 2 hours of bureaucracy checking in with the Port Captain in Zihuatanejo a beer is needed.
After another hot day we motor sail into Caleta de Campos. Lots of visitors coming to say Hello or hoping for candy.
Another great Sunday on the beach with the locals. Sunday afternoon is always family day in Mexico.
Just imagine if you could go out to eat in Vancouver and sit the kids under the table to play in the sand.
Happy at the calm anchorage of Punta Cabeza Negra.
And sometimes we sail.
Truly a deserted anchorage with no homes, road access or boats - Ensenada Carrizal.
Beware of Hurricanes
Arrived at the beautiful Marina Puerto de Navidad on December 1st in time for the Panama Posse KickOff.
