TRANSPAC III
October 26, 2018
La Paz, Baja California, Mexico
DOMINO deserve a badge: 50,000 NM under the hulls, and counting.
Honolulu to Cabo San Lucas in less than 11 days, it was my kind of Transpac; one with absolutely nothing to report, no mechanical problem beyond a blown fuse that stopped the autopilot for a few minutes, no engine problem beyond a distended alternator belt (easy fix) and the best weather window we could have hoped for… expect for Hurricane WILLA that was waiting for us in Cabo.
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| Leaving Hawaii behind, sunrise to the east |
For weeks, JP had watched the weather and patterns for this 2,660 NM trip. Since this route is traditionally against Force 4 winds (11-16kts) and 8’ seas, running against 05-1 Knt current, he had been looking for a bit of a break, hoping for lesser winds. PredictWind could give us a 10-day outlook, so the plan was to leave when Predict Wind was clear and to make the crossing as quickly as possible, hopefully in 10 days, clocking 260 NM/day. We waited and waited, and suddenly a window opened.
October 10: take the Honolulu bus to Pier 1 and get our Zarpe from Customs to please the Mexican authorities.
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| The fuel dock in Ala Wai no longer sells fuel to the public. It is now privately owned. BUT.. for a fee ($200) the owner will let you dock and fuel up from a truck. We used the Fuel Man |
On October 11, at 0400, in pitch darkness, we eased to the old fuel dock at Ala Wai Marina in Honolulu, paid a $200 fee to the owner of the dock to use the space (yikes!) and the Fuel Man truck rolled in. Two hours later, we had loaded 2,600 gallons and lowered our waterline by a foot. A bit of cleaning up, a nice breakfast, a last run to the store for croissants, and by 1100 we were off.
The first 2 days were a dream: less than 10 knots of SE wind and flat seas, a Dorado in the cooler. We were running 10-5 to 10.7 kts.
The next 2 days were rougher, 20-25 kts E wind on the nose, 6’ swells with a crossed 2’ wind chop.
Going upwind, 13-18Kts of wind, 10.5 Kts boat speed
The last 6 days were just peachy, the wind stabilized around 15-18 kts, seas 4-6’. It was a good time for fishing and catching another Dorado. While we were running East, the wind backed progressively from SE to E, then gently to ENE, N, and to NW 1 day out of Cabo. We were expecting to make 14 Kts on the last day (1500 rpm) but, surprisingly, we were working against 1.5 to 2 knots of current. So yes, it was uphill all the way, except maybe for the last 50 miles.
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| Five-day outlook: we knew it was going to be close |
Our only concern was Hurricane WILLA. We kew it had a chance of developing even before we left Honolulu. After sort of petering out on day 1 and 2, WILLA reappeared on day 3 and looked horrendous, as if it were going to hit Cabo and run up the west coast of Baja the way GEORGE had just done. We decided to wait and see, slow down to 8.5 kts, not just because the going was rough that day, but we also wanted to see what that hurricane was doing.
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| Arriving Cabo: we need to keep on going! |
The next day, WILLA had stalled in her track and we decided to make a run for it, go as fast as possible with keeping a 500 gal reserve just in case we would have to ditch our route. And, as the days went by, running faster and faster (up to 13kts) as our load got lighter, we ducked the storm and made our destination at last.
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| Our daily recon: WP14, we clocked 283 NM that day |
By the numbers:
- Distance: 2,661 NM
- Time: 10 days, 18 hours
- Average speed: 10.3 kts
- Fuel used: 2,000 Gal.
- Reserve: 600 Gal.
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| Arriving Cabo ahead of WILLA |
We arrived Cabo San Lucas early on the morning of October 22 as WILLA’s outer bands were churning overhead, the sky heavy with clouds, the air misty, but no big wind. The barometric pressure had dropped to 1009, 12 ticks in the last 3 days.
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| The beautiful white rocks at Cabo San Lucas. We arrived with drizzle and flat seas, no wind |
We had just turned the Cape when the Port Captain announced that he had closed all the beaches, anchoring in the bay and was warning agains high-sea navigation since WILLA was but hours away.
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| Would you know there is a hurricane coming? |
There was nothing for us to do but keep on running, all the way to the safe harbor of La Paz.
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| Rounding Cabo San Lucas, the cave. Nobody on the beaches, the Port Captain has shut down the beaches, restricted navigation to wharf-to-wharf only. |
We slowed down and enjoyed the scenery, trying to adjust to the heady smell of Mexican scrub brush, lazing on 1 engine wile 2-meter waves from the south were pushing us along. A last PredictWind download confirmed that we would be safe to anchor at Bahia de los Sueños (B. de los Muertos) and so we did, loathe to navigate the San Lorenzo channel at night.
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| Bahia de los Muertos (rebaptized Bahia de los Sueños) |
It was nigh when we arrived at the anchorage and, of course, after some 800 anchor drops without a hitch, Big Bertha’s foot switch refused to work. And that is why we have 2 anchors! We dropped Lit’l Lou (43Kg Raya) and left it at that. JP would replace the foot switch’s corroded connector in the morning.
It was a splendid night, clear to the north, clouds churning to the south, and a small swell rocking us gently.
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| WILLA to the South... we are just at the edge of the weather system |
From there, it was another half-day run to La Paz where Marina La Paz happened to have a vacancy for a few days.
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| Marina de La Paz: Great docks, spa time for DOMINO |
And so we are! Washing and scrubbing and rinsing and waxing and giving our Big D. a full spa treatment. She worked hard once again and did it all happily. Darn, we love that boat!
Off to the islands…
till next time
dominomarie