A night sail on the way south to La Paz

This post is for Jamie Orr, who likes to occasionally see something about sailing on a sailing blog...

The wind was light in the anchorage at Agua Verde for much of the day. It was not until about 3 pm that a steady wind began to ruffle the water. We were expecting strong northerlies the next day and decided that rather than do all our sailing in rough downwind conditions, we would leave with a lighter south westerly breeze and sail through the evening. There was a near full moon rising around 8:30 pm that should give us some help in navigating the San Jose channel and finding a suitable anchorage. We were also familiar with the anchorages en route and with our newly functioning radar and some saved GPS waypoints, should be able to find our way in without too much difficulty.

Approximate route

We sailed out the anchor and laid a course for the north west edge of Marcial reef, about 3 miles off shore. We set up our Monitor wind vane to steer us on a broad reach as gusts of westerly wind from the cliffs at Marcial point blew us out of the bay. Dark comes quickly and decisively in mid December and we were soon navigating by way points because a heavy cloud cover and no moon made it impossible to see even the nearby mountains of the Sierra Giganta. Rounding the reef, we turned onto a beam reach and with the vane steering and a reef in the main to cope with gusts out of the mountain valleys, we headed for the entrance to San Jose channel.

Rani navigated on this passage, as she usually does, and used the radar and GPS to keep us on a rhumbline aimed at the middle of the channel. The moon rose behind a cloud-torn sky revealing the faint outlines of islands to seaward, and soon the flashing light on little San Diego island provided comforting confirmation of our electronic bearings. We passed the anchorage at Los Gatos where we could see the anchor light of a sailboat, possibly that of our friends on Southern Cross who had left Agua Verde earlier in the day.

The wind began to increase and we had 2 reefs in the main before we reached the north end of the channel. It was lovely steady sailing with the wind blowing off the land and only a small underlying swell to roll us around. The vane was able to cope with conditions such as these, so long as we made sure to reduce sail and keep the helm balanced during the gusts.

The San Jose channel is usually windier than the surrounding waters due to funneling of the northerly winds prevalent in the winter. However, with the wind in the south west coming over the steep mountains that line the Baja side of the channel, the wind actually became lighter and somewhat fluky in the channel. We decided to favour the outside of the channel and ran over to Isla San Jose to try to find a clear wind. Rani was nervous about getting too close to the sandy spits that project into the channel from the island, but we soon picked up the lighthouse on the more northerly projection and stayed about a quarter to a half mile off shore.

We debated tucking in behind the sand spit, but decided that it would offer no shelter from the westerly swell and instead aimed for San Evaristo on the mainland a few miles further south. The wind died down off Evaristo and we downed sails and motored into the anchorage around 1:30 in the morning. There were 4 boats in the north lobe and 2 in the main anchorage, where we dropped the hook off the beach and after ensuring we were well set collapsed in the V-berth after a lovely 45 mile sail.

San Evaristo anchorage - the next morning - our friends on Corvadae sail out for Isla San Fransisco

Time Piece - A Custom Coast 34

Time Piece - at anchor in the 'Hook' at Isla San Fransisco

We were anchored off the pristine crescent of sand known amongst cruisers as 'the hook' at isla San Fransisco in the Sea of Cortez when we saw a sail boat approaching. There was something familiar about her, and as she drew nearer, her owner hailed us, asking if we were a Coast 34. It turned out that his boat, Time Piece, was also a Coast, although different enough to my eye that I could not immediately identify her.

 

Owner - John Spicher inn the galley - note the angled center-line sink and lovely solid
teak woodwork. The oblong portlights (windows) are also different from production Coasts.

Owned by John Spicher, Time Piece was recently arrived in Mexico from Anacortes, Washington. John has lived on board her for a decade in Shilshole, Washington. Time Piece came down in this year's Baja Ha Ha cruising rally, taking first place honours in her division because she sailed the entire course (only 7 boats out of 162 entries did so this year).

Time Piece at the start of the Baja Ha Ha

The bulwarks are much higher on Time Piece than Ladybug - a full 8 inches,
giving the deck a safe, enclosed feeling. The deck is lower than on production boats.

We went on board Time Piece the next morning and over coffee, chatted with John about his boat and experiences. He revealed that the boat was not one of the production Coast 34s that were built in the Vancouver, Canada area since the early 1980's. Instead she is a custom hull, built to Graham Shannon's design by a Port Alberni shipwright. John had a binder that the builder, Jack Klock, had put together to document the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the boat. Jack put in 12,500 hours of labour over a period of 7 years, launching her in 1990. She was built with a full keel (an option specified by the designer) and has raised cabin sides, a lower deck, wider beam (12 feet!), and much higher bulwarks than the production Coast 34s. She also weighs in at a beefy 26,000 lbs, nearly 10,000 lbs heavier than the specified weight. This is a result of her massive construction, with substantial fibreglass layup over a full airex foam core.

Male mold for Time Piece - made of wood strips over wood framing.

Builder inside raw hull after mold has been removed - a daunting task ahead.

The finish work inside is on a par with the best Taiwanese boats, with solid Burmese teak, milled by the builder, employed throughout. Her layout is similar to the production Coast 34, except for the engine placement being slightly further aft and the galley, which retains the angled sink of the original plans. Some bulkheads have also been moved a few inches and extra collision bulkheads installed.

Nice teak woodwork - lots of curves in this boat.

One of the nicest things about building your own boat is that you can do things in a way that is more labour intensive, but results in a better solution than a production boatyard can afford. Time Piece has a number of novel features including water tanks that are built directly into the keel area (getting the weight down low where it acts as ballast) and a unique plumbing system that runs all grey and black water to aft tanks behind the engine. This eliminates all discharge through-hulls below the waterline. She has only 3 below waterline fittings - one raw water intake shared by the engine, water maker, and saltwater pumps, the propellor shaft, and the depth sounder transducer. Even the head is flushed from re-used sink water.

One of the many nice touches - a stainless steel spring that hold open the chart drawer.

John is obviously satisfied with his boat. She meets his criteria for a blue water passage maker that can be handled by one and has proved to be a practical live-aboard.

John looks over the original blueprints for his boat - a nice thing to have on board.

Merry Christmas

After working on the boat projects for several weeks in Guaymas, Sonora, we set off sailing on a lovely beam reach across the Sea of Cortez to the Baja east coast.  The last few miles were the best as some dolphins joined us in the morning light. They swam in front and around Ladybug, twisting their bodies as they whizzed by to make eye contact with me as I leaned over the bow pulpit.

We arrived at one of our favourite anchorages, San Juanico, and were soon swapping stories with friends from the past on s/v Hotspur. That night we were invited for mouth watering pizza and our first margaritas on S/V Just a Minute.

Algodon flower -"windmill" stage!

That was an auspicious start to three weeks of near perfect sailing down the coast towards La Paz, anchoring at some familiar anchorages on the coast and the islands nearby. On Isla Carmen we sat out a northerly blow for 5 days in Puerto Ballandra and made new friends with other stormbound sailors.Since it was still possible to row ashore, we set out on exploratory hikes across the island to find bighorn sheep and new vistas from the scrubby hilltops. We did catch a brief glimpse of a sheep disappearing over a rock face thanks to the eagle-eyed Steve of s/v Corvidae.I ran down the steep gravelly switch back to try and get a photo for the blog but the creature just vanished. Maybe we had a collective hallucination!You can, however, see us in a photo taken from the top of that ridge as we featured it on our Christmas card.The view below of Salinas Bay with it's white crescent beach and giant rectangular salt pans framed by reddish brown volcanic cones was stunning.

Salinas Bay salt pan from the ridge 

Chris's shelter on Isla San Francisco

Exploring new anchorages is always a challenge as the seasonal northerly wind dictates our course for the night. However, we were fortunate to experience a few moderately calm days and sailed Ladybug into new bays. Hiking into new territory was a novel experience and we found many treasures; flowers, shells and beached skeletons, including a mummified wild cat.

wild cat, maybe a lynx, found mummified on shingle beach. 

This wild cat, maybe a lynx, was probably shot ( see bullet hole above left eye) and ran off the cliff onto a shingle beach.

Looking south towards Isla Cerralvo

Sailing into the sunset

Coyote melon vine

Thanks to the recent rain, the flowers were spectacular in the arroyos. Vines of bright yellow morning glories and pretty pink San Miguels clambered over rocks and shrubs and purple nightshade flowers stretched out like bats' wings. The plateaus above were decked out for Christmas with the luscious red berries of the boxwoods competing in the colour contest with the scarlet chilli-like flowers of the coral plant.

Boxwood shrub on Isla San Francisco

Nightshade family

Rama parda ( Acanthus family)

Cruising Again

Apologies for the silence.

We are in Puerto Escondido on the Baja Peninsula en route to La Paz where we will spend Christmas. It took two weeks to get Ladybug ready for the water because of additional projects that  needed completion  before we leave for the Marquesas.

New solar panel & slick black bottom paint

The radar scanner we bought on eBay works! This makes entering harbours at night much easier.

Adding insulation to the fridge.

Newly insulated icebox - still need to epoxy and paint the inside.

New hatch cover

The winds have been strong and from the north about half the time, so we have spent quite a lot of time hiding out in secure anchorages along the way, including 4 days in Puerto Balandra, where we had some excellent hiking with some new cruising friends who were also storm-bound. On one hike we crossed the island to a lookout over Salinas Bay and Steve pointed out a bighorn sheep as it disappeared down the mountain. We saw what looked like a hunting blind made of black plastic and tarp on a steep slope with a great view over the valley. Whether it was used by hunters or naturalists, one can only guess.

 Chris with Steve, Nona, Bo and Libby setting off  to Bahia Salinas from Puerto Balandra

Salinas Bay panorama from ridge above

View of Salinas Salt Pans, Isla Carmen

Scrambling up for a view of sand dunes and whitecaps on a blustery day on Isla Carmen

Libby, Rani and Bo feeling the wind in their hair

Nearly home - Chris, Hugh, Nona and Bo

WHAT?  I  found a small  BIGHORN 

More fall foliage

A few pictures from my last Nova Scotia hike with John Maly at Crowbar Lake on the Eastern Shore. As usual, click to enlarge.

Lakefront colours - The trail we hiked ran around two lakes and several streams.

Low lying trees across the lake. The trail later ran through this grove.

Reflections in a small pond near the trail head.

Silver birch and maples - iconic Nova Scotia trees.

Nova Scotia Colours and Grapes

Another non-cruising post, but I could not resist posting a few pictures from Nova Scotia. The following were taken during a short hike to a waterfall near New Germany in Nova Scotia.

North River stillwater

North River rapids

Apron Falls

Dad navigating

Christmas trees and fall foliage

I am currently staying at my parent's place in Barss Corner. It is nearing grape harvest time and today we even had a little sleety snow to let us know winter is near!

Measuring sugar level in the grapes

Measuring the Brix (sugar level) using a refractometer

And a gratuitous but cute picture of my brother and niece with her first undies :)

Coast 34 Owners web site created

Together with Doug Swanson of Ka'sala, we have started a new site dedicated to the Coast 34 sailboat (of which Ladybug II is an example). The site, which can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/coast34owners/ contains a list of Coast 34 owners and information about the boat. We may add a forum to allow discussion, but for now, owners and others are welcome to comment on the site or provide us with feedback via email.

Coast 34 Cutter

Installing a new tub

OK OK - not exactly a post related to cruising, but I thought it might be helpful to someone to share some of our experiences putting in two new bathtubs in my friend Ian's house. I am staying with Ian after having rented our house in Duncan on my way out to Nova Scotia.

Old tub - does not look too bad in picture but is quite worn and has been recoated once already...

 One thing that many articles and videos on Youtube neglect to cover in any detail is how to get out the old tub and how to put the new one in. Here are a few pointers I have picked up during the 3 tub installs I have done in the last year.

New tub - Ian with my niece's bear who assisted with the installs.

The order of destruction/construction is roughly:

Rip off tiles or old surround. Tile removal is therapeutic according to Ian...




Removing old tiles

 

Correct technique for removing tiles.

Cut away any wet drywall (we found that water had made its way behind the tiles (perhaps through unsealed grout). Scrape off old adhesive to make wall reasonably level.



Wall scraped to make even for installing the surround - note dry wall removed well above plumbing
to allow us to remove and install the tubs by swinging them up and into this space.



Cut away a piece of drywall at the tap end of the tub to a height of about 36 to 40 inches above the tub lip. Remove any insulation and vapour barrier and save to re-install later. This provides access to the plumbing and allows room for you to swing the new tub into place, allowing the skirt to clear the wall. You need room between the two end wall equal to the length of the diagonal of the new tub and this provides enough length, at least for a 20 inch high tub...



Measuring diagonal to see how much space we need to swing the tub through.



Cut away the drywall along the back length and foot of the tub up at least a couple of inches higher than the taller of the new/old tubs. Again - This allows you to tilt the tub away from the wall to help as you swing the old tub out and the new tub.

Old plumbing - Note drywall, insulation, and vapour barrier have been removed.
We will remove the valve assemblies to allow the tub to swing past.

Disconnect the drain by unscrewing the flange inside the tub. One way to do this is to insert a wrench or adjustable slip jaw pliers and use another pair of pliers or wrench at right angles as a handle. Unscrew the overflow plate. Turn off the water and unscrew the taps and faucet. You will need to remove the handles first...

You should now be able to lift the end of the tub beside the plumbing, tilting it slightly out from the back wall and wiggling it free of the drywall. You may have to work a bit to make it clear the old plumbing. If it will not clear this, you may need to cut the old plumbing taps out.

You will need to measure and put together a drain/overflow assembly for the new tub based on the dimensions and location of the drain overflow cutouts in the tub and the position of the drain pipe in the floor. The latter was a problem for us and required cutting old drain pipe (1.5" ABS plastic) and moving the drain location to line up with the tub overflow pipe. We assembled the plumbing at the tub and welded this with ABS cement and then attached the this to the newly positioned floor drain in the bathroom.

Now is also a good time to redo the faucet and taps, perhaps moving to a single tap installation. This required us to do a lot of copper cutting, joining, and soldering. We used an old baking sheet to protect the wood from being scorched and cut the old copper with a hacksaw. A pipe cutter would have been nice.

New faucet installed - lots of copper joints but quite easy to do it yourself with an appropriate torch.

The new tub may be quite a bit deeper than the old. This can make it tricky to install, but if you have cut away the drywall on the plumbing wall to a good height, you should be able to install the tub by swing it down from an on-end position with the high end swinging down into the cavity you have made in the plumbing wall. Again a slight twisting out from the wall may be needed until the tub is almost down flat.

Hook up the drain plumbing being careful to compress the gaskets evenly to get a good seal.

Finally, you will want to shim the tub's supports (for us this involved feet in one tub and rails in another. Because of the skirt, it is very hard to reach the feet to shim, so we cut an access in the drywall along the back of the tub to let us reach in and place a shim. You may be able to avoid this by initially cutting away at least 2 inches of drywall all around the top of the tub so that you can temporarily lift the tub to slide in the thin wood shims. 

Checking for leaks

Fill the tub with water and check for leaks (a long arm helps as you have to reach behind the tub for this. Fill up so the overflow overflows, too...

While the tub is full, secure the lip via drywall screws either through the lip or immediately above it, depending on the type of tub.

When replacing the drywall, use a product designed specifically for this purpose - not regular drywall. We found some very nice fibreglass faced panels that are 5 feet by 32" - 2 of these did the 2 bathrooms and are easier to fit in a car than the 4 X 8 sheets. We cut them using a knife and straight edge. 

We put in a polystyrene tub surround, too. Use a cardboard template to position cutouts for tap, faucet and shower and don't forget to cut out holes for the cover plate screws to go through.

PL 700 adhesive applied to back of new surround panel




New surround in place.