We're in Cabo!

We made it to Cabo San Lucas! The wind was super light and in the wrong direction when we were trying to make our way to Ensenada, so we decided to sail straight to Cabo. Why not? It’s only an extra 750 nm ;) Well it took us 850 nm and 8 days, but we made it. Woo Hoo!

It was definitely our longest voyage yet! I’m very proud of us for making it this far and happy to report that we didn’t break anything this trip. We even did a few boat projects underway like …..

…figured out how to send short emails to our parents using our HF radio

….remounted our life sling

…tightened our forward lower stay. It is a complete mystery to me as how it got loose in the first place.

And we acquired some new skills like…

…baking bread!

…splicing 3 strand line. (Chris already knew how to do this, but I had fun learning)

….showering under way using our awesome solar showers. We would get wet, soap and rinse using salt water (using the big solar shower bag) and then do a final fresh water rinse (using the small shower bag).  It worked out really well.

Showering on the boat was glorious and I always felt like a new woman afterwards!

We were also treated to another beautiful array of sunsets and sunrises! They were breathtaking.

The winds were pretty light and at our back, so we usually flew the spinnaker or sailed wing on wing with the jib poled out. One of the most exciting parts of the trip was to see the degrees of latitude continually decrease on our GPS monitor as we continued to shed layers of clothing. The weather was amazing!

Our shift schedule worked out pretty well…but it was tiring only have 2 people on board. We missed you Kyle! I only realized how truly exhausted I was when we set our anchor in Cabo and I slept for 12 hours straight. 

Here was a typical 24-hour period on Starship.

5 – 7 pm: prepared and ate dinner

7 – 8 pm : received/sent emails to parents and downloaded weather reports

8 pm – 1:30 am: Chris slept and I was on watch

1:30 – 7 am: I slept and Chris was on watch

7 am – 5pm: Chris would usually make us breakfast. I was treated to eggs, pancakes, french toast…He even took orders in the evening.  I know I’m a lucky girl. Chris would usually nap for an hour or so in the morning and I would usually nap in the afternoon.

Some nights on watch it was really easy to stay up, and some nights it felt like torture. I am so thankful for the CBC and NPR podcasts I downloaded before leaving San Diego. They were lifesavers. The night shifts became progressively harder as the days went on. There always seemed to be something to do on the boat during the day, so we didn’t always take the naps, which resulted in some serious sleep deprivation. Next time we need to make sure we get at least another hour or two of sleep during the day.

We arrived in Cabo to a spectacular sunrise and the first thing we did after setting the anchor was jump in the water. We are super happy to be here and can’t wait to explore Mexico!

P.S. Very minimal seasickness during this trip!

--> -->

View Larger Map

Location:

Cabo

Latitude:

22.888

Longitude:

-109.9

In the Boatyard

Chris and I have spent the last few days in the boatyard. As Chris' Dad called it...we're living in a "tree house". I'm not exactly sure why I was so excited about this because the boat yard is really noisy, smelly and whenever I'm on deck I'm freaked out that I'm going to fall off to my death. I'll be excited when we're in the water again :)

In good news, Starship's hull is in very good condition and they have nice showers at the boat yard that we can use. We plan to leave San Diego on Thursday or Friday and check into Mexico in Ensenada. Then we'll probably take a few weeks to make our way down to Cabo.

Here are  few pictures of us and Starship at the boat yard.

That's it. Thanks for following.

Anne-Marie and Chris

P.S. Chris said he uploaded a higher definition video of the dolphins on the previous post.

View Larger Map

Location:

San Diego

Latitude:

32.709722

Longitude:

-117.234444

They Are Most Excellent Creatures

We made it from Half Moon Bay to San Diego in just under 4 days (440 nm). We left on Monday January 16^th at around 10:00 am and arrived in San Diego on Friday January 20^th at around 8:00 am.

The trip started off a bit rough as Kyle vomited after about 15 minutes of sailing. He quickly retired to the cabin to sleep it off. We've discovered that if you are lying down with your eyes closed that you for some reason don't feel seasick. A quick sleep also somehow makes you feel better when you awake.

I attempted to make tea, but just ended up spilling boiling water on myself. Luckily I was wearing my foul weather gear. After crawling around the cabin floor to clean up the water, I was feeling pretty seasick myself, so off to snooze-land it was for me. Captain Chris didn't seem to mind being the only one on watch because when I woke up I found him busting a move to a 90s dance mix in the cockpit. I think he was just super happy that we were finally heading south.

The first day can really be summed up by Kyle and myself trying to manage our seasickness and Chris holding down the fort. The seas were lumpy and the winds strong. We were running under a reefed main alone.

Kyle was a trooper

Day two can really be summed up by the word "DOLPHINS"! We had a huge (~ 100) pod of dolphins follow Starship for about 45 minutes. They came super close to the boat and loved to play in Starship's bow wake. They would tilt their heads and stare out of the water at you. Making eye contact with the dolphins was one of the most magical experiences of my life. One of the dolphins came so close to the surface that it started splashing it's tail vigorously and got Chris all wet. They are such playful creatures, or as Kyle says in the video, "they are the most excellent creatures". I know for me at least the dolphins really renewed my spirit. At this point in the trip I had only eaten about a granola bar, a fruit cup and a banana and was still feeling pretty queasy. Thoughts like "ummmm why are we doing this again….?" were floating through my brain as I wondered if my next snack would stay in my stomach. Experiences like the dolphins definitely make it all worthwhile.

Kyle trying to pet the dolphins

Listen carefully when you watch the video (Now with improved resolution). Can you hear the dolphins "clicking"?

We also got to fly the spinnaker and I saw an amazing sunset on my night watch.

Kyle and I both agreed that day 3 and 4 were the most enjoyable (at least for our tummies). We all seemed to get into the groove of things more. We had more great spinnaker flying days and some intense games of scrabble.

Sailing by Catalina Island was beautiful.

Here are some pictures I took of my last night watch as we approached San Diego. What a gorgeous sunrise.

This is how we sleep!

San Diego is a huge port. You don't want to get in the way of one of these guys.

Here's a picture of our first meal on land. We were pretty pleased. Yay! We did it boys!

Nice for our feet to be on land. San Diego's got some fine grass. 

We've got our Baja fishing license, a rod and reel, and a fishing book. I hope we catch a big one soon. 

The plan is to stay in San Diego for about a week and then head to Mexico. Starship is going to be hauled out of the water on Tuesday to have her hull re-painted with anti-fouling paint. For some reason, I'm very excited to live on our boat when she's out of the water. I'll definitely post some pictures.

Things I've/we've learned:

1)I really like having a third crew member. The extra hands are super helpful and it allows everyone to sleep for 6 consistent hours (we do 3 hour shifts). Kyle you were awesome crew! You are so easy-going, a good listener and picked up the sailing quickly.Thank you so much for making the first leg of our journey a success. 

2)Nobody (except for steel-stomach Chris) feels like eating spicy home-made chili on a passage. I need to make more bland pre-made meals next time. I'm thinking maybe plain rice or mac and cheese. Any suggestions?

3)I like being on night watch by myself.Somehow the 3 hour night watches passed by really quickly. Starring up at the stars or staring at the green glow of bioluminense in the water was enough to keep me completely fascinated.

4)If it's blowing a bit too hard and you think maybe you should take down the spinnaker. YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY TAKE DOWN THE SPINNAKER. Do not wait!!! We waited once and it was not a good scene. Luckily the spinnaker only has a very tiny (very reparable) rip.

-->

View Larger Map

Location:

San Diego

Latitude:

32.709722

Longitude:

-117.234444

What we've been up to...

Chris and I have had a very busy week after getting back from Canada. We've knocked off all of the essential/safety projects. WooHoo! One of the most exciting projects to complete was the installation of all 3 bilge pumps (a 750 G/hr pump, a 4000 G/hr pump and a manual bilge pump).

Here is a picture of Chris trying to sink the boat with a garden hose.

The hose didn't have a chance...look at this flow! (I should mention that the installations for all pumps did not work right away and it was very frustrating... BUT after many hours of work, they are working perfectly now. Chris is not having any more bilge pump nightmares....thank goodness).

The last couple of days have been spent on provisioning, organizing and creating an inventory of EVERY item on the boat (with it's exact location in the boat). I'm loving the giant excel spreadsheet. I know exactly where everything is! All our kiteboarding gear is on board and there's even room for us to still sleep ;)

We also emptied all of our belongings out of our car (1991 Buick Regal aka "the Reeg") and storage van. We figured it would be hard to sell our vehicles, so we donated them to a radio station we often listen to, KQED. Chris' parents bought him the Reeg in Canada and it's been an amazing car. It's made it from Harrow to California and back 2.5 times! I absolutely love the Reeg and was sad to see it go.

In other news...Kyle (Chris' best friend) is here! YAY! His vacation so far has been spent doing boat projects for the last 2 days, so I'm really looking forward to starting the sailing fun soon. Kyle has a week off of work and we're hoping to make it to San Diego in that time.

I want to end off by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone that came to the Starship Send Off party on Friday. It really meant a lot to Chris and me to share in the excitement of the trip with you all. Starship has never had so many people on board. It was awesome! Thanks for treating us to both lunch and dinner in HMB! We really are lucky to have such good friends. Please come and visit us on board! We'll miss you!

Annie out

P.S. We plan on leaving today (Monday, January 16th in the morning). There was a bit of a storm last night now, but it has cleared out and is looking like smooth sailing today.

View Larger Map

Location:

Half Moon Bay

Latitude:

37.501913

Longitude:

-122.481143

Comment:

Conditions looking good for departure!