Finally! Actually 2 sailors went to sea, sea, sea; to see what they could see, see, see.

In April the Captain and his first mate, aboard the good ship S/V Flapdoodle, left the docks four times for some mini-adventures to test out the systems that have been altered or added. The rusty crew were sad to not be heading further south until a later to be notified date, but very excited to put some old skills to use, learn some new ones, and experience some motion on the ocean. Three of the sails were day sails in the bay, “Bahia Todas Santos”, in which the Cruiseport Marina and town of Ensenada are situated. The fourth sail was a staying out over night voyage, heading a little south. I guess that means we have now covered 95 nautical miles in our circumnavigation of the world.[but with a back track]

“The trick is to enjoy life, don’t wish away your days waiting for better ones ahead.” – Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

We are happy to count our blessings and are indeed grateful for these little milestones. Let the sail tales begin.

SAIL ONE April 2nd, 2023 Objective: to test auto pilot systems. Before departure the captain performed some wind vane pole dancing at the stern to prepare the monitor for use.

The dock lines were released and S/V “Flapdoodle” reversed into the fairway after our minds were refreshed on all the important predeparture routines.

We headed out and before long we were able to raise the sail and turn off the motor and enjoy the magic of the peaceful movement over the water powered by the wind harnessed by the sail.

[NOTE: The videos are big on the screen as I videoed them in portrait rather than landscape view. By clicking on the video all the picture should show in the screen for viewing.]

The boat was sailing at 5 knots in 10 to 15 knot winds, when the tiller pilot was connected to the helm and the first trial of this autopilot system was underway. We were pleasantly surprised by the results.

The tiller pilot steered back and forth without struggle and kept it’s course. It rotates the wheel plus or minus one spoke. We noted that it was very noisy when operating. This tested the assembly method. Now the vice grips can be retired with a more permanent set up.

As the Captain was getting use to sitting and relaxing while the helm was being cared for, he decided to connect the monitor wind vane system next. It had been previously trialed but some tweaking was necessary now that Harry had run the steering lines on pulleys overhead to connect to the helm.

No hands required, the crew enjoyed the peaceful bay.

SAIL TWO April 7th,2023 Objective: to remember how to anchor and test the water maker.

The waters were calm as we motored out before the winds stirred them. It gave us a chance to put some time on the motor. We have now 60 hours measured on our new beta 43 engine. Even though there was a container unloading, the dry dock full, and a barge turning with the help of a tugboat – peace reigned as we were given permission to depart the port.

We headed out 10 nautical miles directly for the Todos Santos Islands.

After negotiating around the fish traps that lie close to Todos Santos we dropped the anchor. We nestled Flapdoodle in behind one of the fishing traps and the island. We used 45 metres of rode to anchor in 10 meters of water, with the stern of the boat 400 metres from the island’s shore.

We picnic lunched at anchor and proceeded to use the watermaker. This first test of the newly installed Schenker Zen 30 reverse osmosis system was successful. The desalinated water tested at 123 parts per million of total dissolved solids. A leak in the system was discovered, this will be fixed when docked.

After lifting the anchor the sails were raised for the return to the marina. While sailing, another sailing vessel hailed us on the VHF radio for a friendly conversation. S/V Northlight was from Coral Marina and out for a day sail in the bay too.

SAIL THREE April 15th and 16th,2023 Objective: to remember what it is like to leave the constraints of a dock in a marina and anchor out over night, to trial passage snacks, and to test HF radio for transmitting emails when out of cell tower service range.

Leticia had prepped a lot of snacks for this sail. A variety of salty and sweet snacks were consumed throughout the day. They were eaten in small quantities, regularly, to ward off the first mates queasiness and to sustain the captain’s energy and alertness. The treats included pumpkin damper, nuts, fresh fruit, ready to eat oranges/ apples, English muffin pizzas, honey oatmeal slice, buttered popcorn, Saladitas and Salmas crackers, wavy vegetable chips, finger food vegetables carrot and celery sticks, boiled eggs There was also a variety of beverages ready to drink – cold raspberry tea, coke, diet sprite and ginger -ale, coffee, decaf coffee, and water.

Flapdoodle motored out of the bay until near the exit of the bay where grey whale tails and water squirts were observed and the sail was raised. With the engine turned off we were able to see and hear the presence of the large sea mammals. We experienced next to no swell in the open ocean. The waypoint was set to head towards, but to miss Roca Soledad. As we neared the land mark it was discovered that it was composed of three guano covered rocks jutting precariously out of the ocean, indeed a land formation to stay well clear of. At this point we lowered sails in preparation for entering Puerto Santo Tomas. On entering the bay the winds accelerated to 30 knots, these winds are known as the “cape effect”. An interesting phenomenon to experience first hand. After struggling to get wind in the sails out on the ocean as you head towards land the wind accelerates. Something to remember and be prepared for. Having full sail at this time would have proved interesting and easy to have got out of control. We were prepared. Leticia went to the bow to instruct Harry how to weave through the kelp beds in order to arrive at the anchorage seaweed free. By 16:00 hrs the anchor was set and Flapdoodle was nestled in the bay of the little fishing village with a fleet of fishing pangas.

The HF radio was used to successfully send email messages to some friends and family. The messages were sent via a winmail node in San Gabriel, 300 km away, in the USA.

Smokey wood fires burned, as the fishing village prepared for the evening. The long lines of pelicans surfed the wind currents of the rocky point. A grey whale surfaced two boat lengths off the stern of the boat.

Around 18:00hrs a local panga, with three weather beaten men aboard, motored closely and pulled up alongside Flapdoodle. A barter transaction transpired with the use of mainly sign language, poorly assisted by our our Espanol and their English. The swap involved one cheap bottle of our tequila and a net full of eight crabs and two shellfish. With the trade completed, both parties were content. As the panga motored away the elder of the three men enjoyed swigs of the clear flowing liquor straight form the bottle and we retreated to the galley to cook crabs for dinner.

The boat was anchored 100 metres from the cliffs. The overnight prevailing winds were blowing us offshore. Harry stayed up waiting for the winds to die, but at 23:00hrs he set the anchor alarm and retired to the berth. The alarm sounded a few times through the night, but there was no actual dragging, the boat was swinging around somewhat on the anchor. Overnight it was observed that our wind generator worked perfectly while at anchor. It was going straight into the wind and making an average of 10 amps continuously.

We awoke early to the sound of pangas heading out to work. By 8:30hrs our anchor was up and we were heading out of the bay retracing our tracks, negotiating the kelp bed in the reverse direction. Then motor sailing was the order of the day.

More whales, and some porpoises were spotted, and a little cat and mouse game played out as we stayed out of the way of a Mexican fishing boat. As we returned to Bahia Santo Todos Harry chose to sail and stand at the helm, his “happy spot”, unassisted by auto pilot or windvane.

By 14:30hrs we were safely docked. A quick tidy up was undertaken, and we showered, cleaning ourselves up before spending the afternoon with friends, sharing a meal and anecdotes of our experience.

SAIL FOUR April 25th, 2023 Objective: to reinforce the procedures and routines in order to commit them more to muscle memory. More hands on practise with the boat in motion.

Before leaving the docks today Leticia got hands on practise at working through all the departure procedures that Harry would normally take care of.

As we left the safehold of Cruiseport marina the sea lions watched from the rock wall. The day was a peaceful, mostly stress free sail in light conditions. On our return the sea lions were there waiting.

A point of interest today was an enormous floating flotilla of Sea Raft [Velella] that covered the waters as we headed out. It was very difficult to capture with the camera the extent of how large the flotilla was. These are also known as By-the-wind sailor, Colonial Hydroid, floating Hydroid Colony, Jack-by-the-wind sailor, Little Sail, Living Sailboat, Little sailor, Purple Sal ,and Sail Jellyfish. The creatures float on the water with a sail-like structure. A couple of days later we witnessed the Velella washed up on Estero beach and glimpsed a close up view of them in some of their last stages of life.

On completion of April’s four sails it was obvious that the regularity of sailing paid off. The fourth sail was less stressful with procedures feeling like a regular routine, with minimal brain work required. In between each sail the boat contents had been left tucked away in readiness for sailing, which made the preparation time for each sail less time consuming than the first sail of the four.

Tis indeed true that – “A ship in a harbor is safe but that is not what ships are built for.”- John A. Shedd By venturing out of our comfort zone of the marina, we gained a little more experience and confidence to enable us to continue on more venturing.