Cruise of the Ketch Julia

[StevenBauer]

Wow! What an epic adventure! Thanks so much for bringing us along. Hope you guys have a Merry Christmas on board while we are locked down in our frigid winter.

[AJZimm]

Thanks for bringing us along.

[cstevens]

Fantastic! It's a cold and gray thirty eight degrees here in Seattle, with the forecast for twenties and snow next week. Enjoy the sun!

[The Jeff]

Thanks for sharing!

[Woxbox]

Wonderful account. Thanks much for posting.

[nrs5000]

Bravo! Thanks very much for bringing us along!

[johngsandusky]

Thanks for sharing, I'm enjoying this. Puts me back on my own boat cruising the East Coast. Your writing is very good, perhaps you should consider an article or even a book for publication.

[wizbang 13]

Is this driving a trim tab or the tiller?
I don't think it's gonna cut it.

[jpatrick]

Truly a wonderful adventure. Best wishes for a continued safe and interesting journey.

Jeff

[auscruisertom]

Lovely reading of your successful West coast Passage it brought back great memories. Shame you missed Mag Bay and the whales. I presume you’ll be spending Christmas in La Paz

[Michael_Owen]

If I remember, Steinbeck's descriptions of parts of the Sea of Cortez were pretty grim. Hope you have more fun than they did.

That photo of you both on the beach is wonderful. Congratulations on casting off the lines and muchas gracias for sharing your adventure here! (Gringo throwing in a Spanish phrase.)

Mike

[J.Madison]

Is this driving a trim tab or the tiller?
I don't think it's gonna cut it.

It's a full servo pendulum, the oar pulls lines to the tiller. Now that it's been proven to work, its in for a reinforcement campaign. It's seen 25 kts and been dunked by a following sea once without ill effect, but it's not ready for real open ocean yet.

If I remember, Steinbeck's descriptions of parts of the Sea of Cortez were pretty grim. Hope you have more fun than they did.

Mike

I've got Steinbeck on board, he seemed rather taken with the place. I think we'll enjoy it very much.

[wizbang 13]

Oh sorry, I though it was a QME type

[rhagenstein]

Your work on Julia is just stunning and you have earned yourselves an extraordinary voyage and adventure. Deeply inspiring.

I am interested in you self-steering set up. Is it a version of the Hebridean design? Rudder mounted?

Thanks for any info you can offer up.

[JBRADYM]

I thought boating bureaucracy in this country was bad. The US sounds truly unhinged.

This is what happens when the government controls the resources.
Everything becomes a Tyranny of Clerks...like the DMV...

John,
The way you guys were treated in So Cal is truly embarrassing.

I am truly inspired by your adventures!
I watched you build your whisker pole on YouTube.
I'm thinking about building a birds mouth mast for my project, and found your video in my research. Thank you for that!
Thank you for sharing your trip!
In case you're curious, the puget sound is experiencing a snow storm at the moment.
I love it!
Fair winds and following seas!

[rhagenstein]

If I recall, Steinbeck and Ricketts visited Cabo which at the time was a fly-infested thatch roofed cantina. I'm not convinced it has been improved upon since then. A striking thing on their voyage was his casual observations of steaming through schools of billfish for a few hours at a time. Oh woe, the shifting baseline.

[J.Madison]

Its been a while, but I've found some internet while waiting for the laundry to cycle.

Cabo wasn't all bad, I found a pile of yards for a square rig by the navy base.



Back a couple blocks from the waterfront things calmed down and there were some cool spots as well as great food.



But we'd wake up each day with a new cruise ship anchored with us in their swinging arc. They never swung though, must have constantly used thrusters to stay angled to the wind.



The huge marina that was built to change the little panga villiage of Cabo San Lucas into what it has become today is unavailable to cruisers. It is completely full to bursting with hundreds of huge sportfishing boats. We started seeing them all the way up near mag bay, bombing along at 20 knots using thousands of horsepower so they can kill some tuna, most of which they can't even take home. Sunrise in the harbor entrance is chaos, dozens and dozens of big boats all leaving at full throttle with the day's load of tourists. I'm amazed there are any tuna left.



In the anchorage it's mostly party boats and jet skis everywhere with a few crusiers in between trying to sleep.



We shipped dad off to the airport while Whit and I started the upwind bash north into the Gulf of California.

[J.Madison]

There are a few shrimp draggers around still.



The winds in the Sea of Cortez are from the north in winter, and getting north against them is famously quite a bash. The legs between anchorages are fairly long, 45nm or so. That is pretty far to go in one day when beating into it, trying to find the favorable tack. The wind and swell are not perfectly aligned, which makes one tack pretty fast and easy, but then you hit the beach and must come about. The other tack has the waves right on the bow, the boat throwing a lot of water and struggling to get any speed. For a couple legs on the way to La Paz we left at 3am but still realized that we were not going to make it before the sun set, the goal just became to make port before the moon set...

Up to this point we had considered getting home by working up the coast. This section pretty well put that idea down for us.




There was a surprising amount of green on the hills inside the east cape.





The anchorages on this section were nice though, it was great to enjoy the peace and quiet with just a few cruisers and big open beaches just for us.

[J.Madison]

We'd sit for a day or two then set sail early and head upwind some more.







Finally we rounded the corner and were withing striking distance of La Paz. There are many amazing anchorages in the area around La Paz, with clear waters, white sand, and good holding.

[J.Madison]

We entered the harbor at La Paz, and set the hook deep. This was the destination we had been aiming for since the beginning, even when we weren't at all sure we would make it. We were ready to settle in and enjoy the place for a while.



La Paz is everything Cabo is not. When the government men showed up with buckets of money and offered to build a huge marina and resort complex, the villagers of Cabo agreed. Those in La Paz refused and the city grew naturally and the people found their livlihoods from things other than tourists. There are still cruise ships these days, but the bay is much too shallow for them, so they are a good 8 miles out of town and don't bother anybody. The bay and marinas are full of cruising boats from all over the world. Many old sailors find their way to La Paz and never leave. There is a robust community and they welcomed us in.

Instead of rows of resorts along the water, La Paz has a proper malecon- a waterfront walkway lined with benches, ice cream shops, and cafes.

[J.Madison]

Murals are everywhere, and I really enjoyed them.







For christmas whit got some twinkle lights for the boat and we had a few other cruisers over for mulled wine and buttered rum. It was a lovely christmas.

[J.Madison]

New Years Eve was a big storm, complete with flash flooding of the town. We stayed on the boat for two days as strong winds screamed through the harbor.





Just out from La Paz is the amazing island of Espiritu Santo.




One could easily spend weeks in this area without running out of interesting anchorages. We spent some time there waiting for parts to arrive in La Paz for a solar panel upgrade.



The frigate birds congregate here as well.

[J.Madison]

Its not exactly a forgiving shoreline....

[Thad]

Many thanks! Carry on.

[NeilMB]

Many thanks, indeed. I get very excited when I see this thread pop up with a new post! As a So Cal native, it's great to see that there is still some natural beauty remaining on that side of the country.

[Garret]

Dunno how I missed this thread, but glad I found it! I just spent 45 minutes going through from the beginning & thoroughly enjoyed it. It's nice to end up in a warm sunny spot with beautiful turquoise water when I'm looking at the woodstove cranking & out the window at a bunch of fresh snow on a -3F morning.

[johngsandusky]

Thanks for the update and the pics!
Working upwind my ketch points higher and faster when I motorsail.

[J.Madison]

Our 200 watts of solar is very small compared to most boats we meet, but it has always been enough for us. But with the warm water and air temps, sitting for several weeks without running the engine to switch anchorages or anything, all the christmas lights and baking, etc... the solar just couldn't quite keep up. The biggest load is the fridge, which is water cooled and affected by ambient temperatures.

So I ordered another 100 watts to go on the dodger. Solar is duty free in mexico, one of the few things that can be imported directly. I used the leftover roller furling foils as support. If we were at home it would have been brass tube with some nice custom castings, but I'm cruising now.



That job done and the boat heavily loaded with food, we headed back out to the island chain to work our way north toward Loreto. This section is much easier, most days runs are about 5 miles, with the occasional 15-20 mile day. Still all upwind, but that is much easier to bite off.







Hiking trails are very rare, when the book says there is hiking they mean you can climb on the rocks without anyone trying to stop you.... We did some cliff scrambles trying to make the plauteu on top.

[J.Madison]

We didn't quite make it, the last cliff at the rim seemed like it might do us in. The dry waterfalls in the arroyo were very cool though.









Every day or two a new anchorage.



Every night an endless sunset over the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range.

[AJZimm]

Thanks for the update, Jon.

I'd be interested in a brief description of your system for hoisting the dinghy aboard, inverting it and securing it to the deck. It looks a little too heavy to just muscle it up.

[Hwyl]

Thanks!

[J.Madison]

Thanks for the update, Jon.

I'd be interested in a brief description of your system for hoisting the dinghy aboard, inverting it and securing it to the deck. It looks a little too heavy to just muscle it up.

I put a brass half round on the caprail amidships of the mothership and use it as a skid plate to drag the dinghy up out of the water and on deck. Its a two person job to roll it over and thread it between the dorades and into position on the cabin top. One at the bow and one at the stern of the dinghy. The weight isn't really bad, that's why it is skin on frame. The shape and size are too much for one person though, unless you didn't care what got dinged up. Our system is much faster than other boats I watch hoisting their outboard with a tackle and then winching the dinghy up with a halyard while trying to fend it off and not bend over any stanchions.

[AJZimm]

I put a brass half round on the caprail amidships of the mothership and use it as a skid plate to drag the dinghy up out of the water and on deck. Its a two person job to roll it over and thread it between the dorades and into position on the cabin top. One at the bow and one at the stern of the dinghy. The weight isn't really bad, that's why it is skin on frame. The shape and size are too much for one person though, unless you didn't care what got dinged up. Our system is much faster than other boats I watch hoisting their outboard with a tackle and then winching the dinghy up with a halyard while trying to fend it off and not bend over any stanchions.

Ah, I'd missed the fact that it is skin-on-frame. Definitely make it lighter but with the weight spread out I can see it would make it a little awkward. Like my Baidarka - only about 40 lbs but over 18 feet long. Not too hard to lift but once you get it turning it's hard to stop.

[Bobcat]

Thanks for sharing this trip with us.

[alemon]

great stuff, thanks for sharing. your videos are also quite wonderful. enjoy every moment.