We were zipping along the first morning with 15 knots of breeze
The Sea of Cortez is a fantastic place to visit by boat. Flat water, beautiful scenery, and what seems like an endless number of bays and coves to explore combine to form an idyllic playground for sailors.
A passage is always better when we have dolphins visit
But with a family visit scheduled and hurricane season quickly approaching, it was time to point Madrone’s bow southeast and head back to the mainland after the nearly month-long introduction to the Sea.
After almost a month in the sea, Mike had grown quite the beard. Clipper time!
The trip from La Paz to the Banderas Bay area is about 350 miles (or two to three days of sailing). As with any multi-day sail Madrone’s crew tracked the weather for a week or so ahead of time, looking for the right conditions that would yield a fast and comfortable passage.
The bow is the perfect place for ‘barber shop’ when we are sailing downwind
A good weather window showed up in the forecast – 10-15 knots of northwest breeze promises nice downwind conditions for the sail southeast towards the mainland. With the pre-trip checklist complete, Madrone’s crew pulled up and stowed the anchor and sailed out into the sea in picture perfect conditions.
What a difference!
Those conditions and the rosy forecast lasted for about 12 hours before the wind dropped by half. Even fully loaded with cruising supplies, Madrone is a surprisingly good sailing boat in light wind – with the spinnaker out we still made 4 knots in 8 knots of breeze.
We had plenty of time to fly Code Blue with all of the light wind during the passage
But dreams of a quick two day passage turned into the reality of a three and a half day creep across the Sea, and Madrone’s crew had plenty of time to practice staying patient with the light wind.
About 5 miles out of San Blas we found 2 fishermen in a panga with engine trouble. They had been drifting all night. We gave them a tow to the entrance of San Blas
