, I secured a delivery to take a commercial dive boat from the San Francisco Bay Area to Granada. This was of particular interest to me for several reasons. It would mean a passage of about 4000 nm, a Panama Canal transit, and sailing along the Pacific side of Baja California and the Mexican mainland. The vessel is 112 tons gross, so this trip will exceed my sea-time needs to upgrade my license to 100 tons,near coastal.

The timing was great...a friend introduced me to an Olson 25 owner (John Young) racing in the annual Jazz Cup from the center of SF Bay to Benicia, CA, and I got on as crew. It was a great time, as another of the boat's crew was a good friend of mine. The weather was great...as it almost always is in California. We managed to get a second place in our Division. After renewing acquaintances and several more fun sails/beer can races, I settled on board the Solomon Sea, bound for Granada. I was offered a Captain's position by the owner, but my experience with vessels of this size is limited so I advised that I would be more comfortable as a First Mate...so First Mate it was!

The delivery was rather typical with a few exceptions. We rounded Point Conception in glossy flat water on September 11th. We were rather insulated from the events of the day, but soon realized things were "going on". First we were buzzed by aircraft along the coast by Vandenberg AFB, and shortly thereafter hailed on the VHF and ordered to stand further off from the shore. We had ruptured a salt water cooling line for the heat exchanger, and elected to go into San Diego for repairs, fuel etc. Civil aircraft were still grounded, and we had to wait outside San Diego Harbor until boarded, searched and cleared by the USCG for entry into the harbor. Once in, continual media coverage brought home a "twilight zone" sense of reality. Repairs done, we took off, albeit after a day's delay to see what tropical storm Ivo was going to do. It went west so we left and made it to Cabo San Lucas for fuel, a night's rest on the hook, and off again.

The number of dolphins we encountered along the coast was mind boggling...sometimes there were 100's. Crossing the mouth of the Sea of Cortez was routine. Weather fax reception deteriorated when we were off Acapulco, and I was already aware of another tropical wave/storm forming south of us. On a day of fair weather conditions, we suddenly started pounding into some big swells. After trying to become a submarine and taking very heavy sea water over the top of the pilot house, it was decided to turn around and make for Acapulco's harbor. Good thing...that tropical storm was now Hurricane Juliette. It became a Category 4 hurricane. We endured torrential rains from the evening we entered the harbor for several days, but no winds of real significance. With the weather clearing, we departed . The sea conditions (underway) were fine all the way to the canal, even across the Gulf of Tehuantepec. The "Papagallos" were behaved also.

We towed an aluminum skiff all 4000 miles...except for the canal tranist. The skiff's bottom was very clean after the trip! I stood the 0000-0400 and 1200-1600 watches. We had excellent electronics on board, which was helpful...on several days of 'fair' conditions, radar was still used as the sea spray was so constant, that visibility through the bridge ports was limited. There were no windscreen wipers. There was a single main engine, a 3405 Catepillar. It consumed about 50 liters per hour, running at 1550 RPM, which gave us 7.8-9 knots, depending on sea conditions. We also had two diesel generators. All on board power was 240V. Oil and filter changes took place about every 250 hours.

Seven days later we anchored by Flameco Isle outside Panama City. Another salt water cooling line had ruptured, so a repair (replacement) was effected.

The canal transit was a great experience. We transited in one day from a start at about 0500 and ending in Christobal about 1700. The day was overcast with a few sprinkles, so it was not excessively hot from the tropical sun...but yes, it was humid.

The north end of the canal was not near as pleasant as the south end. The facilities of the yacht club were fine...but the poverty/crime in the nearby city of Christobal/Colon made it unpleasant and forbidding. Since we were on a "commercial delivery" time for sight-seeing was pretty much non-existant, so for my "souvenir" of the trip, I bought a mola from a San Blas indian, who was selling them at the yacht club in Christobal.

The owner flew in to Panama to join us for the remaining leg to Granada. This was partly because one of the crew had to be put off in Panama...but that's another story. The trip to Granada was a "slog" through the trade winds and the seas they built.

We eventually pulled into Granada at Prickly Bay at o-dark thirty...about 0200. The vessel is going to serve as a dive boat at the Rendezvous Resort. If you are a scuba diver, you should check this out for a dive vacation! While in the SF Bay Area, the boat was outfitted with a state of thre art Nitrox system. The diving operation is one of the prime features of the resort.

So ends another adventure.

Recommend the book MexWX by Rains for passages along the Pacific side of Mexico.

Here are some of my journal entries describing those first weeks.

07MAR2001: Caught a 0600 flight out of RDU to go to Grand Traverse Bay, Michigan, where I'll be sailing closer to the North Pole than the Equator... I must be out of my mind. The flights to get there were just as crazy. First I flew to Atlanta & laid over for a flight to Flint Michigan, then I changed airlines and flew to Chicago, where I had a layover before flying to Traverse City. I arrived in Traverse City by 1640, the country side was white with snow...the streets roads were clear though. Hell, I haven't had a vehicle for months, so I'm not sure why that concerned me. The Captain of the schooner which I've signed on as First Mate, met me at the airport. We rode back to the Traverse Tallship Company's facilities, and I met two of the crew. Both working as deckhands and nice lads. One is there for the season, as I am, while the other is leaving in 3 weeks for Washington State to rig a sailing ship there.. I get settled in, store my gear and clothes in my locker (closet with provisions to padlock), and claim my bunk in the bunkroom. There are two rooms in a "loft" of a commercial building for the company. Downstairs are the offices and a couple of shops. Ship's gear is everywhere... massive spars, huge blocks, and massive steel fittings to secure the standing and running rigging. I was up at 0400 to get here, and I was weary and full of disgusting airport and airline food from the trip here. So..I retired.

08MAR01 Up at 0730 to get ready for work at 0830...didn't sleep well and woke with a terrible headache and feeling nauseous...like maybe I was getting sea sick. I lost all my appetite and could not even finish eating a bagel. Well it first day on the job, so I better just suck it up and get to work. Three of us took a company pick up to the boat. There she be, tied starboard side to, with only her lower masts set in place:..no booms, no gaffs, and no topmasts. The deck had been rigged with several large hoops running side to side at regular interval from bow to stern. Over this was stretched white shrink-wrap, forming a semi-cocoon over the main deck. The entrance to the ship looked like an igloo! This gave us shelter to work on deck... this was nice as it was snowing. Taking a wide step from the wharf to the ship, I was stepping from a snow encrusted timber through a plywood door, jury rigged into the shrink-wrapped cocoon. Below me was Grand Traverse Bay, on Lake Michigan....a wafer thin crust of ice and snow lay on the water's dead flat surface. Now I that expression "Shiver me timbers" has new meaning. There was work to do....my headache gone, so I knew it was going to be a fine day, doing all kinds of ship stuff. So my first day: Sanding, sanding, some painting, some disassembly so more sanding and painting could be done. Wow..I knew my Captain's license was going to get me great work...actually it was fun, and there were not 5 different client's and past due reports to deal with. Besides I was beginning to learn the ship, piece by piece. Today I know about the decay that I found in the Samson Post, and the miss-fitted hinges on two compartment hatches. So went day one. I washed up and took a walk toward town to a supermarket. Bought a stash of groceries for the loft. While living in the headquarters loft, we get paid a food allowance for food. Once the ship is operational, we're fed on board. So these are my first experiences. It's snowing outside right now...well life is an adventure, no matter where you are. Enjoy it!!!

Second Day, March 9, 2001: First thing, I'm told to go for my pre-employment drug test... I claim I haven't studied, but felt pretty confident that I'd pass. No laughter from the office staff. So I'm off with the country truck. It'd snowed again during the night, just a light dusting though. I head in to the physician's office and submit my sample... there wasn't enough...so I was told to drink LOTS of water and sit and wait. I did...thought my stomach would burst and possibly throw up. About 45 minutes later, I filled the cup and headed back to the office. For the next 4 hours I was passing water about every hour. Next, I was dispatched to the ship to re-rig some fenders and a fender board. Sounds simple, but with the decks covered with shrink-wrap down to the bulwarks, it made it a two person task. Next, there was the start of running some new wiring for an intercom from the nav station to two passenger compartments. You might think that on a larger vessel, this would be simpler than on a smaller compact sailboat. Not so... there are simply MORE complex and MORE inaccessible spaces to deal with. I didn't mention, that this schooner is steel hulled with at least three transverse watertight bulkheads. Enough, that is too technical for this accounting. Bottom line is that it is typical retrofit work on a vessel... never simple or straight- forward. One of my greatest complaints about retrofit on boats has always been that the work was done without recognizing whether the work is maintainable after it was installed, or whether its installation creates a detrimental impact on maintenance of existing systems. So, now I am wearing that "hat" and it is with some trepidation that I proceed with retrofit work, where I'm simply told what the end result is to be.

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Since I'll be based in Michigan for a few months, I bought a bicycle. I've always enjoyed riding... and it's been since I left CA for sailing that I've had any riding of significance. I looked for used ones, but to no avail. A local shop had a basic Raleigh mountain bike on sale, so I took it. It is a basic model, but I'll basically just be pedaling. I added a mirror, rear gear rack, a security cable, splash/mud guard, and got the shop to move the rear break to the left, remove the front break, and switch the shifters. My other bike (in storage in NC cost me $300 20 years ago) It has a better frame and crank/bearings, but this one has newer technology in the breaks and shifters. The shifters are "grip twisters", and I like them much better than the old lever style of my other bike. I picked it up at 1700 yesterday. It rides very well. The traveled roads have just cleared of snow and puddles, as well as most sidewalks/paths... unfortunately, there's more snow forecast this week. Regardless, I rode out to the local airport to check on some flying clubs, etc. It was a great ride.,.. and certainly not a walkable distance, so I'm really happy with my new mobility and means of exercise. The library that I frequent for e-mail etc, is a bout 3 miles from the loft/bunkhouse, so the bike makes it a much easier trip. I'll be exploring more of the city in the future.

I've gotten accustomed to the weather, and working in it, as it is mainly a matter of dressing properly...however, I'm still not used to having to suit up in full battle dress just to go outside. I must be developing more character... well as I always say, it's part of the journey, and it makes for it's own kind of adventure. Due to the climate, Irish Coffees have replaced cold rum drinks...which may as well be ok, because the local stock of rum is nothing more than an excellent marketing scam of selling "hip-flavored" rum...hell, it's probably distilled in Chinese slave labor camps, where they won't even touch it!

I just learned that we are getting a new crew member to join us in the bunkroom. This is going to be VERY interesting. Currently, there are two deckhands in the bunkroom with me now. A twenty-something, and a 19 year old. The older lad is leaving in a week to join a tall ship in Seattle. The younger one is here for the season. The older hand is very together, and self-sufficient, and I'm sorry to see him go. The 19 year old, is a fast (so it is over with)worker and personable, but he is 'SO' 19..mainly in that his housekeeping habits are a problem...in that there are none. He is like the Tasmanian Devil...nothing but destruction and debris is left in his path. As First Mate, I've got to see that order is kept. Unfortunately, as in the days of wood ships, when sailors were of iron, a good swift knock in the noggin with an oak belaying pin would typically work. Not today! So now I'm the house mother too...maybe a good rolling pin would work! Hum...Capt House Mother Ray... I don't remember having to study Human Resource Management techniques for my USCG Masters license?

So here's the intersting part...there are often female sailors on these types of commercial sailing vessels. The Manitou is no exception. Well, I hear that our newly arriving deckhand is an 18-year-old girl who will be sharing our bunkroom. She is traveling up here with her father, who will likely "interview" us and inspect the premises. If you hadn't guessed it by now, our bunkroom is primative... 2 by 4 framed shelves with ship's mattresses in a single common room...no partitions...we are in a warehouse environment. The girl apparently has little to no experience (sailing or otherwise). Well, as I always say... life is an adventure. Now the 19 year old will be double trouble.

Last year they hired a girl with no sailing experience as a deckhand. The first day the ship left the wharf, and she was pulling in a dockline that had dropped into the water, when she got to the wet part, I heard she uttered something to the effect of "Ooh... this is all wet and slimy...I'm not touching this". She left the next day. How did they hire someone like this????

I'm going bike riding...later.

It's been six weeks since I descended out of the clouds over a snow covered country side, still in the lingering icy grip of a late winter. What I perceived to be as snow covered fields were lakes which did not reveal their identity until just a week or so ago. The winter has been harsh here, but it is about passed. Six to eight days ago, as crew on board the schooner Manitou, I was helping rig the massive booms and gaffs as snow and freezing rain was blowing hard out of the north. The cold here has been just that...the kind of cold that feels like fire on your face when the wind exceeds 15 knots... the kind of cold that splits the skin around your fingernails, leaving a raw soreness whenever you need to grip anything with your finger tips. It's a cold that finds every loose fitting closure in your clothing, and sends a cold wind down your back or up your sleeve... it's a relentless cold. Where there are parked cars, there are thick ice cycles from the car to the pavement...formed from snow/ice melt when the car was running, but quickly re-freeze as it drains off when the car parks. Three or four times, since my arrival , the water within the harbor's sea walls sheet over in ice, some places thick enough to resist breakage by a baseball sized stone. Well winter's finally loosing it's grip. Fifty degree days now seem pleasant. Today, the temperature hit an all time high since my arrival, 70 degrees, and it made me break out in a sweat. Locals say that winter is over, but we will still get some fickle days. The water is still in the thirties. It will remain chilly out on Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan. Sixty miles to the north the high was only 35, so I'm not certain as what to expect as normal yet.

More to come.....I'm still new to this web site stuff!