Saturday, October 29, 2011

Saturday, Oct 29:

Sans Frontieres crew pulled anchor early to sail to their next destination. Unfortunately, the drowning of the satellite phone will make communication more difficult!

Now is the time to remind all sailors that it is very important to store your electronic devices in the waterproof bag to go to shore. Beaching the dinghy is always a little bit tricky and even the smallest wave on the wrong angle can put you in a soaking wet situation, resulting in the loss of your communication device (they don't like salty water)...

Stay tuned....

Tortuga Bay

Hung out on boat most of today. 
Came ashore, we are having a beer before heading back to boat. Slept
well last night. Real quiet nice swell, surf breaking ...  


Tartan sails beautiful. Very nice sailing offshore boat. 

We spent the afternoon sewing up spinnaker, the headboard ring broke! 
 Sailed all the way here; took about 56 hours. 
 Arrived yesterday at 630

Shoulder hurts from driving in19 knots wind for few hours.

Boat routine is great: breakfast around 10, margaritas at noon, lunch
around 3, more cerveza, dinner at sunset, and evening aperitifs. Cool
sailing with French guys! Maybe I'm part French.

Don
and Sans Frontieres team


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Day 2, Tueday oct 25, skipper report:

Hello Hello! 
We put up the sails early this am and were slow for a bit until we decided to take the coastal option, around noon, passing between San Martin Island and baja San Quintin, picked up 15 knots with 17 to 18 kts gusts and sailed at great speed under symetric spinaker...between 8 and 10.5 knots for 6 hours. 
This evening, we put up the asymetical, hit gusts at 18 knts and had to take it it down fast ... safety first :-) . 
We'll spend the night under full main and the self tacking jib, going about 7 kts 110' to the wind, good seas from behind . At this pace, we might be in Tortuga Bay before tomorrow night... FAST!

We saw about  10 whales, some as close as 200 yards... except for one last night that came up 50 feet from the boat in complete darkness and silence! Freak scare for a few seconds. Then  she went... (well, we guess because she blew again just in the back of the boat and we were back to complete silence).


All is well , oh and by the way, we caught a mackerel, a very long and skinny one! enough for appetizer...


Now sailing under the milky way!

Hasta La Vista, until tomorrow,

Don, Fredo and Nico

Monday, October 24, 2011

Monday October, 24; Day 1:

Today started with a light unexpected rain and barely an wind. The crew was on deck at 9:00am, working the last minute details. 170 boats cut the starting line at 11:00 am.

Skipper's report:
"Hello Hello!  Sans Frontieres here. Our current position is 31'51'4 N  116'58'9W, at 8pm, just passed Ensenada. Condition is 4 knts wind, calm seas. we are going 6.7 knots over ground, powering.

Start at 11 was with very low wind, 5 knts so it was a rolling start... everybody instructed to power at 6 knots speed. we set the spinaker up at 3:15 to 6:30pm, going between 4.2 and 6 kts. bbq sausage and salad for dinner... banana flambe for dessert, with Lamauny French Rhum!   :-)
saw one whale around 5pm and a bunch of dolphins a couple of times, with some playing around the boat for a few minutes... very pretty... heading for Cabo too!

looks like the night should be pretty easy, powering at 6 knts.
"
 






TOSCA

Be sure to visit TOSCA - Tartan Owners of S. California.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

"Sans Frontieres" all shiny and ready to go!!

Day -2 before departure:
Last minute shopping for fresh food, all cans and dry food being on board and safely stored away already. "sans frontieres" got a spa traitment and is all shiny, ready to go!


here is the message from the Baja Ha-Ha Team:
"We’re encouraging San Diego sailors to join us for the annual send-off of southbound cruisers who are departing in the Baja Ha-Ha. More than 160 boats are signed up!
  • Who: All San Diego Bay Boaters
  • When: Monday, October 24
  • Schedule:
    9:00 a.m.-9:30 a.m. - South Bay boats pass San Diego en route to Harbor Island.
    9:45 a.m. - All boats gather off America's Cup Harbor between Harbor Island and Shelter Island.
    10:00 a.m. - Parade past southwest corner of Shelter Island past the San Diego fireboat.
    11:00 a.m. - America's Cup starting gun salutes Baja Ha-Ha 18.
  • Where: View a diagram of the parade route here.
  • What: Bring your boat, fly some flags, sound a horn and help the San Diego Port Tenants Association and Sportfishing Association of Southern California give Baja Ha-Ha XVIII sailors a royal send-off for their cruise to Mexico.
This is an opportunity to liven up a Monday morning, get other sailors inspired for destinations beyond the horizon and bring some attention to the sailing lifestyle on San Diego Bay. If you can’t get your boat out, drive out to the west end of Shelter Island with your air horn, bagpipes, Sousaphone, glockenspiel or vuvuzela."

To learn more about the event, go to:

http://www.baja-haha.com/parade.html

Join us to wish fair winds to the "Sans Frontieres" crew....