No Wind.. No Seas... No Jam

With a bit more prepration we have the boat ready to go for the crossing on thursday Nikita picked up some work on Good News rigging a triaid { a cable joining the 2 masts at the top } it was strong wind but he loved it. Mom did guess what ?? more groceries.

4:00 AM the alarm rings and the phone, yes the nieghbours phone, Josie is at the gate with our cushons new, chocolate colour, we square up, three cups of coffee

check all systems all running, stern,and mast head lights on. warm up engine and we are off 5:30.Crear the point at 6am. a light beeze  not enough to raise sail and 1 ft seas we are doing 6 1/2 Kts. the sunrise is gorgeous over Guyimas a pinkish tone

Shane looks like he is enjoying himself we all take turns napping except kim and shane, who now is steering the boat. Mid way we are in 10kts of wind with our foresail out motersailing at 7.5 kts . Our GPS says we will just make it before dark. as we round Punta Conseption its 5:20 8 miles to go. Up the chanel we are greated by 2 doz. dolphins

who swim with us we have 15kts of wind and are sailing 8 kts .As we weave through the inner islands we mistake one bay for our destination and steer off into El Burro where we have been once before. we swing in between two anchored boats and lay our chain. Reversing hard we set the anchor, and its done, we ve made it, and Shane did not have to use his special stash of Jam ,the one for, just in case. The anchorage is quite except for the odd semi using his Jake brake on shore. Looks like Berthas restaurant is closed, so we cook a nice dinner on board. The boys sneek some fishing in off the boat and land a few. we all head to bed early. 

Gypsywind has carried us across the sea safely for the 4th time.

Gypsywind and crew at anchor at El Burro cove.

Gypsywind Down the road to the water So Thirsty.......San Carlos after 2 long years in the dry

the Crew of Gypsy Wind 2014  (El Burro Bay Bahia Conception )
Complements of WiZ

Sea legs and jellyfish

If you ever boated before you will know things take longer then usual on boats. projects seem to take days.Thought we had the heads running ,well the were both leaking. not good in a boat or anywhere for that matter.The forward selinoid vent thing started acting up. this is the supply of salt water to the head inside the cabinet, not exactly where you want salt water. Nikita had worked on it the day before no susses. The back head (thats why they call me the head mechanic)leaks at the back, where you can't see, so I pulled the thing onto the dock and replaced the seals, oh and one of the four bolts (stales steel) had rusted off.after the install it still leaked.One of my lower moments. I think it took 3 Cervazas to cure.After buying a new O ring the forward head was back in duty, the aft took a full rebuild of the electrical moter, actually just a seal on the shaft but took the whole thing apart just cause I enjoy this kind of work. Everyone went shopping for provisions it was the last day for the rental car. With all this fun we had a small weather window on Saterday that we could not make. so we are fixing the last of the little things, including flushing the water maker. Today we went out for our first sail (sunday) after pancakes of coarse. What a lovely time everything worked even though we got out around the point and the wind blew and the seas got to over 4ft, so we turned around and anchored in an small cove. the kids swam, fed the gulls and snorkeled. It was truly beautiful until the discovery of jellyfish. Nikita got stung on the chest and Shane on the leg. I was in my glory for I was making fresh water down below. we needed to make it back in time to meet the upholstery guy, and besides the wind was gusty. Shane steered us in to the Marina where the gusts were over 25kts. I took over to get us onto the dock. I eased off on the throttle but we were doing 5kts so I put it into neutral, still too fast, reverse to act as a brake, now the steering is unpredictable. Crap Our neighbours Good News are on the dock to receive us. we are coming in just a tad off but OK the wind is on the stern pushing us, I need to throw it in reverse again. Dock lines off ,crew off all looks good, we didn't hit. I put it into neutral, just about to shut the key off ,something stops me. I jump off, notice no spring line yet. I ask Nikita for the spring line, he does reluctantly, he was holding the boat, I realize the cleat is not in a great place to retie. the boat travels forward, its now blowing 25kts steady, boat is picking up speed. the boys got trouble with the stern line its tangled. someone yells reverse, we are going to hit. I jump on board but Kiya has put it in reverse already, like a saving angel, I throttle up, we didn't hit but our bow sprint is over the dock and it looks like it. all the lines get fixed, another spring gets put out from the bow. what a scare. everyone is hyped up. Nikita puts a second stern line on. Shane a second bow line. All is good, we thank everyone for being there, as our neighbours walk away I realize Gypsywinds' engine is still running; I reluctantly shut it off. Tied to A17 in San Carlos Marina Gypsywind and crew

Mexico, sun and a dirty boat

After two nights in Mazatlan (a treat before the work) we have arrived in San Carlos where Gypsywind has been brought to the work yard for us.We are staying down the road in a nice hotel with a pool and a view of the sunsets over the ocean. we were warned that the boat will be in rough shape, so we braced ourselves,only to be surprised she was not all that bad. the canopy was in tact. No roaches living on board, though we found two tiny dead ones, no food I guess. The bad news was the tiny gravel all over the decks and the green stains on the fiberglass both on deck and on the upper haul. We washed and scrubbed all 6 of us but the stains were not coming out. Our neighbours had the same problem but theirs was slowly coming out. Their boat was left only for 4 months , Gypsywind 22 months. We hired the yard to polish out, the guy gave up after an hour.Our last day in the yard we installed all new batteries actually 6, 2 were delivered next day to the dock. We also fired up the Volvo Penta 10 sec. of cranking, stop, three more and she started,what a relief. Nikita had the hose in the intake for cooling.Shane took charge of the top side. In the mean time, Kim had stripped all the bedding,and sail covers, and rewashed them in the hotel(free laundry) and put the place into beautiful order. Kiya and her wiped down the entire inside. the boys had the top side decks booms and ropes clean as well. all done with a 12ft ladder as access to the boat We lost the day for cleaning the stains and next morning we had an 8am splash time. After paying our invoice for the dry storage, the loader/ trailer hauled Gypsywind down the road a 1/2 KM, we eased Gypsywind into her more natural state (floating), going below checking all the trough hauls, no leaks, this is good, this was exiting. Engine turned over, like she can and we backed off the dock, watching the prop walk that pulls to starboard we put her in forward. The girls ran to our slip to receive us. We eased into the slip like we had done it before, no boats damaged and the dock in tact. Gypsywind has got her dignity back.After moving the stored equipment to the deck, we cleaned some more. The crew celebrated, as we settled in for our first night on board. An adventure begins. Gypsywind and Crew reunited.

We're Back 2014

Hey all you gypsy wind followers brace yourself for our new adventure. after 2 years of land lobbering we return to gypsywind who her self has been on the hard. not to sure who has been living on board but are bags are packed and here we come just past the the avalanche snow removile aquipment we have made our way though the kootneay pass this time we come with a new crew member Shane kiya’s partner. it has been a test to live with 5 family members in a large home lets see how we do in tight quarters .Shanes' last boating exsperince didint go so well . Calgrey here we come, Mazatlan well be a 2 day stop over and then on to San Carlos where Gypsy Wind awaits our splash date is feb 25th ,we expect a bit of work for we have not been back for 22 months. Crew of GypsyWind { Boatless}