Day: March 8, 2018

Today we had the great pleasure to watch Chim Chim cross the finish line by Punta Mita on their San Diego to Puerto Vallarta 2018 race. We were the only spectators at sea cheering for them. Due to the fact that we are anchored in Punta Mita right now, followed the position of Chim Chim during the race and also being in contact with the crew, we were able to time it perfect and took the dinghy out to meet them at the finish line. No other boats were near them at that time.

Here a little clip and pics:

The owner John Gallagher and crew Kyle Gunderson were so nice and accommodating, they even invited us on board right after the finish line crossing with our dinghy in tow.

Here the happy crew with Punta Mita in the background. GREAT JOB EVERYONE!

Great to be aboard of this beautiful race Catamaran.

Our Captain will help deliver the Gunboat ’62 back to San Diego next week.

 

We decided to take Alsager on a short trip to Punta Mita, to check if the motor is running well after the new heat exchanger had been installed and also to make sure there are no more leaks. We did not expect any after sitting in the Marina for a few days, but you cannot be sure until the boat is moving.

There were still a few places we wanted to visit  down south and the closest anchorage from Punta Mita is an approx 40 NM sail, so we had to test the boat first. The only problem we had seemed to be the head, which leaked after reinstallation. The Captain got it working 100% again after 3 days! It did not sit well with me, when he got the bucket out on the 2nd day. 😉

One of my jobs were to climb the mast half way up to reattach chafe protection and secure it with additional tape on top of zip ties, to make sure it lasts longer this time. It is still weird to go up the mast while the boat is rocking and wind is blowing, but I was less nervous this time. Still, I am not sure why my stomach muscles are always close to a cramp. 😉

Punta Mita has been good to us, we found time to exercise while surfing some waves, stand up paddle boarding, having whales in the anchorage has been super entertaining and I tried to get pretty close rowing with our inflatable dinghy and having my camera in hand. Also our friend Simon paddled out on his SUP and a whale dove up right between us and we got a little worried for a second…

HUGE back! Photo doesn’t do it justice.

Ones again we were able to meet up with our cruising buddies from Sailing Vessel Sur, who started there journey not far from us from Monterey, CA and also the Catamaran Nibi, with our Canadian friends who love to Surf and Windsurf and started out being in Mexico in an RV and than bought a Cat to be able to anchor closer to the breaks. Incredible to me, they just pick up sailing along the way! See pic below.

We spent quite some time at the Roof Top Bar “Terraza Manolo” and enjoyed the view,      $ 1,- beers, Football and Wifi.

Especially the Captain has a hard time leaving this place, he is just very fond of what it has to offer and having likewise people around we can call our friends now!

But from what we heard and read, we should not pass up on some other places down south. Since we have the time and made it so far, we are going for it and soon pack up to continue with hopefully stops in Ipala (40 NM) – Chamela (50 NM) – Tenacatita (32 NM) – Barra Navidad (18 NM)! It will be the longest we have sailed without our crew. Going south and downwind we should be fine. And we hope, that we will find a good weather window for the return!

But Punta Mita, we will most likely be back. 😀