10/17/03 Log = 1477 It’s 12:00 noon and we’re just off San Simeon under motor. We had a wonderful sail all through the night with 18-20 knot winds behind us. We averaged about 6 knots with that wind. But now, the skies are cloudy and we are under motor.

10/18/03 Log = 1604 It’s 11:30 am and we are under sail just off the Channel Islands, near Santa Barbara. The sun is out and Adrian and I just had our first hot shower…feel much better now. The nights have been very wet with condensation dripping down from the mast and sails. Now the days are getting warmer and drier.

10/19/03 Log = 1705 It’s 9:00 am and we just arrived at Avalon on Catalina Island. We covered 383 nautical miles to get here. The sun is out, it’s very warm and we just fueled up the boat and filled the water tanks. We have a mooring just two rows off the beach in the inner harbor.

10/21/03 Wendy and Lori arrive from the mainland. It’s good to see Wendy again. Now with the four of us aboard, the festivities begin. Lori is a frequent visitor to Catalina and proceeds to show us Luau Larry’s and other fine drinking establishments. Immediately, Lori and Adrian get their "wicky wacked" and have the hats to prove it. Adrian was scheduled to leave today, as it’s Pearl’s birthday tomorrow. But….she has work that night and he is having so much fun, he decided to stay on for another two days. We spend time ashore eating, drinking and sightseeing. We also swim off the boat, although the water is a bit "refreshing".

10/23/03 Adrian left in the morning and Lori left in the afternoon taking the ferry back to the mainland. It was nice having them aboard, but now Wendy and I are alone at last. We pick up the dinghy and prepare to get underway early in the morning.

10/24/03 Log = 1705 Wendy and I leave for San Diego before dawn for the start of the Baja-Ha-Ha. We have about an 11 hour sail ahead of us. Although the sun isn’t up yet, the day/night is warm. We mostly motor sail to San Diego and arrive at 5:30 pm. The harbormaster is closed and we just anchor in the A9 anchorage. The trip is only 71 nm long.

10/25/03 We check with the harbormaster and they say we can’t stay at A9 although there are about 20 boats there. We weigh anchor and head off to pick up Edda, one of our crewmembers, and get fuel and water. We then proceed to another anchorage. This one is a bit farther from the Ha Ha festivities, but closer to town for supplies. Kosta arrives from Cancun later in the afternoon and now we have our full crew aboard. We do more food shopping and have enough food on board to last us a month.

10/26/03 The festivities start off with a skipper’s meeting followed by a holloween costume party. It’s amazing what some people will wear….we have pictures to prove it. After the party, it’s off to the boat for a last good night sleep for a while.

10/27/03 Log = 1776 Start of the Baja-Ha-Ha!! When we wake up in the morning, it looks like night. The boat is covered in ash and ash is raining down on us. When you can see the sun, it is very dark red in the sky….very eerie sight. There is no wind so the Grand Poobah calls for a rolling start we all motor down at 6 knots. Two hours later we start, and kill the motor.

10/28/03 Log =1895 Been motoring since 7:30 last night. The wind on only 5 knots, but at least the sky is clear at last. The smoke and haze from the San Diego fires carried down way into Mexico. We saw dolphins jumping in our bow wake for the first time. This is sure to be a good omen.

10/29/03 Log = 1995 Set the spinnaker yesterday and sailed for only about 5 hours. This leg is about 80% motoring. There are rumors that the Poobah may throw out this leg. Started fishing and got a strike. He jumped out of the water and I lost him. Fishing from a sailboat is tougher that it seems. Shortly after a whale blew about 100 feet of our stern. He looked to be much larger than the boat. Wendy was screaming that he might surface right under us. He never did and we never saw him again.

10/30/03 Log = 2102 Arrived in Turtle Bay. We went into town and had some lunch and a few beers. Quite the town….dirt roads and rusting old American cars. The local restaurant was quite surprising….they even had a huge disco that we would discover the next night. What a town of that size does with a disco eludes me. Later in the afternoon, we took the dinghy to the beach. We dumped it. This was my first surf landing and I muffed it. Through some combination of mis timing the wave, a dinghy wheel folding up and who knows what, Wendy, Kosta and I ended up the water. Somehow Edda managed to stay in the dinghy, but got wet anyway. At least we didn’t flip it completely. Later we found Edda’s shorts and the dinghy took kit was taken from the dinghy. The day before, Kosta lost a hat that he left in the dinghy. I guess the kids are just opportunists. We purchased fuel from a local panga. He came out to the boat with two 17-gallon jugs of fuel and siphoned it into our tanks. This filled us up and we didn’t have any problems with the fuel.

11/1/03 Log = 2233 Start of Leg 2. Nice start under sail. Our first 24 hour run was 125 nm….not too bad. This was the best sailing leg, but a little too much wind to be comfortable. The winds were building steadily and by the next night, we put a reef in the main and rolled the jib up a little.

11/3/03 Log = 2356 Arrived in Bahia Santa Maria after a tense night. We had 30 knots of wind and the jib was jammed. We didn’t want to go into the Bay at night we sailed on until dawn. We had to tack and then put the furling line on a winch to get the jib rolled in. After we got the sails down, we motored into the Bay. The wind was 30 knots right on the nose and we had a tough time making headway. We were getting drenched, but at least it was warm. Once we got the anchor down, it was time to sleep. No one bothered to get off the boats that day. We just bought four lobsters and had a lobster dinner aboard. I’m glad the anchor held in that wind.

11/4/03 The wind was still up the next day, but down to about 15-20 knots. We didn’t bother to launch the dinghy with the high surf and for only one trip. We just hired a panga to take us all to shore for the beach party. Some locals showed up with fish, lobster, beer and a live rock and roll band. They travel about 11 hours over dirt roads just to do this. It was totally amazing and they were good too!

11/5/03 Log = 2357 Start of Leg 3, the final leg to Cabo. The winds were calm and we did another rolling start. Some boats took off early to get a head start to spend money in Cabo. We took our time and got off the starting line about 30 minutes late.

11/6/03 Log = 2480 Sailed fast all night. We should be in Cabo by the afternoon. This was truly a great sailing leg…..good wind and warm temps. Arrived in Cabo at 3:00 pm. We went to the marina to fill our water tanks, wash the boat down and then off the anchorage just off the beach. We did really well on water. The four of us didn’t use the 150 gallons I carry. Later that night we went to Squid Row with the cruisers. We were in a mood to party that night. I don’t remember much, but we did dance and do jello shots that night.

11/7/03 This is the night of the beach party. We successfully landed the dinghy on the beach at Cabo, next to the Mango Deck. The Mango Deck is where the Ha Ha beach party was held. 2 for 1 drinks….woo hoo. Later that night Wendy was dancing on the stage, but I missed it. Kosta drug me away to meet 14 women he planned on bringing back to the boat. I have to admit, he did well that time. I guess chicks just dig him. The 14 never did make it to the boat….coast guard regulations and such.

11/8/03 The awards party that night was a bit of a let down from all the previous get togethers. It took a long time to introduce everyone and pass out awards. We took 3^rd place…..no one does worse than 3^rd place and in our category, there were nine 3^rd place finishers.

11/9/03 Lien came down to meet Kosta in Cabo. Her flight got messed up and she was stuck in Dallas for a night, but she eventually made it. They got a hotel room in town and Wendy and I had our first long hot shower in three weeks.

11/11/03 Kosta and Lien take a water taxi out the boat to join Wendy and I for a little day sail. The weather was perfect with the wind about 10-14 knots and the temps in the 90s. It was good to be sailing again after five days at anchor.

11/12/03 Kosta and Lien left for home today. Wendy and I are alone again until she leaves on Sunday the 16^th. The days seem to run into one another here. It is very hot and humid and our day usually starts out with a swim off the boat then a fresh water rinse/shower. We do some boat chores then head off into town for awhile. Then its back to the boat for a siesta, maybe back to town for dinner and to bed early. Cabo is wearing on me. I can’t wait to leave.

11/16/03 I just saw Wendy off on the shuttle to the airport. The boat is very lonely without her. We’ve spent almost four weeks together and it’s a strange feeling not to have her here. The weather has cooled down quite a bit with the skies mostly cloudy. I have plenty of boat projects to keep me busy while I wait for Wendy to call to tell me she is home safely. The forward water tank is not drawing. Apparently white crystals have gotten into the pump and I had to disassemble it to fix it….everything is working fine now. I rewarded myself with a cold beer. Wendy and I only used 75 gallons of water in the week we’ve been here.

11/17/03 Another lonely night and day without Wendy. Woke up this morning to howling winds. A norther is blowing down on us. The wind in the anchorage is 20 knots, gusting higher and the temperature is only 79 degrees. The skies are quite cloudy. This is time to hang in and don’t try to cross the Sea of Cortez. I hear it can blow 40-50 kts out there during a norther. Luckily, I have lots of cleaning projects to do today. With the cooler temps, it shouldn’t be too bad.

11/18/03 Picked Brian up at the dinghy dock at 2:30 pm. We cruised around town briefly that night.

11/19/03 Brian and I took the dinghy to the beach and got some sun and walked around. Later that night we went into town to Squid Roe. We ran into a bunch of young folks from LA who thought we weren’t having enough fun so they bought us each a shot of tequila. We did then.

11/20/03 1:30 pm Log = 2534 Brian and I left for Mazatlan under motor. The GPS is acting up again. Luckily we have several backups. We went shopping earlier in the day to replenish our food, water and beer supplies. Just before leaving we filled up the diesel, gasoline and water tanks.

11/21/03 12:30 pm Log = 2636 Sailed all night under lumpy seas. Brian was suffering from mal de mar, but recovered the next day. The GPS is working again and worked all the way to Mazatlan. Caught a fish and had him within 50 yards of the boat. The fishing reel literally exploded and jammed for good. We pulled the fish in by hand only to get him next to the boat. He looked like a 20 lb. tuna before he broke the line. In frustration, the captain threw the reel overboard after breaking down twice previously.

11/22/03 7:00 am Log = 2684 Arrived at Mazatlan Marina after motoring very slowing all night. We slowed down to make our entrance at first light. We found a huge cruising community here with some people here for years. There is a radio net each morning and we had our first marina potluck this afternoon. Everyone is real friendly, but we are the strangers in the close knit group.

11/24/03 Did some maintenance on the boat today. Took the winches apart and found some broken screws in the self tailer. A couple of guys in the marina have a business doing marine maintenance and we got the winch drum redrilled and tapped. The marina is having a big Thanksgiving party with a band and fireworks, but we’re leaving on the Wednesday the 26^th for PV. We’ll meet up with Mike Chaffee and hang around for a few days. It looks like we’ll spend Thanksgiving at sea.