Let’s go boating…

I had become friends with several RV’ers here in San Felipe, and it turned out that my new friend had a boat. I was all enthused about the possiblility of getting to sail a bit here in Mexico so offered what little expertize I had to assist. Steve, the owner, already had a plan, but welcomed the help. First he had to run up north and visit family for a while, afterwards, he and I could try to get his boat in the water.

After he got back, things went quickly. He and I drove over to the Yacht club’s man made harbor and scoped it out, he rented a space for his boat, and hired a mechanic to work on the bearings on the trailer. But he discovered that the antenna he’d just installed was missing.

I had seen it from my upper story palapa during the time he was gone visiting his family up near Stockton, so we knew it was up there at one time, but had no idea where it had run off too. He’d installed it a few weeks before after he’d bought a newer ship to shore radio. Required a new antenna. He’d strung new coax and thought he’d gotten everything tight the way it was suppose to be but, apparently, he’d only finger tightened the lock nut. We’d had a minor windstorm while he was away that I mentioned in my last blog post and the mast (it was on top of the mast) was up, it had whipped back and forth enough that the antenna was thrown out of it’s connector and ended up on the ground. Near his boat, on his rental property.

His neighbor spotted it one day, and took it with him to whack dogs that attack when you’re riding your bike somewhere. And one did attack. He attempted to whack it, and the antenna was lost, slipping out of his hand during the attack. So, no antenna. Steve and I went downtown looking around and I suggested a stainless steel rod. We couldn’t find that, but Steve found a brass rod that would do the trick so later that day, we lowered the mast, and installed the antenna. The mast had to be lowered anyway to get the boat out of the RV park since there were some electrical wires crossing the entrance/exit.

A short time later we arrive at the harbor. The entire harbor is man made, there was some talk of a cruise line stopping here and disgorging 100’s of tourists at a time, but then the crash happened in 2008 so they’d gotten this far on building the facilities. There’s lots of abandoned buildings here.

Over there is the fishing dock. Tide is out so the boat is fairly low to the dock. All the rocks you see are granite and imported from just 20-50 miles away. And here’s Steve’s boat with the mast down. We’ll get it up here in a bit… And with some pushing and hauling, the mast is up! The replacement antenna is sitting up there minding it’s own business. Steve’s an electronic engineer so he calculated the length and such so it’ll work fine. This time, he used a tool to tighten the collet.Here’s the ramp where we’ll launch. One of the fishing boats getting ready to haul out. The mast is back up and we’re all ready to dip the boat… First some minor adjustments. Steve knows what he’s doing, and has been sailing for years. Soon, we’re dipped, and trying to get a recalcitrant boat to release the trailer. Ahh, a pelican checking us out. Finally, it’s separated from the trailer. Steve tries to drive it out of the water, and the emergency brake wouldn’t release! And other fishermen waiting and wanting out.  Turned out the brake release cable was missing! Steve hadn’t used the EB since he bought the truck and had no idea the cable wasn’t there originally. Anyway, he just powered it up the ramp and parked while I held the boat. Came back down and had a hell of a time climbing back onboard. Made it obviously as there he is backing the boat up while I head over to the slip.  Meanwhile, took a shot or two of the distant beach. Really lovely here. And here’s the dock area he’s rented. Mostly Navy boats here. There he is. All parked sort of, waiting for me to run down and tie him up to a chock or two. After I get him tied off, I check out the local boats…this is a Mexican Navy boat. And a couple private boats. This private boat really didn’t look like it’s been used much. Loads of green slime on it.  Another Navy boat. This is a Mexican military landing craft. The boat drops this ramp and Marines charge ashore.  And here’s Steve’s boat all ready to sail. No sailing today, we’ll do that in a few days when there’s some wind. Pretty calm today. Looks tiny next to those other boats.

And that’s our day getting the boat ready to sail. We stopped for pizza for dinner on the way home. Yumm!