Log of Black Wind - Part 3

By James.

On the way in to Puerto Vallarta I actually considered the possibility that we were being torpedoed. In the dark early morning two plumes of water streaked towards the boat, rather surprising me. They turned to account for our speed. Homing torpedoes? As I noticed how phosphorescent the water was I then realised we were being targeted... by dolphins. They can certainly move.

The Black Wind Saloon

When we got into the marina (Opequimar) we fuelled and cleaned the boat from deck to bilge, ready for our new guests arriving. I found Frank (A retired lawyer from Texas) had been there close to a week already and in his spare time had bought a timeshare ( he must have been seriously bored with the wait)?! Soon after that came Rob (a teacher from New York) who joined us several days later, and finally an old friend of mine Catherine (a sailor from Scotland) came out as crew. We were back up to strength again with 7 of us onboard and the boat was clean although not quite ready to go as she needed maintenance.

We moved marina after the first night to the next nearest one, but not before experiencing a shower unlike any I had had before (even worse than the French Foreign Legion's in Aubagne). The dark blue room was completely open with a couple of mouldy shower heads in it which trickled out cold water. If you avoided stepping on the overflowing sewage you could come out of there slightly cleaner than when you went in...

The new marina however was twice as nice and half the price. If we hadn’t needed the electricity hook up due to power issues we would have anchored, which would have been even cheaper (in most places anyway – we were charged to anchor back in Cabo San Lucas). It was good to be somewhere which felt a little more ‘real’ after Cabo too, and we found some good bars and cheap restaurants in the old town. The 'romantic sector' was very good for places to eat, and the bar we started off in was wonderfully unique: Playing a selection of seventies and eighties music, and with a row of seats for older women with short skirts to sit just above our heads on the balcony above the bar, we got lost in the old pirate world feel of the place. Frank ‘arranged’ for the shot lady to shoot me and I did indeed come out of there smiling. Sadly though, due to democracy (a rarity on a boat) we finished in a modern night club which was plastered in the mottled black and white of a cow. Everywhere. Being older than the crew, I was of course mortified by the price of drinks here until I realised they were served in an oil drum. That's more like it. I have to say it is also the first time I ever spent the night with my friends on our own private scaffolding platform too.

We took a day out to anchor off the beach and swim, then got back to working on the boat for a few days where Chris and Kris scraped the decks (thanks guys). Throughout the work in Puerto Vallerta the pilot guides were proved right and much of what we needed was just not available or priced way over the top. In the end it was a hard decision, but the refit work we required was going to need better and cheaper suppliers for the materials and equipment, so we planned to return to somewhere back north.

Determined to continue sailing but without the funds to support a serious refit we now existed without a working engine, and most worrying we had to strop the Genoa sheet winches together on a port tack to keep the starboard side of the cockpit from taking leave of the boat. This focused us very well though.

So it was back to Cabo San Lucas. It took twice as long on the return trip and I began to believe the advice this time advising against the journey into the prevailing wind and current. When we got to Cabo, Chris and Kris left us as they could not go on with the thought of sailing against it all for the next few weeks. I mentioned earlier that the way we sailed (often without using the engine, even when we did have one that worked) is not for everybody and it takes a certain attitude and philosophy to be able to do it long term.

Rob finished his time too as he was only along for a short trip and returned to his teaching job in New York. When the four of us (Blair, Catherine, Frank and I) left Cabo (all of us ill with some sort of flu) to sail back up the coast, the wind and current only got worse and we made next to nothing in the right direction. In fact we were heading further west into the Pacific Ocean. With Catherine’s flight already booked to return to Scotland, I decided we had to push forward with getting ashore and we set a new course for La Paz, stopping at… you guessed it; Cabo once more. Not for long however and we were soon sailing north into the Sea of Cortez. Blair actually skippered this part of the trip as he needed to work towards his qualifications, and I would like to mention he did a very good job of it. It was very nice to relax and to laugh at somebody else sweating over the charts too.

Wear a random hat day: Left to right are Frank, Blair, me, and Rob

"This black wind calls my name to you no more"

Temple of Love – Sisters of Mercy