Passages to La Paz - Power Boat and Driving

Rob, brother Dave, friend Dan and parents Bert and Alice arrived in La Paz after a two week departure from San Diego on Elegante, the parent's newly acquired power boat.We will have fun getting them reacquainted to their new cruising lifestyle, as they visit favorite spots in the Sea of Cortez this season.

Nancy and La Paz based friend Jeanne, doggy Beau and a few stuffed animal mascots arrived in La Paz a day later in the parent's white SUV, affectionately called TB, Tankito Blanco. It was Nancy's first driving trip down, and was very relaxing road trip, with fairly good roads and nice scenery.

Here are some photos of both trips south.  Can't tell who was having more fun!!

Jeanne, Lefty and Nancy ready for the trip

Have car, will pack full of things!

Beau, age 16, was the perfect road trip companion

Only a few water logged arroyos in the road

Interesting salt outlined rock formations on mountains

The dreaded semi trucks - passing slow trucks on the single lane highway took some fortitude

Three days later, arrival in La Paz at Marina Palmira
Mascots, and Gals are still smiling

Dias de los Muertos display at Hotel BajaCactus

Intrepid crew of Elegante prior to San Diego Departure 

Brother Dave was the master fisherman for the trip South.  Here is  a nice tuna we caught.  (The Tuna is on the right).

Sunrise over Baja

Leaving Cabo in our wake, on the way to La Paz

Nice Marlin caught in the Cerralvo Channel

Dolphins enjoying Elegante's wake.

Finally some float time at Bahia de los Muertos

Are two props better than one?  Amazing clear water is Playa Bonanza on Espiritu Santu

Dan posing with his Stone IPA

Elegante safely tucked away in new home at Marina Palmira

Summer Vacation

Picture perfect view of the Golden Gate Bridge
*Photographer Bryan

Our summer was at a pace that even Nancy could not keep up with.  This is the 2nd summer without our home to go back to.  With the support of land based friends who offered up their homes, garage door entries, cars, temporary storage facilities for the growing luggage, and encouragement, (gracias, machas gracias!!)  we zig-zagged up and down the West Coast, with a 3000 mile detour to explore Acadia National Park near Bangor, Maine and the family farm in Vermont.  As Bryan is working full time in Silicon Valley on his internship, each stop naturally included another short visit into the San Francisco area.

For those that are interested in another description of Hurricane Odile's devastation on the Baja California Sur last month, check out a summary of what happened, recently posted on our friends' blog from Eagle's: Big Left Turn.
We are thankful for the support and continued communications from the Mexico based community of friends during the aftermath of the hurricane.  And we are very eager to return to our favorite cruising hometown of La Paz as soon as possible.

Here are some photos to catch us up to October.  It takes a lot of work to have this much fun!   

See you on the water soon.

Family Photo: Celebrating Tom and Jenny's San Francisco Wedding

Nancy racing the Allis Chalmers tractor around the farm in Vermont.

A Cruiser reunion in Los Altos with Sylvia
Tom was on the Pacific Cup sailing to Hawai'i

The Steinway has a new home and cover;  Kitty Cosmos stretches out on his new perch.
Nancy enjoyed playing her several times this summer.

Another Cruiser Reunion in Sonoma County w/ 1st year buddies
Sue and John (missing from camera lens) from Wizard; Michael from Patanjali (currently moored in South Pacific) 

Jenny and Tom and the  Gang
A Beautiful Wedding and Reception in Chinatown, San Francisco

The 1919 Model T Depot Hack debuts at Mom's retirement home in Placerville
JD and Rob 

Linda and Harry, Fabulous hosts aboard Rendez Vous on the Canadian Waterways

Spotted Prawns in Desolation Sound

Cracked Crab and Red Wine on the back deck

A night of Revelry with Glenda and Laird in West Vancouver, BC
We house and dog sat with Quinn, their Portuegese waterdog.

Many hikes with Jerry, daughter Andrea and the mighty pug dog Olive
British Columbia

Our buddy Quinn: Reading a bedtime story in West Vancouver

Quinn and Rob: Watching the Hurricane status in Mexico

A surprise visit with Kaaren and Jim and their new boat, SeaHorse
Victoria, BC

Engine room envy: Jim and Rob

Cruiser reunion with Barbara, SV Zoe, Seattle

Bryan hiking Windy Hill Preserve
A four hour hike is a great way to catch up

Oyster Magazine Article Published

This post breaks our "Blog is on Summer Vacation rule", but only slightly.

The attached article was just published in Oyster's Summer 2014 magazine.  It is a condensed version of our first 6 weeks of cruising south from San Francisco to Cabo San Lucas almost 2 years ago.
You may recognize some of the content from our earlier posts.   Hope you enjoy it....   We've been asked to submit another article for the next magazine published...sure glad we have the blogs to refresh our memory.

Rob and I are enjoying our summer travels across North America.  We're in West Vancouver, BC now. Shindig is safe and secure in the Marina Palmira in La Paz.  We are eager to return to our sailing adventures.  Send us a comment below, email or FB message.

The article starts on Page 85.

PDF here:

http://www.oystermarine.com/documents/oyster_news/ON76.pdf

Summer Vacation for Shindigsailing

We've been back in the States for over two weeks now, and have switched into our other life as we plan our summer calendar.  While our friends, Tom & Jeanne from La Paz Cruisers Supply are keeping a watchful eye over Shindig during the hurricane threats down in Mexico, our thoughts are now more towards how to see friends and family, without our house, car, or oddly, enough time.  Even with lots of hospitable friends and family, we are sorry (Lo Siento) that we may  not be able to connect with everyone during the short time we are in the States and Canada.

Nancy's birthday celebration is well underway in Southern CA.  It started with the return to Rob's family in Canyon Lake (Southern CA) and a week long visit from Bryan on his way back from college. After two weeks of family dinners, card playing, boat rides, shopping sprees at Target and sunshine, we are now slowly heading north (well, at least Nancy is), and will both be landing in the East Coast in a week.

And to continue the tradition, the Shindigsailing blog will be on Summer Vacation for a while.
We will try to keep up with the Facebook and emails.  We are thinking about you all, and hope that you have a very happy and safe summer.

Hasta Luego!  - Nancy, Rob and SV Shindig.

The Novak parents and boys

Bryan, Nancy and Rob

Our car for a week 

Rob showing off some skills

Cousins - Nicky, Bryan and Ali

Birthday paddle
Nancy and Marie (SV Mi Casa) get ready for their early morning paddle in San Diego

Birthday Lunch with the cruiser gals (former SUP relay race members)
Rob, Nancy, Katie, SV Pangaea and Wendy, SV Willow
George's at the Cove in La Jolla

Rob on Carlsbad Beach wave
Not exactly Punta Mita...

Del Mar dinner with Nancy's brother David and wife Kathy

Season Two Metrics

As the 2nd season of sailboat cruisin' ends, Rob thought it might be interesting to compare some metrics.

        Season ending in      2013   2014
Nautical Miles traveled    3186   1950
Months since SF                9.5       22
Countries Visited                 2        1
Anchorages/Marinas          53       25
Engine Hours                    329     261
Generator Hours               156       66
Diesel Fuel Consumed      684     455 (see fuel costs below)
Gasoline Consumed         ~45     ~40
Gallons of water made    ~450    ~400
Photos taken                  ~9000    4272
Fish caught                      ~20         5
Keepers:                             3          1
Whaleshark encounters      0          5
Exchange rate:      11.29 - 13.25  12.65-13.38

Our cruising route for the 2013-2014 season.  Our South most location was Barra de Navidad on the mainland and Santa Rosalia in the Sea of Cortez to the North.  1950 miles

Some say that cruising is about "fixing boats in exotic locations".   It is true that we are always solving some type of boat problem.  Some big some small,  some we are prepared for and some we are not.
Here is a list of stuff we encountered this season.

• Popped a fender.  The surge in Paradise Village's marina (Nuevo Vallarta) gave our fenders a work out.  One couldn't take it any more.  
• Water maker membrane.  We have been experiencing climbing TDS in our water that we make onboard.  TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) is a measure of how pure your water is.  We never experienced a dangerous level but the cleaning solutions that are supposed to help only helped a little bit.  We don't have any records on how old the membranes are so we'll replace them with new ones next season
• Generator.  Our Onan 6KW generator was spewing black smoke and was not happy with AC loads over 2KW.  After much diagnosis and a trip to the shop to test the injectors, there was nothing obviously wrong.  Curiously the more I ran the generator the healthier it got.  Over the season we ran a total of 66 hours and we can now pull full power off the generator.  I suspect we had a fouled exhaust valve that eventually cleared  with more use.  This problem ended up not being a problem at all but I spent days and days working on it.
• Engine Battery volt meter - the volt meter is off.  When the alternator is charging at 28.5 volts the meter is reading 32 volts.  Easy swap with a new part when we return next season.
• Perkins exhaust elbow developed a leak -  This is a common failure on boats.  The mixing elbow is where hot engine exhaust gasses meet cooling salt water in a cast aluminum fitting.  After a while the aluminium corrodes until a leak develops.  This part lasted 17 years and 2800 engine hours. I made a temporary repair with JB Weld and were able to use the engine, at reduced speed for the last 1 1/2 weeks of the trip.  There are many welding resources in La Paz. Update: This exhaust elbow is already fixed and back on the engine.  We'll bring a proper replacement down next season.
• 24 Volt Alternator "Let all the smoke out" -  When the exhaust elbow failed it sprayed salt water into the engine room and onto the alternator.  In fact it was the smoke detector in the engine room that alerted me to the problem.   The alternator failed continued to charge the batteries after it smoked but also began radiate a huge amount of electro magnetic radiation.  Many electronics onboard were impacted.  Most noticeably was the auto pilot.  When the alternator energized the autopilot changed course erratically.  Swapped with spare
• Refrigeration raw water circulation pump - died.  Replaced with spare
• Windlass controls started blowing fuses - after a lot of debug and several 5 amp fuses we tracked down a suspect wire that runs from the control box to the deck switch.  Rewired for fix.
• Main furler busted - Shindig has "in mast furling".   The bolt that holds the main foil to the top of the mast corroded through and snapped.  This is a unique fitting and the company that made it is no longer in business.  Fortunately there is a guy in Maryland that is very knowledgeable on this system and has replacement parts.  This is a tricky fix as a stainless bolt broke off in an aluminium  extrusion.   I will be shortening the foil by 2 3/4 inches and adding that amount to linkage at the bottom of the foil at the adjustment linkage. (see photo below)
• Two of three 24V engine blowers failed.   These two failed within hours of each other.

We've had our share of problems and they mostly happened during the second half of our trip in the Sea of Cortez.   These things happen and you deal with them as they come.  The good news is that there are great resources in Mexico to help with things that are over my head. Additionally, since we are seasonal cruisers, we have the ability to bring down replacement parts from the US every season to keep everything running smooth.  

This is the bolt that sheared at the top of the mast.  You can see that the bearing is rusted.

Bolt sheared at the top of the main furler

Old and newly machined toggle to fix the main furler.  The top was shortened by 2.75 inches and the new toggle makes up for that

Mixing up JB weld to patch a hole in the exhaust elbow

Mixing elbow patch and clamped.  This make shift repair lasted until we returned to LaPaz.

Here is the repaired part before re installing it.

Fuel cost:

11/28/2013	LaPaz  $3.88
12/18/2013	LaCruz $3.88
12/18/2013	LaCruz $4.16
1/27/2014	Barra de  Navidad  $3.66
2/24/2014	LaCruz $4.43
4/16/2014	LaPaz  $4.29
5/11/2014	Santa Rosalia  $3.82  (from  Pemex)
6/2/2014	LaPaz $4.17