Left Los Frailes at 1000 hours in 10 to 15 knots of wind on a close reach between 7 and 8 knots speed over the water. Their was 3 to 4 foot swells at 12 seconds. I was single handling again for the next 164 miles. The temperature was about 85 degrees and the boat moving very well, cutting through the water with the helm tightened down and taking the lifts and headers like the perfect yacht she is. Their were no other boats in sight, only me, the perfect yacht and the elements of nature. It is a feeling like no other. This is what it's all about.
By sunset the breeze settled between 5 and 10 knots and moved forward to close hauled to keep my course for Mazatlan. I let the boat sail her self and put on a pot of coffee. It was going to be a long night. I seen two freighters pass in front of me that night but were too far off to worry. By sunrise the wind was light, about 5 knots so I fired up the 4-107 so I could make good time about 6 knots. I reached Mazatlon at about 1300 hours the next day, which was Sunday, November 15th; My Mothers Birthday, God Bless Her.
Running on pure adrenalin, looking for a place to anchor so I could get some sleep, I went to the main harbor, just around the Light House. The smell was bad and the wind was 1 to 2 knots. Mazatlan Harbor has a processing plant near the Light House, I don't know what they process but it smelled like Bird Rock at the Isthmas in Catalina Island. So I turned around and headed north looking for a place to anchor at one of the islands but I could not find a good bottom with sand so I went north to El Sid Marina to find a slip but their were no slips available. I had to go back to the Harbor and anchor for the night in the stink. On my way back I smelled diesel fuel, so I opened the engine compartment door to check it out and their it was, a high pressure fuel line to one of the injectors was leaking and spraying fuel on the engine, I shut the motor down and drifted while tightening the nut, but it did not help stop the leak, so I wrapped it up with a rag and tape to stop the spray and continued to the anchorage area. By then it was dark and I was dead tired. I set the anchor and tried again to fix the fuel line with no success. I left the line loose and crashed out. One or two hours went by and a loud noise like grinding woke me up. My first thought was someone was taking off equipment from the boat. I jumped up, went on deck and saw a flashing yellow light near the bow. It turned out to be a buoy, my anchor had slipped and the boat was adrift toward the rocks. When I went to start the engine, it would not start, then I remembered the line was loose. I grabbed the wrench and tightened the nut when I heard the boat bottom on the rocks and stop moving. I fired up the engine and looked around with the flash light and put the boat into gear and slowly pulled away from the rocks. As I did I started to raise the anchor as I pulled forward and the boat pulled into deeper water. By now I am wide awake and made sure the anchor was set. Before going back to bed I thought about how I could find another fuel line and get the boat back together running good again. My adrenalin ran out.
I woke up late that morning and started checking the boat. Their were three, about 6 inch scars on the port side a beam, one was a 3/16" gouge where the buoy had hit hard. The other two could be touched up with paint. The fuel line would have to be made or bought new. I dropped the dingy and went ashore and took a cab into town looking for help. It turned out to be a Holiday and the fuel line would have to wait. I new it was going to take time to get the boat sea worthy again so I tried not to worry about it and took a cab to El Cid and try again to get a slip. It turned out one came available that morning so I reserved it for the next day.
Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009
Shit... I just spent over a hour adding to this post and the WIFI was lost. I lost everything I wrote for the last hour plus.
I woke up Tuesday morning and I got the boat ready for El Cid. I started the motor and checked the leak. The rag was soaked and dripping in the pan under the motor. I knew it would fill up so I turned off the bilge pump. I took up anchor and reached El Cid in about 90 minutes, just in time for the high tide. The marina had shallow water and Nalu IV had 8 feet of draft. I pulled into my reserved slip and tied the boat off. Once I settled in I checked into the marina and got my password for WIFI and started arranging for my daughters loan to buy the mobile home and parts and materials to fix the boat. S-W Diesel in Wilmington, CA had the fuel lines after giving my engine number and HP pump number and sending a picture of the broken fuel line. They have a delivery service for Mexico and it should take about 3 to 4 days. I ordered the complete set just in case I break another one. I then E-mailed Philippe at PHD Restoration and asked for some touch-up paint for the hull. This painter is one of the best and did not hesitate to send me everything I will need to fix the hull. Once the important things were done I took a tour of the marina. What a beautiful place. It has two swimming pools and one looks like a natural rock formation with water falls and tunnels and a bar at the pools edge. I began to relax and enjoy the place. I then hired a taxi and went shopping for provisions and a folding two wheel cart to carry the provisions back to the boat, I found the cart at Home Depot.
On Wednesday Qualchan came into the marina, they were yelling Nalu, Nalu as they seen the boat as they passed by. I came out of the cabin and yelled back, Qualchan, Qualchan. I missed these friends of mine and I was very glad to seem them again. We got together and traded stories about while we were separated. We celebrated by going out for dinner and drinks. It turned out Qualchan was able to get WIFI in Los Frailes but not until I left for Mazatlan but their was no cell phone signal so it would not have done me much good to stay.
All is well for now.
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