“If you’re going to leave – NOW is the time!” Said our nearby wind & sail expert whom I will not name. But as I was at the grocery store buying provisions for the trip back to San Diego, the friendly store owner (who has nicknamed NewMix) had an entirely different reaction “¿Hoy? ¡Hay tormenta!” He thought we were crazy to leave on that day with the storms.
We decided a wind and sail expert knew better than a grocery story owner.
Ha!
The winds were so strong, the current was unbelievable – our auto helm couldn’t hold on, and our boom vang broke. And that was within the first hour! Things got worse as the day drew on.
“I highly recommend a straight line to Cabo from here” was another wise suggestion from our wise wind and sail expert. Waves 6-9 feet high slammed us sideways if we sailed directly to Cabo. Have you ever sat in a boat where waves hit you sideways? It must be the truest definition of discomfort. If we sailed North-East towards Mazatlan rather than the previously planned on North-West, the waves would be nearly 100% behind us.
It’s an uncomfortable sensation anytime the waves are above 5 feet. But when they are pretty darn close to 10 feet? And here is where we debated – do you measure the height of a wave from behind or from the front? I know, men around the world debate about such technicalities but about another topic… Ahem.
When you see the wave coming AT you, the valley that dips in front of it is very impressive giving the wave even more monsterly height. But when you see it leaving you it’s just not as bad. I decided a story based on a 5-foot wave is nowhere near as incredible as a 9 footer. So nine it is. And as Leo always says: “Don’t ever let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
We made an executive decision and targeted the bay of Jaltemba for our first anchorage, only but a few hours away from La Cruz. As we got closer and closer to the bay we noticed a wall. A wall attaching the clouds to the ocean. It was a messy wall of rain and something rather scary. I got an amazing picture of it but being the klutz that I am – I deleted ALL my pictures rather than import them to my computer.
Ahem.
My camera even asked me if I was sure I wanted to delete all these pictures – stupid question to which I confirmed an even stupider answer. You would have been so impressed by this wall of storm! And it was really close too!
Oh boy! I cannot wait to see what happens next! I bet you can’t either…
p.s. No French-Canadians were harmed in the making of this story.
my cyber house rules 
Okay. I know I said living on a boat was cool and all, but when we’re talking 9ft waves in open water… I’ll stick with land thankyouverymuch.
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Don’t tell anyone but… it was actually kinda fun! Shhh!
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see this is why my feet stay on land just saying
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you def live the life of adventure…would def have loved to see the storm front…and there is def some stories in taht i believe….
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I’m very glad to know no French-Canadians were harmed. I do hope none of their husbands were either.
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Mynx sent me here and like a good little blogger I followered because that is me I am a follower I do not lead I follow………………lol Now onto this post what can I say, ok I am glad it was you not me as I get seasick…………..lol also it sounds like the shop owner did know a little more then the so called expect……….lol
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now you see me shivering stay safe
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Tout va bien aller… on quitte Mazatlan demain! Ensuite ça sera la bataille qu’on appelle le Baja Bash!
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And you take time to write about it… Thanks for sharing!!!
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Ah priorities! 😉
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All I honed on was the part of you heading back to SD??? When? And in one piece por favor…
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Yes! 🙂 I can’t wait! Actually we were hoping you guys would come down to Ensenada and hang out with us. But that’s miles and miles away still…
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JEALOUS! Totally. Stinkin’. Jealous. Seriously. One of these days, we need to ____ and ____ and ____. Yeah. Because as long as “we” comes before the blanks, they can be anything and would still shake the Earth.
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Just reading that made me seasick. Glad you survived!
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