All things Sailing!

A few weeks in California gave Buffy enough time to finish grad school applications for 2011 and on October 22^nd we rented a car a drove to San Diego where we hoped to catch a ride via sailboat to Mexico. So let me tell you a little about this possible ride to Mexico; first there is a yearly “race” from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas called the Baja HaHa which I learned about as I asked around and searched the internet for a ride across the Atlantic 12 months ago. About 9 months ago Buffy and I put our information up on Latitude 38 a sailing forum and website for sailors who race the Baja and for “puddle-jumpers” who literally jump from Mexico to the Pacific Islands. We realized quickly that we were too early to actually find anyone looking for crew for the Baja Haha and so we simply gave up for the time being. We returned in August hoping that we could find a skipper looking for two relatively inexperienced female deckhands and got about 12 replies. These replies were from an assortment of skippers looking for experienced crew, inexperienced crew, romantic interests or large daily costs. We corresponded with a few of them but nothing came to fruition most wanted to meet us well before the race but we were already in Europe so could nothing to help our cause. One skipper finally told us that if we were unable to find a ride we should show up in San Diego before the race and go to two Marine stores and simply walk around asking for a ride. So on October 22^nd, two days before the race began, we showed up in San Diego. I wrote out a note that looked like this: “Got Crew? Buffy and Jynene looking for a ride, willing to share expenses, call ……” We were advised by the Marine manager to hang this on the bulletin board and to start calling any numbers listed there looking for crew. There were exactly two posts on the board looking for crew and we called Eric, the first of the two, immediately. Erik asked us to come by and so we drove down the dock and found the described Macgregor 65 known as Viking II and its skipper Erik. Stepping on Board we had no idea what we were walking into.

We stepped on board and introduced ourselves firming up our handshakes to make it clear we were strong and capable women- not ones to be easily bull-shited. Inside the cabin we were asked a series of questions such as: why do want to race to Mexico, what experience do you have, what will you do for sea sickness, and so on. Very quickly it became clear that Erik knew my grandfather (another sailor) and had actually sailed with him in the Pacific Northwest and alongside him in the Baja Ha Ha a few years ago. He invited us to sail with him and we immediately accepted. And that was it, we drove to San Diego and literally five hours later we were moving our gear onto our new 65 foot home.

The race started on October 24^th and I knew immediately this would be the time of our lives. I don’t say that simply or without reservation since I know from experience and just basic common sense that sailing can become very dangerous very fast. Also, being on a boat with five other people, no matter how cool they are, can be trying, uncomfortable and awkward. But with this in mind and our grocery shopping finished we left San Diego forty-eight hours after arriving.

Leaving San Diego we passed a Submarine just barely above the water line, dolphins, a Navy fighter and were happily joined by 180 sail boats headed to Mexico. Our ship mates included Erik the skipper and owner of Viking II, Jan from Utah, Erik and Marilynn from Seattle, Buffy and myself. Everyone on board was obviously an adventure seeker and we were in excellent company.

So a little about our ship mates…. Erik the skipper is a life-long sailor and an engineer by trade, he retired a few years ago and set sail doing the Baja three times and sailing the Californian coast frequently. Marilyn and Erik live in Seattle and are avid skiers and race Lightning’s (a small racing boat) for fun. Jan is also an avid skier- additionally he climbs, backpacks, camps, sails ice boats, rides motorcycles, and travels everywhere. Late into his seventies he looks about sixty and sounds about thirty, he is by far our most adventurous companion. Currently Jan is sailing to Cabo with us where he will meet up with a life-long friend and haul another boat back to San Diego. In San Diego Jan will meet up with his equally interesting grown daughter before he jumps on his motorcycle and heads south again, he hopes to take Spanish classes in central America near the end of the year. He speaks of his daughters and wife with a palpable mixture of respect and admiration. He told us, when asked about his wife and children, that they had their first child late and found her so much fun that another was soon on her way. His oldest daughter spent a few years in her early twenties as a smoke jumper and his youngest is a passionate rock climber. I consider Jan to be our resident philosopher, comedian and intellectual, he has made our trip.