Hope Sails

  I helped deliver my friend Mark’s boat, Wainui, from La Cruz to Mazatlán.  It was my first overnight at sea. I lost my belly, recovered quickly,    and regained my appetite by 3 am mid watch. Thankfully, there was left over spaghetti and sausages in the fridge for a late night snack.  My inner naturalist kept record of the biodiversity, I counted over thirty sea turtles floating along and surfing our wave. Some were birdles (birds sitting on turtles). We stood as hundreds of dolphins breached parral to the boat. As the sun rose, I turned back to see if there were any sailboats aft of us and witnessed a whale tail submerge into the water.  There’s two images that stick with me.  In the morning, the water was glassy with the early morning light, fog settled in as a we approached Mazatlán, as a fin surfaced, the shark’s fin s-curved towards the boat and then dropped down under.  The other as sun set and moon rose and the mask cut the sky is half with the sunset port side and night settl

Happy birthday to my mother, who has instilled in me a sense of adventure and admiration for the world around me. I grew up on the stories of Annie dock hopping in Los Angeles where she became a chef on a boat that took her through the Panama Canal and up the East Coat of Latin America. Like mother, like daughter. Thank you for the gift of travel and teaching me freedom comes with responsibility. 

  The start of a race is hyped with anticipation of the horn, the gun shot, the whistle, green, Go!     Same same, but different on the water. It took an hour to sail to the start line each day from the Marina. We listened for new race information on the radio, adjusting watches and course. We arrived where the committee boat was anchored, Captain Joe called out the vessel name “Swan Fun!” to check in as we’d catch wind, tack, and then navigated through other contestant vessel to our start time. Bow to bow ships sailed side by side, keeping a margin within the wind vein and each others boat, tacking to avoid collision. When it’s too close when captains and tacticians yell from the helm, “Turn up, Turn Up! Don’t hit my boat!”  There were nine contestants for the performance class Banderas Bay Regatas. Two grounded, two collided,    two forfeited. Swan Fun came in 5th in our division, without damage, ready to prep for a multi-week journey across the Pacific Ocean.