Pie in the Sky Adventures #48

"From San Francisco to Banderas Bay: A Serialized Adventure""Waves and Winds: The Start of 'Pie in the Sky Adventures'"

This week, in this space, I’m going to begin to serialize the first chapter of our Amazon book, “Pie in the Sky Adventures”. It tells the story of how Teri and I arrived back in Mexico in 1987. I’ve decided to take a rest from trying to come up with something interesting and worth while reading for the next few weeks and keep it simple. This is the slow season here in Bandaras Bay and there isn’t that much happening to write about so I hope this chapter #1 serializes in the next 3 or 4 Pie in the Sky Adventures Friday morning newsletters. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy it and comment on what you think.

Chapter 1

Out of San Francisco and into the Storm

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it! Goethe

My nagging fear had been replaced with a sense of calm. I hadn't noticed the moment of change but my turmoil about our little boat in this beautiful and horrendous play, began to soften. Around midnight, I had time to think about how and when the serious situation that we now found ourselves in began.

Teri and I met while sailing on San Francisco Bay on my classic wooden sailboat – a gaff- rigged, Friendship Sloop, Galatea.

I was living aboard and working in Sausalito, where my business partner and I owned a small satellite TV business. The Galatea and I had been back in Sausalito for one year having spent the previous year sailing in Mexico.

Banderas Bay in Puerto Vallarta was my favorite place in Mexico. It was also Galatea's base. The 3000 mile round trip, between Sausalito and southern Mexico was Galatea’s third trip. Although small, she was seaworthy with 150 years of proven design.

I was anxious to sail back to Mexico, but I needed to replenish the cruising kitty and help my ex-wife with our two teenage sons who were beginning to be a handful. I was glad to help, but I still kept Galatea sailing on San Francisco Bay at every opportunity. A core group of local friends would gather at five pm and we'd all go out for a late afternoon sail, bringing the party with us.

It was on one of these night sails that Teri showed up, invited by a mutual friend and carrying two bottles of French wine. We became fast friends and started spending more and more time together. Several months later when I announced that I was getting ready to leave again for points south, she blurted out, “I want to go too.

"

Many thought that Teri, just divorced and with an enviable, established acupuncture practice in desirable Mill Valley, shouldn't drop everything and sail off to wherever; on a small, wooden sailboat with a man with a reputation... she had only known for a year! They cautioned that this was a very “Pie in the Sky” idea. Others thought it was brilliant and were ready to go themselves.

Politics in 1986, with its Reganesque trickle- down theories and the Over Doneness, of what was then the U.S., made us want to find something better. Compared with the simplicity and beauty offered by sailing and living on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, it was an easy choice to make. But the biggest reason was that we wanted to cast our fates to the wind, looking for that Perfect Place. We wanted to rely on what we knew were our strengths – self confidence, creativity, and experience.

We also wanted to see if we could make our way around the world, working as we went, as others had reported in Latitude 38, our favorite sailing magazine.

We took W.H. Murray’s quote seriously:

“Until one is committed (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too.

A whole stream off events issues from the decision , raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”

Having had several California –Mexico Sailing trips on different sailboats over the past decade, I had the experience to know the importance of timing. I wanted to sail the several hundred miles south into Mexican waters, in mid-November. This is an ideal time. However, serious improvements to the Galatea’s standing rigging kept us in Herb Madden’s Sausalito Marina for another three months.

We spent all the money we had put aside for the trip in preparing the boat and acquiring tools to be self sufficient. We loaded the boat with a tough and versatile hand cranked Phaff 130 Sewing Machine, lots of blue Sunbrella boat canvas, clear plastic window material, straps and snaps, grommets and hand tools. We had just finished making a canvas dodger for the Galatea, and felt we could do that and other canvas tasks, along our way.

Teri added a thousand needles from her now closed acupuncture practice. The available secure storage space for all this gear left little room for living. Our little 30-foot Galatea's waterline was soon lost beneath the surface.

Our preparations took us deep into winter, a bad time to venture into open waters. Nevertheless, we were intent to leave, regardless of the cautions. On a cold, clear morning in mid-February, 1987, we finally sailed under the Golden Gate and bid farewell to the Rat Race.

We were on a slow boat to warmer weather, clear inviting waters and the openness and smiles of the Mexican people.

Open Ended...

The weather was crisp and clear and the wind from the NW, pushing our little over-laden gaffer southward at a good speed.

We spent a day and night in Monterey acting like tourists. On our third day at sea, passing point Sur, the wind and seas began to build...

The skies remained bright blue with no clouds in sight. The increasing wind and wave height forced us to shorten sail ( this reduces the area of the sail) so we secured the jib (meaning we took down the sail at the front of the boat) and ran with a staysail and reefed mainsail thereby using just two of our three sails). Reefing usually improves a boat’s motion dramatically and so it was with the Galatea.

The motion of our over-laden boat was comfortable, but required my constant attention to the seas coming at the boat’s stern from the north.

Because we didn’t want water down in the cabin, Teri was down below with all but the top companionway board in place and the sliding hatch secured. She was essentially sealed in down below as a precaution in case we should take a wave over the stern.

I could talk to Teri and she could pass me snacks and things from the galley. She was reading Shirley McLain’s latest book and was content.

As the day progressed, the wind and accompanying seas continued to rise and now in the early afternoon, I wished I had put another reef in when it was still possible. The situation and conditions now made taking another reef difficult as I couldn’t leave the wheel to go forward to handle the sail and Teri lacked the heavy weather experience to be helpful and safe under these conditions.

The boat was flying!

If you enjoyed this story so far please tune in next Friday for the juicy part. Later to come Teri’s experience of this trip, her first ocean sailing experience!

Take care, have a good time, and don’t forget to contribute to the general well being of the locals. Slip the Garbage men a propina whenever you can, they deserve it.

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