Baja Love – A summer reminder of our love of the Sea

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Gato Loco’s “Love Baja” video filmed near Isla Coranados and Loreto Baja this past spring by Ryan Fritzsche. Thank you Ryan for the awesome footage of our Seawind 1000 catamaran. …

Sailing La Vagabonde

I have two links below about catamaran safety in big seas from Yachting World by extremely reputable sailors Skip Novak and Nigel Irons. They are both legends of the sport and I have huge respect for them. I found both articles interesting, informative but a little conflicting in areas. If you are interested in this please read *both* articles and I would love to hear your thoughts. Skip, despite his title, seems to be saying that you could be in for trouble if you are in big seas in a performance catamaran but that up until that point in time it is easier onboard handling sails on a catamaran. "Sail handling is a dream, compared with grappling with sails tangled up in the lifelines on the foredeck of a monohull heeled at 20°." He goes on to say that "Monohull keel failures, which seem to occur with alarming frequency, often leave holes in the boat – she floats, but survival until rescue can be a more desperate situation. In ocean racing terms at least, when you add up speed, safety and comfort it seems multihulls are a more intelligent approach." Nigel seems to be saying the complete opposite, pointing out that "Performance cruisers with fine bows should be able to surf downwind in all but the most extreme weather, often travelling safely at speeds of 20 knots or more for periods of, say, 10-15 seconds. But in the same conditions a stubbier, bluff-bowed charter catamaran would soon start feeling dangerous if the crew were pushing too hard under these conditions. In my limited experience so far it is incredible how safe I feel onboard in much much larger conditions. For one, I'm making better decisions in all circumstances because I have had a better sleep. Also like Skip says in his article we have a huge area to make sail changes which is much safer. "Reefing early," as we have all heard. Would love to hear everyones thoughts. www.yachtingworld.com/skip-novak-comment/skip-novak-why-a-catamaran-wins-out-70549 www.yachtingworld.com/catamaran-sailing/catamaran-sailing-techniques-part-6-heavy-weather-70405

Gato Loco 2017 Cruise– Wrap-up videos and links to all the 2017 Updates

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Hola Amigo’s and Amiga’s from the cabin in Prescott. I started the 2017 cruise blog here at the cabin in the snow last January. It’s only fitting that I wrap up the season relaxing in the pin…

Home Safe and Sound in Cholla Bay

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Thursday June 15th The crew is relaxing in Cholla today after a easy crossing from Puertocitos yesterday. Seas were flat and a broad reach north wind. We made 83 miles in 13.5 hours arriving 5:30. …

Northbound–The final leg home

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Tuesday June 13th Our layover day yesterday is just what we needed after our tough sail north. Everything is in order on Gato Loco and ready to for progress north. I’ve also edited a video of the i…

Northbound–The Seamanship Test

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Sunday June 11th Holly shit!! Thank God for a well made Australian catamaran and an able crew. Today was one of those days that tests your seamanship to the max. Weather conditions have a low press…

Hand Steering Northbound

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Friday June 9th 4 AM and Rick made it home from running with the staff at Tonka Grill, our  dinner location last night. He reported a great time and visited most of the bars in Santa Rosalia. Jeffr…

Northbound Update #2

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Tuesday June 6th Gato Loco resting in Playa Santispac  Anchor down at Palya Santispac with water 10 degrees warm. Our plan it is clean the bottom. Light winds prevailed most of the day but no soone…

Autohelm Sea trials – Heading North

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Sunset Bahia San Nicolas north of Punta Pulpito, good protection from the SE swell. Monday May 5th Dinner on board last night to relax and listen to the NBA game and also enjoy Jefferey’s shrimp an…

Birthday Cruise Final Update–The Party

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Friday June 2nd Our last day on board finds us anchored in Beautiful Isla Coronados. As usual the bees find us quickly. Frankie and I send the crew ashore while we head to the far west anchorage to…

BrithdayCruise Update 2–The North Shores

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Finally resting in our Loreto area home port – Vee Cove on the north shore of  Isla Carmen Wednesday night     Tuesday May 30th The birthday crew slept in today. Lazy morning before we mo…

Birthday Cruise Update 1

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They’re Here! Loreto Marina a refuge for local Pangeros fishing charters Monday May 29th The Birthday cruise is well underway as I begin this update. It’s been pretty busy since the birthday cruise…

Rally Days–Where the wind blows us. (Final update)

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Thursday May 25th Before departing our windy La Lancha anchorage a panga slipped in with his throw net and a photographer capturing the moment. We  slipped out in the dinghy to explore the cliff wa…

Rally Days, Heading out to the islands (update #2)

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Tuesday May 23nd I had to show our paddle boarders while we were anchored at Juncalito. Ladies took to it quickly and as a bonus while they were enjoying the water they decided to clean the bottom.…

Rally Days 2017 Let it Begin

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Sunday May 21th – Rally days began with another perfect dinner at the Tripui resort. They really know how to take care of a crowd. This year we are 20 strong and everybody enjoyed each boats …

Just the Two of Us 🙂

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Saturday May 20th Well it’s just the two of us on board for a few days. It’s been years since we sailed as two and it’s pretty special. After dropping Anita and Darrel off yesterday we sailed SE to…

The Redden Trifecta Cruise and Anita & Diego (leg 2)

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  Friday May 19   Frankie and I returned to Loreto yesterday with the help of Kurt in San Diego. Kurt picked us up at the airport, took us to lunch and then delivered us to the Tijuana ai…

Loreto in 14 days of Fun Adventures

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Writing this blog in Phoenix preparing with Frankie to head back to Loreto this Thursday to continue our Baja cruise. Bill, Dave, Ellen and Dave’s daughter Sandy and husband Xovia are sailing the L…

Punta Pulpito and San Juanico

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Thursday May 11th Yesterday we made our way south from Mulege to Punta Pulpito. You got to love these north winds when you’re heading south. We had a beam reach that slowly turned into a downwind r…

Conception Bay before we Blame it on Mulege

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Sunday afternoon May 7th 10’ rollers chased us into the Sweet Pea anchorage on the western shore of Isla San Marcos. Winds are blowing 20 out of the north but waters are flat in the anchorage. Wind…

Santa Rosalia and out

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Saturday May 6th arriving in Santa Rosalia Taking John out on a tour of the town. Saturday night and town is busy. There’s Mexican boxers fighting in Las Vegas and the fight is on every TV in town.…

Tracks to Santa Rosalia

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  Friday May 5th Up early after Bill’s birthday party for a walk on Salsipudes. The island is pretty flat making it possible to get a good walk in. There’s lots of talk on what we would do if …

A Special Day on Gato Loco

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Friday May 5th (Happy Cinco de Mayo) We had our first encounter with humpback whales Friday afternoon just north of our San Francisquito anchorage. Watch the video and we especially made this video…

Birthday Boy sails the Midriff Islands

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Three Amigos Wednesday morning May 3nd We’re up and in to Guillermo’s for breakfast. This will be our last opportunity for eating on shore until we make Santa Rosalia 3 or 4 days down the way…

Bahia De Los Angeles (Bay of LA) or bust

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Tuesday May 2nd You know it’s always fun to have a newbie on board and see the reaction to the experience of cruising the Sea. John is certainly no exception and as many might know he is quite anim…

The Doldrums to Puerto Refugio

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Monday May 1st “` What difference a day makes. The 60 mile crossing from Puerto Lobos on the Sonorian coast the 2nd largest island Isla Angel de la Guarda near Baja was nothing like the ride …

Puerto Lobos with the wind at our back.

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  Awesome first day with a strong afternoon norther wind gusting to 20+. Motors off and flying south at 7-9 kts forcing us to hand steer and give the autohelm a break. John took his turn at th…

Puerto Lobos with the wind at our back.

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  Awesome first day with a strong afternoon norther wind gusting to 20+. Motors off and flying south at 7-9 kts forcing us to hand steer and give the autohelm a break. John took his turn at th…

Gato Loco heads south

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    Good morning friends from the deck of Gato Loco. We’re off on our 2017 cruise season. Bill, John and I been working the provisioning for the past 2 days and hopefully we have it all t…

Gato Loco Sailing Adventures

Welcome to the home page for the sailboat Gato Loco. Gato Loco is a Seawind 1000 33 foot catamaran sailboat with a home-port in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Pt).

Baja 2017– The Westcoast Multihulls Baja Rally (planning)

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  Things are progressing on planning on this year’s Baja Cruise. This blog is focused on organizing this year’s Rally week with our fellow sailors in the Loreto area.   First just a few p…

Let’s go Sailing. Plans begin for the 2017 Sea of Cortez Cruise. *

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Baja 2017 It’s time to talk sailing the Sea of Cortez now that the holidays are over. The 2017 sailing season schedule is beginning to develop with our Seawind Rally date being nailed down. T…

Leg 6 – Gonzaga to Penasco

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Thursday afternoon May 26th Time for Big Blue…. Typical run from Puerto Refugio to Gonzaga Bay. Winds faded away as we sailed away from the Whale channel and moved to our stern mid afternoon. We ha…

The Bay of LA, never a dull moment

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Wednesday May 25th Cool night with light breeze. Actually temps are getting cooler as we head north into the Bay of LA area. We’re up and heading in the the village 9ish with plans to provision get…

Leg 6 – Animas Slot and more

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Tuesday May 22nd Heading north to the Bay of LA area. Terrapin a family of 4 is here in San Francisquito with us and we make plans to anchor in a small anchorage “Animas Slot”. Heading out of our s…

Leg 6–Big wind and seas heading north

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Monday May 23rd (2nd update)  We sent out a quick update early this morning as we departed Santa Rosalia since it’s the last internet until Bay of LA a couple days up the Sea. West winds are blowin…

Leg 6 to Penasco underway…

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Monday May 23rd 4:30 and the wind is toughing on the dock lines waking us up. We’re out of the Santa Rosalia harbor by 5 with 15 -20kt winds from the west. We are heading north to San Francis…

Leg 5–Santispac to Isla San Marcos

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Thursday May 19th Looks like most of the boat that left San Juanico are anchored here in Santispac. Winds heading south were perfect. Engines off as we leave Mulege and we sail almost to our Santis…

Leg 5–Back in Mulege 🙂

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Wednesday May 18th Great winds as we arrive in Mulege. Long day beating to north winds and 3’ swells but as turn the corner and head into Mulege life if good. We’re going to make it in time to get …

Leg 5 – Vee-Cove to San Juanico

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Our San Juanico anchorage is full of boats as we arrive (15) Tuesday May 17th We’re heading to San Juanico today but first we troll the north east end of Isla Carmen with 2 poles out hoping to catc…

Leg 5–Big winds to Vee Cove

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Monday May 16th Windy MUCH cooler night overnight in Loreto. Today we’re heading to Vee Cove on the north shore of Isla Carmen. Heading out we have 20kts wind at our back forcing us to steer to pre…

Loreto Crew Change

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Saturday May 14th Bees ran us out of the Marquer anchorage early. Flat calm water so we just motored out a mile so the bees would leave and enjoyed a quiet morning. Frankie has made a friend &#8220…

Rally Days – Marquer Beach Party

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Friday  May 13th (Yikes) It’s Friday the 13th and we hear on the radio there’s a big party in San Jaunico in honor the this occasion. We hanging here in Marquer and it’s the day f…

Rally Days–Southbound

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Wednesday (afternoon) May 11  Arriving at Isla Coronados we pretty much motored the 17 miles from San Juanico. The Coronados anchorage has been one of my favorites anchorages but it now has a bee p…