By Lowell | January 2, 2013 | Category Baja 2012
Happy New Year from the Gato Loco crew. It’s been a while since you’ve heard from us. I’m writing this at our Cholla Bay home the day after New Years. Weather is a bit cooler than normal with a north breeze kicking up whitecaps in front of our house. We’ve had a wonderful Holiday season […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | June 8, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Wednesday June 6, Day 9 Departing Puerto Refugio winds show some promise for another day with the wind behind us. Weather is cool and our morning starts with an anchorage visit from a pad of dolphins as we’re exiting. They’re probably chasing a school of fish working the shallow waters with team work. By mid […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | June 7, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Monday June 4, Day 7 The fog bank east of us, as we motor out of Cala San Francisquito 8ish, slowly rolls over us making a nice cool morning. The day starts with flat seas and 1.5 kt tide running in our favor this time. It seems the magic time of day for us […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | June 4, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Saturday June 2, day 5 In to the Mystic. Morning dew is very heavy as we haul anchor and motor out of the Mulege channel. Turning north towards Punta Chavato we soon see why. There’s a fog bank a few miles north creating probably nearly 100% humidity. We have good way-points in the GPS so […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | June 2, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Friday June 1, day 4 sailing north Awesome, Awesome Awesome, the wind promised by the ham net arrived by 10 AM as we motored north out of San Sebastian heading for Mulege, 35 miles north. Yesterday’s wind was on our nose which would have been a big pain to make Mulege. Today we […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | June 1, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Wed May 30th, Day 2 of our 11 day cruise north. The sail didn’t come out of the bag during our passage to San Juanico, quite a contrast to our spinnaker ride during the rally. Arriving 5ish we stopped by the pinnacles that stand tall on the southern point of San Juanico to cool […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 27, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Tuesday May 29th, 4:30 AM my alarm goes off with Frankie and Neely in our Phoenix house. Today is a travel day to Gato Loco, flying to LAX and then on to Loreto. It’s amazing how busy the Phoenix airport is at 5:30 AM.. Our leg back to Penasco has Rick and Paul […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 20, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
A week off the water and I finally found time to sort through photos from the Rally. There’s lots of fun photos. Here’s an oncore. Oh yes, we’ve made plans to bring Gato Loco home for the Peacemaker concert weekend. Tuesday May 29th, the day after memorial weekend, Paul Littley, Rick Quant and I fly […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 12, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Thursday May 10th.. Gato Loco limps out of Bahia Salinas with no wind and only a single engine. We only have 12 miles, so as I said, No worries.. Steve & Pam are joining us motoring north. This area of Isla Carmen is where all the fishermen come so Steve has 4 lines in the […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 11, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Wednesday, May 9th Exiting San Juanico with Bahia Salinas as our next anchorage 40 miles to the SE. Ham net is forecasting NE winds which would be perfect BUT unfortunately it never materialized. Kat Kan Do opted out on the long leg heading to Puerto Ballandra across from Loreto. MoonDrifter, Barramundi and Gato Loco motored […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 9, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Seawind Rally in North anchorage Isla Coronados Tuesday May 8th.. Okay the gang is serious about walking to the top of Coronados. Unlike Doug and I’s last visit, we found the trail leading us to the top. The excursion started with 5 and slowly dwindled to 3. I was the 3rd to drop as I […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 7, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Sunday May 6th The new Gato Loco crew has arrived. Oh boy.. I got a ride to the airport with a Canadian sailor living on his boat here in Puerto Escondido for the past 3 years. Arriving a little late I found them at the airport bar drinking bloody marys. No stress there. Their […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 6, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Thursday May 3rd … Isla Coronados north anchorage…. 10 kt north wind blew into the anchorage last night forcing us to use a blanket in the early morning. There’s maybe 10 boats in the anchorage with us overnight. As we begin to make plans boats start pulling anchorage and heading south, presumably to Loreto Fest. […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | May 2, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Tuesday May 1 7 AM Quiet night in the Mulege channel except for a 1 AM fishing boat arriving and stowing their nets and washing out their boat just 10’ from us. I hear the inbound motor shut down just outside my cabin. The Mulege channel is deep this year.. We […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 30, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Sunday April 29th Our last update was from Sweet Pee Cove. That seems like days ago. Our 6:30 departure was met with a serous mechanical problem. The main sheet blocks are the accelerator peddle for sailboats. The loads on this block is huge especially in 40 kt breezes like we had approaching Santa Rosalia. […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 29, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Friday April 27th, 3PM Motoring without sails since leaving San Francisqito. We’re 18 miles north of Santa Rosalia and our cellular internet popped on.. Cool… But wait… The flat seas have suddenly turned into whitecaps and we need to focus on steering Gato Loco down wind. San Rosalia here we come. 15kts nice. 25kts […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 27, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Thursday April 26th. We’re a little haggard from our anchor escapades in Bay of LA as we take shifts steering down wind with 25 – 30 kts at out back. We’re so glad we escaped the Bay and now have winds pushing us down the hill at 10 kts. Our destination today is the […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 27, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Thursday April 26th 4 AM.. Gato Loco shutters as a 45 kt wind gusts blasts off the Bay of LA shore. We’re up as the anchor drag alarm sounds. Not the way to start a day.. Yesterday was an awesome day and our first day with wind to sail without motors. Our entire leg […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 25, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Fang Rock in the East Bay of Puerto Refugio Tuesday April 23rd, 8 AM — Confused Seas was definitely the word of the day on our crossing from Lobos to Puerto Refugio. Winds started at 8 WNW, enough to motor sail through 3’ seas. As the morning progressed winds died and we had to take […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 23, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Last year’s update from Puerto Lobos was titled “big adventure” after sticking Gato Loco on the reef on the north shore of Lobos. I can’t tell you how many people have said be careful in Lobos and believe me I’ve learned that lesson well. Exiting Penasco at 5 AM > The trip to Lobos started […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 22, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Beautiful warm weather is the norm here in Puerto Penasco as we finalize provisions to start our 2012 cruise. Doug Stover and I will be sailing the first leg south to Puerto Escondido over the next 12 days. We arrived in Penasco (Rocky Point) yesterday afternoon after rescuing Owen & Shirley who had a blow […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 12, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Easter activities on Sandy Beach Easter weekend and spring break for Haley, Murril and Al’s youngest, gave us a good reason to get Gato Loco out sailing. Haley wanted to come to Cholla for her break and it was our treat to have her. Beautiful weather and fun people watching made for a special day […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | April 5, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
subtitle – the destiny of a Missouri farm boy and the story of Gato Loco.. 10 years ago, this May Gato Loco arrived atop a container ship in Long Beach from Sydney Australia starting our emersion in the Sea of Cortez and all it’s splendor. This was the culmination of our dream of venturing on […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | March 9, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
The Gato Loco crew is busy getting her ready for the 2012 Baja sailing season. This is the year to haul her for new bottom paint and a little bottom repair from what you might remember from last seasons Puerto Lobos grounding experience. Gato Loco gets hauled every 3 years to renew the bottom paint […]
Read MoreBy Lowell | January 14, 2012 | Category Baja 2012
Happy New Year to all our sailing amigos. Hope the new year finds everybody doing well with lots of sailing plans for the year. It’s time to begin planning for the 4th annual Baja Seawind Rally. This year’s Loreto Fest in Puerto Escondido is May 4 – 6 setting the stage for our Rally the […]
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