Are You Ready for Baja 2011?

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By Lowell | April 15, 2011 | Category Baja 2011

 

Our cruise starts next Thursday. Weather forecasts for that window are good at the moment. This time of year we have weather system after system fly out of the northwest at us. A weak system arrives next Mon/Tue which should give us a excellent chance to escape south before another one arrives. As it stands now leg 1 will be Steve Quant and I sailing 9 days south to Loreto, arriving just as Loreto Fest begins. If anybody is interested in joining us please get back to me soon. You can get back to Penasco (Rocky Point) with a short flight from Loreto to Hermosillo and then a bus ride back to Penasco the way I will return after Leg 2.

Here’s a toast to Baja 2011.

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The Seawind Rally

Bill and Carol will arrive during Loreto Fest and join me on Leg 2 for the Seawind Rally. Frankie and Neely, our golden retriever will not be joining us this year. After sailing with us the past 4 years Neely turned 11 and the boat could be a little more than she can handle. She will be missed, and Frankie too who will join us on later legs of the cruise.

Seawind’s Australian Cruising Club has sent over this years shirt design which we are getting printed in Penasco. I have shirt orders from the expected boats joining us but usually we have other boats joining us SO if you want a shirt let me know in the next couple of days.

Seawind Rally boats…

Moon Drifter – Ralph & Helen
Island Time – Larry & Nancy
Stray Cat – John & Carol
Barramundi – Steve & Pam
Gato Loco – Lowell, Bill & Carol
Paradocs – Carl & Claire  (Haven’t heard from you guys?)

Kurt, our Seawind mentor/Seawind dealer will not be joining us this year but we told him we will carry on and let him watch from the blog. You will be missed

Also want to give a shout out to Richard and the Seawind staff for the great support they give us and especially Gato Loco this year when we found we had a fridge problems. They took us under their wing and made sure we up and running for our cruise. Thank you.

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2011 Cruise Plans

Our crews for each leg are in good shape. We have some first timers that are really excited as well as long time sailing friends. Some of our Cholla Bay friends and neighbors have signed on this year and we’re excited to introduce them to sailing.

Leg 1 – April 21 (thur) – Apr 30 (sat) – Penasco to Puerto Escondido – LoretoFest Apr 29, 30, May 1 ( Lowell, Steve,  2 single or 1 double berth open)

Leg 2 May 1 (sun) – May 7 (sat) – Seawind Rally, Loreto area ( Lowell, Bill, Carol, double berth open)

Leg 3 May 8 (sun) – May 14 (sat) – Loreto to Santa Rosalia (Bill, Carol)

Leg 4 May 15 (sun) – May 21 (sat) – Santa Rosalia to Loreto (Bill, Carol, Dave, Bruce & Cynthia)

Leg 5 May 22 (sun) – May 28 (sat) – Loreto to La Paz (Rick, Dave, Ellen & Shelly )

Leg 6 May 29 (sun) – June 4 (sat) – La Paz to Loreto (Lowell, Frankie & the Rangel family)

Leg 7 June 5 (sun) – June 8th (wed) – Loreto to Santa Rosalia (Lowell, Dave & Kelly Adams & friend Randy)

Leg 8 Jun 9 (thur) – Jun 14(tue)  – Santa Rosalia to Penasco  (Lowell,  Pat & Sue, Lew)

Leg 1 plans

We could make this leg in 2 days of sailing around the clock just to give you a reference in how far it is (~360 nautical miles as the crow flies). We will do a much more relaxed cruise with reasonable legs each day and anchoring in protected locations each night probably taking 8 or 9 days (weather permitting). Steve and I will decide on our route as we depart but we will probably be following the route outlined to the right. This is the season for north winds giving us the opportunities for some fun spinnaker runs (woo hoo)!

We will have internet along the way and will be sending updates on our progress south.

Leave a comment or reply to our email notifications to contact us on the boat. We enjoy your involvement in the cruise. If your not on the email notification list simply click on the “Subscribe” link at the top of the blog and add our email address. It’s simple to remove it later. BTW all pictures on the blog can be enlarged by clicking on them…

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Until the next update.

 

 Follow  this link to great video of swimming with a whale shark near La Paz