Friday May 20th It was a pleasant afternoon yesterday in Bay of LA. We arrived 4ish and soon headed to Guillermo’s for a well deserved margarita. I found someone to take me to the gas station for fuel while the crew walked to the Mercado for a few provisions. We decided to have dinner while […]
Read MoreTuesday May 17th Fog banks have been following us the past day to the east. We woke this morning with the Mulege river channel covered with a fog bank making it a little worrisome that the fishing boats heading in and out in the early morning will see Gato Loco in the channel. Things are […]
Read MoreSunday May 15th Heading Conception Bay today but first we wanted to make a very special visit to the cruiser tree so Heather could see Brian’s memorial we created 3 years ago. As you might expect this was very emotional for Heather. She brought 2 personal items of Brian’s to add the plaque, an eye […]
Read MoreThursday May 19th Frist leg 3 crew Kurt and Gwen arrival today. They’re flying the new American Air fight from Phoenix directly to Loreto like the leg 2 crew and arrive 1:30 and make it to the marina by 2. The marina continues to get busier due to the huge fishing tournament this weekend and […]
Read MoreSaturday May 14th A quick update as we will be out of cell range for a couple of days. New crew on board. Heather Kurt and Gwen.. This is going to be fun. North winds that potentially could have delayed our departure have subsided and we’re headed north to anchorage San Juanico. This put us […]
Read MoreMonday May 9th Yes the tradition continues as Moon Drifter hosted French Toast breakfast for the boats that were still in Coronados this Monday morning. Randy and Jody put together the caramel apple topping like Helen always made. I know Ralph and Helen are following the Updates and will appreciate the thought and of course […]
Read MoreSaturday May 7th Starting this Update with humpback photo that Trever sent us taken on our way to Monserrate. They saw us make maneuvers to follow the whale and joined us getting this shot. Nice peaceful cool night after the beach party. Today we’re racing to Bahia Salinas. Gato Loco got an early lead with […]
Read MoreThursday May 5th The Multihull rally begins with a Cinco de Mayo meet and greet party at Marina Puerto Escondido. Great little 2 piece band sets the mode for the evening keeping everyone moving. Some past rally friends are here but mostly new sailing crews to get to know. It was very nice to […]
Read MoreWednesday May 4th Sailed into Puerto Escondido mid-day to drop rally shirts and fuel up. A quick lunch at the marina café and we’re off to find a near by anchorage for the night. While in the café memories came of from 2014. The picture right show how this marina has grown. We finally found […]
Read MoreTuesday May 3rd Jumping ahead a bit. San Juanico and Coronados report later. Nice overnight anchorage at Isla Coronados. No bees to report. Motoring to get Murril in to Loreto in time for his covid test for his 4 pm fight back to LAX. Murril and Rick departing after 9 days on board. What an […]
Read MoreFriday May 29th After the longer passages in the northern Sea we now have legs 45nmi or less. Today we’re headed to Conception Bay Playa Santispac to enjoy a dinner on the beach at Armando’s. The Santa Rosalia to Santispac leg is 45 miles. The slow start after Tonka’s, we depart 11ish, a late start […]
Read MoreThursday April 28th Sunset my ass!! We use an average boat speed of 6kts when we figure an arrival time which puts us arriving 6:30ish for the 76NM passage. We cross into Baja Sur just before Santa Rosalia putting us on mountain time making it 7:30 basically a sunset arrival. Chris and I are up […]
Read MoreWednesday May27th Big plans today. We’re heading down to Isla Salsipuedes to hike the island have lunch and then further down to our over night anchorage at San Francisquito. Chris and I are up at 5:30 to haul anchor and get an early start on the day. Heading south down the lower Whale channel the […]
Read MoreTuesday May 26th Crew up early in Refugio for the 46 mile run into Bay of LA. No morning coffee with our propane problem. Another quite cool night. We’re sleeping under blankets. Looking south down Whale towards Bay of LA winds look light. We pass a 2 masked schooner as we carefully pass the exposed […]
Read MoreMonday May 25th The Gato crew appreciated a comfortable cool night to decompress from the stress preparing, provisioning and launching the cruise. THe leg to Puerto Refugio is 57 miles an easier day so it was a no alarm morning and we made way at 7:15 with north winds at 10. The Lobos area is […]
Read MoreDisclaimer I’ve had a good happy hour before writing this blog. The decision to sail toward Puerto Lobo turned out to be a great plan. After getting a later departure out of Penasco winds did us a big favor pushing us into Puerto Lobos. As I reported in the last blog winds started in in […]
Read MoreYes Our departure finds Arizona with weather creating strong winds. There’s Arizona forest fires being fueled by strong winds. One fire is only 10 miles from our Prescott cabin and the other is in Flagstaff and burned through Dave’s neighborhood. We’ll be keeping a close eye on progress to control the fires and a huge […]
Read MoreThe 2019 beach party on Isla Coronado was a fun time as you can tell from the group photo near sunset. This years Rally looks to be another fun sailing reunion of friends. Below photo, the Rally anchored in San Juanico on Baja 20 miles north of Loreto. We’ve been busy organizing the crews for […]
Read MoreLet’s go sailing. It’s been TOO LONG. The last blog about upcoming cruises was “Sailing into a new decade” published in February 2020. Covid put sailing out of reach giving us a 2 year break. The good news we’re going to break out of our home port of Penasco to go hangout with friends out […]
Read MoreGato Loco sailed into the Penasco harbor last Saturday 6ish pm, crossing the Sea 85 miles from Puertecitos. The photo right is the crew as they arrive with big smiles and ready to tell the tails of their cruise. They reported having a great trip and the challenging weather they had in Puerto Refugio […]
Read MoreBill has his drone with him on this cruise and getting some great aerial shots. While they’re anchored near Alfonsina’s in Gonzaga Bay they sent 3 shots as a preview of things to come. Yesterday they departed Gonzaga for the islands north probably anchoring there for the night. Weather is warming and north winds […]
Read MoreGood news, I heard from Gato Loco last night (Monday) after just arriving in Gonzaga Bay. They reported an exhilarating leg with good winds sailing from Puerto Lobos to Puerto Refugio. Friday night strong north winds rolled into the anchorage along with chilling temps. There was 3 other boats in the anchorage as they […]
Read MoreThe Gato Loco crew reported light winds and flat seas on their first leg to Puerto Lobos. They departed at sunrise as captured by Rob who must have been up very early. Phone service out of Puerto Lobos was good sending texts and emails. The sunset was spectacular from their anchorage. They’ve had […]
Read MoreAwesome news, after not sailing during the spring due to the pandemic Gato Loco departed today for a cruise to some of our favorite northern Sea anchorages. Co-owners Bill and Dave along with Cholla friend and neighbor Dawn brave the fall weather challenges where winter cold fronts have to be watched closely. They departed […]
Read MoreSailing into the new decade hasn’t turned out anything like we hoped. We watched in March as the Covid 19 Virus slowly closed all options for our spring sailing season. We had Gato Loco out day sailing in the Penasco area before heading back home in Phoenix and found we couldn’t return until finally mid […]
Read MoreDos Buenos anchored on the hard in Cholla Bay Crossing our 4th decade sailing feels like a significant achievement and deserves a little reflection into this major influence and how sailing has affected the Gato Loco crews. For me, Lowell, it all started a long way from the Sea on a farm in Missouri. Life’s […]
Read MoreWishing all our sailing friends the best for 2020. Plans are underway for the 2020 sailing season. More on that soon. Here’s a link to our 2020 calendar for download. It’s formatted for a 11 x 17 print and also prints well on 8.5 x 14 legal paper. Of course you can make it your […]
Read MoreMonday June 3rd Santa Rosalia to San Francisquto Best Passage Yet The day started with a typical weather forecast, West winds early near Santa Rosalia, and light WSW winds blowing from the Punta Trinidad basin. Some how our wind conditions came together giving us […]
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Thursday June 6th Gato Loco is making the final journey home to Penasco today. We started our journey from Puerto Refugio on Angle Island 105 miles due south of Penasco. We had an awesome total darkness start with stars aglow. Winds have been building since sunrise. Our first 4 hours we covered 31 miles sail […]
Read MoreSunday June 2nd we’re off to Santa Rosalia Departing Coyote Bay I have to thank Ed and Cindy for bring a cool little cactus on board to make us feel more at home. Dave napping looks like a […]
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