Sail Further

S/V Further's Current Location

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

Specialization is for insects

2011-12-12T04:36:00.000-08:00

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - Robert A. Heinlein

Banderas Bay Blast

2011-12-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

What could be worse than sailing your half-million-plus-dollar J/160 yacht into a reef?! Probably having Latitude38 tell all their readers in great sordid detail that you did it...

Blast Wrap-Up
December 5, 2011 – Banderas Bay

One thing everyone learned from this Blast is that you can't mess with the offshore reefs as much as three miles to the east of Punta Mita. The reefs are great for creating waves to surf, but bad for bouncing off of with boats. Sailmaker Mike Danielson guided the J/160 Blue at the very edge of one of the reefs in search of a smidgen more wind. They gybed just short of the reef, but fouled a spinnaker line in the bowsprit, fell off, and slammed into the reef. They struck so abruptly that the bowman flew right off the front of the boat, looking just like Superman in the old television show. We saw it with our own eyes. It took about 15 minutes of banging before Blue was able to get free of what will surely become known at Mike's Recife Azul, and while she was eventually able to continue racing, she'll be hauled today for inspection and repairs to the keel.

Blue, with her bowman swimming off the starboard bow, just after hitting the reef.
Photo Latitude / Richard
© 2011 Latitude 38 Publishing, LLC

The Regatta was a fun event, a little disorganized though. Hard to tell if anyone was in charge.

Marina El Cid, Mazatlán, Mexico

2011-11-24T05:20:00.000-08:00

For fellow cruisers who plan on putting in at Marina El Cid: if they assign you to slip A15 you might want to check if they've dredged it lately. My draft is 6' 3" and at low tide I was careened. As you can see wxtide said that the lower, low tide was -0.8ft on Nov. 23.

La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

2011-11-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

The gentleman on my left is Miguel Hernandez, proprietor of Electricidad Delta. He helped me troubleshoot my engine's tachometer. Afterwards, he invited me over to his brother's home where they have their weekly fish fry. Delicious.

Miguel does excellent work, is punctual, and is nearly fluent in english. I definitely got the impression that he takes pride in his work. His contact information:

Cyclone Jova

2011-10-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

It looks like Barra de Navidad took a direct hit from cyclone Jova. Sad to see the destruction since it seems like just yesterday that I passed through there. The charming restaurants and hotels that line their beachfront are devastated.

La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

2011-06-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

To: southbound_group@yahoogroups.com

Sun Jun 5, 2011 2:52 pm (PDT)

I wasn't able to find much information on Marina Fonatur La Paz in
Rains' Mexico Boating Guide or the Noonsite website so here's a summary
of what I learned:

They monitor VHF 74. Hail them as Marina Fonatur or Marina Singlar
(even though their website says they're called Marina La Paz or
Marina Turistica La Paz).
I was able to contact them once on VHF 16 but VHF 74 is a better bet.

The "Geographic Location" waypoint they give on their website is
NOT where the marina is located. It's about 2.2nm NE of the marina.
It's the waiting area where a pilot boat will come and lead you in.

Paradise Village Marina, Puerto Vallarta

2011-05-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

I plan on laying my boat up "on-the-hard" in La Paz, Baja California Sur, for

hurricane season. To hedge the peso-denominated expenses I went long the

Mexican peso exchange-traded-fund: FXM.

Deutsche Bank recently published a study of assets that currently have the most
speculative interest. I was surprised to see that the Peso is the most "crowded-trade"
in their study (MXN ... you can click on the image to embiggen):

I don't think this bodes well for the Peso in late-June when US dollar weakness

is expected to reverse with the end of the Federal Reserve's "quantitative easing"

program. To cover or not to cover US dollar shorts??? (and of course what to do

with the lateral play: commodities).

Grand Bay Marina, Barra de Navidad

2011-05-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

I posted this message to the Yahoo southbound cruisers group. It got
rejected because I didn't delete the original e-mail I was replying to (sailors
using HF for e-mail are pretty bandwidth starved). The topic was really old so I thought the original e-mail would be useful for context. I'll post it here instead.

I would still recommend visiting the Grand Bay Marina as long as you're
forewarned about the expense. The amenities at the resort are pretty amazing.
There's an ATM that dispenses US dollars at the Paradise Village Resort Mall
in Puerto Vallarta so it's possible to load up on dollars before heading to the
Marina in Navidad.

> From: "southbound_group-owner@yahoogroups.com"
> Subject: Message not approved: Grand Bay Marina -- Barra de Navidad

> I have an update on prices at Grand Bay Marina.
> If you're a cruiser on a budget I'd give the Marina a wide
> berth. Charlie's Charts (12th Ed., c. 2009) quotes a daily rate
> of $1.40 per foot; I was charged $2.60 per foot. A sailor checking
> out ahead of me was having a lengthy debate with the young lady at
> the front desk about his shore power charges. They don't read the
> meters. They bill based on what they call "average usage". By his
> calculations the bill was four times his estimated usage.
>
> Overcharging based on exchange rates seems to be policy; when they
> converted my US dollar denominated bill to Pesos they used an
> exchange rate of 12.5 (I pointed out that the current spot rate
> was 11.5).
>
> Cheers, Hank
> s/v Further
>
> --- In southbound_group@yahoogroups.com, Dick Locke wrote:
> >
> > The monthly rate is USD27 per foot, plus 16% IVA. I don't recall the
> > daily rate but it's always been about 1/11 of the monthly rate. If you
> > stay 11 days, the rest of the month is free...as the rationalization goes.
> >
> > Caution, two weeks ago they were converting to pesos at 13 per dollar.
> > That's about 8% above the bank rate. If you pay with a US credit card
> > your peso charge will be converted back to dollars at about 12 to one.
> > If you pay with peso cash, same 8% hit. After I expressed some "frank
> > displeasure" Hugo suggested paying in USD cash. . Turned out we had
> > about half the amount we needed so we only got half ripped off.
> >
> > If you're going to the states, I suggest bringing back enough dollars to
> > pay them in dollar cash.
> >

Acapulco, Mexico

2011-04-18T02:54:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different:
San Jose, CA 1997 This is the "bringup" team at Exponential Technology, Inc. We are popping

champagne corks to celebrate booting MacOS on our x704 microprocessor

first silicon. This was Jim Blomgren's startup before founding Intrinsity.

Intrinisity designed the A4 microprocessor powering the iPhone 4 and got

bought by Apple last year. I guess I should be kicking myself for not going

to work there in 1998 when they asked me to...but twelve years until cash

out, who has the patience???

(this moment in computer history brought to you by the Telcel Banda Ancha

3G cellular modem. The modem is made by ZTE, a mainland China company.
With all the recent talk about "back doors" and "kill switches" it kinda makes
you wonder...)

Punta Galera

2011-04-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Punta Galera is described in Rains' guide as a "marginal anchorage";
I didn't find it any less sheltered or more rolly than Puerto
Escondido or Puerto Angel. It also has a nice point break easily
accessible from your anchorage. If finding surf breaks is your priority

rather than shoreside services I'd recommend skipping the other
two and spending your time anchored here. As magicseaweed.com
would describe it: "a less demanding point break" rather than one
of the "Thundering beach breaks with board and back-snapping

brutality such as Puerto Escondido"

Bahia Tangolunda

2011-04-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

I have a new algorithm for beating the heat while cruising Mexico.

Written here in C++ pseudocode for your edification:

San Salvador, El Salvador

2011-03-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

This is Jorge Martinez the proprietor of Tour In El Salvador (www.tourinelsavador.com) with my new long board. He leads excellent tours and caters to cruisers (post-tour shopping trips, etc.). Jorge took me to a surf shop in San Salvador after I struck out in the surf towns of La Libertad and Playa El Tunco. He even negotiated a reduced price for me. Whatta guy.

Bahia Del Sol, El Salvador

2011-03-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

S/V Further crossing the bar.

Bahia del Sol is the hotel and resort that hosts the Annual Cruiser's Rally to
El Salvador. I signed up for the rally 'cuz: 1). It's free 2). There are only
two marinas to choose from in El Salvador and it's on the way North from
Panama 3). I thought I'd probably at least get a t-shirt out of the deal.

The downside is the notorious sand bar that has to be crossed at the entrance.
The bar shifts so often one of the hotel's pilot boats has to guide you across.
Also, you can only cross at slack high tide to safely draw enough water. Surfing
the waves into the estuary turned out to be pretty tame (although watching the
depth sounder tick down to 3-feet of water under the keel is pretty stressful). Breaking the waves leaving was a pretty wild ride. You have to try and time the
waves to balance possibly getting swamped versus launching off the back of the
wave. Also, I suppose if you got turned sideways and you got hit with a big
wave you could get knocked down or even rolled (and likely dis-masted in the
shallow water).

The rally turned out to be a lot of fun. The hotel staff is very friendly and
helpful and some even speak a little english (be prepared though, it ain't tourist
Mexico). El Salvador has some world class surf spots. More information here:
elsalvadorrally.blogspot.com

I feel a long way from the hills of San Salvador
where the sky is ripped open
and the rain pours through a gaping wound
pelting the women and children
pelting the women and children
into the arms... of America
- Bullet the Blue Sky, U2

Tierra Mar, Golfito, Costa Rica

2011-03-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

Sailor's artwork from the upstairs lounge at Tierra Mar. A great hangout. Thanks to Ron, the resident marine engine expert, for helping me get my Yanmar engine running smoothly again. An honest mechanic is a great thing to find, I highly recommend his services. The fickle winds of Central America are hard to get used to after sailing the steady trade winds of the Caribbean. It's a lot like the Med: either too much (the Papagayo, Tehuantepec) or too little wind.

AC34 in SF?

2010-05-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

As a former SF Bay Area sailor I was very excited about the prospect of the next America's Cup being held in SF (when Oracle-BMW won back the Cup this year). Do you think the race will be held in SF? Vote in the poll widget in the sidebar...

The argument in favor:
http://goo.gl/mqInY

The argument against:
http://www.latitude38.com/letters/201003.html
(the letter is: "say it ain't so")

Guadeloupe and Martinique

2010-05-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

Visiting these French islands makes me think of time spent in France:

The Mikkelsens come for a visit in the Caribbean

2010-04-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

For everyone stuck in the eighties; the view of English and Falmouth Harbours should be easily recognizable from Duran Duran's music video for their song Rio (filmed in Antigua):

Port Zante, St. Kitts, West Indies

2010-04-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

I saw this T-shirt in a window in St. Kitts.

It's wrong on so many levels it's hard to know where to start...

Christiansted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

2010-03-19T03:10:00.001-07:00

This is the impressive fort guarding the harbor entrance of Christiansted in St. Croix. It's comforting to see that the US military is using the latest in defense technology to keep us secure down here. Our tax dollars at work.

ARC Transatlantic Crossing

2009-12-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

Some highlights: Sailing with twin headsails (we tried many sail combinations to stay dead downwind)... A whale swam with us for about two hours... First Dorado

Las Palmas to St. Lucia
Official Time: 18-days, 8-hours, 35-minutes

QOTD

2009-11-07T01:46:00.000-08:00

"Each of us is all the sums he has not counted: subtract us into nakedness and night again, and you shall see begin in Crete four thousand years ago... Each moment is the fruit of forty thousand years. The minute-winning days, like flies, buzz home to death, and every moment is a window on all time.

-Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward Angel

Wintering in Turkey

2009-06-15T23:22:00.000-07:00

Marmaris Yacht Marina is a very economical Marina for wintering
"on-the-hard." Here's why:

1). As you can see from the first photo: No need to
rent a cradle!

2). And as you can see from the satellite photo, they really
pack in the boats! Launch is clearly on a Last-in, First-out
basis so if you miss your launch date expect big fees to
move you around and reshuffle.

Hvar, Croatia

2008-06-22T00:47:00.001-07:00

Flying the "steal your face" flag tied to the town quay in Hvar

(Croatia's St. Tropez). Met quite a few Americans who couldn't

get over seeing a US sailboat with "Portland, OR" as its hailing

port here in Croatia.

Bella Italia

2008-05-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

Nothing like making landfall in Lipari (the Aeolian Islands) and being greeted by dolphins. Or gazing at the red glow in the distance, from the volcano on the island of Stromboli, in the early morning darkness ("the lighthouse of the Mediterranean... It guided Odysseus towards the twin perils of Scylla and Charybdis..." Rod Heikell).

Can't Stop

2008-03-27T14:15:00.001-07:00

Can't stop addicted to the shin dig
Cop top he says Im gonna win big
Choose not a life of imitation
Distant cousin to the reservation
-- Can't Stop, Red Hot Chili Peppers

They must have played this song twenty or more times celebrating
the finish of the America's Cup in Valencia last July. I'd never
heard it before. I Googled the few lyrics I remembered and
found out it was RHCP.

The spaniards sure know how to enjoy life. I just heard Larry Ellison
won his lawsuit so Oracle will be the challenger of record for
the next AC in Valencia (on multihulls!!! whaaa...???)

Weatherfax

2008-02-11T03:26:00.001-08:00

I finally got my Furuno weatherfax working here in the Med. Last year I used the frequencies and transmission times from Heikell's "Italian Waters Pilot" with no luck. This year I used the data from Imray's "Mediterranean Almanac 2007-08" which seems to work. The data available here is kind of disappointing.

Compare the image above (actual size!) to what was available in Northern Europe from the UK Met office below (synoptics, wind barbs, etc.)

Test your cultural literacy

2008-01-25T03:11:00.000-08:00

Name the man standing in front of the "Further" bus.

Hedging Foreign Currency Exposure

2008-01-25T03:02:00.000-08:00

When I finally pulled the trigger on buying a boat directly from Hallberg-Rassy I became an unwitting currency speculator.

Here's what I learned in the process.

Because Hallberg-Rassy is a Swedish company they price their boats in their home currency: Swedish Kronor (SEK). In early 2006 when I first started looking at HR's the SEK/USD exchange rate was 7.8, by the time I made my first payment it had fallen to 7.3, today in the cash market it's quoted at 6.35. Not using a hedge of some kind would have been disastrous.

Here are the options I evaluated:

1. Pay the full price in advance at the current exchange rate. The downside: All HR boats are built-to-order. The lead time can be anywhere from 9-months to 2-years. Big opportunity cost, even if the cash is just held in a money market account during the build.

2. Convert the purchase price to SEK and hold it in a deposit account until the payments are scheduled. Most commercial banks don't support this but Everbank, an internet bank, specializes in deposit accounts and world currency CDs. I had an account there already. The downside: still some opportunity cost, at the time the "cash rate" in the US was much higher than what was being offered for the SEK. Be warned though, if you want to "trade" the currency and scale-in, Everbank makes it difficult. You call their trading desk and the only exchange rate guarantee you get is that they will complete the trade by the end of the day.

3. Open a futures account and hedge using forward contracts. Futures have the advantage of employing significant leverage. For example the Chicago Mercantile Exchange requires an "initial margin" of just $2,700 to control 2,000,000 SEK. The downside: expensive when the markets are in "contango" (futures trader jargon describing the case when the commodity is expected to increase in value so to lock-in a price in the future you have to pay more than the current market price). Some advice: make sure and open a futures account at a brokerage that gives you access to the NYBOT and not just CME.

4. A few months into the process I read a press release announcing a new ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) designed to track currencies. The ticker symbol is FXS and it typically has a much higher yield than what's offered at Everbank. Also, since it's an ETF you can trade it just like a stock. Understandably the trading volumes are VERY small but the bid/ask spreads were tight when it was listed on the NYSE (Since then the NYSE moved all their ETFs to their electronic trading platform, Arca, I've noticed an increase in the bid/ask spreads). The downside: selling the ETF to wire out the funds triggers a taxable gain or loss. At Everbank you just wire out the SEK held in your account.

Outfitting for the 2008 Sailing Season

2008-01-01T20:12:00.001-08:00

A few days ago I ordered a C-map SD card for my Furuno chartplotter to cover my intended navigation area: Eastern Med.

I ordered the m-em-m003: Mediterranean, Aegean, Black Sea and much to my surprise I received a card labelled m-em-m917.

Apparently C-map has updated their product line from "mega-wide" to "mega-max" and the retailers haven't bothered to update their online catalogs (I use Waypoint out of Alameda, CA). If you're in the market make sure and get the new mega-maxes they cover the area of two mega-wides for the same price.

Ship's Log

2007-12-30T13:17:00.000-08:00

This blog is intended as a sporadic record of the travels of S/V Further in the Mediterranean.

S/V Further is a Hallberg-Rassy 37, American-flagged sailboat.