1000 miles to windward, and that's just a start

5-20-13 – Reno, NV, USA

So it seems I’ve been slacking off on my blog duties, and a lot has happened lately.  Maybe it’s because a lot has been happening that I’ve been slacking off.  For everyone with a short attention span I will give the quick version first. 

 We are back in the States, actually all the way back to Reno, NV at this moment; who knows where we will be in the next moment; certainly not me.  I left from La Paz on June 1^st with Mike and Linda, while Elizabeth flew back to Ohio to retrieve our car.  The Autumn Wind crew overnighted to Cabo where we spent 2 hours on the fuel dock, took on fuel and had an ice cream before being told that the slip was reserved for a “big” boat that was on its way.  Ie. get off the dock and pay for a slip, no hanging out here. 

Mike & Linda on the pier at Turtle Bay

M & L enjoying ice cream at Turtle Bay

Almost exactly 4 days later we pulled into Turtle Bay and dropped the hook.  Ernesto came out in his panga and we took on fuel before he gave us a ride into the pier.  There, Mike and Linda treated me to a shower and lunch, and then we had an ice cream.  12 hours later we left Turtle Bay and 3.5 days later we tied up to the customs dock at San Diego, right at shift change and I was told “we don’t have the money to pay for overtime so it will be a few hours.”  So maybe it wasn't 1000 miles, only 958, and all but about 5 minutes was to windward.  The D sail got a workout on this passage.   In the mean time I spied the M/Y Sense that my old friend Mike was working on.  (Google it, this isn’t some little trawler!)  A few hours later Autumn Wind was tied up at the dock at Harbor Island West.

Last night watch on Autumn Wind

Sun going down somewhere off the coast of Baja

AW at the customs dock in San Diego

  We made it!  A day later Elizabeth showed up after driving across the country from Indiana.  Also the first time we had not been together since the day we got married!  Our SPOT stopped working somewhere 50 miles offshore out of Cabo, causing a fair amount of stress for the people following it.  E did a good job containing the panic and no one called the Coast Guard or did anything rash.  Now it was mother’s day, and my friend Mike invited us to join them for a mother’s Day brunch at the Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island.  There were no mothers present, but we all had a great time at the super nice, champagne and lobster leg included brunch overlooking the ocean.  After that it was a day of general tourism stuff and bar hopping before the diesel powered jet boat tender ride back to Shelter Island.  They call them “tenders” on boats this big, not dinghies.  Especially when your tender can carry 12 people at 35 knots!  Not a bad way to travel around San Diego Bay.

The crew at brunch at the Hotel del Coronado

  After that it was all about work.  Getting the boat ready to sell, selling stuff off the boat and generally throwing a ton of stuff away.  We had to dispose of 12 jerry cans that no one wanted.  Sold 4 and gave 8 away.  We basically had to move out of a two bedroom apartment and everything we wanted to keep had to fit into the back of a tiny sedan.  Needless to say we threw a lot of stuff away, or left a lot of stuff on the boat. 

Our storage unit (hotel room), trying to figure out how to
get all this stuff into the car

It was hard to see every little piece of gear we had put so much thought into buying a year ago, just get thrown away or left behind.  But we knew this would happen.  5 days later we were living in a hotel, the boat is immaculate and there is no sign that we ever spent the last 11 months living on it.  Depressing and happy all at the same time.  I gave her one last kiss goodbye and we were off to Reno.  We had to plan our departure around the Portuguese Festa parade where they closed the road in front of the hotel, but at least we had some Malasadas for desert one day as a result of this Festa.  10 hours after departure we had stopped in LA at a random gas station with an ornery attendant who made us buy a water before letting us use the bathroom,  to sell our liferaft to a nice couple who want to head South next year, gotten stuck in crappy California highway traffic, bailed off the freeway and took HWY 395 from LA to Reno, thru some of the greatest desert and mountain scenery one could ask for, before landing in Reno at 11PM.  Now we are here, in Reno.  When we figure out what’s next we’ll let you know.  I think we’ll drive to Ohio tomorrow.  Why not?

That’s the short version.  The long version is worthy of its own feature length film, Lots of stories, lots of staring at the ocean, going 3 knots, good food, hard decisions and coming to terms with the end of the sailboat adventure.  (At least for now I say)  I am willing to say that the adventure has just begun.