On Friday, the 21st of February 2003, I walked up to the yacht club in Puerto Vallarta to look for sailboats to crew on. And there, finally, I found a boat asking for a crew member from Puerto Vallarta back up to Los Angeles. I walked to the yacht harbor and found the boat there, GoldDigger.

The boat had been racing down from LA to here. At 50 feet, GoldDigger was fast and could handle heavy seas. The owner was paying a delivery crew of two sailors to take the boat back to LA. I was told that they would be powering all the way back because of almost constant head winds, that it would take about ten days, that it would be cold, and was asked if I had boating experience. When I said yes, he asked me if I still wanted to go. I had come down to sail, but I would definitely prefer to be on a sailboat rather than flying back even under these circumstances, so I quickly said yes. Jim, the skipper for the trip, asked me to come back on Sunday afternoon for an early Monday departure.

I changed my return flight back to Seattle from Puerto Vallarta to LA and showed up with my stuff on Sunday. I met Mike, the co-skipper. All of us went to a grocery store and filled up with food, beer, wine, and other important details. A temporary auto-pilot was rigged on to the boat. In the cockpit we tied down eight fuel cans. It would be a long way to go, and GoldDigger was not built to go by power.

The regular stove was out of gas, and there was no way to refill it in Puerto Vallarta. So we bought a small two-burner camping stove and a propane tank to go with it. Unfortunately, they were not meant to work together, but Mike did some welding to fix the problem.

Sunday the 23rd of February (Puerto Vallarta -> offshore)

At 3 PM Pacific Standard time (5 PM Puerto Vallarta time) we suddenly headed out. It took us half an hour to get out of the harbor. Then we were met by strong head winds with accompanying waves, and we shook and bounced a lot. I thought for a while that I might be sea-sick (that would be a first!), but it was probably only excitement and a hungry stomach - I ate a bit and felt better.

They - Jim and Mike - put up a smaller mainsail used for deliveries. We weren’t heading 100% against the wind, and it helped speed and stability. It caught wind most of the time. It was warm and nice. Started watches (2 hours on, 4 hours off), and I had the watch 8-10 PM.

I got installed into this sailing machine. It was definitely not a cruising boat! We had to step carefully over all the sails on board, and the angle of my berth could be adjusted according to how much the boat heeled over - the latter was definitely an advantage!

Monday the 24th of February (offshore)

I had watches 2-4 AM, 8-10 AM, and 2-4 PM. It was pretty much the same all day. Nice and warm and light-moderate wind against us. We had the mainsail up most of the time. There was a problem with the auto-pilot for a while, but got it taken care of and did little steering ourselves.

I cooked lunch and dinner, which we ate out in the cockpit. We had been told that the boat would make 7¼ knots under power, but we could never get it over 6½, and it often dropped to under 6 when hitting bigger waves.

Tuesday the 25th of February (offshore -> Cabo San Lucas)

We expected to get into Cabo San Lucas between 12 and 2 PM. We had figured we had just about enough fuel left to get there. Then the engine suddenly died. We quickly put up foresail #4 (and Jim wasn’t too happy about my hesitation when helping Mike on fore-deck, but this was the first time he asked me or wanted me to do ANYTHING except steering).

How nice the sailing was, in winds that built to 28 knots. But it was scary that the engine suddenly had quit. There was a bit of fuel left. We took down the main when we got closer to shore and then the boat stopped healing so much. Then - to our delight - the engine started again, and we rushed to the fuel dock. Probably we had been heeling too much for the fuel to get to the engine.

We stayed at the guest moorage overnight.

Wednesday the 26th of February (Cabo San Lucas -> offshore)

I bought two more fuel drums in the morning. Filled them and took off 9 AM. Jim called home to his wife, who said that a storm was on its way. So wanted to get going early.

We still had mostly head winds, and had the main up. It flapped most of the time. As the wind started building, we only made 5½ knots and less over ground. Jim figured out that we would not have enough fuel to get us to Bahia Tortuga - the next fueling point - at this speed.

So again they put up foresail #4 and shut the engine off. How wonderfully nice! And I got to sail 40 minutes, since it was my shift. Jim had asked me before if I knew how to sail (he only asked about boating skills when I became a crew member), and then later if I was prepared to do steering during sailing. He had been happy when I sailed yesterday.

We had discovered earlier that the boat leaked quite a bit from above, but had managed to cover up the worst of it. But we could not do much about the wheel chamber, into which waves were splashing all the time. So we pumped it frequently to avoid having water drip inside the boat.

It started getting colder, and I no longer wore my shorts. Instead I accepted the offer to borrow some foul-weather gear. We set up shorter shifts of one hour, since it was not practical to use the auto-pilot while sailing and heeling a lot. I started 6-7 PM, two hours off, etc. Short sleep hours! The wind built to about 22 knots. It was absolutely wonderful sailing. The waves built and seemed huge in the middle of the night. There was spray all over, but fortunately not TOO much of it reached far back where I was.

There were no clouds and no moon - just a star filled sky above me. It was too dark to see the sails, so I steered by the feel of the pressure on the rudder, and at times glanced on the weather-vane lit on top of the mast. I was absolutely alone fighting the elements well offshore, and it felt wonderful. Never had I sailed anything even close to this before. Still wished at times for some light, so I could have watched the big waves.

Thursday the 27th of February (offshore -> Bahia Santa Maria)

Jim seemed quite happy with my sailing ability. He was glad that I did very little if any slamming into the waves, so he was able to sleep well while I sailed in the huge waves. The wind died in the morning and we turned on the engine at 10:45 AM and took down foresail #4.

The wind came back in the afternoon, so sail up and engine off. I sailed for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Again it was 20-22 knots, big waves but they did not seem as big as during the night. We sailed for about 2 hours.

I had watch 6-8 PM and then went to bed. I was soundly asleep when we arrived at Bahia Santa Maria at 11 PM (38 hours from Cabo). They tried to wake me up. When they failed the first time, they let me sleep and dropped the anchor themselves.

Friday the 28th of February (Bahia Santa Maria -> offshore)

I woke up at 4 AM for a brief moment, and then slept until 6:30. 10½ hours!

We heard the weather forecast in the morning that talked about 15 knot N winds today and 15 knots (building to 20 in the afternoon) NW tomorrow. So we took off at 8 AM. Went by power put up the mainsail after a while. About 10 knots winds and swells up to 8 feet. Compass heading was 310 (WNW). No land in sight.

Saturday the 1st of March (offshore)

Winds up to 20 knots during the night. Still under power plus mainsail. We had to keep wind in the sail, otherwise we would slow down to 4½ knots or so. The wind was lighter in the morning, 12-14 knots. Started sailing about 1:15 PM (me), and the wind quickly built to 20 knots. Made 8+ knots close-hauled.

All GPFs went out in the middle of the night. Jim thought the war was started and all satellites blocked out. But he got one weak response about 1 PM.

I sailed again 4-5 PM with winds 21-22 knots, right into the sun. Marvelous! Made 8+ knots close -hauled almost all the time, 8.4 once. Big waves, though not quite as big as the night waves.

The wind increased to 25 knots, so we took the mainsail down and sailed on foresail #4 only. We made 6+ knots, but the speed dropped much more - because of wave bouncing - than with 2 sails and it took a long time to regain it again.

Calmer about 8 PM so we turned on the engine on smaller throttle to preserve gas. It took much longer time to gain distance than expected.

Sunday the 2nd of March (offshore -> Bahia Tortuga)

We were on two hour shifts again. Beautiful sunrise at my 5-7 AM shift. Light wind. The GPSs worked fine again. It took forever to get to Bahia Tortuga at about 5 knot speed. When the wind kicked up to 16 knots, we were down to 4 knots true boat sped. We ran out of propane at lunch time! It had been leaking.

We arrived at Bahia Tortuga at 1:30 PM after 53½ hours (from Bahia Santa Maria) and dropped the anchor outside the little harbor. Hernesto came out after a couple of hours. We went with him to town to partake in part of the fiesta, with cars (like chariot wheels almost) coming down the street and lots of people and lots of dancing along the people walking by.

Monday the 3rd of March (Bahia Tortuga)

Jim was up 6:20 AM telling us to leave. He started the engine and discovered a leaking water pump. Jim told me that I can go back to sleep. Mike took the water pump apart. We went into town (on Hernesto’s panga) to try to find a replacement for the broken part. We couldn’t find any, but were told that the next bus would leave Wednesday about 3 AM.

Alan (Maria’s brother - she was Hernesto’s "almost sister") told us that a friend was going to drive to Guerrero Negro), from where there were lots of buses to Tijuana. So Jim grabbed a few things and his passport and hopped into the truck. He might reach Long Beach (LA area) early Tuesday.

Mike phoned Chris, the "normal" driver of GoldDigger (but not the owner) and left a message about what was going on - but not the part number of the leaking water pump.

Then Hernesto took us out to the boat and we got the serial number. Another phone call on shore and Mike reached Chris and gave him the scoop.

We were out at the fiesta at 6 or so. All of town was out there (about 100) with live, loud music and lots of dancing. Mostly women danced by themselves. We were soon dragged out there to join them. I hadn’t danced this much for many years. And they were sure having fun, and so was I.

I mostly danced in group of 5-10 women. Towards the end there was slow dancing, and I asked a women up to dance. Then she wouldn’t let go of me, until I got out to let Herneso take us back to GoldDigger. He was miffed at missing the dance, but brigthend up when he could smoke dope out at our boat. To bed past 1 AM.

Tuesday the 4th of March (Bahia Tortuga)

Several other sailboats had arrived. Hernesto took us to town 10-11 or so. Walked up to the "house" and were given omelet. Mike left one more message for Chris. Hung around with the newly arrived sailors. I went out to the boat alone for a few hours. The fiesta - the final day - had started, so walked up there. - Had a bit to eat with Fran, who was also vegetarian. Then the music started - but not the band yet - and the two of us were the only ones to dance - to get warm!

Also danced with another woman, who taught me polka. The other foreigners - including Mike - were not to be seen, I stayed with the orchestra dancing for several hours and had lots of fun. Definitely one of the most enjoyable times I had had for a long time.

The music stopped at 9, so walked down towards the "house" to find Ernesto and the others. Found them just coming back from long boat visit. Then Hernesto dragged us up to a restaurant, treating us to tacos and beer. Then followed him a long way to "the blue house". Hernesto again paid for the entrance. Big room with music playing and just filling with people.

We got a table - which cost 50 pesetas - and Hernesto got more beer. I danced quite a bit again - there wasn’t much else to do.

At 1 AM we tried to get a ride back. Hernesto seemed very drunk, and just told us to take his panga and bring it back the next day. Got a ride back to the beach. Brandon from the other boat tried to get the panga started, and did succeed many times. But it quit every time before getting up to speed. So two people were paddling with one oar and one tiny pale.

Mike sat up talking until two in the morning.

On Thursday morning I took the 3 AM bus (there were three buses a week, all leaving at 3 AM) out through a mud filled gravel road (it had rained a lot, and it was uncertain whether the bus would make it up the steep road) to the Pan American Highway. A long bus ride to Tijuana, a little hotel there, a walk across the boarder, the light rail to downtown San Diego, a bus to the airport, and I could fly back to Seattle.