Author Archives : Chris French

Work, work, work, the season begins!


The season had the best start ever with my friends CJ and Jack picking me up from the airport in Phoenix. That made the three hour trip to Puerto Pensaco so so much easier than the 11 hour bus ride to Guaymas like the previous two season kick offs. Damn, commissioning a boat in the desert is tough work. Dreaming…

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Zero day, almost


Today’s plan had been for a 19km hike that went up 500 meters into the hills surrounding St. Remy. The forecast was for 35 degrees (95 degrees F) and lots of sun. The heat and past two days convinced us to dial it back and instead explore St. Remy and follow along the Van Gogh trail. The city has a…

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The finish line is in sight!


Work continued and the day before our haul out we moved to a motel for the last two nights. Ah showers and air conditioning. Funny story – Jack and I had checked out a couple places and actually had reserved one that looked okay. Later that day Jack found a better spot and canceled the first motel and while there…

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Welcome to Puerto Penasco


The passage past smoothly and come daylight we could see the finish line, Puerto Penasco. We even managed some motorsailing with the engines pulled way back. An attempt was made at sailing but as per usual this only lasted a short time. All in all, a nice way to close out the season. Huge tidal swings occur in Penasco so…

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Go Time!


The time had come, we had a window to cross to Puerto Penasco. Our plan was for a 3:00pm departure which left us with time to squeeze in yet another hike! This time with Radu and Katja from SV Imagine. They had recovered from their sleepless night two days ago and were up for some exploring. So off we went…

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Fun times with CJ and Ted


Through the early morning hours I was up a number of times where the wind hung around the 30 knot range (+/- 5 knots). By 4:00am things subsided a bit and by 6:00am we were back to the 12-15 knots with gusts in the low 20s. Damn the past few weeks have been windy, windy, windy. And made me very…

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Adventure packed day in Refugio


Up early Jack and I dropped the dinghy and headed off fishing. Just as it is supposed to be, it wasn’t long before Jack had his first fish. It was a small cabrilla that we slipped back into the water, a good start. We worked around a point and caught a bigger, but still small, triggerfish. We kept it just…

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Moving on north to Refugio


Finally a day where we can get moving again. Don Juan was a good protector but after four nights, water too cold to snorkel, and dreams of northern anchorages we were ready to move on. The plan had been to wait until 9:00am but the wind dropped off to less than 10 knots earlier than forecast so at 7:00am we…

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