Last year five catamarans shared a week long rally in the Sea of Cortez. For the 10th annual rally Kurt Jurman (owner of Westcoast Multihulls) stepped it up, big time to the tune of 15 multihull sailboats! West Coast Multihulls is opening a sailing school and charter business in Puerto Escondido and Kurt was able to arrange a couple free nights on the dock for the rally boats. Woohoo! Very lucky for us, since Strikhedonia was dirty and in need of time of dock time sparkle for the rally.
The rally kicked off with a catered dinner hosted Pepegina’s Pizza Bar located at the marina. Lots of laughs and good times were had, as well as more than a few margaritas… The next morning the rally fleet pulled out of the marina and sailed off around Isla Carmen to Bahia Salinas. It was a low wind day but the short hop allowed everyone get there mostly under sail.
Arriving early allowed for snorkeling the nearby shrimp boat wreck. Visibility wasn’t the greatest but the fish still provided lots of entertainment. We were still recovering from the previous night and chose to make for a low-key evening with dinner aboard Strikhedonia and an early bedtime.
The next morning boats were up and moving, visiting the shore or getting a jump on the group to our next anchorage. Jess and I paddled in to check out the old salt mine and were joined by the crew of Gato Loco.
The sail to Isla Coronado was a bit slow going with light winds (notice a trend here?) with most boats motorsailing. Props to FreeLuff and Bonzer who enjoyed a relaxing day entirely under sail. In the evening we had a spectacular potluck happy hour on the beach. Unfortunately a number of boats were dealing with food poisoning resulting in a smaller group on the beach.
The next day the fleet moved north to San Juanico while a group of boats remained in Isla Coronado, some do to alternative plans and other due to the food poisoning. Strikhedonia was one of those boats since I needed to fly to Sacramento the next day for my daughter’s NCAA track and field meet. An afternoon of drinks aboard She’s no lady with Randy from Free Luff, led to sundowners, before it was time to head back to Strikhedonia.
As the sun rose, Jess and I headed back to Puerto Escondido to catch our flight to Los Angeles. With zero wind it was a mellow motor into the mooring ball anchorage. Since our dinghy outboard was not working we grabbed a mooring ball close to the marina. Turned out that mooring ball was reserved, so further out we went. We had been told that the marina would come pick us up but of course their tender wasn’t working so we paddled the half mile into the dock… At least the wind gave us a push but it was still a long slog. Eventually we arrived, much to my dismay I had left my cell phone on the boat. Duh! Not having time to paddle out and back, thankfully I was able to beg and plead for someone to give me a ride. All part of the adventure…
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