Monthly Archives: March 2018

Improving the Quick Rider Anchor Windlass

For a cruising sailboat the anchor windlass is a very important piece of equipment that ranks with engines and sails. The anchor windlass hoists the anchor when it is time to leave, and needs to operate reliably. Our boat has a primary anchor that weighs 88 pounds. The anchor is attached to a chain that weighs about 1.4 lbs per foot. We often have 100 to 125 feet of chain out. The point of all that is that the deployed anchor and chain weigh a lot and are beyond the ability of an old guy like me to lift with my back.

The anchor windlass hoists this load at the push of a button, but as a key piece of equipment it needs to operate flawlessly. Before our departure we replaced the anchor windlass as a precaution against any trouble.

The windlass has an electric motor and gearbox that drives a part called the capstan. The capstan has depressions in the edge that grab every other link in the chain. As the chain passes over the capstan it should release and fall into the anchor locker. To help with this the windlass has a chain stripper that helps the chain off of the capstan. We have damaged this stripper 3 times so far. This happens because every once in a while one say every three months or so one of the links would pass the stripper arm bending the arm and damaging the base of the capstan. After making this repair several times, we had a Mexican welder add a small tee shaped piece of stainless cut from one of our damaged strippers to a brand new stripper. We had this done at the La Cruz Shipyard near Puerto Vallarta (ask for Peter). Cost about $10.00. What a difference. The windlass actually soundsbetter.

Before

After

Postcard from Z-Fest

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Playa Principal Anchorage

March 11, 2018

We are wrapping up our time in fabulous Zihuatanejo. Checked out with the Port Captain, provisioned, got fuel, saying good-bye to friends. We spent a month here, a memorable time. Here are the highlights:

Raft-up Concert on Muskoka, Sail Fest

Sail Fest por los Ninos

Unfortunately, we arrived at the tail end of this event. Cruisers donate their time and boats taking local people and tourists out for short cruises. We did enjoy one sunset cruise aboard Muskoka with gracious hosts, Scott and Laurie. The cruise ended with a raft up concert featuring José Luis Cabo, a renowned & beloved local artist. By all accounts, Sail Fest was a huge success with proceeds going to help fund education projects including the building of schools, scholarships, and more. Schedule permitting, we’d like to participate next year.

Jose Luis Cabo

Lisa & Laurie enjoying the show

Bahia Zihuatanejo

Mateo, Dinghy Attendant extraordinaire

There are 4 beaches here: Playa Principal, Playa Madera, Playa la Ropa, and Playa las Gatas. We anchored primarily in the main anchorage in front of Playa Principal. Pros and Cons for sure. The water is green and gross which means no swimming or water making for us. It can also be rolly. We had a few days with big swells coming through the anchorage. We were able to dinghy to shore in spite of the wave breaks thanks to the friendly ever-present dingy attendants waiting on shore to help with all landings and launches for 10-20 pesos. We did have a couple of rough landings/launches when the waves were big, but no permanent injuries, just some wet clothes, groceries, dirty dinghy and frazzled nerves. A big plus here is Hilda & Ismael’s concierge service for boaters. With their service, we had laundry, diesel, and even beer delivered to the boat.

Zihuatanejo

Alfonzo, dinghy helper, taking a break with friends

Footloose at anchor

Panga fleet

Playa la Ropa

a day at the Pool above Playa Ropa, view of Bahia Zihau

Cooling Off

Footloose at Isla Grande/Ixtapa

It’s quite warm and humid here. We went to Playa Ropa and nearby Isla Grande/Ixtapa and Petatlán just south for some cooling off, water making, boat cleaning, snorkeling and relaxation.

Good Morning!

Paradisea, Isla Grande

Gathering at Paraiso Escondido, Isla Grande

Exploring Isla Grande

Bunny!

& chickens

Great snorkeling off this beach

Out for a sail

This bird circled us for a while

And kept trying to land

Gave up after about 20 minutes

Arriving Petatlán

enjoying the water!

Petatlán

peaceful anchorage

Cruising Community and Town

Dining with Friends, Patrice & Lou (Sonamara), Lisa (Footloose), Maureen & Bob (Paradisea)

On average, 20-25 boats were anchored here with us. There is a cruisers net Monday-Saturday, at 0830, on Channel 22 with volunteer hosts. We caught up with friends here, enjoying many meals and the Guitar Fest! With the heat, cooking is less fun. Fortunately, Zihuatanejo has no shortage of good restaurants. Every Thursday is “Posole” night. We tasted some at Any’s, delicious. Spectacular dinner at Kau Kan, serious food (tuna tartar with ginger, grilled lamb chops…) with a stunning view. There is no shortage of entertainment either with live music all around and sports. A few friends were able to watch the Olympics from one of the many sport bars here. Curling and Cerveza anyone? And the best is the basketball court right in the center of the beach walk. There is a very active league with players of all sizes, ages, and abilities taking it to the court. Very popular with the locals, who surround the court to watch in the warm evenings, snacking on popcorn or ice cream. I must give a shout out to Cuattro Cycle, a cool (air-conditioned) cafe, with excellent service, food, coffee, WiFi and is pet friendly. We spent hours parked at a table with laptops, coffee, green tea, and baked goods catching up on business, surfing, and writing.

Hilly town surrounding the bay

Zihua, friendly town for walkabout

walk along the canal on the way to Mega to provision

look close, it’s a “gum” tree

a walk to Playa Madera

Sand Sculptures

Large Public Mercado (mangoes a sp

El Gato waiting for adoption

Dinner & treasures bought from a small, insistent vendor

Posole night at Any’s

Basketball!

Kau Kan, table with a view!

International Guitar Festival: XV Anniversary 2018, Mar 3-10

Opening Night, Carlos Uribe & Jossy Gallegos

What a week this has been. A stage is set up right off of Playa Principal with beach concerts every night, 8-11, as well as gala events at various restaurants. Opening night on the beach stage was a great introduction to all artists. We thought we could listen to some concerts from our boat, but often there were conflicting sounds drowning out the guitarists. Better to go to the beach to hear concerts for only $100 pesos each ($5 cover)! We also attended a couple of gala events, seeing Jossy Gallegos and Nick Vigarino at Coconuts and Goh Kurosawa and Tom Lumen at Bistro Delmar. Many different styles. We really liked Leonardo Parra Castillo who played “delta” blues. Listening to him, I’d swear he was from Mississippi, not Colombia. Another night featured Eric McFadden and Omar Torrez. Wow. I could go on and on. We have some new music for our boat collection!

Footloose anchored near the stage

Opening night!

Getting ready!

Carlos Uribe

Collaboration, Emiliano Juarez, Leonardo Parra Castillo, Tim Williams

Kai Kurosawa

The Beartrax

Nick Vigarino

Jossy invites her teacher to the stage to play with her

Goh Kurosawa,Gala Event at Bistro Delmar

Kurosawa brothers

Gala Event at Coconuts

Nick!

Nick Vigarino at Coconuts

Michael enjoying the show

Lisa too

Beach Concerts!

Omar Torrez

Leonardo

a face in the crowd

Jose Luis Cabo

Moving Day

Last night we enjoyed one more meal on the beach with our friends, listening to the Guitar Fest finale. Today it’s quiet. Many boats are pulling up the anchor, time to move on. The fleet is changing once again, as new boats come in replacing the departed. We will linger another day and then it is our turn.

Thank you Zihuatanejo, next stop somewhere near Manzanillo…

Sundown As the sun goes down, we set up the boat for night time. Turning down the brightness of the chart plotters and switching on the red cabin lights to preserve our night vision. We brew a thermos of coffee.

Night Light

At midnight, the clouds are low, obscuring a crescent moon. There are no stars. The running lights illuminate the boundaries of the boat, but beyond that lies darkness. The boat is rampaging down the faces of the steep chop. The larger waves slap the bridge deck, sometimes with so much force they sound like a gun shot. Lisa wants to know about a new radar target that is not showing on AIS. We use the radar system to determine that this target is probably a sport fisher on a parallel course moving at about 14 knots. We slow the boat a little and the ride smoothes out because we are no longer overtaking the waves.

Three Freighters line up on the right half of the screen

As we move down the coast towards Zihuatanejo, the wind lightens and the chop subsides. A bright light off the port hull comes on within 100 feet of the boat. Unseen on radar, a Mexican panga fishing boat has flipped on its running lights. It zooms by our stern and as soon as it’s clear the lights are off again. International law says use running lights, but the almost invisible Pangas rarely do, unless you are a threat. Perhaps they are trying to preserve their night vision, so they can see the end of a miles long fishing line supported by transparent soda bottles.

The sky clears and moonlight shines through gaps in the clouds, creating bright streaks on the water. We hurtle on, and the streaks seem to be getting brighter. Staring ahead they begin to look like a sandy beach in the distance. The streaks are too bright to be moonlight from this waning crescent moon. This looks like I am getting ready to run aground. I look at the chart plotter which says 4000 feet deep under the boat and eight miles off shore, but my brain says I’m about to beach the boat. I slow down and call Lisa to see if she might have an opinion. Meanwhile I grab the camera and try to take a picture… this is really strange. In the magnified image I see the sunrise peaking through a narrow gap between the clouds and the horizon. I am in fact headed into more water, 4000 feet deep.