And friends and food!
The big news of the week was we got the diesel working again. After two failures at sea, we did extensive fuel system maintenance, replacing filters, flushing lines, and re-treating all of our fuel tanks. Getting the engine started again wasn’t exactly straightforward as all of the bleed points on the fuel pumps were rusted shut. After prayer and petition, and some percussive maintenance, Greg roared back to life.
Also this week I played golf for the first time in over a year. Big shoutout to Dave for letting me tag along. Turns out putting is not like riding a bike and greens are fast down here year-round.
Friday, Spencer and Sarah drove in from Phoenix. Spencer and I met in Cincinnati and he was one of the first who heard the boat plan. He always supported it, so it was a treat to have them visit, and see the dreams playing out.
Friday night we feasted on fish tacos. We picked up two pounds of Yellowtail from the next door fish market. It’s gotta be the best fish taco fish in the sea. Firm, white, a little bit oily, and packed with flavor.
Saturday was the last hot rum race of the season. I didn’t really understand what that means but apparently every two weeks there’s a sailboat race, and this was the finale. I expected a dozen boats or maybe twenty, and a similar size to ours. I was wrong. Sailing is a big deal here. It was 130 boats and several were longer than 70 feet. Apparently, they take it seriously enough to fly in tacticians from around the world to plan the route.
Chuck and Kitsy are basically San Diego yacht club royalty. Chuck was the commodore at one point as was his dad, uncle, and grandfather. He’s always had a boat and they know everyone.
They took us out on their 28-foot zodiac again to spectate the race. We were zipping up along racing boats, yelling encouragement and taunts. It’s a pursuit race, so the boats are let out according to their speed, with the largest fastest boats leaving the start line last. This means there’s a lot of passing, strategy changes due to other boats wind shadows, near misses, and tons of excitement.
The highlight of my week was watching a 70-foot true racing sailboat (scroll to 2nd boat) screaming toward the course marker where all the boats turn left, within 100 feet of 10 other smaller sailboats. It was hectic and terrifying. The big boat slipped through the traffic and delayed their left turn to maintain a better course for optimal wind orientation.
In the midst of our spectating, we took on a side quest to observe the dolphin break off the East coast of Point Loma. Chuck had been surfing this wave his entire life so he knew where to put the boat. But it’s still exhilarating and pretty scary to be 30 feet from a breaking wave on a boat. And not 30 feet out to sea but 30 feet horizontally where the hidden channel delays the break. We watched a few sets and enjoyed perfect examples for explaining to our guests the sizes of various swells along our journey.
The race finished and the boat we were rooting for won! As we pulled up alongside to celebrate, they flooded their engine and had to ask us to tow them in. A neat little connection to the winning crew that secured us a tour of the boat. To our surprise, it wasn’t a purebred race boat, but a cabin cruiser kinda like Scooter (albeit more capable and a heck of a lot faster).
The rest of the weekend included an Indian curry feast, a top tier charscooterie board, and a great day sailing around the bay. We enjoyed late night dock walks, ample bourbon, and awesome conversation.
Thanks for the visit Sweitzers!
