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Last updated 1/25/98.
There are really only two basic all-encompassing rules for sailors ( conferred upon us by Dan and Lorraine of Modhachaidh):
and, of course, having seldom been accused of too much sense, we just had to break both of them.
The first credo we broke in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico when, after 5 weeks on the hard rebuilding the stern tube assembly and painting the bottom, we launched Horizon only to find we had forgotten to replace the depth and speed transducers we had pulled for cleaning and painting. Horizon sank to the cabin sole in 5 minutes but took 45 minutes to pump dry with 2 electric bilge pumps and the manual pump going full (adrenaline) blast! Oops! Tells you something about bilge pumps, doesn't it?
We broke the second credo in Puerto Madero, Mexico when we anchored after an uneventful two day passage across the Tehuantepec. We had cruised around the anchorages in the bay looking for the "right" spot but returned to the first cove nearest the entrance to a cute little area where there was a Horizon sized spot. We anchored just as night was falling but were awakened at 11 PM when a squall came through that pushed us right onto the shoal all the other boats had avoided. For 3 hours we, and about 10 other cruisers, battled with kedge anchors to pull Horizon off while all the while, we were rolling 45 degrees to each side. The cruising gods were looking after us as we had beached on the ONLY sandy spot between huge masses of rock and coral. Aside from sore muscles and the loss of some new bottom paint (see above) we and Horizon escaped permanent damage. Others, watching our ordeal from a distance, assumed that Horizon was toast; we were VERY, VERY lucky. Perhaps there was some advantage to having the boat "blessed" with the fishing fleet in Puerto Vallarta. The lesson we learned from this was to ensure that we would avoid any obstacles when our anchor rode is fully extended in ALL directions. We now always survey our swinging area no matter how tired we are.
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