After having Maiatla laid up in Chiapas Mexico for almost 8 month, we are finally ready to get back underway and sail. I hauled to boat out for a hull cleaning and to change some through hull fittings.  Marina, the owner and editor of TAKE 5 has once again joined us as crew for a few weeks to sail for El Salvador then on to Honduras, Nicaragua with a Christmas in Costa Rica.  She was thankfully loaded down with boat parts when she arrived a couple of days ago. The weather is hot, Africa kinda hot with lots of humidity but we are excited about getting back to sea. I will post an update and pictures asap. Take care all and wish us luck. Andrew.

The article below appears in Decembers/January issue of TAKE 5- check it out

The Gulf of Storms?

Most landlubbers have heard of Cape Horn at the bottom end of South America with its fearsome reputation of extreme weather. And likewise, the Pacific Graveyard along the BC coast needs no introduction, yet few people have ever heard of this storm ravaged sea down in Mexico near the Guatemalan border. This turbulent body of water is both feared and respected by the sailors who must venture across the 250 mile wide gapping maw that is gulf of Storms!  This is the Gulf of Tehuantepec.

But cross it was what my wife Janet and I had come down here to do. We departed Ladysmith harbour on Vancouver Island in the fall of 2012 bound for the Panama Canal. Our sailing vessel, Maiatla, our Hardin Voyager 44, would safely carry us some 4500 miles down the Pacific, North and Central American coasts but before reaching the canal, we would have to challenge the great Gulf with its frequent storm force winds, wicked contrary currents and steep seas.

On our way down we stopped off in Ixtapa Mexico to pick up a friend and crewmember who would help us cross the dreaded Gulf. Marina Sacht of Take 5 fame arrived by plane without a hitch, that is if you don’t count my tipping the dinghy over in the surf on her very first day aboard. The incident was witnessed and applauded by many on shore and the resultant soaking forced us to find an outdoor restaurant that didn’t mind that we all left puddles beneath our chairs.

Marina has voyaged with Jan and I before. First from Ladysmith to San Francisco, then again from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. She is obviously a glutton for punishment as she was back to crew again, but not on a leisurely sail in the sun drenched tropics, no she signed on to tackle the Gulf! Foolish girl!

The three of us had a mostly uneventful sail for almost 500 miles while making frequent stops to swim, explore and wander on trackless beaches and to gawk at the famous cliff divers of Acapulco. A highlight was sailing through hundreds of sea turtles lounging on the surface, waiting for nightfall to broach the beachheads to lay their eggs. There were also a few moments of undesired excitements as the engine console on Maiatla caught fire just as we were motoring into Puerto Escondido to anchor for the night. With a Mexican navel patrol boat and indifferent looking crew watching smoke billow out of us, we franticly dropped anchor, shut down the engine and killed the batteries that were feeding the electrical fire. While Jan cooked dinner and wafted smoke from the cabin, Marina sat on the foredeck with a glass of red wind watching another spectacular sunset. I on the other hand was busy swapped new wire for burnt ones in the cockpit console.

As we rounded a headland ominously named Puerto Scrificos, we were smacked on the nose by strong winds and white breaking seas. The was engine started in order to help drive us up into the building maelstrom. With a tight grip on the helm I turned to Jan and Marina, “Well we made it! This is the start of the Gulf of Tehuantepec.” I said as Maiatla took another dive into a deep trough between breaking waves.  It had been a long day so I decided to enter Puerto Scrificos so we could anchor and rest, but lacking the proper chart made matters worse as there were several rocky reefs breaking the surface near what I assumed to be the entrances. Foolishly perhaps, I slowed Maiatla down and while Janet and Marina scanned the water ahead for rocks, and with my eyes glued to the depth sounder, I slowly began to feel our way into the lee of the land.  The further inshore we ventured the calmer the water, but without a proper chart the bay was like a minefield and the now calmer water hid the barley submerged reefs. We were almost in when Jan suddenly bolted from the cockpit to head down below, “where are you going I asked” sounding rather surprised that she would choose to leave the cockpit at such a critical time.

“I feel like I want to throw up!” she shot back before disappearing into the salon. Ok, since Janet has been sailing with me for 30 years and has seen everything from a gale up to a full blown hurricane, and not complained (not much really) I took the subtle hint that perhaps she didn’t want to be here. So with some regret I turned Maiatla about and headed back to sea.

7 miles and 4 hours later we had Maiatla neatly anchored in a tiny and nearly perfect tranquil bay which included our own private sand beach and clear blue water overshadowed by canting coconut palms. The sea around us was alive with colorful fish and ashore, the jungle was filled by the calls of exotic birds and night, aglow with flickering fireflies. I said to the ladies, “This may not be paradise but I think I can see it from here”.

Hidden from our view but just a short dingy ride around the rocky point was a series of thatched roof beach cantinas on a crescent shaped beach full of nearly naked Mexican tourist, down from the highlands for the Christmas holidays. After making a successful dinghy landing that didn’t include dunking everyone into the surf, we searched for a place for dinner. With a hot wind blowing in our faces and the waves nearly lapping at our feet, we dined on prawns and chicken while sampling mysterious cocktails of tequila and rum in pineapples shells. This was our Christmas Eve in Hualtuco.

After a couple of days relaxation we regretfully moved on to the marina in town as it was time to re-provision the boat and to start looking for a weather window, a clam stretch of at least 4 days to which to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Happily, we weren’t the only sailors waiting here as there were half a dozen more just like us, along with two other Canadians wanting to head south, but like us, they were pinned down by the  70 knots of wind just down the coast.

The ferocity of the Gulf is due to a natural geographic feature in the form of a 100 mile stretch of low-lying land that nearly connects the pacific ocean to the Gulf of Mexico which is a mere 120 miles to the east. The winds from the Caribbean side funnel between the hills to pick up speed until finally spilling out into the Gulf of Tehuantepec.

While we waited, we didn’t waste our time as we explored the town, wandered through ancient Mayan ruins and chased bat rays between coral heads as we snorkeled every reef for miles. All the while keeping a close eye on the Gulf, looking, waiting for our chance but after two weeks of being dock bound, Marina ran out of time and had to fly back home, leaving Jan and I to wait on our own.

Almost two full months after our arrival in Hualtuco, the winds finally subsided enough for us to case off and venture back to sea and attempt to make the crossing, and sorely we would be doing all on our own without Marina’s to help.

Without fanfare we departed Hualtuco marina in the morning, nosing our way into what was now a gentle swell. The air was hot and humid in the harbour but the sea breeze offshore felt good. Jan laid a course to parallel the shore while I set all of Maiatla sail’s including our great red cruising spinnaker. We were sailing fast and in style straight into the belly of the beast. Our plan was to stay within 1 to 3 miles of the shore; normally this would be a dangerous tactic especially at on an unlit shore at night. But if the winds were to suddenly build, being close to the beach would not give the offshore wind time to build the waves to a dangerous height.  For the first part of the day we had great sailing conditions but by nightfall the winds had shifted and we were now beating to windward into a gale with white water breaking over the foredeck which sluiced down Maiatla’s canting decks before spilling back into the sea.

Fortunately the blow only lasted 6 hours and by dawn the sea was again calm as we continued to cruise just beyond a tropical shore as desolate as it was beautiful.  Our second night at sea found us weaving our way through a commercial fishing fleet also taking advantage of the calm weather and later on, just before dawn, a series of thunder storms blew through with little wind but rain so dense our radar could no longer display the nearby land to our left. I headed further offshore just to give us a bit more room.

Just after daybreak and under cloudy and humid skies, the breakwater of Puerto Chiapas came into view. A full 16 months after departing Canada were safely secured to a dock, but more importantly we were on the far side of the dreaded Gulf of Tehuantepec. For us, the crossing was anticlimactic, But we were grateful that it was so. Our next leg will take us deep into El Salvador and Costa Rica, but that will have to wait a few months

There is special name for people who sail across the Gulf, a title that we could now claim for ourselves as we were now Tehuantepecers.