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Kaukoe is still anchored in Bahia de Tortuga (Turtle Bay). Tom & Tracy made it ashore yesterday for the first time since leaving Ensenada.
After a cold but welcome shower, they ate well, bought food and diesel, and went back to their home away from home. We talked again this morning about 8:20 with Dr Allen W. listening in here at the house. (He and Sallie will be making this trip next January.) The highlight of the morning occurred when a local Ham in Point Loma offered to phone patch their transmission directly to Tracy's mom Colorado. The connection was perfect and Tom and Tracy and Pat talked for 15-20 minutes, each very glad to hear the other's voice. Apparently, phone rates in that part of Mexico are very pricey so this was a real bargain, and a good connection as well.
They were returning to shore to buy fresh fish for a BBQ dinner & are considering a trip into town to celebrate the New Year. They plan to sail tomorrow for Asuncion, then Magdelena, and on to Cabo San Lucas.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
30 December 1997Another great day for radio propagation. We talked for 20 minutes, interruption free. T&T are getting ready to go ashore this morning to shower, eat, drink and get fuel and food. They also plan to celebrate New Years tomorrow night in Turtle Bay. The next major stop is Cabo with a possible stop in Magdelena Bay.
Tom had some fun yesterday talking to Japan and other Asian stations. So, he's getting into the Ham Radio DX operation. We also tried to talk to his friend Jeff in Montana at his Dad's station but were unable to copy Montana this morning. I'm keeping him posted on football scores and the upcoming playoff games.
They send their Best to all and were surprised to hear the "land crew email list" was as big as it is.
29 December 1997We had a long talk today after the weather report was given. T&T are fine and arrived in Turtle Bay about 11AM Sunday morning.
The winds are 20-30 knots and the bay is choppy so they haven't gone ashore yet. They will stay in TB until the winds subside which may be 2-3 days. They hope to go ashore today and email Tracy's parents and get more water and food.
They both feel very good but are a little tired. They never expected to use this much emergency gear this early in the trip, but everything has worked just fine. Emergency gear includes special sails, etc, not to imply use of flares or life boat!
28 December 1997Contacted Tom and Tracy @ 0810 this morning. They are currently off the coast of Punta Eugenia, headed for Turtle Bay. Winds are currently 18 knots from the North East. They remained on the sea anchor until 2PM yesterday - had difficulty lifting anchor in high winds.
They should make Turtle Bay by sundown and plan to spend 2 days in there to rest and restore things to normal. Tracy plans to call her parents when ashore. There is no marina nor dock facilities in Turtle Bay, so they'll moor in the bay during their 2 day stay.
Present position is 115deg 5' W and 27deg 45' N.
27 December 1997Had a good, clear connection with Kaukoe @ 0825PST. They are presently 60 miles N of Cedros Island. Since midnight, they have had the sea anchor deployed and have been sitting out the high winds. Tom estimates NE winds greater than 25 knots.
In the next hour they plan to go topside and deploy a sail and start out again. They have been in contact with other vessels in the area, including a Mexican Naval vessel which gave them a weather report. There is another sailboat they plan to moor with soon.
Normal watches have been about 2.5 hours each, however, since midnight they have both been below, trying to get some sleep when possible.
That's all for today. Planned schedule is again 0820 on Sunday morning. 26 December 1997Contacted Kaukoe again this morning about 8:25AM. Tom and Tracy are doing well. Signals today are not very strong, so I just have some basic information about their location and conditions. Presently, they're at 30deg N, 116deg W which puts them 201 miles from their docksite (174.9 Nautical miles, 336km).
They left Ensenada on Wednesday morning about 9AM. They left San Quitin on Christmas morning, and as of Friday, they were off Punta Baja somewhere near the Sacramento Reef.
Weather has been generally calm and cold. Much of their first day was with the engine running just to maintain steerage on the way to Ensenada.
They wished all "the land crew" Merry Christmas!
23 December 1997
Tom and Tracy didn't leave Sunday as they'd planned. After a look at the outside ocean, they came back and anchored near Shelter Island and spent the night there. They did sail Monday and when we spoke last evening, they were motoring toward Ensenada.
We are in daily contact on Ham Radio. Tom has a real strong signal so there shouldn't be any problem staying in touch. We either meet @ 8AM on a net operation or on a specific frequency around 5 or 6PM. So I should have daily updates which I can feed to the Kaukoe Land Crew. Kate will also be adding the basic content of the daily updates onto the Kaukoe web site.
1 December 1997
Backstay antenna is active! See details on Ham Radio page.
