Circumnavigator

Final post from Grey Pearl

2011-12-20T08:04:00.006-05:00

Grey Pearl, a Nordhavn 62, enters the Strait of Gibraltar after crossing the Atlantic. Photo by Ken Williams.

It is with such a heavy heart that I write this last and final blog of the good ship Grey Pearl.

Early in December, while we were spending the winter at our home in Virginia away from our boat, we received one of life’s dreaded phone calls. Our beloved ‘Grey Pearl’ N6208 was on fire in her slip at Yacht Haven Marina in Phuket, Thailand. The fire started in the early evening of Dec. 6th, 2011, and was detected shortly thereafter. The fire quickly became uncontrollable and threatened the marina and other boats. The marina staff and some brave yachtsmen scrambled to remove her from the slip, tow her up a nearby river and run her aground where she continued to burn for almost another day. Needless to say we are devastated by this horrible tragedy.

In order to tend to this matter and our responsibilities, Braun & I immediately flew from our home in Virginia to Thailand. Of course, the hardest and saddest moment was to see her…it is impossible to describe the heartbreak. To see the pilothouse wheel resting on the charred Lugger main engine…we were overcome. The raging fire had consumed her down to the water line. To put her to rest, we had a “viewing” on a Thursday…and her “burial” with flowers and a final good by on Friday.

Although heartbroken, we do understand how lucky we are…no one was injured! And the damage would have been more catastrophic if not for the brave souls that worked quickly to get the boat out of the slip and thereby save the surrounding yachts and dock.

We’ve had 11 ½ years of absolutely wonderful experiences on the Pearl…and happily, we’ve been able to share that on board passion with so many friends & family. Often we’d sit on our aft “Lido” deck and reminisce about where she’s taken us…Gibraltar, Jounieh, Lebanon, Jementos, Bahamas, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, Elba, Italy, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Aleutian Islands, Panama Canal, Haifa, Israel, Rome, Petropavlovsk, Russia, Bar Harbor, Me., Singapore, Athens…to name just a few.

I personally have never been more challenged, fulfilled and happier doing anything in my life than the time I’ve spent on my ‘Grey Pearl’. And…more importantly, she was a passion Braun & I enjoyed together. She will live on fondly in our hearts & memories . . . forever.

We are still “processing” this calamity so it’s way too soon to say what our future plans will be…but there will be an Act II. The fun is not going to stop.

We’re OK…and, we have the love of family & friends we can count on to get through this painful time…

A special thanks to our dear friends, Carol & Steven Argosy on our buddy boat N62 ‘Seabird’. They remain in Phuket and we deeply regret having to temporarily leave the “Bird and Pearl” cruising team.

Sadly . . . Grey Pearl, Out.

Tina & Braun Jones
Nordhavn 62 Grey Pearl

Nordhavn 50 Ocean Bear for sale

2011-11-23T15:02:00.004-05:00

Ocean Bear is a dual-walk-around Nordhavn 50 with a flying bridge. She has a two-stateroom layout featuring a master stateroom amidship with a V-berth forward in the guest stateroom. Click here for more details.

Trawler Time

2011-11-03T09:01:00.013-04:00

Oso Blanco, the Nordhavn passagemaker Eric, Annie and Bear Bloomquist call home.

It's 4 am on our third day out from New Caledonia and we have covered over 630 nm in less than 70 hours. I just came back on watch after 8 hrs of wonderful sleep. I woke up slowly in a foggy haze – unsure of where I was and feeling only a gentle motion. The sound of the engine is a distant hum. Are we moving?

This is Trawler Time. The Pacific is just that, peaceful, but still alive. The boat is doing exactly what it is designed to do – working with the sea – not against it and carrying us toward our next destination, safely and smoothly. The eastern horizon has already taken on a pink orange glow foreshadowing another spectacular ocean sunrise. But the sea is not still today. As I came up to the galley for my morning coffee, I expected to see that mirror like, summer morning stillness we so often experience at our little lake in Wisconsin. This morning, the ocean is still providing 3' – 4' swells, but they are so long, so gentle, and graceful that the boat does not rock, roll, or twist about. Oso Blanco slowly rises and settles as each swell passes under. Each individual swell is visible as it gradually approaches us, one after another - lifting our 90 tons like a duck on the lake and softly settling. There is a gentleness to the ocean at times like this, but it's power is unmistakable.

Sometimes during foolish cocktail hours, we get into the unanswerable debate of which is better, a sailboat or a power boat. To me, there is no more wonderful feeling than a finely tuned sailboat on a broad reach, in perfect conditions. The feeling of power, charging through the water, with only the sound of the waves breaking under the bow. It is what sailing dreams are based on.

Most of our sailing friends have never experienced Trawler Time. Yes, the seas are gentle and the sunrise is imminent, but the wind is very light and wandering around the compass like it's had 3 shells of kava. To be under sail at this moment would be rolling from side to side as the sails flop back and forth searching for direction from the wind. When we used to race in these conditions, we said one had to drool over the side to see if we were moving forwards or backwards. But this is our time. Our Nordhavn is purring along at 1350 rpm doing 7.8 kts toward Australia. The systems are working perfectly together and our stabilizing system reduces any roll to a gentle motion. All our doors and ports are open and the soft breeze drifts throughout the boat. With the engine turning so effortlessly deep below, all one is aware of is the sound of the waves as they roll along the hull.

Sailboat vs powerboat is a foolish debate. Out here, we are all doing it our own ways. We take what the sea offers and hopefully we each enjoy our boat and each day. The fact that we get to drink a beer with interesting folks in far away places and discuss such issues shows how lucky we are. The boat is only a means to an end.

But, then there is Trawler Time . . .

—From the blog of Nordhavn 6409 Oso Blanco

Ode to the Southern Cross

2010-11-08T08:29:00.007-05:00

There are nights at sea when all you want to do is see the sunrise. Nights when you just hold on waiting for the next wave or blast of wind to shake your world. You just want it to end.

Then there are nights like tonight. There is no wind. The Pacific lives up to its name. The Milky Way blazes and is repeated in the surface of the sea. The horizon disappears as sea and sky blend into one. Any slight movement in the water—whether the slicing of the water as the boat drives forward or just the ripples on the surface—set off a light show of pixy dust. Countless microscopic critters glow and sparkle with any movement in the sea setting off their bioluminescence.

Everything is alive and glowing, yet all is at peace on the sea.

These are the nights sailors dream of. This is why we bash into head seas and put up with hanging onto to anything within reach just to get a cup of coffee or make it to the head.

Tonight, the Southern Cross is right in front of us near the horizon. Yes, the autopilot and GPS are taking us straight south to New Zealand, but it is easy to imagine the early sailors following the heavens on nights like this.

There is nothing around us that the sea doesn't provide. No boats on the radar no distant lights. As far as we can tell, there is not another person within hundreds of miles. It is so dark that the slightest light from our boat can break the spell, so I dim down the instruments and turn off the running lights. Now, the world around us seems to explode with pinpoints of light in the heavens and deep into the sea.

Ahead are the distant guiding stars. Behind us, our wake glitters and sparkles showing us we have been following a magic path. Soon, the first glow of the rising sun will break the spell. Luckily, these are the nights we remember.

—From the blog of Nordhavn 6409 Oso Blanco

First Nordhavn 120 emerges from mold

2010-08-26T09:17:00.011-04:00

It's still two years from the launch of the first Nordhavn 120 but excitement took its first uptick last week when the hull was released from its mold at South Coast Marine in Xiamen, China, one of PAE's two partner factories in Asia.

Garrett Lambert, a Circumnavigator contributing editor, is conducting interviews about the 120 at PAE for the next edition of the magazine. Here are three excerpts:

PAE president Dan Streech: “The Nordhavn 120 will compete on the world super-yacht market with second-to-none quality, style, and pedigree. This boat will never be sold as a ‘bargain’, not even as a ‘good boat for the money’ or as a ‘best value boat’, even though it is all of those things. Rather, this boat will be presented as uncompromising from start to finish. Put more succinctly, she’s way, way over the top.”

Naval architect Jeff Leishman, her designer: “She’s not your typical 120-foot yacht. With her 28-foot beam she’s much closer to a 150-footer in weight and volume. And carrying 18,000 gallons of fuel, she’s a serious ocean-going expedition boat, yet she possesses the luxury of harbor cruisers.”

Project manager Trever Smith: “The Nordhavn 120 is all ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) certified. . . she’s a big, heavy, comfortable displacement hull boat with no inherent noise. She will provide a totally different feeling from semi-displacement boats in the same way a Rolls Royce distinguishes itself from lesser cars. Technically, she’s a different project than any other Nordhavn since it’s the company’s first cored hull, which produces more strength with less fiberglass. We hired an external structural engineering company to produce the lamination schedule. Similarly, we had an outside firm style the interior. Very contemporary, and very, very high end. She’s a proper 120 with no corners cut.”

For more photos of the birth of the N120, click here to reach nordhavn.com.

Failure isn't an option for this 13-year-old Nordhavn

2010-08-09T17:06:00.013-04:00

Steven and Carol Argosy of the Nordhavn 62 Seabird (photo) are one of three Nordhavn couples who have buddy-boated from Alaska to Hong Kong via Russia and Japan in what they have dubbed the Great Siberian Sushi Run (GSSR).

On a two-day passage from the southernmost islands of Japan to the Ta Shing yard in Taiwan where the three boats were built, Steven reflected on what it means to be voyaging the world in a Nordhavn. Here's an excerpt from his blog:

Nordhavns are built to cruise in the most unimaginable conditions safely, but it doesn’t mean that it is perfectly comfortable and that we look forward to it or enjoy it. Sometimes you just get caught in the stuff even though the weather was supposed to be clear. Those are the times I am glad to be in a Nordhavn.

On long passages, you can encounter simply miserable weather for days at a time. Head seas with 25-30 knot winds may not seem like much when you are doing a 3- or 4-hour passage, but over a period of four or five days, the 7- to 10-foot seas that go along with that can wreak havoc on a lesser boat—not to mention the crew. For instance, after a day or so of constant pounding, cabinetry can start to deteriorate, drawer fronts fall off, refrigerators loosen from their mounts and all hell can break loose. Other things, like deck hardware, fittings and even your anchor mounts start to fall apart and windows can fail. Big “picture windows” in the pilothouse are great at the dock, and show well at boat shows, but in the real world, waves can hit and smash the ¼-inch glass flooding the pilothouse, pretty much dooming the boat.

There are a few manufacturers that are making big claims about their boats, but none of them can match the 4-million ocean miles that Nordhavns have gone. One in particular has been very vocal in criticizing Nordhavn, touting a new boat that they are producing as a better passagemaker, but without a single mile under its hull. Go figure. Like Dan Streech, PAE’s president, says, “Talk is cheap.”

I can tell you from experience that this 13-year-old boat has been pounded for days on end in simply awful conditions without a single structural failure. So, there!

Seabird has been traveling in the company of Braun and Tina Jones aboard the Nordhavn 62 Grey Pearl and Ken and Roberta Williams aboard the Nordhavn 68 Sans Souci.

Ken, as he is such a prolific blogger and author, is often see as the GSSR ringleader but the fact is that Roberta was instrumental in making the adventure happen when she sold Carol on the GSSR concept after Braun floated the idea. The next day, Ken and Steven learned from their wives that they were taking their Nordhavns to Asia via the Aleutians.

The inspiration for the GSSR comes from the experience of John and Veronica Kennelly who crossed the North Pacific via the Aleutians in the Nordhavn 62 Walkabout with their three children in 2007.

No getting away from Nordhavn

2010-08-04T11:40:00.004-04:00

There seems to be no getting away from Nordhavn no matter where you travel.

Rebecca Crosgrey took a holiday from her work as Assistant to the Editor of Circumnavigator magazine and toured the Canadian Maritimes by auto with her husband. They were strolling the pier in Halifax when, lo and behold, two Nordhavns came into sight.

Chip and Kay Marsh with the Nordhavn 40 Beso and Jim and Marge Fuller aboard Summer Skis, a Nordhavn 43, (above photo) were pulling into port for a few days while on a cruise of Nova Scotia. After greeting the two Nordhavns and helping with lines, the Crosgreys continued on their way—but saw no more Nordhavns.

Commissioning Eliana, Nordhavn 76 # 17

2010-07-07T12:29:00.005-04:00

The photo shows how the helm station aboard Nordhavn 76 Eliana looks 10 days into the commissioning process at the PAE docks in Dana Point, California. We'll post another photo when the work has been completed.

Eliana's owner, Rick Heiniger, is providing updates on the commissioning and answering questions on his informative blog. It's a must-read for anyone planning to purchase and commission a new Nordhavn.

Eliana will be featured in an upcoming Circumnavigator on account of its outstanding interior designed by Scott Cole of Ardeo Design.

Four Nordhavns jump the Pacific

2010-05-05T10:42:00.012-04:00

One of the nicest jobs at Circumnavigator magazine is keeping an eye on the blogs of Nordhavns out there are voyaging the world. There are many excellent blogs maintained by Nordhavn owners but one of our favorites is Cruising with Oso Blanco written by Eric and Ann Bloomquist about cruising with young son Bear.

Eric and Annie have a way with words, and a sense of humor, that has us looking forward to each new post about life aboard Oso Blanco. We first encountered the Bloomquists when Bear was a toddler. Then the first Oso Blanco was a Nordhavn 40. As Bear grew, so did the Nordhavn, with the second being a 47. Bear now is eight and the third Nordhavn is a 64. That's Bear shown with a friend in the Marquesas.

Click here for Annie's post about swimming with sharks in the Marquesas in French Polynesia after a non-stop passage of 15 days 20 hours covering 2,714 nautical miles from Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. That's Oso Blanco anchored in paradise in the top photo. (Click on any image for a larger view.)

Two other PAE trawler yachts made the same passage—billed as Pacific Puddle Jump by Latitude 38—this spring:

Another, Nordhavn 46 Emily Grace, made a longer passage to the Marquesas, steaming 2,905 miles from Galapagos in 21 days.

Coincidentally, the magazine we're currently working on—Circumnavigator 2011 that will be out in September—has been labeled the adventure edition. You could say Nordhavn is just another way to spell adventure.

Zulu leads the good life aboard Kanaloa

2010-03-08T12:54:00.005-05:00

Zulu, the first Norfolk terrier to circumnavigate the world under power, has learned to write. His first newsletter, It's a Wonderful Life, is a charming account of how much Zulu enjoys the cruising life in the South Pacific aboard Kanaloa, the well-traveled Nordhavn 46 owned by his parents, Heidi and Wolfgang Hass.

Click here to download the newsletter as a PDF.

See Nordhavn in Miami

2010-02-03T13:39:00.005-05:00

One of the best boats shows in the world takes place in Greater Miami from February 11 to 15. Actually, there are two shows—and Nordhavn will be on display at both events.

At the Miami International Boat Show, Nordhavn will show a Nordhavn 47 (photo) in Slip 318 at Sealine Marina. At the Yacht & Brokerage Show in Miami Beach, Ramp 16 on Indian Creek Waterway at Collins Avenue, you'll be able to see the new Nordhavn 75 Expedition Yachtfisher and the venerable Nordhavn 62.

In Miami, Nordhavn will unveil its all-new design for a contemporary-styled 78-foot luxury passagemaker. Dan Streech and Jim Leishman, co-founders of Pacific Asian Enterprises and creators of the Nordhavn make, will be on deck.

See you in Miami!

Stylish new 78-footer from Nordhavn

2010-01-21T10:43:00.005-05:00

You’re in the market for a world-class, travel-anywhere motor yacht, you appreciate a boatbuilder with deep expertise in engineering and proven prowess on the oceans of the world, but you can’t quite get your head around the industrial-grade, expedition-look of Nordhavns?

Pacific Asian Enterprises has just the boat for you: the stylish Nordhavn 78, a new design that fuses ocean-crossing capability with European styling in a pretty passagemaker. Click on the above image for a larger view.

“This design will appeal to a whole faction of clientele who tend not to prefer the traditional expedition-type look of a Nordhavn,” says Jim Leishman, PAE’s co-founder. “The N78 will evoke a contemporary European feel without losing the dynamic of being a Nordhavn.”

Key to the design is the emphasis Jeff Leishman, PAE’s chief designer, has placed on outdoor living, starting with the flying bridge. The new 78 will feature a Jacuzzi, wet bar, barbecue and a large open deck area perfect for entertaining. Meanwhile, the foredeck—a typical lounging hotspot on most European boats—has been designated the ideal outdoor “chilling space.” The cockpit of the 78 has been opened up, too, to further enhance entertaining possibilities.

The Nordhavn 78 will come equipped with twin 425-horsepower engines, have ocean-crossing capabilities with a range of 3,000+ miles and superior fuel efficiency. The interior will feature an updated, modern design aesthetic that includes sumptuous owners’ accommodations and two superb guest rooms all with en suite heads, as well as crew quarters and off-watch quarters.

Although the lines of the new 78 will have a European flair, PAE feels the yacht will appeal to international and American markets alike. “The beauty of this design is that it’s a Nordhavn, so you’ve got comfort and confidence while under way, but the benefits will be realized when you’re not passagemaking,” notes Nordhavn Europe’s Philip Roach. “The added elements will really allow you to enjoy your time on board once you’ve arrived.”

The first 78-footer will be launched in 2011. For additional information, visit nordhavn.com and watch for a full-blown preview in the next Circumnavigator.

Circumnavigator goes interactive

2009-12-30T16:50:00.007-05:00

A digital edition of the 2010 issue of Circumnavigator now is available. Click here to read it online or download to your desktop.

A digital edition is quite an improvement over a PDF version of the magazine.

One of the significant advantages of the digital version is that all links to websites are active. Just hover your cursor over a website address anywhere in the magazine and you'll see the URL appear. Just click on it and away you go.

The other neat thing is that the Contents pages are interactive.

When you have the digital edition open on your screen, try out the menus across the top—Contents, Pages, Archives et al—to experience the full power of the medium.

The digital edition will enable us to introduce video clips and sound in future magazines—a feature that will be included in the 2011 issue that will appear in the fall of 2010.

Earlier editions will soon be digitized and available here and at www.nordhavn.com.

There are no plans to end the print edition anytime soon.

A fourth Nordhavn for adventurer-filmmaker Sprague Theobald

2009-12-07T16:00:00.009-05:00

No sooner had Sprague Theobald (right) completed his transit of the Northwest Passage with Bagan, his faithful Nordhavn 57, when he placed an order for hull #3 in the new Nordhavn 63 series.

He told us he loves the 57 but with further adventures in mind, he needs a larger boat so he can have a dedicated video editing studio aboard. PAE is designing the space into the new boat.

The 63 will be the fourth Nordhavn Sprague has owned. After the way the 57 came through when ice crunched all around her for days, there was no question in Sprague's mind about where to shop for his next passagemaker.

Bagan is for sale in Seattle while from back home in Newport, Rhode Island, Sprague is in discussions with several television networks about the documentary he shot while in the Arctic.

Visit Trawlers & Trawlering for a report on his great adventure. Check out the trailer for the upcoming film on Sprague's own site. Watch for the next Circumnavigator for a full feature on the transit by the first production powerboat.

That's a rendering of the new 63 in our banner above. We cannot tell you how much we look forward to sea-trialing this beauty from the board of Jeff Leishman at PAE.

Passion endures

2009-10-26T13:17:00.013-04:00

Eight of the 13 Nordhavns at the Southwest Rendezvous raft up in front of Dana Point Yacht Club.

The economy may be down but the passion for all things Nordhavn continues to run high.

More than 200 owners and would-be owners showed up for last weekend's Southwest Nordhavn Rendezvous in Dana Point, California, where PAE is headquartered, for a program of featured presentations, seminars, boat tours, vendor displays, eats and drinks.

It was great to make new friends and renew acquaintances such as Jim and Susy Sink, first to circumnavigate in a Nordhavn, Eric and Christi Grab, the newest circumnavigators in a Nordhavn, Sprague Theobald, who transited the Northwest Passage with his Nordhavn last summer, and Ken Williams, who led three Nordhavns across the North Pacific from Alaska to Japan this year.

Go to nordhavn.com for more photos and a report on the event. See also the commentary on the rendezvous posted by Ken Williams on his blog.

—Georgs Kolesnikovs

Sound advice for Nordhavn Dreamers

2009-10-20T11:31:00.004-04:00

Judy and Milt Baker cool off in mid-Atlantic while en route to Europe.

If you're interested in someday owning a Nordhavn, you should join Nordhavn Dreamers, a Yahoo discussion group started by Callum McCormick.

Circumnavigator senior contributing editor Milt Baker recently posted a message that everyone with Nordhavn aspirations should read and heed:

Circumnavigators Lin and Larry Pardey have spent their lives living and cruising in small boats. They got it right when they said this in one of their early books:

"Go small, go simple, go now!"

Cruising in a Nordhavn is terrific, a truly wonderful experience. But it isn't necessary or even desirable to wait until you can afford a Nordhavn to go cruising. Buy a smaller, simpler boat as your "learning boat," and spend time fixing her up, maintaining her, and, most of all, gaining experience cruising her. If you buy a quality brand in good repair to start with, your efforts will be repaid many times over and you'll gain the experience to (a) pick a better Nordhavn (new or used) when the time comes, (b) become self-sufficient operating and maintaining your Nordhavn, and (c) truly enjoy your cruising your Nordhavn far and wide.

Judy and I bought our first yacht, a Tupperware 22-footer, more than 30 years ago. Since then, we've owned a three sailing yachts and four motor yachts and have cruised them near and far, a total of over 100,000 miles. We've made just about every mistake a cruiser can make but we've enjoyed the trip and it's been a great and learning experience. By the time we could afford a Nordhavn we had a well-defined and tightly focused idea what we wanted in an ocean-crossing power boat and how it ought to be outfitted. Since taking delivery of Bluewater four years ago, we've tested her on intracoastal, coastal and offshore passages, cruised the Bahamas and the Caribbean, crossed an ocean, cruised the Eastern Seaboard and the Mediterranean, and four years later are still happily cruising the boat six months a year. We've put about 22,000 miles and 3,300 engine hours on her and we look forward to a lot more.

In case the message of this little sermon isn't clear, let me be succinct. Don't wait for the perfect boat because it exists only in your mind. If you cannot afford a Nordhavn, buy another good yacht that you can afford, then get out there and start cruising. Do that and you and your admiral will likely learn a great deal and enjoy the experience. If you do enjoy it like so many of us do, you'll find a way to work your way up to larger, more capable yachts. If you don't, you're not out much money!

But if you don't get out there and do it sooner rather than later, you're putting the whole dream at risk. So get moving!

--Milt Baker, Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, Hilton Head Island

The Nordhavn 47 Bluewater was the lead boat for MedBound 2007 organized by the Bakers.

Northwest Passage challenge under way

2009-05-23T12:23:00.017-04:00

The Nordhavn 57 Bagan is being prepared for an attempt on the Northwest Passage.

When you read Sprague Theobald's candid blog, you sense the challenge of transiting the treacherous Northwest Passage is well under way--even though he hasn't left the dock yet.

Worries are many, sponsorships are few, expenses are mounting, there are lists for the lists of things to do before departure on June 15 from Newport, Rhode Island. Relentlessly, Spraque and his crew are pushing forward, preparing his Nordhavn 57 Bagan for the Northwest Passage and circumnavigation of North America.

Here's where to follow the great adventure as it unfolds. A Q&A interview with Sprague appears at Trawlers & Trawlering.

If you're anywhere near Newport, the official Nordhavn send-off party will take place at Goat Island on June 12, 7-11 p.m.

The upcoming edition of Circumnavigator will be going to press soon after Bagan departs for the Arctic, so our feature coverage of the voyage will appear in the following issue.

Bagan is going to have company in the Northwest Passage as there are six yachts in all aiming to transit the top of North America this summer. Only two, Bagan and Polar Bound, are motor vessels.

David Scott Cowper
Polar Bound
Custom 48-foot trawler yacht (power)
http://www.cruising.org.uk/about/honorary/DavidCowper.shtml

Tommy Cook
Capt’n Lem
Corsair F-31 UC (sail)
http://www.arcticsolosail.com/index.php

Cameron Dueck
Silent Sound
Amor 40 (sail)
http://www.openpassageexpedition.com/index.html

Eric Forsyth
Fiona (sail)
http://www.yachtfiona.com/fnn.htm

Mark Schrader
Ocean Watch
Custom 64-foot cutter (sail)
http://www.pacsci.org/aroundtheamericas/

Blake August, a Circumnavigator contributing editor, is tracking all participants in Northwest Passage 2009 in a thread at TrawlerCrawler.net.

Second Nordhavn Yachtfisher arrives

2009-03-11T10:10:00.008-04:00

You can taste the anticipation in the air in the editorial office at Circumnavigator magazine. We are less than 60 days away from spending time at sea aboard the revolutionary new Nordhavn 75 Expedition Yachtfisher!

Hull #1 is shown above in Newport Harbor, California, starting one of many sea-trials needed to get all systems working on a new yacht such as this beauty.

Meanwhile, on the right coast, Hull #2 has arrived, as reported by PAE's Jennifer Stern:

The second Nordhavn 75 Expedition Yachtfisher arrived from the factory on March 10 and was offloaded at Port Everglades in Miami and brought up the coast to our Southeast service yard in Stuart, Florida.

Despite the interior being covered in cardboard and minus all the electronics, rods and other specialty items her owner ordered up for her, the EYF drew slack-jawed gazes from those watching on land as well as from fellow boaters who passed her by in the water.

“The boat is just amazing,” says Nordhavn vice-president Jim Leishman, who rode hull #1 in San Diego. “You can look at pictures of her and tell that she’s a pretty boat. But nothing beats seeing the Yachtfisher in person. The impression you get stepping on her and seeing her with your own eyes is not justified by a photo.”

Luckily for fans of the EYF, there will be ample opportunity to climb aboard and check out the revolutionary long-range yachtfisher in the flesh. The powder blue-hulled #2 boat will make its public debut at the Palm Beach International Boat Show, March 26-29. Leishman—the EYF is his brainchild—will be in Palm Beach at the Nordhavn display (Slip 217) fielding questions about the new launch. He’ll be joined by his brother, Jeff Leishman, Nordhavn’s Chief of Design, and the one responsible for creating the gorgeous lines of this remarkable boat.

For those who can’t make it to the east coast, there’s opportunity to see the Yachtfisher at the forthcoming Open House slated April 25 at Nordhavn’s Newport Beach, California, office. The Open House is by invitation only, so be sure to contact PAE in order to secure your invite.

Nordhavn has taken what it does best—build long-range luxury expedition yachts—and incorporated all the fishing features and rigging found on tournament sportfishers to create a yacht that can truly go after any fish in the world. An enormous fishing cockpit, dual 60-gallon bait wells, a 35-cubic-foot deep freezer, plentiful gear and tackle storage, and all the rod holders and rigging a deep-sea angler could ever want top a long list of fishing features.

Kiwis greet Egret's intrepid crew

2009-02-10T11:45:00.014-05:00

Egret and New Paige, shown at left, were joined by Southern Star at the gathering of Nordhavn faithful in Auckland.

More than 70 guests gathered at the New Zealand Maritime Museum in Auckland to greet world travelers and Circumnavigator contributors Scott and Mary Flanders recently.

The party was not only an opportunity to congratulate the Flanders on completing the final leg of their two-year journey on board their Nordhavn 46, Egret, that started September ’06 in Gibraltar, it was the chance for Kiwis to extend a warm welcome to the couple whose adventures they have been tracking on the Web, and actually pick their brains in person about voyaging the world aboard a Nordhavn.

Hosted by Nordhavn’s Australian affiliate office, the day brought together cruising enthusiasts and boating media alike—all who wanted to find out what it's like to pick up everything and just go. Until now, fans have had to rely on the Voyage of Egret blog to glean their information about the traveling couple.

With the picturesque Auckland Harbour as a backdrop, the day began with a slide show of the Flanders’ various stops which guests took in while nibbling on hors-d’oeuvres. Afterward, the guests of honor were introduced and talked plain and simply about what it is they’ve done, how they went about doing it, and how anyone in the crowd gathered there that day could embark on the same path.

As an added bonus, Nordhavn 55 owners Roger and Joan Allard—along with daughter, Kimberly—were also on hand to field the group’s questions. The Allards, also global cruisers, tag-teamed with Egret to New Zealand since both landed in Tahiti last June. The Allards spoke about communication with the real world, maintaining and enhancing relationships, and in Kimberly’s case, how to manage education.

As questions shifted toward boat operation and performance, the party migrated down to the docks, where a visual could really be had. Here guests were treated to a virtual history lesson of Nordhavn by climbing aboard the 46, the first model of the line, then stepping on to New Paige, light years ahead in design, systems and space utilization and flow. A third Nordhavn, the 47-foot Southern Star owned by Peter and Angela Mott based in Auckland, provided the gathering with still another comparison. Many commented on the generous size of the N47, as she lay alongside Scott and Mary’s earlier model Nordhavn 46.

As the afternoon drew to a close, many attendees exchanged contact details, and offered Scott and Mary and the Allards true New Zealand hospitality as they continue to cruise the pristine waters of a beautiful country.

From the left, Scott and Mary Flanders; Roger, Kimberly and Joan Allard; Peter and Angela Mott.

In the next edition of Circumnavigator, Scott and Mary will report on island-hopping across the Pacific from Chile to Tahiti on a route seldom followed by powerboats. In the last edition, Kimberly Allard was featured in a story on families who have owned more than one Nordhavn.

Is this a good-looking Nordhavn or what?

2008-11-21T18:06:00.008-05:00

The first Nordhavn 56 Motorsailer has arrived in Dana Point, California, home of Pacific Asian Enterprises, and the first photos show one good-looking yacht!

Your faithful magazine crew cannot wait to sea-trial the newest Nordhavn for a feature report in the next Circumnavigator.

Click on the images for a larger view. More photos, including shots of the interior, are posted at the Nordhavn site.

Interestingly, the purchaser of Hull #1 has no sailing experience. His background is in go-fast powerboats, but he figures motorsailing will be the most cost-effective way to cruise the South Pacific. More, in the next edition of Circumnavigator that will roll off the press in September 2009.

Norfolk terrier circumnavigates!

2008-09-05T13:34:00.005-04:00

Despite snoozing a lot, Zulu, a Norfolk terrier, has circumnavigated the world aboard the Nordhavn 46 Kanaloa. His owners, Heidi and Wolfgang Hass, have now circumnavigated three times--twice with Kanaloa. For news about Zulu and his remarkable owners, visit Trawlers & Trawlering. You'll read the full story in the next Circumnavigator.

Eye on the Panama Canal

2008-03-24T07:46:00.004-04:00

The Panama Canal Authority maintains several webcams whereby you at home can watch your friends transit the waterway.

For example, here is a webcam screen capture showing the Miraflores Lock. The second vessel entering the lock from the north (Atlantic side) on Friday is Grey Pearl, a Nordhavn 62, captained by Braun and Tina Jones.

The Brauns are headed for Costa Rica to meet up with Sans Souci, the Nordhavn 68 mentioned in the preceding post. The two yachts will be transported by Yachtpath to Vancouver so their crews can enjoy the Inside Passage and Southeast Alaska this summer without having to slog uphill on their own bottoms.

Cover boat heads for Costa Rica

2008-01-22T07:53:00.000-05:00

Sans Souci, the Nordhavn 68 that was featured on the cover of the most recent Circumnavigator, and is shown above in our weblog nameplate, is on its way to Costa Rica, with owners Ken and Roberta Williams aboard.

Our approximate 2,200 mile journey will take us along the coasts of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and ultimately to Costa Rica. There are plenty of boats that have traversed this route before. We will not be pioneering. That said, this is a very big deal for us personally. Although we’ve travelled long distances before, it has always been as part of a large group of boats, or in a location where there were lots of other boats around. This will be our first time to venture this far off the beaten track alone.

You can follow their blog here.

Updated specs for Nordhavn 75 Expedition Yachtfisher

2008-01-21T16:55:00.000-05:00

Here are the updated particulars for Nordhavn's revolutionary Expedition Yachtfisher which will launch later this year:

LOA: 75'8" / 23.06 m
LOD: 72' / 21.95 m
LWL: 66'8" / 20.32 m
Beam: 22'4" / 6.81 m
Draft at half-load: 6'6" / 1.98 m
Displacement (empty): 185,447 / 82.79 long tons
D/L: 251 (half load)
Cp: .58
A/B ratio: 2.25:1
Fuel capacity: 4300 gallons / 16,277 liters
Water capacity: 600 gallons / 2271 liters
Engines: Twin Detroit Series 60 Diesels
Power output: 375 hp per engine, 740 hp total, @ 2,300 rpm
Estimated cruising speed: 13.5 knots
Estimated range at cruising speed: 3,000 nm

Incorrect information appeared on Page 50 of Circumnavigator 2008-09.

Gulp!

2008-01-10T08:14:00.000-05:00

So you want to go to sea in a small boat, eh?

Check out the footage, especially from 2:45 onward. Those are 45-foot seas. That's a 350-foot ship. Location is unknown but it's likely in the high latitudes.

Christmas greetings from our scribes

2007-12-20T11:51:00.001-05:00

Fred Caron was a contributor to the first two Circumnvigators and, hopefully, more editions in the future. He and his wife, Christianne, are in Malaysia in the course of a leisurely circumnavigation of the world with the Nordhavn 46 Arcturus. (Click here to read about their first encounter with heavy weather when they were novice passagemakers.)

Senior contributing editor Milt Baker has been with the magazine from the outset. He and his wife, Judy, crossed the Atlantic last summer with Bluewater, their Nordhavn 47. In 2008, they plan to depart Barcelona for a slow cruise eastward, with lots of stops along the way: France, Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Montenegro, Croatia and Slovenia. The decision whether to go on to Greece and Turkey in 2008 will be made later in the season.

Farewell to a wolf in sheep's clothing

2007-12-10T14:42:00.000-05:00

Here's something we didn't know:

The Nordhavn 57 was designed by Jeff Leishman in 1995 and its style and configuration came in response to his previous design, the Nordhavn 62. In its early days, the N62 was deemed “too radical” for many boaters who just couldn’t imagine it parked at their yacht club. The N57 was more stylish, had a stand-up engine room and a look which pleased many people. Little did they know from a casual look that the N57 was an almost exact duplicate of the N62 in specifications, structure, stability and capability. Essentially, it was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

This comes from the Nordhavn site with news that the Nordhavn 57 has been taken out of production and the molds destroyed.

Dream boating

2007-12-09T06:37:00.001-05:00

What do you make of this dream I had last night?

Significant Other and I were heading across Lake Ontario in our TomCat 24 At Last when by chance, in a foggy area where a group of boats were fishing, we met Contributing Editor Garrett Lambert and Senior Contributing Editor Milt Baker. Garrett was with his wife, Helen, shown in the photo, aboard their Pacific Trawler 40 Legato, and Milt was with his wife, Judy, aboard their Nordhavn 47 Bluewater.

The thing is Legato is in Sydney, British Columbia, while Bluewater is on the hard in Barcelona, Spain, both thousands of miles from Lake Ontario. Although we are in touch frequently by email, I haven't seen Legato and her crew since we sea-trialed the Nordhavn 68 in August. Bluewater and her crew I haven't seen for about a year, before they started their trans-Atlantic adventure.

--Georgs Kolesnikovs

In praise of smaller passagemakers

2007-12-06T13:45:00.000-05:00

Letter to the Editor:

I really look forward to spending a few quality hours with my new magazine. It is exciting to see the new growth and directions at PAE; however, I hope that you don't abandon your roots.

Large and complex yachts have been crossing oceans for many years, but Robert Beebe's dream, that anyone with a safe and simple boat could cross oceans, was fulfilled (on a large scale basis) by PAE. This premise has thus far been the bedrock of your success. You have made history over and over proving Beebe's vision.

I congratulate you on your spectacular growth and success, but I hope the market will continue to support research and innovation in moderately priced smaller passagemakers. --Guy Bugbee

With 61 boats launched to date, the Nordhavn 40 is the standard by which smaller passagemakers are measured.

FUBAR: Time for farewells in La Paz

2007-11-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

Date: November 19, 2007
Time: 09:20
Position: North 24 14.30 West 110 03.95
Location: Sea of Cortez—50 Nautical Miles South of La Paz
Course: 304 Degrees (True)
Speed: 9.0 Knots
Visibility: Unlimited

We are about 50 miles south of La Paz and one mile off Punta Santa Cruz. The sea is flat and the boat has an easy motion (I’m going to miss the motion of this big boat). This is the last day of our cruise and my last log entry.

Pacific Escort left Bahia de los Muertos about 07:00, along with the rest of the fleet and should arrive in La Paz about noon. Already the activity on the boat has changed. The last loads of laundry are being done. Bags are being packed and non-essential gear is being stowed. In the past, conversation was about the boat itself and what was going on around it. Now it is about the future: about leaving the boat, about airline schedules, about work back home. The SAT phone has been used more today than it has the entire trip, as people get caught up on what’s happening at their jobs, or schedule a ride home from the airport, or find out how a pet or a relative is doing. However, not everyone is thinking about the future. I’m out on the Portuguese bridge watching an albatross circle overhead, marveling at how long it can glide—I bet I’ve been watching it for five minutes and it hasn’t flapped its wings once.

1l:55—Having turned the corner at Punta Coyote, we are traversing the spur of land that sticks out into the Sea of Cortez and forms the eastern end of the large Bahia de La Paz—the Bay of La Paz. In another hour we will be at Marina Costa Baja, which has graciously made space for the entire fleet. However, not all is well with the fleet: Native Son, one of the boats still behind us, has radioed that they have had a small electrical fire near the starter solenoid for one of their two engines. They have shut the engine down as a precaution and are proceeding just fine on the other one; however, we are standing by. If they have a problem with their remaining engine, we will have to turn around, go back out, and tow them in. At least the sea is calm. We finally enter the marina and tie up, but remain on stand-by until Native Son finally arrives.

There is nothing for me to do now: Jim, Sue, Eric and James have been through the procedure of putting a boat in storage, that they have everything under control. So fellow journalist George Sass and I take a cab into La Paz to look around. La Paz is an old city and the main port for cruisers in the Sea of Cortez. The road along the strand in town highlights the beauty of the bay and ocean. There is some new construction, but much of the old is being preserved.

When I return to the boat, my wife Joyce has just arrived. Everyone gets to know each other over a glass of wine, and then she and I depart for the nearby Fiesta Inn, where we will be staying for a few days before flying back. That evening, the FUBAR fleet has its last party on the beach. Speeches are given and those responsible for making the cruise such a success are thanked. Then we are all off to bed—some of us in the hotel, most still in their boats. Many have plans to stay down here and continue cruising. Others will leave their boats here for a while and then return north with them.

The next morning, we all get up and meet at a farewell breakfast, where Captain Pat Rains gives a lecture on cruising the Sea of Cortez. Afterward we return to Pacific Escort for one last time. The boat has been cleaned from top to bottom and insides are immaculate and tidy. PAE owns the boat and plans to keep it here for others in the company to use, but they will also sell it if the opportunity arises. The Leishmans are all packed and ready to head for the airport and home today. We all say our goodbyes and leave. For the past two weeks, they have been my family and Pacific Escort has been my home and, more importantly, a way for me to experience a wonderful world few people ever get know. I’m really going to miss that boat.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort for the final time

“Far from welcoming a return, we rather resented going back to newspapers and telegrams and business. We had been drifting in some kind of dual world—a parallel realistic world; and the preoccupations of the world we came from, which are considered realistic, were to us filled with mental mirage.

“This trip had been like a dreaming sleep, a rest from immediacies. And in our contacts with Mexican people we had been faced with a change in experiences.”

-John Steinbeck, writing in The Log from the Sea of Cortez

FUBAR: Overnighting in Bahia de Los Muertos

2007-11-21T07:31:00.000-05:00

Date: November 18, 2007
Time: 06:45
Position: North 23 03.03, West 109 29.03
Location: Five miles north of San Jose del Cabo, in the Sea of Cortez
Course: 5 Degrees (True)
Speed: 8.9 Knots
Visibility: Unlimited under blue skies, with low humidity

We have left Puerto San Jose and are headed for Muertos Bay about 50 miles north in the Sea of Cortez. The rest of the FUBAR fleet is out too: Samurai, the Nordhavn 64 is just behind us and the Nordhavn 57, Sanjero, is off our port bow. The air temperature is around 80 degrees and the wind water temperature is 78 degrees. There is an eight-knot wind from the north, which means that in reality, the air is still, and the sea is flat, except for a two- or three-foot swell. The east coast of the Baja Peninsula is about a mile off to port—miles and miles of pristine sandy beach, with low, green hills behind it—very unlike the rocky, forbidding west coast—and very unlike the stark, man-made geometry of Cabo San Lucas—all bright and rectilinear with condos and hotels. Jim Leishman, at the helm, comments that if he had a little all-wheel drive 4-Trax—as common as automobiles in this region—he could ride along the beach all the way from Cabo to our next destination—Bahia de Muertos. But then, one would miss the intimate connection we have with this sea. Earlier, a super-pod of about 100 dolphins swam by on a reciprocal course. Many of them came over and swam with Pacific Escort. I go forward to the bow to watch them. At any moment there are about a half-dozen riding our bow wave. I find myself wondering if this is some kind of adolescent ritual for them, “I dare you to ride the bow wave of that boat!” We also see manta rays—they half jump out of the water as we approach. There are some whales around too, but we don’t see any.

15:10—We reach tonight’s destination, the beautiful Bahia de Los Muertos—which refers to the dead-man type moorings that were used when there was a mining operation active in the bay. Now, real estate is the main industry here, as it is up and down this coast. Earlier, we discover that the muddy bottom at a previous anchorage has clogged the drain in Pacific Escort’s chain locker. Since we will anchor here as well, Jim and Eric have put our chain anchor rhode on a nylon rope snubber and then ran out the rest of the 300 feet of chain over the side, so that the clogged drain can be cleared. The job falls to Eric, who must go down in the empty, but muddy anchor locker with a hose and wash it out.

The rest of the evening promises to be blissfully uneventful. James snorkels in the 80-degree water, looking for his next catch. Later, he and Sue cook a spaghetti dinner, which is accompanied by a good red wine. The sunset behind the hills is beautiful. We all sense that this will be our last dinner together on the boat and savor each other’s company and the setting. Finally, we go ashore to a FUBAR party at Casa de los Sueños, a local real estate developer. The dinner is accompanied by a tour of his house, which is a stunning blend of contemporary and traditional Mexican architecture, adapted to the open-air beauty of its beach setting. Fountains and waterfalls splash in gardens and open courtyards and the bedroom opens onto an Infiniti pool overlooking the bay. When we return to Pacific Escort, we all agree that the house and grounds are indeed beautiful, but it doesn’t move from beautiful setting to beautiful setting the way a yacht can. By 22:00 everyone is in bed and the boat is quietly riding at anchor. The last leg of our adventure is tomorrow—a 50-mile run to the city of La Paz.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort in Bahia de Los Muertos

FUBAR: Exploring San Jose

2007-11-21T07:20:00.000-05:00

Date: November 17, 2007
Time: 06:35
Position: Marina Cabo San Jose, approx 10 miles east of Cabo San Lucas

It’s a day in port, but we are up early to move Pacific Escort from our Mediterranean mooring to a slip on the other side of the marina, where we will have water and power. Not that we need it, we can carry 500 gallons and have a watermaker, but the sound of it running all night can be annoying when you are trying to sleep. After we park the boat is a slip that’s barely wide enough for it to fit (there was not enough room for fenders on either side), I’m free to explore nearby San Jose. It is a typical small Mexican tourist town: Relatively prosperous thanks to the new marina and close proximity to Cabo San Lucas, but not too sprawling and modern. There are also a good number of American expats, who have retired here. One of them tells me the FUBAR fleet is the biggest thing to hit town. I see several FUBAR people in town shopping and have dinner with Larry Lu Core and the crew from Brown Eyed Girl. Tomorrow, we leave for Muertos Bay, about 50 miles up the peninsula toward La Paz.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort

FUBAR: Heading for Puerto los Cabos

2007-11-19T17:16:00.000-05:00

Our man James Kirby makes like Papa Hemingway in the Sea of Cortez.

Date: November 16, 2007
Time: 00:05
Position: Approx. 40 miles north of Cabo San Lucas
Course: 129 Degrees (True)
Speed: 9.32 Knots
Visibility: Approx. 10 Miles

Before going on watch I stop off in Pacific Escort’s engine room to visit my friends—Grendel and Beowulf, which is what I affectionately call the two beasts that propel the boat—twin Lugger 1066 marine diesels. I also check on our tireless 20-kilowatt Northern Lights diesel generator that runs 24 hours a day, supplying all the electrical power we consume. The diesels are all just fine, so I escape the 115-degree heat and deafening racket of the engine room (nobody enters here without sound-deadening headphones on) and go up to the pilothouse. I’m greeted by a blaze of lights from some boat about 500 yards in front of us! “What the hell is that!” I ask Eric Leishman, whose watch is just ending. He tells me it’s a commercial sport fishing boat out of San Diego called Red Rooster. As many as 20 to 25 sport fishermen pay thousands of dollars for the privilage of cramming into Red Rooster and fishing day and night off this coast. (gee, I really want to be on that boat). Red Rooster has AIS (Automatic Identification System), so Eric has known its course, speed and distance for a long time, and our radar indicates its closest point of approach, but the vessel has failed to answer our hail on VHF channel 16—too busy to talk, I guess. So Eric had to throttle back Pacific Escort and change course to avoid them. Red Rooster and their blaze of spotlights, finally fades into the distance, as they head for some fishing bank about ten miles off our port side.

When my night vision finally returns, I go out on deck to check out the stars. The familiar southern constellations are much higher in the sky now and the constellations of the northern sky, such as the big dipper are on the horizon. Back in the pilothouse, I imagine this is what it would be like on my own personal starship—moving through the starry sky, surrounded by the dim, red glow of instruments. Completely self-contained.

12:40— On the radar display, and spread out for miles around us, I can see the navigation lights of the rest of the fleet. The cruise ship Carnival Princess calls and politely warns us that some of the boats are directly in her path. She is about five miles off our port, and no threat to us, but some of the boats east of us will have to move out her way. The officer on watch apologizes, but says that there is a shallow bank to her west and the coast is to her east, so she must maintain her present course. Moving at 23 knots, it won’t take long for her to overtake them. We wonder if the guys on Brown Eyed Girl got the message. At 30 feet, she is the smallest boat in our fleet and does not show up on our radar, but Larry Lu Core and his experienced crew (all retired fire fighters) are on top of things. They make contact with Carnival Princess and arrange to avoid her. I watch Carnival Princess speed by in the darkness. Even at five miles, she is enormous! Lit up from one end to the other, and looking like an office building on its side.

06:00—The Cape!

“The great rocks on the end of the Peninsula are almost literary. They are a fitting Land’s End, standing against the sea, the end of a thousand miles of peninsula and mountain.”
—John Steinbeck

I’m awakened by a distinct change in the motion of the boat. Up till now, Pacific Escort has been making an easy trip south—the wind and sea at our back. But this wild pitching, corkscrewing motion tells me we have turned east toward Cabo San Lucas—the southern-most point on our voyage. In the pilothouse, a beautiful sunrise and the twin spires north of Cabo Falso greet me. The wind is blowing 20 knots across the deck and short, steep waves hit our port side. I go down to the galley and pour myself a cup of coffee, but while trying to negotiate the stairs back up to the pilothouse, I manage to spill a good deal of it on me. Ouch, that woke me up!

07:15—“Hook up!” This is the great sport fisherman’s paradise, Eric and James have four trolling lines out and it’s not long before they hook a fish. Jim chops the throttles and we all race back to see what’s on the line. It’s a yellow fin tuna—the first of four we will catch over the next 15 minutes. We are hoping to get a Marlin, as well.

As soon as we round the cape the wind drops and the sea goes flat. Looking toward the beach we see continuous development: Mile after mile of condos, multi-million dollar homes, hotels, divided highways and golf courses. After the wild desolation of Baja Sur, the effect is stunning—we could easily be cruising along any beach in Southern California. The big cruise ship that passed us last night is already tied up in the harbor and a fleet of fishing boats full of enthusiastic anglers is headed out from the harbor.

09:15—I count 46 fishing boats around us—everything from little pongas to the big sport fishing “battle wagons”. “Must be a tournament,” Jim remarks. He tells me that the next fish we hook is mine. Little do they know that will spell the end of their luck. When I fished with my family as a kid, I never caught anything, partly because there is no way to make an eight-year-old boy sit still for that long. However, it’s not very long before we get another strike and I grab the rod. I end up reeling in another yellow fin. Which will be part of tonight’s dinner.

10:00—We are about ten miles past the cape now, with our destination in sight—the new Marina Puerto Los Cabos at San Jose. We pass the breakwater and enter the harbor at 10:31. The marina is so new that concrete is still being poured and there is new construction everywhere. When it’s finished, it will be a great stop-off for boaters who want to avoid the hustle and bustle of Cabo San Lucas. Bruce Kessler is already at the dock, using a hand-held VHF radio to help direct boats to their appropriate slip. Quite a few of the fleet are over 50 feet in length and there aren’t enough big slips for them, so they have to med moor. Mediterranean mooring is common in Europe, but not in the U.S. To do it a boat drops it anchor, backs up and ties its stern to the dock. It sounds easy, but with a 10-knot wind from the side, tight quarters, a busy harbor and a big boat with lots of windage, it can be a real challenge. Several boats in the fleet have to make numerous attempts before they make it (no doubt we are the biggest entertainment this little harbor has seen in a while). With its experienced crew and powerful bow and stern thrusters, Pacific Escort has no trouble.

The first order of business for us, and the other boats in the fleet, is washing the boat and sprucing up the interior. Once everything is squared away and shipshape (I just love using those nautical terms), we all head off to a local hotel for fish tacos and cervesas. Unfortunately, it’s our last meal together. Jay and Jeff Leishman have to return home, to work, families and the normal world. They have been such good company. After lunch, they pack their bags and are off to the airport. With only five aboard, the boat is emptier now, but it never seemed crowded before (the sign of a happy crew) and they will be missed.

Later in the evening, there's a party for the fleet at a newly opened restaurant adjacent to the marina. It’s a time to get caught up with everyone, share gossip and find out how their vessels faired on the way south. Most of the boats in the fleet are not heavily ballasted passagemakers, like our Nordhavn 55; just motor yachts or sport fishing boats, but there have been no mishaps, injuries or mechanical problems to speak of. Attribute it to good preparation on the part of the FUBAR staff, and the skippers, fair weather and a bit of luck. We return to Pacific Escort—quiet now, except for the hum of its generator. Tomorrow, we get to sleep in and then explore the nearby town of San Jose.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort in Marina Puerto los Cabos

FUBAR: Exploring Magdalena Bay

2007-11-19T06:48:00.000-05:00

Date: November 15, 2007
Time: 08:00
Position: North 24 32.76, West 112 05.76
Location: Magdalena Bay, Baja Sur, Mexico

08:00—It’s beautiful day: Sunny and bright, low humidity, clear, still air, the temperature about 70 degrees. Magdalena Bay, where we are anchored, is glass smooth, with a barely perceptible swell. I’m having a cup of coffee in the pilothouse of Pacific Escort. Already, most of the FUBAR fleet has sailed, beginning the 185-nautical mile passage to our next destination, Cabo San Jose in the Sea of Cortez. At eight knots, it should take them about 22 hours. As always we will be just about the last to leave, ready to help any stragglers along the way who may have problems. Thus far, our job has been pretty easy. Other than one boat that had hydraulic steering problems, our work has been restricted to helping fix the odd generator or plumbing problem.

With some time on our hands and the water and weather so perfect, Jim Leishman, skipper of Pacific Escort, his wife, Sue, and I decide to go explore the estuaries and canals at the north end of the bay. So we pile into the tender and are off, skimming across the bay at around 15 knots. Our only companions this morning are the ever-present pelicans. A flock of about 10 birds is gliding along next to us—wing tips just inches above the calm water. Like many sea birds, they take advantage of a phenomenon know as ground effect—riding the cushion of air trapped between their wings and the water—and can go for hundreds of feet without flapping.

We cross the bar at the mouth of the estuary and quickly realize that we have entered a completely different environment. Anchored in the bay, we can see for miles in every direction—the distant tan and dark gray lava hills the only discernable feature visible between the ocean and sky. However, the estuary is lined with towering mangroves trees that form an impenetrable green wall on each side. Silent and somewhat imposing, it reminds me of the jungle river ride at Disneyland, or a scene from the movie Apocalypse Now. Is Colonel Kurtz waiting for us up river? I find myself repeating one of the lines from the movie: “Never get off the boat.”

In the arid desert, just on the other side of the mangroves, life is sparse; here in the estuary, it is everywhere you look: Fish jump as we approach, Spanish moss hangs from branches and spider webs fill the space between them. Flocks of pelicans sleep on the bigger limbs, while sandpipers work the shore.

We spend about an hour exploring the various channels—Jim occasionally cutting the engine and letting the tender drift, so we can listen to the birds. Then we head back across the bay to Pacific Escort, first stopping by Que Será to get a weather update from FUBAR chairman and chief wrangler, Bruce Kessler. He tells us that no change is predicted—just more of the same: blue skies and calm seas under the Pacific High.

09:30—The anchor is weighed (a task made ridiculously easy thanks to Pacific Escort’s Maxwell windlass) and we are headed out of Magdalena Bay. On the way, we motor through a huge school of Mexican Crabs. Measuring about two to three inches across and red in color, they float just below the surface as far as we can see in every direction. Again, I marvel the contrast between the teaming life of the ocean and the barreness of the land. We cross the wide mouth of the Bay and head out into the calm, blue Pacific—185 miles to go to Cabo San Jose and the Sea of Cortez.

“The coastline of the Peninsula slid along, brown and desolate and dry with strange flat mountains and rocks torn by dryness, and the heat shimmer hung over the land . . .”
—John Steinbeck

11:35—We arrive at the wreck of the Aurora—a Nordhavn 62 washed up on a small rocky, inaccessible beach beneath towering lava headland. Eric, Jeff and I take the tender over for a closer look, while Pacific Escort circles a half-mile offshore. It is a strange thing to see a boat—almost a ship—lying on its side, abandoned and forlorn. Apparently, she was heading north at night, with a competent skipper and crew of three aboard, when she ran into uncharted, submerged rocks off the small point just north of our position. With her propeller and rudder disabled, she drifted south for about a mile and fetched up on the shore. Unfortunately, the one crewmember died, but rest of the crew were eventually rescued.

In this age of GPS, chart plotters and radar, one wonders how such a thing can happen, but there are few landmarks or aids to navigation (or anything else for that matter) along this stretch of coast. It can be so dark that you can’t distinguish anything 100 feet in front of you and if conditions are stormy, or the water is rough, the radar may not distinguish the shore from sea clutter. Also, if the vessel is being steered by an autopilot on a magnetic heading, the current can set your vessel in toward the shore and you may never know it until it is too late.

We circle in the tender just offshore—Jeff and Eric serious and silent—no doubt contemplating the untimely destruction of something they so lovingly created. Finally, they make a few observations about how tough she is. Remarkably, despite several years of pounding surf working her against the rocks, Aurora’s superstructure and hull are still completely intact, with only a few gouges visible below the waterline. She looks like she could be re-floated and live again; however, James, who is an excellent swimmer and has been on her, says that despite the inaccessibility of her location, she is pretty well stripped. We snap a few pictures, head back to Pacific Escort and continue our voyage south—thankful for the fair winds, gentle, following sea and unlimited visibility under blue skies.

15:30—On the afternoon watch. We are about 20 miles off the coast, doing 8.7 knots. There’s a sailboat four miles off our port bow. With a 15-knot wind off her starboard quarter, sailing conditions are ideal and she is easily keeping up with us. But the wind speed drops and we eventually catch up to her. As we pass her, she unexpectedly turns into the wind (in irons)—something is wrong with her headsail-furling unit and somebody has to gone forward and fix it. I realize, maybe I don’t want to be sailing after all. Here on Pacific Escort, we make 8 knots, regardless of the wind and there is practically no need to venture out on the foredeck unless you want to. If you choose to do so you are about ten feet above the water and protected by 30-inch railings. As my watch ends, I go out on the Portuguese bridge forward of the pilothouse to watch the last rays of the sun—still no green flash. The smell of fresh grilled fish drifts forward from the cooker on the cockpit railing. I love coming off watch to a home-cooked meal.

--James Kirby, eating well aboard Pacific Escort

FUBAR: A most memorable birthday

2007-11-17T18:46:00.000-05:00

Date: November 14, 2007
Time: 08:00
Position: North 24 45.87, West 112 14.85, Bahia Santa Maria
Visibility: Unlimited under blue skies and scattered cumulus clouds
Temperature 69 degrees Fahrenheit

08:00—Today is my 60th birthday. Sitting in Pacific Escort’s saloon, I open birthday cards from my wife, Joyce, and sister Kathy. If they were here, everything would be perfect. Well, hopefully next time ... Otherwise, I would have to say this is one of the most memorable birthdays I have ever had.

We are still anchored in pristine Bahia Santa Maria, three-quarters of the way down the Baja Peninsula. However, there is little time to contemplate the picturesque beauty of this place. It’s high tide, and James, Eric, Jay and Jeff are anxious to explore the Canal San Carlos—a series of estuaries and channels that meander for miles parallel to the coast. We jump in the tender and are off—skimming the surface of the bay, headed for the sand bar and surf break that marks the mouth of the estuary.

The estuary and channels are a completely different world: An oasis of life in this desolate land, its banks are thick with Mangrove trees that several species of birds call home. A hawk circles overhead and fish jump as we approach. Ever the angler, James trolls a line behind us. About a half-mile in, we pass one of several fish camps. These tiny, little settlements are the homes of the local fishermen and their families. They look ramshackle and temporary, but always neat and orderly. Their inhabitants wave as we pass—the coast of Baja is still largely wild and uninhabited, but the isolated groups of native Mexicans who live here are always welcoming and friendly.

We explore several channels, following each one until it ends in an overgrowth of mangroves and we can go no further. At one point Jeff shouts, “Look out!” and Eric, at the helm, quickly turns to tender to avoid a sunken sailboat, its mast gone and the deck barely visible below the surface. How did it get here? Why did it sink? This is not a dangerous environment—there are no rocks or pounding surf to sink it. One can only speculate.

Back on board Pacific Escort we weigh anchor and move the boat to a dive spot near the entrance to the bay. But first, Eric and Jeff take advantage of the calm seas and take turns being towed on a surfboard. When we reach the dive spot, James, Jay and Jeff load the tender with spear guns, wet suits, snorkels and fins and head off to do some spear fishing. A half hour later they return triumphant. James, who seems to be half marine mammal, has speared a 60-pound grouper, which is quickly cleaned in preparation for the FUBAR potluck dinner later tonight.

12:00—We are heading south along Isla Santa Maria, the volcanic island that separates Bahia Santa Maria from the larger Bahia Magdalena—tonight’s destination. At 12:30 we enter Bahia Magdalena. Roughly 15 miles wide, it, and the adjoining Bahia Almejas, run for about 50 miles along the coast, sheltered by hilly, islands of ancient lava—another perfect bay. We make our way to the North-West corner of the bay, where most of the FUBAR fleet has anchored, just off the little fishing village of Bahia Magdalena—195 adults and 56 children, the welcome sign at the local restaurant proudly proclaims.

13:16—The local panga fishing boats have deposited us, and the members of the rest of the fleet, here for a potluck dinner. James’ grouper—fried in butter and garlic—is a big hit, as are the other delicacies the feet’s fishermen have brought. These dinners are a great way for the members of the fleet, who otherwise are restricted to communicating by VHF radio, to get caught up on all the news and gossip. The skippers I talk to, who were novice cruisers at the beginning of the rally, now exhibit a growing confidence in their abilities.

Before we head back to the Pacific Escort, I take a walk along the beach that fronts the village—past the stacked lobster pots, piles of netting and beached fishing boats. This town is small and poor, but it does have electricity. When the author John Steinbeck came this way in 1941, traveling aboard the fishing trawler Western Flyer, on an expedition to collect and catalog flora and fauna, he wondered if electrification would bring the benefits and the evils of modern civilization to these people. From the look of things, they have not suffered too much from either. However, Larry Lu Core, skipper of Brown Eyed Girl, who has a house in upper Baja, on the Sea of Cortez, notes that development has taken hold all up and down the coast in that area, and he believes the growing tourism is a good thing for the people of the region.

The party breaks up around sunset and we head back to our waiting boats, anchored just offshore; however, Jim and Eric still have work to do. One of the boats has generator problems, so they take the tender and go over to it to see what they can do. It turns out to be relatively simple. Air got in the fuel line, when the skipper switched filters. A quick bleeding of the system and everything is fine.

James Kirby, left, and Jim Leishman celebrate birthdays aboard Pacific Escort.

Back on board Pacific Escort, we have a little party in celebration of Jim Leishman’s birthday, a few days ago, and my own, today. The younger members of our crew—James, Eric, Jeff and Jay—stay up to party, but we put to sea again tomorrow and I’m on the 06:00 watch, so I turn in early.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort in Bahia Santa Maria, and loving it

FUBAR: Beautiful Bahia Santa Maria

2007-11-17T17:38:00.000-05:00

Date: November 13, 2007
Time: 06:00
Position: North 240 57.75, West 112 38.15
Course: 141 Degrees (True)
Speed: 7.7 Knots
Water Temperature: 74 degrees F
Visibility: Unlimited, scattered, low cumulus clouds under a blue sky
Our man James Kirby on watch aboard Pacific Escort.

It’s 06:00 and the trolling lines are already out as we approach Thetis Bank, the 75-foot-deep fishing bank about 10 miles off the coast of Baja. Several other boats from the FUBAR fleet are here fishing too—Unreel, Big Mama and the two Nordhavn 43s—Rogue Manor and Wayward Wind. As we crisscross and circle in an area approximately a mile square in size, there is constant chatter on the VHF. The skippers inform each other of their course and intentions—nobody wants to snag a trolling line. We are all on Pacific Escort’s flying bridge—20 feet above the waterline, where we have a commanding view, of the surrounding water. Everyone is on the lookout for the telltale splash of a fish, or a Marlin breaking the surface.

08:46—Jeff is in the galley fixing a breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs and toast when we hear a shout from the aft cockpit, “Hook up!” We look aft from the flying bridge just in time to see a Marlin jump—deep metallic blue and silver spray in the Pacific sunlight. Jim immediately chops the throttles and puts the boat in reverse. The swim platform digs into a following swell and everyone in the cockpit, and even up on the boat deck, is soaked by a boarding wave. But nobody cares. We’re all too excited, watching James play the fish. After a few minutes, the Marlin is along side. It’s too small to keep as a trophy, so Eric unhooks it and holds it in the water until its color returns and it swims away. Other than a few Bonito, we have no more luck on Thetis bank, so we head for Bahia Santa Maria, a perfect bay, separated from the larger Bahia Magdalena bay by a spit of land.

09:07—Virtually everyone one board is busy carrying out a time-honored nautical tradition—cleaning the boat before entering port. It’s not a port—per se—just a bay, but most of the fleet will be there. The Leishmans have been intimately involved in designing, building and marketing Nordhavns all their adult lives—since they were children in the case of Eric and James, and their pride in these boats shows. Pacific Escort is scrubbed from stem to stern. Having a large supply of freshwater certainly helps, as does a built-in vacuum system.

10:40–We are about two miles offshore, passing the rocky, arid headlands of Cabo San Lazaro—gray and tan hills rising about 300 feet out of the ocean. They are chiefly composed of lava and volcanic tuffa—weathered into peaks and cone-shaped talus slopes that run down to the edge of the sea. Perhaps during the rainy season, there is vegetation on them, but right now, they are completely devoid of anything green. At 11:45, we hear Sue yell. She has been sitting in the aft cockpit relaxing, when a fish hit one of the trolling lines. She grabs the rod from the holder, shouts, “That one’s mine!” and begins reeling it in. It turns out to be a Bonito—about five pounds, so they throw it back.

12:05—We enter the beautiful harbor of Bahia Santa Maria. Jim explains that this is one of the first places a cruiser heading north from Cabo San Lucas can duck in and get some relief from the constant beating of the north setting current and winds. With a clear, blue sky above, it appears to be the perfect hidden bay of a remote desert island—the kind of place sailors dream of. At 12:26 we set our 200-pound plow anchor in 35 feet of water. The bottom is sandy, with good holding. A warm 8-knot wind blows through the open doors of the pilothouse.

13:00–A Panga, one of the local 20-foot long, outboard-powered fishing boats that ply the waters around here, comes to get us and take us to the FUBAR dinner on the beach overlooking the bay. The tide is low, but the two Mexican fishermen driving the boat are experts at crossing the bar that leads into the estuary beyond. They land us and we join the party on the beach.

The beach dinner is a good chance to catch up on the adventures of the rest of the fleet. I check in with FUBAR chairman Papa Bruce Kessler. He says all has gone well and things are up to his expectations. With 52 boats and skippers of varying skill levels, that’s good. Dr. Jerry Kornfeld, our fleet surgeon, says there is nothing to report in the way of medical problems. Jerry, who is retired now, was once a doctor on a cruise ship. Now he lectures cruise ship audiences on various health issues as part of the shipboard entertainment. He has also authored the book, Your Hundred Year Heart. Mike Levitt, the skipper of the boat Robin Lee, which had the steering problems, says that since replenishing the system, it has worked fine. However, when he finally returns to Los Angeles at the end of the cruise, he will be taking the autopilot pump with him on the airplane.

The crew of Brown Eyed Girl, the smallest boat in the fleet, have fished their way south and are in high spirits, recounting the stories of their victories over Dorado, Yellow Tail and Marlin. Bob Godfrey, skipper of Unreel, plans to leave early in the morning for more fishing further south.

Shortly before sunset, we all board the waiting pangas, head out through the estuary and surf and return to Pacific Escort. It has been a long day and by 20:00, everybody is in bed, including me.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort anchored in Bahia Santa Maria

FUBAR: Heading south from Turtle Bay

2007-11-17T09:59:00.000-05:00

Date: November 12, 2007
Time: 06:00
Position: North 27 41.08 West 114 53.12, Turtle Bay
Visibility: Approx. 1 Mile

It’s raining and overcast. What happened? Last night, the sky was perfectly clear, but the weather is completely different today. The tan, gray and rust colors of the surrounding hills, so crisp in the clear desert air yesterday, are shrouded in fog this morning. It’s as though the weather we left up north has caught up with us while we slept. Most of the FUBAR fleet is already headed out. In ten minutes almost all of them are gone—disappearing into the gloomy mist. The bay is quiet and practically empty. The only sound is the splash of a pod of dolphins, easily visible against the dark, oily calm water. They too are headed out, followed by a lone sea lion.

The crew of our boat, Pacific Escort, is up and moving too. At 06:20 we fire up the engines, weigh anchor and head out past the lobster pots that mark the entrance to Bahia Tortugas and into the fog shrouded Pacific. Jim Leishman and I are on watch. He comments that the air has a distinctly tropical feel to it.

08:25—We are approximately seven miles off of the coast. The fleet is just visible about two miles ahead in the lifting fog. The sport fishing boats, Big Mama and Fish and Game, discuss their estimated arrival time at Thetis Bank—the fishing grounds about ten miles off of our destination, Magdalena Bay. But first, there is 228 miles to cover. We all settle into our sea boat routine.

09:00—I go off watch, put on the sound-deadening earmuffs and take a turn around Pacific Escort’s engine room. Using an infrared pyrometer, I take temperature reading on the two 170-horsepower, turbocharged Lugger 1066 marine diesel engines that serve us so faithfully. All is well, the engine sumps read about 210 degrees Fahrenheit, coolant tanks and turbo charger housings read 190 degrees and the transmissions about 130 degrees. The ambient temperature in the engine room is 115 degrees—I have nothing but respect for the engine-room crews in the old-time diesel submarines and the continuous heat and noise they had to put up with.

09:30—The Betram 46 Live Wire, about two miles ahead of us, reports spotting whale spouts. At 09:50, just 4.5 miles off Pico San Pablo, we see them—two south bound Grays—their dorsal fins hardly visible as they break the surface in a smooth arc. As we pass by, 500 yards to their right, they sound.

10:07—Under a clearing sky with scattered clouds, we see a southbound ship. Our AIS (Automatic Identification System) tells us it’s the cruise ship Dawn Princess—length: 266 meters, beam: 32 meters. Eight-point-seven miles off our starboard beam, doing 19.2 knots—a floating hotel, casino and spa, with plenty of activities to keep its passengers happy. On Pacific Escort, we need no such distractions—the boat and its intimate connection with the sea around us, are more than enough.

11:23—Speed: 8.5 knots, Course: 140 degrees, Weather: sunny and clear, Seas: calm. Location: 15 miles off Bahia Anuncion. I’m in the middle of my daily fight with the SAT phone, trying to upload some text, when a big pod of dolphins changes course and heads our way. Several swim along in our bow wave for a few minutes, then they’re on their way.

12:40—We receive a call from the motor yacht Robin Lee over the VHF—located about two miles in front of us. They have lost hydraulic fluid from the steering system and have used up all their spare hydraulic fluid replenishing it. They cannot steer the boat manually and the autopilot is only working intermittently. They do not have an emergency tiller. You are only as good as your backup.

Coincidentally, the ocean is so calm that James and Eric, intent of doing some joy riding, have just launched the tender. Jim Leishman calls around to the other boats in the fleet and manages to locate several different kinds of hydraulic fluid, but a SAT phone call to PAE’s commissioning manager back in Dana Point reveals that only the specified hydraulic fluid should be used in the system. Fortunately, the sport fisher Robin Lee has spare fluid and a hand pump that’s needed to pressurize the system. She heads our way at 20 knots and Eric and James, in the tender, race out to meet her. At 14:40 the equipment is handed off and they head for the waiting Robin Lee. Robin Lee’s crew is able to replenish and pressurize the system and continue on to Magdalena Bay.

Position:
260 39.85 North Latitude
1130 59.54 West Longitude
Course: 145 Degrees (True)
Speed: 7.4 Knots
Visibility: Unlimited, a few scattered alto cumulus clouds

17:40—Jim and I are back on watch. The 15:00 to 18:00 watch is a good one: Everyone on the boat is active and social, anticipating dinner. It’s not unusual to find the entire crew in the pilothouse watching the sunset. It’s a great one this evening. We might even see the green flash—that small streak of green that appears on the horizon just after the sun sinks below it. We aren’t that lucky this evening, but the sunset still is spectacular, with Venus and the new moon appearing. Another school of dolphins appears, criss-crossing our bow in the last light of the day. Dinner tonight is steak and the last of the lobster James bought in Turtle Bay, followed by a movie.

24:00—Welcome to fish talk! I come on watch and in the darkness count the navigation lights of 17 boats, scattered over the ocean from horizon to horizon. It’s an impressive sight. The chatter on the VHF is mostly about tomorrow’s fishing off the Thetis Bank. James and Eric have been fishing all day and we plan to be there as well, so Jim gradually alters our course to put us west of the fleet.

At 02:00 Jeff and Jay relieve us and I head off to bed. It’s amazing. I brought a novel to read in the off hours, but between watches, learning to run the boat, social activities and what entertainment the sea has to offer, I’ve hardly had time to look at it.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort, headed south

FUBAR: Bahia de Tortugas aka Turtle Bay

2007-11-14T07:22:00.000-05:00

Date: November 11, 2007
Time: 09:45 (Pacific Standard Time)
Position: North 27 41.08, West 114 53.12
Anchored in Bahia de Tortugas (Turtle Bay, Baja Sur, Mexico)
Visibility: Several miles under a clear sky

Big Mama has a problem: Having arrived in Turtle Bay yesterday, today is a layover day for the FUBAR fleet. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a day of rest for the crew of Pacific Escort. First thing this morning, Jim and sons launch the tender and head out to deal with the fleet’s various problems: Ron Smothers on Big Mama, a Uniflite 55 sport fisher, has discovered that one of the boat’s two freshwater tanks has mysteriously drained during the night. Jim has failed to find the source of the leak, so he has disconnected the crossover between the two tanks to ensure that the remaining tank doesn’t drain, leaving them without freshwater. Big Mama has a watermaker (indispensable in this arid region), but Jim offers to fill Big Mama’s water tanks from Pacific Escort’s water tanks once the leak is fixed. Meanwhile, James is over on Sans Souci, tracking down another plumbing problem, and the sport fisher Fishing Game Warden, needs a fuel filter. Back on board Pacific Escort, Jay is talking to a local fisherman—looking for lobsters for tonight’s dinner.

About 09:00 Jim, James and Eric return from their repair efforts. They get cleaned up and we all take the tender into the town of Turtle Bay. It turns out to be a sleepy, dusty little Baja town. Other than the cruising boats that stop in transiting to up and down the coast, the only industry appears to be the local fishing fleet. It’s Sunday and no one is about. Everybody is home, cooking Sunday dinner. A few, one-room markets and the small restaurant, next to the run-down pier, are all that is open. No doubt the town will be busier tomorrow, but we will be gone. The nicest building in town is the simple, clean church that occupies a picturesque spot overlooking the bay. We walk around a bit and then return to Pacific Escort. Jim has decided to move our boat further into the bay, where it’s calmer, in anticipation of transferring water to Big Mama.

This is a large, beautiful bay, ringed by stark buff-colored hills: Roughly three miles across and two miles deep, it averages about 35-feet in depth, with a good sandy bottom. It easily accommodates the 52 boats of the fleet and could probably hold four times that many. James, Eric, Jay, Sue, Jeff and I all pile into the dingy for a ride to the far side of the bay, where there is supposed be a graveyard of whale bones, left from the days when it was a stop for whaling ships. The tender is a 12-foot rigid inflatable with a steering station and a strong 40-horsepower Honda. Highly maneuverable and stable, it accommodates the five us surprisingly well; however, the 10-knot wind blowing across the two-mile fetch of the bay has kicked up a short, vicious chop at the far end. Thirty yards off the beach it’s already too shallow and Jeff, at the helm, has to raise the prop. We decide that it will be too difficult to get back out, so we abandon our plan of exploring the beach, but now the surf and wind are pushing us toward the shore. Jay and Eric, wary of stingrays, jump out to turn the tender around and push us out into deeper water where we can use the motor. If a tough slog and they report that several rays have brushed up against their legs as they walk along kicking up sand. It’s a good thing we didn’t try to wade to shore. After a heroic effort, working against the surf and wind, they get us out to where Jeff can lower the outboard and they jump back in. But it’s not over yet! We have to cross the bay straight into the wind and chop. It’s a rough, bumpy, cold, wet ride. By the time we reach Pacific Escort, we are all soaked. We all thought it was great fun. We’re also very glad, Pacific Escort is equipped with a washer, dryer and hot showers.

Back on board Jim informs us that that Big Mama is indeed going to raft up along side and take on water. We break out the hose and rig the starboard side with fenders and dock lines in anticipation of their arrival. At 15:36 they come along side and tie up. We pass the hose over to them and begin transferring 200 gallons of water from our 500-gallon freshwater tank. Meanwhile, Jim and Jeff go below and continue their hunt for the mysterious water leak. Finally, it’s located. A split anchor wash-down hose in the chain locker. The spigot has been left open and the water pressure eventually split the hose. Coiled against on top of the piled-up anchor rhode it was impossible to see, but when it was uncoiled, the fine spray was immediately apparent. It also solved the mystery of why none of the leaking water ended up in the bilge.

Good news, James has gone ashore and managed to buy about a dozen fresh lobsters, they’ll go well with the steak and baked potatoes Sue is cooking for dinner. After dinner, the evening’s entertainment, for me, is watching a perfect crescent moon, hanging just above the hills to the west, which are themselves silhouetted by the pink light of the setting sun behind them. Venus hangs a hands breadth above in a cobalt sky that shades to velvet black directly overhead. Tomorrow, we will escort the fleet on its 228-mile run to Santa Maria.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort in Bahia de Tortugas

Some of the crew of Pacific Escort, from the left: Jay Leishman, brother Jim, his wife Sue and sons Eric and James.

FUBAR: Ensenada to Turtle Bay

2007-11-13T13:56:00.000-05:00

Date: November 10, 2007
Time: 08:28 (Pacific Standard Time)
Position: North 29 00.4, West 115 27.7
Course: 157 (True)
Speed: 8.3 Knots
Visibility: Approximately 10 miles

The sun has returned! Some low clouds, a 15-knot wind from the South-South West and a four-foot swell running under our starboard quarter—perfect sailing weather. Pacific Escort also benefits from this tailwind. Skipper Jim Leishman and I are on the 06:00 to 09:00 watch. Our position is about 35 nautical miles off shore and 41 miles north of Isla Cedros (Cedros Island).

The north facing Bahia Vizcaino is a large crescent-shaped bay approximately 80 miles across, roughly half-way down the Baha Peninsula. The western-most end of the bay is delineated by a horn-shaped cape jutting into the Pacific Ocean—Punta Eugenia (Point Eugenia). Fifteen miles off this promontory to the north, sits Isla Cedros—twenty miles long—north-to-south—and 10 miles across at its widest point. Just south of it, and only five miles off of Punta Eugenia is the smaller Isla Natividad (Christmas Island). We will negotiate this passage about dusk, keeping the two islands to starboard and Punta Eugenia to port. Our destination, Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay), lies about 15 miles farther south. We expect to arrive there around 20:00 hours. We left Ensenada around 09:30 yesterday. As the main escort vessel for the fleet of 52 motor yachts that make up the FUBAR rally, our job is to hang back and assist any vessels that might encounter problems along the way. So far, there have been none.

As well as the return of the sun, we notice that the water temperature has also gone up from the 58 degrees Fahrenheit at Ensenada, to 66 degrees. Eric and James have trolling lines out. Perhaps we will have Yellow Tail for dinner.

11:04—Jay spots Isla Cedros first—rising out of the mist, still 20 miles away.

11:41—“Hook up!” The shout comes from the cockpit indicating a fish has hit one of the trolling lures. Jeff throttles the twin Luggers back to idle and Pacific Escort slows to about three knots. We all race back to the cockpit to see what’s on the line. It’s a Bonito—about eight pounds. One of three we will catch today. We release them all; we are after bigger fish. Others in the fleet have better luck. Brown Eyed Girl catches two Yellow Tail in the same area.

15:20—The weather is clear, Jim thinks it will probably stay this way for the rest of the trip. With Isla Cedros about five miles off our starboard side, the wind across our bow is down to zero. We can make out the details of its topography: It looks a lot like Santa Catalina—off Southern California—rocky, arid and mountainous. Just 40 miles to go to Bahia Tortugas. We estimate we will be in about 20:00.

17:47—I’m at the helm as we negotiate the strait between Isla Natividad and Punta Eugina. San Souci, Ken Williams’ Nordhavn 68, and one of the lead boats, is already anchored in Bahia Tortuga. He has warned us over the VHF; that there is lobster traps in the strait. In the fading light, we see each one when it is only about 50 feet away. Barely enough time to disengage the autopilot and swing the boat out of the way.

19:06—We enter Bahia Tortuga. In the old days, entering an unfamiliar harbor at night would be madness! A prudent skipper would lie off until morning; however, this is the 21st Century. With radar and a GPS chart plotter, we know our position, the position of our destination and the route to take to get there. Besides, the rest of the fleet is already anchored. We call Sans Souci on the VHF and they help guide us in, warning us of still more lobster traps, which as always, seem to be set right in the way. I’m on the bow with the hand-held spotlight (at least they stand out in the beam) and Eric and Jim are on the flying bridge, piloting the boat.

19:30—we drop our 200-pound plow anchor in 36 feet of water, pay out 200 feet of 3/8-inch chain rhode, shut down the big, sweet diesels and turn on our anchor light. 50 boats of the FUBAR fleet are anchored in this perfect bay. Sans Souci is next to us. We wait up to help direct the last two boats to their anchorage—Wayward Wind and Rogue Manor—two Nordhavn 43s.

“There is nothing so quiet as a boat when the motor has stopped: it seems to lie with held breath. One gets to longing for the deep beat of the cylinders.”

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort in Turtle Bay

FUBAR: Birthday boy to the rescue

2007-11-13T08:15:00.001-05:00

Date: November 9, 2007
Time: 07:40 (Pacific Standard Time)
Position:
North 31 51.65, West 116 36.48
Cruise Port Marina, Ensenada

Our boat, Pacific Escort is just stirring, but other boats of the FUBAR fleet have been leaving since dawn on. Heading out on the 282-mile second leg, from Ensenada to Turtle Bay, the estimated time of the trip is around 30 hours. On channel 16, the Ocean Yacht 52, Unreel reports that they are headed out too. Skipper Robert Godfrey and his crew are one of the more experienced boats in the fleet. They’re big enough to run fast, around 10 knots, and they’re anxious to get to the good fishing grounds. We, on the other hand, will leave port last. As the main escort vessel for the fleet, we will bring up the rear; so we’re taking advantage of the late morning start to get a few extra hours of shuteye.

It’s our skipper, Jim Leishman’s birthday, but he’s not getting to sleep in. At 08:00, there’s a knock at the pilothouse door—one of the crew of the Patricia, an Ocean Alexander 58, reports they’re having generator problems. Can we help? With hot water, refrigeration and an extensive array of electronic, these boats live and die by their generators, so Jim and older brother Jay grab the voltmeter and head for Patricia, tied up at the other end of the marina. Neither of them have even had their morning coffee yet. On board Patricia, Skipper Don Roose reports the generator was running fine yesterday, but today, repeated cranking has failed to bring it to life, and now there’s not even any current to the starter. He suspects that the culprit is some kind of as yet undiscovered, circuit breaker, fuse, or corroded connection, but has failed to locate it.

It’s not as big as Pacific Escort, but the Ocean Alexander does have a dedicated engine room, so Jim and Jay won’t have work in a cramped engine bay. Don keeps it neat and clean, and there is a complete assortment of tools on hand, but the Onan generator is crammed against the wall and the back of it is almost impossible to get at. Voltmeter in hand, Jim wades in. An hour later, he has still failed to find source of the open circuit, but like a terrier with a rat, Jim refuses to give up. He knows if the problem isn’t located soon, Don will have to take the boat over to Baja Naval, the local yard, which will probably cost him a day in time. Finally, Jim finds the fault, an in-line fuse hidden in the wiring bundle. Don has a spare on hand. We replace it and the generator fires up immediately.

09:05—back on Pacific Escort Sue and Eric have cooked a big in-port breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and potatoes. Everybody gratefully wolfs it down and starts securing the boat for sea. At 09:15, the big twin Lugger engines come to life, the dock lines are untied, the fenders pulled in and Pacific Escort heads out to sea.

09:30—we clear the harbor. The low hills of the Baja coastline, usually baking in the desert sun, have already disappeared in the haze and overcast. The air is cool and damp, so we shut the sea doors and turn on the heat. About five miles offshore Pacific Escort turns to port and heads south, our only view of the coast is on the ever-present radar. Most of the fleet is about 30 miles ahead of us. From the radio reports, it sounds like all is going well.

11:00—Where’s that damn rock! Jim and Jeff are checking the electronic chart plotter, the radar, the back-up electronic chart in the laptop and the paper charts. None of these seem to be in agreement about the location of a small island about five miles ahead of us. We go with the radar. Still, but it’s disconcerting and we are all relieved when we pass it, well off to port. The lesson: Don’t rely on one source for your navigation data.

12:00—There’s some chatter on the VHF from the fleet, but otherwise, all is quiet in the pilothouse. Eric, at the helm, is munching on a tuna sandwich and I’m carrying on my on-going war with the SAT phone, as I try to upload some photos to PAE back in Dana Point. Down in the main saloon, an intense game of video golf is being played. When it’s over, there’s another movie to watch. With seven people on board, something is always going on. Fortunately, Pacific Escort is a roomy boat and the Leishmans have a long history of voyaging together, including a 26-week circumnavigation on a Nordhavn 40.

15:00—Jim Leishman and I come on watch. At 15:16, Wayward Wind, a Nordhavn 43 about 9 miles in front of us reports hundreds of dolphins around their boat. Hopefully, we will encounter the same super pod. Aside from the odd sea lion or dolphin, marine life has, thus far, been scarce. But the sky is finally clearing. There’s alto cumulus overcast high above, and we can see the coast, about 10 miles off our port side, so viewing conditions have improved considerably.

Time: 15:26
Position:
300 04.0 North Latitude
1160 28.8 West Longitude
Approximately 10 miles off Punta Colonet
Speed: 8.8 Knots
Course: 1620 (True)
Water Temp: 580 F

Whales! Jim spots them first—spouting about a quarter-mile in front of us. Jay grabs his video camera, I grab the binoculars and we scramble up to the flying bridge. It’s a pod of about a half dozen. And under the Pacific sky, they are indeed blue! They sound, the last one diving when we are still about 500 yards away. The gray whales are also heading to their ancestral calving grounds in the Sea of Cortez this time of year, so maybe there will be more sightings as we get farther south.

17:41— Sue has bought a crock pot just for this trip and the smell of cooking pot roast, fresh green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy permeates the pilothouse and whets the appetite. At 18:00, six of us sit down in the saloon for dinner. Jeff is on watch, a few short steps away in the pilothouse, so we bring him a plate.

Date: November 9, 2007
Time: 24:00 (Pacific Standard Time)
Position:
290 51.5 North Latitude
1160 02.6 West Longitude
Approximately 10 miles off Punta Baja
Speed: 8.2 Knots
Course: 115 (True)

Jim and I come on watch and relieve Eric and James. Having grown up Nordhavn, both have thousands of sea miles experience, so whether they’re backing a 130,000-pound boat into a tight slip in a cross wind, or inching their way down a fog-bound coast at night, they both exhibit an enviable mastery of these boats. At the moment, they are discussing two popular topics aboard Pacific Escort—surfing and fishing. Starting tomorrow, we’ll be entering some of the better fishing waters, so they’ll be trolling in earnest.

Although Pacific Escort is equipped with every system a skipper could want, it lacks a simple outdoor thermometer, so I step outside to check the temperature and have a look around. I am rewarded with a spectacular view of the heavens: Thousands of stars stand out against the black sky and the Milky Way is clearly visible overhead. Looking south, I can make out Sirius, Orion and Mars—all higher in the sky than the last time I saw them in Los Angeles. It’s a view sailors in open-cockpits sailboats know well, but we are denied unless we step out onto the Portuguese bridge; however, I do have the satisfaction of stepping back into a warm, dry pilothouse when the chill finally gets to me. At 02:00, Jeff and Jay relieve us. I go to bed, and am lulled to sleep by the reassuring hum of the twin diesels directly below my berth.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort, bound for Turtle Bay

Jim Leishman and son James in the pilothouse of the Nordhavn 55 Pacific Escort.

FUBAR: Poking around Ensenada

2007-11-13T07:48:00.000-05:00

Date: November 8, 2007
Time: 22:00 (Pacific Standard Time)
Position:
North 31 51.65, West 116 36.48
Cruise Port Marina, Ensenada
Course: To town for lunch and then back to the marina for dinner
Speed: A leisurely walk

Port Log: To everyone’s amazement, especially FUBAR Chairman Bruce Kessler, around 20 boats managed to fill up at the fuel dock on the same day they arrived. The last boat left the fuel dock in the gray twilight as night fell. By then, the guys doing the fueling had it down to a precision choreography, as skippers were directed to tie up, then move up to fueling position when it was their turn, top off their tanks, then pull away—kudos to the PAE guys, fueling crew from the marina and FUBAR coordinator Bruce Kessler, who oversaw the whole operation and kept it from becoming a real " FUBAR " . Bruce’s patience and knowledge, gives everyone, especially the novices among us the confidence to make this trek. An accomplished circumnavigator in his own boat, Zopilote, retired auto racer and successful Hollywood director, he reminds me of an old-time wagon-train boss: stern and cajoling when he needs to be, but invariably patient, calm and willing to go the distance to get something done. I never hear him say, “no” to anyone (although I’m sure he must have to from time to time). Instead, he always gives positive advice and works unceasingly to try and find a way to accommodate people’s requests and needs. I’ve taken to calling him “Papa Bruce” behind his back.

Having completed fueling on Wednesday, we were free to spend all of Thursday enjoying the city of Ensenada. The city has grown and thrived on tourism. Every day one or two big cruise ships arrive and disgorge hordes of passengers. There is new construction everywhere. Cruise Port Marina, where we tied up, is just a short walk from the central shopping district. Most of the crew of Pacific Escort—Jim Leishman, Jim’s wife Sue, his two brothers Jay and Jeff and the boys (hardly boys) Eric and James, went off and played nine holes of golf. Felizardo Pérez from Proturismo de Ensenada helped plan activities for the fleet, including a vineyard tour (judging from the misty weather, they must grow some excellent wines, and I was told that they distribute throughout Mexico) and Captain Pat Rains, the fleet’s cultural advisor, also conducted a shopping tour. Having spent years cruising up and down the west coast delivering boats, few people know Mexico so intimately as her.

Thursday also gave the FUBAR fleet’s skippers a chance to fix any problems that might have cropped up on the shakedown run from San Diego—the odd chafed hose or loose battery hold-down clamp. An informal survey among several of them at the fleet dinner indicated no major problems and more importantly, a growing confidence in their abilities. One boat that is of particular interest, the Skipjack 30, Brown Eyed Girl, is the smallest boat in the fleet; however, the experience of her crew is vast.
Skipper, Larry Lu Core and his two-man crew are all retired fire fighters and paramedics from the San Diego area. They are avid fishermen, with retirement homes in Baja on the Sea of Cortez and they have made this run before. They are looking forward to fishing the banks off of Magdalena Bay. For the 282-mile run from Ensenada to Turtle Bay, they have topped off Brown Eyed Girl’s 225-gallon tanks. They also carry another 30 gallons on deck. Fleet surgeon Dr. Jerry Kornfeld has also pressed them into service as back up medical help, in case he needs it, but for now, all is well.

After dinner, we return to Pacific Escort, where Jim, Jeff, Eric and James gather in the cockpit and reminisce over a brew. Turns out Jeff had an alternate career as a world-class surfer (somehow a surfer’s intimacy with the water seems an appropriate background for a yacht designer), Jim bicycled competitively and is an avid off-road motorcyclist, James was a competitive swimmer and Eric has participated in the Baja as pit crew. Appropriately, the race teams participating in this year’s race have begun arriving in town just as we are leaving (the bars of Ensenada will no doubt be busy this week). As for the members of our little fleet, they have a long run ahead of them, with an early start in the morning, so most of the skippers and their crew have turned in early. I do the same, leaving before the traditional Leishman arm wrestling competition begins.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort in Ensenada

FUBAR: San Diego to Ensenada

2007-11-08T15:38:00.000-05:00

Lucas Willemse from the Del Rey Yacht Club and Bob Senter from Northern Lights and Alaska Diesel conduct an inspection of Ron Smothers’ Uniflite 54 Big Mamma prior to the start of FUBAR.

Date: November 7, 2007
Time: 0800
Position:
North 31 40.98, West 117 00.65, 22 nautical miles NW of Ensenada
Course: 154 Degrees (True)
Speed: 9.3 Knots
Visibility: Approx. 1 Mile

We are three miles off the coast of Mexico and 22 nautical miles NW of Ensenada—our first destination and our port of entry into Mexico. Jeff Leishman is at the helm. There are seven of us aboard the Nordhavn 55, Pacific Escort: Jeff, his two brothers Jim and Jay, Jim’s wife Sue, their two grown sons, Eric and James, and myself. We will spend the next 15 days together cruising south along the desolate west coast of the Mexican Baja peninsula, stopping at Ensenada, Turtle Bay, Santa Maria, Cabo San Jose, Muertos Bay and finally the city of La Paz on the Sea of Cortez.

Pacific Escort is the lead escort vessel of the FUBAR fleet. Contrary to what you might think, FUBAR stands for Fleet Underway to Baja Rally. Organized by the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles. The FUBAR fleet is made up of an eclectic group of 52 yachts ranging in size from 30 to 96 feet. Perhaps half the fleet consists of sport fishing and motor yachts averaging around 45 to 55 feet in length--boats that normally don’t make long passages like this--while the rest are long-range trawler types, like Pacific Escort.

The fleet has spent the last four days assembling in San Diego, and then it left early this morning. We expect them to start arriving in Ensenada, 65 miles south of San Diego, around 1000 hours Friday. In order to be there when they arrive, Pacific Escort left Dana Point, PAE’s home port, last night at 2100. A nice eight-knot wind from the North has pushed us along, with a gentle swell under our stern. Offshore, we engaged the TRAC stabilizers so that the off-watch could get to sleep and settled into piloting the yacht southward. The loom of the lights from the southern California cities of Oceanside, La Jolla and San Diego, about five miles off our port side. Our only companions on the dark Pacific have been the odd fishing vessel, or a moored cargo ship, seen only on radar. However, during their watch, Jeff and Jay reported seeing the eerie phosphorescent glow left by dolphins as they swam along in our bow wave. Otherwise, the first night of our passage has been routine.

At 0900 we see the Offshore 54 motor yacht, Helen B. She is about a half a mile off our port quarter, and the first vessel from the fleet that we have seen. Skipper Richard Giss hails us on VHF channel 16 and tells us of his intention to make a turn to port in about a half hour and head into Ensenada harbor. Cruise Port in Ensenada is ready to receive and fuel the fleet.

At 1004 Jim hails, the Nordhavn 76 Cadenza, one of the lead boats in the fleet. Skipper Dave Fulton reports that he has heard of no problems with the fleet thus far. Which is good, because the experience level of the fleet skippers varies: Some participants, such as the Leishman’s, and FUBAR organizer Bruce Kessler, have many long-distance ocean passages under their belts. For others, the sum total of their experience consists of running to Catalina or the Channel Islands. The rally, with its extensive logistical and technical support provides them with the expertise and assistance they need to confidently undertake such a trek.

At the moment, Jeff and Jim are discussing Pacific Escort’s fuel consumption and her speed during this leg of the journey (around 8.5 gallons-an-hour at 9 knots). Appropriately, fuel burn is on every skipper’s mind. Many of the boats are planing hull types, used to running 13 to 20 knots and burning around 28 gallons an hour. Not all of them have experience running their boats at a nine-knot hull speed, but that’s what they will have to do to make the distance between fuel stops--the run from Ensenada to Turtle Bay is approximately 282 nautical miles and will take around 33 hours if they go the recommended 10 knots. The leg from Turtle Bay to Santa Maria will be 228 miles and will take roughly 23 hours. These distances will tax the range of their boat--there will be no running on afterburner. The smart skippers are using this short run from San Diego to Ensenada to calibrate their fuel monitoring systems and calculate their fuel consumption.

Captain John Rains (left) and Bruce Kessler from the Del Rey Yacht Club give last-minute instructions to FUBAR skippers assembled in San Diego.

The level of detail of organization that has gone into this effort is very impressive. FUBAR chairman, Bruce Kessler, assistant chairman Jo Swerling and the rest of the committee that comprise the FUBAR organization have attended to virtually every logistical detail: Docking, immigration, fueling, even shopping trips have been planned. In the months preceding the rally, FUBAR organizers held seminars on topics as varied as weather, maintenance, routing, provisioning and cooking. Dr. Jerry Kornfeld, the fleet surgeon has conducted several seminars on offshore first aid and medicine, and has provided the skippers with a detailed list of first aid supplies to stock. Ita Gordan has briefed the skippers on immigration procedures and the legendary Captains, John and Patricia Rains, authors of the essential Boating Guide to Mexico, as well as long-time delivery captains up and down the West Coast, have signed on as route planners, cultural attaches and port information resources. There is even a fleet translator, a staff meteorologist in charge of fleet weather routing, an Internet support coordinator, two advance team members and two technical advisors. The organizers have even put together an operations manual for each skipper, with instructions for each leg, maps and charts, a schedule and pertinent information on each stop.

Over 50 sponsors have donated equipment and loaned boats and personnel in support of the rally, which is why we are here. After the success of the PAE sponsored North Atlantic Rally, Bruce Kessler asked PAE if they would help out with the FUBAR rally. PAE responded by providing this Nordhavn 55 to be the lead escort vessel.

At 1050, we make our turn to port and enter Ensenada harbor, pass the moored fishing fleet and several large cruise ships, and eventually tie up at Cruise Port Marina. We have officially completed our first leg. Captain Jim Leishman collects our passports and the necessary paperwork and heads off to see the port captain. All of Wednesday will be taken up fueling the fleet in preparation for the long distance run to Turtle bay. There is also a shopping tour, a vineyard tour and a party planned for Thursday night. We are scheduled to leave Ensenada Friday morning, November 11.

Jim Leishman and son Eric dock Pacific Escort in Ensenada at the end of the first leg.

--James Kirby, aboard Pacific Escort in Ensenada

Our man James Kirby goes FUBAR

2007-11-07T14:21:00.000-05:00

Contributing editor James Kirby is on his way to Mexico aboard the Nordhavn 55 Pacific Escort as part of FUBAR, the powerboat rally from San Diego to La Paz conceived and organized by circumnavigator Bruce Kessler. The fleet of 53 yachts departed San Diego this morning to start the 1,000-nautical-mile cruise which will take about 16 days and including refueling stops and partying along the way.

Jim is sailing with Jim Leishman aboard Pacific Escort owned by Pacific Asian Enterprises. Also on board are Jim's brother, Jeff, the chief designer at PAE, and Jim's sons, Eric and James, salesmen in PAE's southwest office in Dana Point, California. When we begin to receive progress reports from our man, they'll be posted here.

The last we heard from Jim, shown docking our current cover boat with PAE president Dan Streech, was several days ago when he emailed that he had been "side-tracked the other night at the dinner talking to Bob Senter from Alaska Diesel about the fine points of diesel combustion, flame propagation, piston design, etc." Knowing what a gearhead Jim is we fear that conversation may still be ongoing.

In all, there are nine Nordhavns in the rally, the most of any make. The LOA in the fleet ranges from 30 to 96 feet.

Ken Williams is participating in FUBAR with Sans Souci, the Nordhavn 68 featured in the latest edition of Circumnavigator. Subscribe to his blog for his take on the cruise to La Paz. Also check out the reports at nordhavn.com and trawlersandtrawlering.com.

FUBAR generally means Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition (Yes, we know there is a ruder version.) but in this case it stands for Fleet Underway to Baja Rally. Perhaps Bruce Kessler has a sense of humor?

The magnificent Nordhavn 68

2007-10-23T13:58:00.000-04:00

The cover boat and story in the latest Circumnavigator is the new aft-pilothouse Nordhavn 68. The magazine crew had an opportunity to sea trial and photograph Sans Souci, as the newest Nordhavn is called, in the San Juan Islands, thanks to the graciousness of her owners, Ken and Roberta Williams of Seattle, Washington, and San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico.

All this happened very late in the magazine's nine-month production cycle, meaning that stories were written on a quick deadline right after our time aboard Sans Souci. As part of the editorial plan, we asked Ken and Roberta for their individual comments about the success of the project, now that they had moved aboard the boat in Roche Harbor, Washington.

Roberta answered promptly and her comments made a wonderful sidebar under the heading, Heavenly Sans Souci: Comfortable, cozy, with a hot tub to die for. Ken didn't answer as promptly and we were forced to lock up the feature without his contribution. Which gives us the opportunity to present Ken's commentary here:

· We wanted twin engines, dual water makers, dual generators, an international power system, a huge battery bank, a diesel furnace, 14kw of inverter capacity and more. The engine room and lazarette are a whopping 128% larger on our 68 than we had on our Nordhavn 62.
· We like warm climates, and dining outdoors. We wanted room for a hot tub large enough to hold two couples comfortably. The 68 has a huge amount of exterior deck space, and has a wonderful covered upper aft deck, which is our primary dining room in warmer climates.
· We worked hard on the interior of the 68 to create a boat which would feel larger than its actual size. The rooms feel spacious, and there are no places where the room above creates strange looking carve-outs (I’ve seen some boat designs where if you sit up in bed you can bump your head on the bottom of a staircase). Overall, the boat flows very logically, and just feels right.
· I wanted a boat that is easy to drive. The twin engines give it incredible maneuverability. To this we added very strong thrusters. One of the first things Nordhavn’s commissioning staff said to me when the boat arrived in Dana Point was that they were surprised by how maneuverable the boat is. We also did some simple things like designing the outside drive stations such that they were large enough to accommodate the throttle controls, a rudder jog lever, dual throttles, engine start/stop. It was also important to us that they be easy to reach while driving. I didn’t want to have to be leaning at an awkward angle while trying to drive. Lastly, we maximized the number of windows in the pilothouse. I wanted a full 360 degree view at all times.
· In order to free up interior space, and not have a hot stack running through the center of the main salon, we designed the boat around wet exhaust.
-Ken Williams

Click here to download a PDF of the Nordhavn 68 feature in the latest Circumnavigator.

Ice Dancer at Cape Horn

2007-10-20T11:46:00.000-04:00

One of the feature stories in the latest edition of Circumnavigator is a doubleheader about Cape Horn and the first two Nordhavns to reach the notorious landmark at the bottom of the Americas.
As you can see in the magazine, we had access to a terrific range of photos from the two crews, Scott and Mary Flanders of the Nordhavn 46 Egret and Dick and Gail Barnes of the Nordhavn 57 Ice Dancer II.
There were several photos we would have loved to use but couldn't quite work into the layout. One is a shot of Cape Horn from the cockpit of Ice Dancer which flies the state flag of Alaska.

In retrospect, it's a shot we should have used in the magazine as we don't actually present a single clear view of the Everest of the Seas. Another is a most unusual Cape Horn photo, with Gail Barnes sporting a Hawaiian shirt and shorts.

As Dick explained in his log: "We rebelled against the typical photos taken with salty, foul-weather gear. Instead we walked from our toasty wheelhouse to the bow for photos, wearing Hawaiian shirts and shorts. Idling downwind in the morning sunshine, it was quite pleasant."
Click here to download a PDF of the Cape Horn feature in the latest Circumnavigator.

Welcome to the Blog

2007-10-19T17:54:00.000-04:00

Thank you very much for stopping by to visit with the editors of Circumnavigator, the Nordhavn magazine.
We've started to blog to extend and enhance the reading experience of our regular readers and invite newcomers to join the loop. We aim to provide insight into how a magazine works, how editorial decisions are made. We'll flesh out stories that appear in the magazine, post information we were unable to publish in the magazine, and give you a look behind the scenes at your editorial team at work and play.
The blog will also enable us to follow-up on stories that have appeared in the magazine, and, heaven forbid, correct any errors of fact we published.
We look forward to hearing your comments, about the blog and the magazine. Use the comment or e-mail functions that appear at the end of every post, or write to us directly.