FUBAR: Poking around Ensenada

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

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

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

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

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

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.
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