July 9-11, 2013  Lazaro Cardenas to Manzanillo,  Stormy

Fingers crossed, we cranked over the engine.  After a few odd hiccups and squeals, it started.  We intend to keep it on until we get to the next port, Manzanillo, 175 miles up the coast.  As we are packing up and getting ready to leave, the port control officer comes out on the little Boston Whaler.  He wants to be sure we are OK.  Everything working? Where are we headed?  Alan is concerned about getting under the bridge.  After some discussion, he calls bridge control.  We think we need 16 meters to clear.  Bridge control says they have 15 meters but we made it under on the way up.  So the plan is to go very slowly and if it looks like we will not clear, bridge control will give the work to throw it into reverse and wait while they raise the bridge.  I am not sure they realize that it is not that easy to stop our forward motion, especially with the river current. Let’s hope we clear.  Once again we squeak under, although we don’t get the all clear until we are literally under the bridge.  Not sure what would have happened if it wasn’t clear.


Now we are in the main channel, heading for the breakwater and the open ocean again.  Big waves from the bridge crew and all of the fishermen heading out in their pongas.  Out of the harbor, there are 5 large ships at anchor, waiting for their turn for a dock to load.  Apparently the harbor is full and we hear them on the radio complaining about having to wait is such a rolly sea.  There are big swells but the sky is clear.  Not much wind but it doesn’t matter since we intend to motor all the way anyway.  At this point we just want to be back. 

Of course the wind is right on the nose.  During my watch I tack and tack and tack again, trying to get wind in the sails to help the engine.  There is lots of chop, apparent  wind is 15-18 knots and it feels like we are fighting a current.  There is lightning in the distance but stars overhead.  Despite all, we are making 3+ knots of speed.  Not too bad.    When the weather is calm, I usually read on my watch but the auto pilots won’t hold in this kind of weather, so I need to hang on to the tiller and steer the whole time.  Not possible to read.  The sound system is messed up so we can’t use the cd player but my wonderful son has loaded my iPhone with my favorite music and podcasts.  The speaker is not very loud and hard to hear over the noise of the engine, wind and waves but I figure out that I can tuck it under the strap of my life vest right by my ear and hear just fine.  Makes a big difference to have something to listen to.

Next day looks clear although there is more wind than usual in the morning.  The big swells have finally gone and the sea is much calmer.  Our speed is up to 4.5 knots and we are on track to be in Manzanillo early tomorrow morning.  We have gotten quite accustomed to clouds building over the land in the late afternoon and turning into thunderstorms overnight, so we are not too worried when it starts to cloud up about 3 in the afternoon.  But this does not seem to be just little storms, the clouds are huge and dark and swirly.  We can see lightning along the shore and hear the thunder but it is clear out to sea, so I abandon the planned route and head away from the storm, hoping that it will go the other way.  No such luck.  About  4:30 it hits with a vengeance, thunder, lightning, wind and rain.  Luckily we had reefed the mail sail earlier and did not have the jib up.  It is supposed to be my watch but I can’t handle it.  I am sorry but the lightning freaks me out.  We have our battery cables over the side and there is not anything else we can do, but I hate it.  I promise Alan that I will take over again as soon as the lightning goes away.  Except that it does not let up.  This is not some brief afternoon storm but a raging gale that lasts for 6 hours.  At one point the wind speed is almost 30 knots.  Diid we leave port too early?  Is this a leftover piece of Hurricane Erick?  With no internet we cannot tell. 

 Eventually Alan needs a break , although I actually think he is having a ball.  Now it is my turn to battle wind and waves.  The engine is still chugging along just fine.  The throttle was slipping so Alan has tied it so it can’t move.  Let’s hope I don’t want to slow down.  With this much wind, I can barely hold the tiller.  I brace my feet against the side of the cockpit and prop the tiller against my hip and hold on.  I call this my “yoga twist” autopilot.  At one point it seems like I should let out the sails to take the strain off but I can’t get to the main sheet without letting go of the tiller so I just hang on and ride it out.  I know that we should be getting close to Manzanillo but the storm is so thick that I cannot see any lights yet.  One interesting problem is that when it rains too hard, the raindrops hitting the screen of the iPad act like finger touches and change the settings so you need to go down below to check the course and see if there are other ships.    One more thing to work out.  It needs it’s own little awning.

Little by little the storm finally starts to blow out, but not without a few parting shots.  The wind drops down to 4-5 knots, making the sails flap and jibe and then hits again with gusts of 20 knots.  As a final good-bye, the boat is suddenly surrounded by 15-20 lightning strikes, straight down into the ocean and horizontal between clouds and almost simultaneous thunder loud enough to leave your ears ringing.  Beautiful, but much too much and much too close. 

The clouds finally lift and I can see the shore lights and the flashing light from the lighthouse at the harbor.  Also lots of other ships around.  Most of them are at anchor but a couple go steaming past on their way out.  Lightning has moved off to the distance but not stopped.  There are still bright flashes to the west and now they are bright pink for some reason.  Now that it looks like we are almost there, it seems to take forever to go the last 10 miles.  Another rain cloud moves over and the lightning looks closer.  Storms are not allowed to turn around and come back once they have passed, right?  Eventually we round the point and enter the harbor.  Lights everywhere.  Huge ships blazing with lights anchored all over the bay.  We find our way to the anchorage at Las Hades and drop anchor.  Whew!