2014 Spring Cruise – Reina’s Narrative

Sailing Vessel Half Cat

Reina (the cat) talks about Cruising the Sea of Cortez in the spring of 2014. The trip hits San Carlos, Chencho, Ensenada El Carricito, Bahia Algodones, Bahia San Pedro, and more. The theme song of the trip seems to be “No, Reina, No.”…

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Mulege or Bust!

The 2011 Tucson Sailing Club Fall Cruise ended up being a small and intimate affair after several boats bowed out due to mechanical problems or concerns about the weather forecast. Nonetheless, the crews of Half Cat and Caliente headed out Monday afternoon in a brisk breeze. Caliente promptly returned to San Carlos…

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A Different Kind of Racing

On a recent trip to PDX (Portland) I was invited to experience sailboat racing as it is done on the Columbia River. Oh what a difference!! Since it is the season of snow melt and this has been a banner year for that sort of thing there was about a 3 to 5 knot current blasting its way toward the ocean…

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Gastronomic San Carlos

On a recent trip to San Carlos, Rex and I had the usual discussions every day about where we were going to eat for each meal. This ritual involves surprises and wishful thinking but primarily it is about the mood of the day. Some places I am about to bring up are places I won’t go back to (as you will see) but I keep them in the lexicon because it’s part of the art form to, “Never say never”. At the top of the list…

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The Adventures of Sarken

We arrived at San Carlos Marina on Wednesday afternoon after trailering “Sarken”, my Catalina 25 from Tucson. Larry started the preliminary boat preparation, and believing that we needed to check in with the Marina, I headed to the office. A polite young Mexican male was filling out my particulars…

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Three Weeks before the Mast

The bark Europa

With tears welling in my eyes, I strolled down the dock toward my ship, with my sea bag over my shoulder, just as sailors have done for hundreds of years. Of course, mine were tears of excitement and anticipation, whereas most of theirs were of fear and regret. I was joining the Europa, a 185-foot square-rigged bark as a passenger trainee for a sailing delivery from the Canary Islands to Brazil…

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