We have covered about 120 nm of our 203 nm passage from Zihuatanejo to Barra de Navidad. The best thing about the passage so far? We've been able to sail a good portion of the way, almost 50% of the time so far. We haven't enjoyed this much time under sail for a long time. It's fantastic!
It's the natural beauty of being propelled along by the wind that I'm passionate about. Motoring is an unfortunate consequence of wanting to be somewhere by a certain time, counter to the planet's nature. If we tried to sail the whole way to the Sea of Cortez, I figure it would take us about 25 days of continuous sailing, as we would need to head way offshore to tack back into the coast. By hugging the coast and motoring when needed (unfortunately, lthe majority of the time), it will take us less than 10 days of sailing, with plenty of brief rest stops at nice ports along the way. I think I'll buy some carbon offset credits for the diesel we burn for such comfort and convenience to be environmentally responsible and to spit symbolically into the face of our current climate change-denying head of th EPA.
Right now we're sailing along nicely under the Code 0, the wind blowing 10 knots from the South. We're diverting from from our rhumb line to Barra de Navidad, heading offshore to catch some stronger winds and anticipate a westerly wind shift forecast for later this afternoon. Being further offshore when that happens will give us room to alter course towards the coast and keep sailing until the wind is forecasted to die later this evening.
Our ETA for Barra de Navidad is around 10 am tomorrow morning. Remember, you can see where we are and follow Intermezzo's track by clicking on the link on the right sidebar.
