When i woke this morning it took several seconds for me to remember where i was. I was infact in the main cabin bunk of Odissea. Odissea is a 33ft CSY Cutter Sailboat and is the boat I will be crewing on as part of the Baja Ha Ha cruising rally. The Baja Ha Ha is an annual cruising rally running from San Diego in Southern California, and ending in Cabo San Lucas, at the bottom of the Baja California penninsula. It has been running for about 20 years now and this year attracted about 170 boats. It should take about 10 days to sail the 700 or so miles with each boats speed depending on class, size, crew number and overall attitude. I have always wanted to do some ocean sailing, and i thought the Ha Ha would be a good way for me to continue travelling in a manner somewhat comparable to the PCT, in my mind at least. Given I was sleeping in the main cabin i was woken up by Odissea's captain, Shane, as he started getting up and about. Much like the hiking life, cruisers tend to live by the sun and so get up with the sun and sleep as soon as it is dark. The main reason for that, as i was to discover, is that it takes precious electricity to run lights during the dark hours, and once one gets used to it, it becomes the norm. I got up and began to take in my new surroundings. Odissea is a relatively old boat and looks the part. Shane aquired her relatively recently and has had her hauled out (get used to coprious amounts of nautical terminology reader) over the weeks prior to my arrival as part of a much needed overhaul and maintenance program. Shane assured me she is perfectly seaworthy and i was prepared to his word for it not really knowing how to work it out for myself at this stage. Over the next week, Shane's plan was to have the pair of us doing as much work as possible in order to get Odissea ready for the passage down Baja California. My main projects were the changing and cleaning of the engine's heat exchanger, the installation of the scuppers, autohelm, and water maker. All of which had seen better days.
First off, the heat exchanger : Marine diesel engines are internal combustion engines just like diesel engines that power millions of automobiles around the world, the only really difference between them being the fact that they are water-cooled, instead of air-cooled, so have a water based heat exchanger installed in place of an air based radiator. I uncovered the engine as best i could and started trying to uncouple the heat exchanger. This proved to be no easy task, primarily due to the fact that the engine was located under the galley, and was in dire need of tlc. The engine space was so tight it was not possible to work on the heat exchanger and look at it at the same time. Instead i had to work out what i needed to do by wriggling into the engine space and inspecting it, wriggling back out, and then fiddling around with one arm trying to remember which bolt attached to which bit of kit. It took me a while, but after about half a day i had managed to disassemble all the right hose connections, and pry the heat exchanger free, but not without first covering myself in heavy engine oil, as the oil filter was in the way and had to be removed first. Please with my labours i set about taking it apart and then cleaning it out with acid to disolve all the plated crud on the inside. Many hours later, the heat exchanger was installed back in its rightful place and i was proud of a good day's work getting Odissea ready for the voyage down to Mexico. I had thought at the time that with the heat exchanger serviced, we would have no problems with the engine, but alas that was not to be. Instead we had problems with it from start to finish. But after my day of heat exchanger maintenance i was blissfully unaware of all that.
The scuppers : Along with the heat exchanger the other major task which had been asigned to me was the installation of the scuppers. All boats, with the possible exception of dingys, have holes in then, all of which should be intentional. A boat needs to be able to take on water for various systems: engine cooling intakes, water-maker intakes, salt water pumps and more depending on size, and get rid of water coming from engine exhausts, hotel systems, bilges and scuppers. The scuppers are the piping system which removes water from the cockpit should the cockpit become flooded in heavy weather. Odissea had had new through-holes, the actual hull penetrations, put in when she was hauled out, but they needed connecting up to the cockpit before the seacocks, the valves the connect the through-holes to the scupper pipes, could be opened and the system become operational. As with the heat exchanger maintenance, the scupper piping installation required me become a contortionist as such speed i could have put the cirque du soleil to shame by the end of the day. Unlike with with the heat exhangers, the scupper installation dragged out over several days. This was primarily because after having installed all the piping the first time, i then realised the something else wold have to be installed in the same space therefore requiring me to re-route the scupper pipes. Consequently the scuppers didn't become fully operational until the day before we left San Diego, but such is life on a cruiser.
The Autohelm : The autohelm was one of the systems that kept stymying the installation of the scuppers. The function of the autohelm is pretty self explanatory, it allows the crew of a yacht to be lazy and not steer by hand. Infact, helming is not easy, and takes practice and constant attention to do well, so is difficult to do for more than an hour at a time without getting very tired. The autohelm is a relatively simple system consiting of a hydraulic ram attached to the the rudder arm, an electric pump to drive the ram, and an electrical interface allowing for a gps unit to control the course via the ram. Upon my arrival aboard Odissea, the autohelm was being repaired and not on board. This meant i was unable to see exactly where it would be installed, and so in the end had to undo a lot of my scupper pipe network to accomodate the autohelm once it was ready to go back in its place.
The water-maker : The water-maker is somewhat of a luxury on board a cruiser i have determined. Unless doing a several week passage, such as crossing the pacific or atlantic, a water-maker is a mostly unnecessary draw on finances and power, as it takes a lot of both to aquire and operate one. The water-maker onboard Odissea was mostly for show and never once became our principle source of water given as it uses a large amount of electricity and would not make more than about 3-4 litres of water in an hour.
A couple days into the work regime, Shane decided to put Odissea through her paces and take her out on the Ocean to see what should do following all the maintenance work. I didn't know at the time, but it turns out this was the first time Shane had sailed her folloing purchasing her a few months back, not a particularly confidence inspiring piece of information, but as i said i didn;t know at the time so was as happy as the proverbial clam to be out on the water. The shakedown sail would also be an opportunity for us to assess each others sailing abilities, and in my case, start re-learning everything i had once known about sailing. On the day of the sail there was obviously myself and Shane as the two established crew, Karlana, Shane's girlfriend who was looking to come along, and her friend Cherie who was just joining us for the day. Upon taking her out onto the ocean, i could see that Shane knew enough about sailing to be taking her out, and that i was remembering it all fast enough to be at ease with most of it. Cherie it turned out knew a lot about sailing as she was working as a deckhand and steward on a 125ft luxury sailing yacht moored in the marina next to us and so was good to have along, and Karlana, who i don't think had ever worked on a boat before, was new to everything, and so was unsure of herself and the boat. With all our sailing abilities combined, we managed a great day out on the water giving us all confidence for the upcoming adventure of the Baja Ha Ha.
First off, the heat exchanger : Marine diesel engines are internal combustion engines just like diesel engines that power millions of automobiles around the world, the only really difference between them being the fact that they are water-cooled, instead of air-cooled, so have a water based heat exchanger installed in place of an air based radiator. I uncovered the engine as best i could and started trying to uncouple the heat exchanger. This proved to be no easy task, primarily due to the fact that the engine was located under the galley, and was in dire need of tlc. The engine space was so tight it was not possible to work on the heat exchanger and look at it at the same time. Instead i had to work out what i needed to do by wriggling into the engine space and inspecting it, wriggling back out, and then fiddling around with one arm trying to remember which bolt attached to which bit of kit. It took me a while, but after about half a day i had managed to disassemble all the right hose connections, and pry the heat exchanger free, but not without first covering myself in heavy engine oil, as the oil filter was in the way and had to be removed first. Please with my labours i set about taking it apart and then cleaning it out with acid to disolve all the plated crud on the inside. Many hours later, the heat exchanger was installed back in its rightful place and i was proud of a good day's work getting Odissea ready for the voyage down to Mexico. I had thought at the time that with the heat exchanger serviced, we would have no problems with the engine, but alas that was not to be. Instead we had problems with it from start to finish. But after my day of heat exchanger maintenance i was blissfully unaware of all that.
The scuppers : Along with the heat exchanger the other major task which had been asigned to me was the installation of the scuppers. All boats, with the possible exception of dingys, have holes in then, all of which should be intentional. A boat needs to be able to take on water for various systems: engine cooling intakes, water-maker intakes, salt water pumps and more depending on size, and get rid of water coming from engine exhausts, hotel systems, bilges and scuppers. The scuppers are the piping system which removes water from the cockpit should the cockpit become flooded in heavy weather. Odissea had had new through-holes, the actual hull penetrations, put in when she was hauled out, but they needed connecting up to the cockpit before the seacocks, the valves the connect the through-holes to the scupper pipes, could be opened and the system become operational. As with the heat exchanger maintenance, the scupper piping installation required me become a contortionist as such speed i could have put the cirque du soleil to shame by the end of the day. Unlike with with the heat exhangers, the scupper installation dragged out over several days. This was primarily because after having installed all the piping the first time, i then realised the something else wold have to be installed in the same space therefore requiring me to re-route the scupper pipes. Consequently the scuppers didn't become fully operational until the day before we left San Diego, but such is life on a cruiser.
The Autohelm : The autohelm was one of the systems that kept stymying the installation of the scuppers. The function of the autohelm is pretty self explanatory, it allows the crew of a yacht to be lazy and not steer by hand. Infact, helming is not easy, and takes practice and constant attention to do well, so is difficult to do for more than an hour at a time without getting very tired. The autohelm is a relatively simple system consiting of a hydraulic ram attached to the the rudder arm, an electric pump to drive the ram, and an electrical interface allowing for a gps unit to control the course via the ram. Upon my arrival aboard Odissea, the autohelm was being repaired and not on board. This meant i was unable to see exactly where it would be installed, and so in the end had to undo a lot of my scupper pipe network to accomodate the autohelm once it was ready to go back in its place.
The water-maker : The water-maker is somewhat of a luxury on board a cruiser i have determined. Unless doing a several week passage, such as crossing the pacific or atlantic, a water-maker is a mostly unnecessary draw on finances and power, as it takes a lot of both to aquire and operate one. The water-maker onboard Odissea was mostly for show and never once became our principle source of water given as it uses a large amount of electricity and would not make more than about 3-4 litres of water in an hour.
A couple days into the work regime, Shane decided to put Odissea through her paces and take her out on the Ocean to see what should do following all the maintenance work. I didn't know at the time, but it turns out this was the first time Shane had sailed her folloing purchasing her a few months back, not a particularly confidence inspiring piece of information, but as i said i didn;t know at the time so was as happy as the proverbial clam to be out on the water. The shakedown sail would also be an opportunity for us to assess each others sailing abilities, and in my case, start re-learning everything i had once known about sailing. On the day of the sail there was obviously myself and Shane as the two established crew, Karlana, Shane's girlfriend who was looking to come along, and her friend Cherie who was just joining us for the day. Upon taking her out onto the ocean, i could see that Shane knew enough about sailing to be taking her out, and that i was remembering it all fast enough to be at ease with most of it. Cherie it turned out knew a lot about sailing as she was working as a deckhand and steward on a 125ft luxury sailing yacht moored in the marina next to us and so was good to have along, and Karlana, who i don't think had ever worked on a boat before, was new to everything, and so was unsure of herself and the boat. With all our sailing abilities combined, we managed a great day out on the water giving us all confidence for the upcoming adventure of the Baja Ha Ha.
