North to Mazatlan (and a story of one that got away)

We were pinned down in La Cruz for a few days by strong northwest winds. After our rough trip around Cabo Corientes and across Banderas Bay, we were looking for a calmer "weather window" for the trip north to Mazatlan. We finally got it--and left on March 13th.

The first night we stopped at Chacala, a small bay north of Punta Mita and South of San Blas. We were joined there by the other Sabbatical, which was also heading north. We also saw Saphire, another HaHa boat that we had last encountered at Las Frailes.

Chacala is pretty, and has a nice beach with the standard palapa restaurants, but we did not go ashore. We were eager to move on to Mazatlan.

When we left Chacala in the morning, I used a spinning rod with relatively light (20 pound) line to troll a small plastic lure. I have another pole with heavier (50 pound) line, but had not gotten around to setting it yet. I was talking on the radio to Phil on the other Sabbatical when the pole bent over and the line went singing out. By the time I got the boat slowed down, and got the rod out of the rod holder, a lot of line had been taken off the reel. I was tightening the drag, thinking we might have a nice fish for dinner, when I saw an enormous sailfish come flying straight up out of the water, about 100 yards off our stern. It was at least 5 feet long. It took me a few seconds to realize that I had hooked a monster.

The pressure on the line felt light, so I reeled in as quickly as I could, while yelling for Claudia to get the net and the camera. The fish made several spectacular leaps, coming entirely out of the water while shaking its head violently, trying to toss off the hook. Then it made a run away from the boat. Line went smoking off the small reel and after what seemed like less than a second I was standing there holding a fishing rod with no line attached. The fish made one last vertical leap, and then was gone.

It is probably a good thing it got away, as we would have had no way to get such a large fish onto the boat, and I would hate to harm such a magnificent creature. But I now have a better understanding of the appeal of fishing for giant bill fish. It is very exciting to have one on the line--even if only for a couple of minutes.

We continued to sail northwest. By the afternoon, the winds were stronger--it was blowing 20 knots from the northwest--exactly the direction we wanted to go. We started the engine and motored into the swells with the mainsail up for stability. At sunset I went to the mast to drop the mainsail, so that we could motor more directly toward Mazatlan. To keep the halyard from slapping the mast, I disconnected it from the mainsail, but I lost hold of it before I could secure it to the sail cover. In the strong breeze, the halyard went flying behind the boat and wrapped itself around the backstay and the topping lift. I tried to reach it to pull it down, but the boat was pitching so much in the choppy waves that I thought better of it. We proceeded with the engine only through the night.

In the morning, the winds had calmed and the seas were smooth. I was able to reach the wrapped halyard with a boat hook and bring it down. We then reset the sails and continued on to Mazatlan, across calm seas. We arrived off the marina area in the early afternoon and motored into the channel to El Cid Marina, where we are now staying. Our last time here we stayed in Marina Mazatlan. El Cid has nicer facilities, although there is more surge at its docks because it is close to the harbor entrance.

We are planning to have Sabbatical hauled out at the Singlar Boatyard here for bottom paint. While here we are also hoping to have the interior upholstery redone and make some other repairs.