Baja Ha-Ha Blog

Final delivery preparations

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 13:02:18 -0700

From Dave:

Well, we leave this evening for San Diego, and last minute preparations have been fast and furious. Tom has pretty much redone the entire electrical system, upgrading the batteries and adding an inverter and upgraded battery charger to handle the loads for multiple days at sea without being connected back to shore power. Numerous other cleaning, packing, stowing, running new lines, building an extra bed out of the dining area, etc. are all either done or will hopefully be completed on the way down.

The forecast is for a bit of rain, so we’ll see what mother nature holds for us. I can deal with rain if at least it also brings northerly winds for a nice downwind run toward San Diego. This delivery trip will not only get the boat down to San Diego for the start of the Ha Ha but also give the crew a good preview into what’s to come. With 3 nights at sea (we’re going a straight shot down, no stops) we’ll be going for as long as the longest leg of the Ha-Ha. This should give the four of us plenty of time to work out eating, sleeping, working, finding things to do, and generally trying not to drive each other crazy while spending 24x7 on a 47 foot boat with maybe 150 square feet of living space other than the sleeping cabins.

Fuel considerations

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:28:21 -0700

One thing to make sure of is having enough fuel for the trip. To try and gauge fuel consumption, we took some rather un-scientific measurements on the way back from Half Moon Bay after topping off the tanks. I took on 5.3 gallons after our return from HMB. If our motoring from HMB was 10:30 to 1pm, then that is basically 2 gallons/per hour. With a 62 gallon tank topped off in San Diego, we’ll have roughly 31 hours of engine time. I figure we will run the engine for no more than 3 hours per day. Given that there are roughly 6 days of sailing, we should use about 36-40 gallons of fuel (3hrs*2gallons*6 days=36). I have two 5.25 gallon jerry cans we can plan on taking with us. My buddy who just completed the PacCup reported that they ran out of fuel on the way over, as the wind was lighter then they expected (and sometimes non-existent). We’ll have to debate the need for the extra jerry cans.

food input from a pac-cup survivor

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:38:00 -0700

From Tom: I just left a great chat with my buddy who recently completed an unofficial PacCup (SF-Hawaii). Very interesting trip these gents experienced. They blasted out of SF, headed straight south averaging 12-14kts (45' sport boat with 10,000lbs displacement). About 4 days out of Hawaii, the trade winds halted and they were becalmed for several days. Overall a great trip.

Anyway, we spoke a lot about food. Here's his suggestion.

1) Use dry ice and piece out your meals by day and by cooler so you minimize opening the cooler.
2) He likes Doug's idea of bringing home cooked meals for the first few days. He also said bringing the prepared meals to stretch our "good dinners" out to 8 days or so will make a huge difference.
3) Use plastic bins to parse out snack foods and fruits for easy access grazing.
4) Bring lots of chocolate, tea and coffee
5) No Mac-n-cheese with beans or chili

Lastly, they consumed 25 gallons/day with five people using spritzer showers.

doug’s Food Thoughts

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:07:00 -0700

I have been thinking a lot about the menu. I have a good friend in San Diego and I hope to use their kitchen to cook up some Chili, some Lasagna, and maybe one or two other dishes that I could then freeze and unthaw for the first couple of nights at sea. That will be really easy and give us some hearty, fresh food. When in Turtle Bay we ought to eat almost all of our meals out. After Turtle Bay it will get more challenging, since we have pretty limited refrigeration capacity. We may have to go with some freeze dried meals, or meals from a can. In Bahia Santa Maria we can eat on the beach one night.

Regarding banana’s, check out this link:
http://tailhunter-international.com/bananas.htm