PMYC Homecoming

Well here we are. We had called ahead and asked if Last Mango would be able to squeeze back into the friendliest slip on the West Coast, and Alan was right there waiting to give us a hand with the lines, thank you Alan. What a trip we have had, nearly 6,500 miles since we left the club in April 2010. This time we knew that we would fit in the slip, thanks to Sparky's "measurements" last year, and so Susie and I were happy to just get right on in there, after all there are those eighteen inches to spare. It was a great homecoming for us and we were able to catch up with the many characters at the club and make more new friends. Our thanks to Mike for introducing us to the club in the first place, and to the current Commodore, (another) Mike and his other half Candy, for being just, well, so wonderfully accommodating.

We are struck by how hard working all of the officers of the club are. The club opens well before we start to emerge and folks are always there until late. Susie and I wanted to make sure we made our small contribution so here we are doing our Officers of the Day. Yacht club pours, Margaritas, Bloody Marys. And that was just the breakfast session! What a great experience for us, we so enjoyed running the bar for most of the day. Alas, we had to move on after the weekend and so I had to run the club gauntlet of whether I could extricate us from the slip without crunching into the neighbouring docks, yachts and tenders. Hopefully the watchers put up the metaphoric "10".
So, I need to report on the FUBAR preparations. We are booked on the rally, leaving for Mexico on 7 November, and we did actually make the two-day prep seminar at the LBYC. This is a very well organised rally and we covered a lot of ground; getting one's vessel ready for travel, first aid and safety, routes, charting and navigation, fishing and regulations, and the Mexican tourist board even attended and cleared us into Mexico. All we need now is a blender and the right ingredients! And of course, our crew, Iain and Sandra. And, importantly, I have teamed up with one of the co-chairs of the rally and we now have our scratch FUBAR 2011 band. Ed has put together the set list and it is going to be fun!

So, back to reality. We departed Los Angeles and headed south, a night in Dana Point, Nordhavn headquarters country. After another day here we are in San Diego, to start our preparation routine for further travels. To put things in perspective, we have allowed ourselves a few weeks here to ensure that we cover as much ground as possible in preparing Last Mango for onward travel and probably a couple of years through and across the Pacific. Electrical power access, usage and generation has been on our minds for the last few weeks. Specifically we are looking at the best way to access and utilize non-60 cycle dock power (outside North America); our house battery bank needs replacement; and our starter motor on the genset needs replacing. We will also work through the extensive shopping list we have put together for maintenance, spares and purchases, improved offshore communications, charts and guides.

The FUBAR rally starts on 7th November and runs to the 22nd November when we should be in La Paz, more or less at the foot of the Baja. We had been thinking of pushing on to Panama for Christmas and then departing across the Pacific via the Marquesas but have changed our minds. Much better to save thousands of miles and have a leisurely cruise around the northern Pacific waters of Mexico including the Sea of Cortez; we can then join the Puddle-Jumpers and depart straight for the Marquesas from, say, Puerto Vallarta in March.