CHANGES
With reports this month from White Cloud in Costa Rica; Esperanza in the Marquesas; Yellow Rose in La Paz; Mas Alegre in Tonga; Free Bird in La Paz; Scooter in Loreto; Sea Dreamer in Oregon; Your Boat in Mexico; Mar y Vent in San Carlos; Dominaut in Laguna Niguel; Baba Wawa in Isla Mujeres; Wind Ra at Papeete; Percius and Mr. Mexico on the east coast; and Cruise Notes.
White Cloud — 58-ft schooner Paul and Susan Mitchell Golfito, Costa Rica (San Diego) White Cloud is indeed alive and well in Golfito, Costa Rica. After a year-and-a-half in Mexico we had a slow, uneventful sail from Acapulco straight south until we hit the doldrums, then straight east until we came to Golfito. Not much out there but lots of light air. We have taken advantage of'the fine hard¬ woods available here at very low prices to get a lot of work done on our 54-year old 58-ft schooner. We are not only keeping up with normal maintenance, but also have made many improvements this summer, including laying a new cabin sole in a wood similar to cherry. The sail loft in the foc’sle meanwhile has been a help to other yachts passing through and has kept beans and rice on our table. We’ve seen 43 sailboats come through here in the last six months. Goin’ south to Panama and Caribbean (except where noted) : Renaissance, San Diego Irish Rover, Seattle Vagabundo del Mar, San Diego Retriever, Port Townsend Skua, San Francisco Moonshadow, Alaska Mariah, Stockton Bug Off, Long Beach Six Pack, Germany (Cape Horn) Fair Winds, Alaska Snow White, San Francisco Jabberwocky, San Francisco Seepferdchen, Germany Fiesta, California Baba Wawa, Portland Re-Nai Mondai, Los Angeles Vagabond, Los Angeles Clyde, Los Angeles Nina B, Colorado Trishen, San Francisco Haig Mats, Los Angeles
Koukla, New York Going’ north to Mexico and the States (ex¬ cept where noted): \ Carousel, San Diego Chez Cherie, St. Thomas Felice Serena, Los Angeles Quixote, Philadelphia Palma, Denmark '(South Pacific) Barbara, Italy (South Pacific) \ Adagio, San Diego Eileen Rose, Duluth Mir, Delaware \ Lamlash, Australia (Australia) Isobar, San Francisco Jason, Germany Reve Mouille, Seattle Morning Star, Philadelphia Gypsy Song, California Ondine (the maxi) HMCS Oriole, Victoria Triple Sec, Los Angeles Scrimshaw, St. Thomas Sans Pareil, South Africa Ran, Denmark As soon as we can get some photographs together we’ll write an article about Golfito. We hope you and others make it to Zihuatenejo this year. The two best things about the place we found after we had mailed in the story to you. One is a very outrageous guy named Freddy who has a fine restaurant called “Coconuts”. Great food in a garden — candles and Japanese lanterns. Bar is upbeat with the best tape col¬ lection south of the border. Sit there a few hours and you’ll see everyone in Z-town and most of the yachties. The second discovery is Isla Grande, ten miles north. Nice anchorage, good diving and windsurfing — prettiest place and clearest water since the Sea of Cortez. A few palapas on the beach and a few day tourists, but nothing like Yelapa! — paul and susan (11/5/84) *
Esperanza — Yankee Clipper 41
Fred Boehme and Jo Lawlor and cat Taiohae, Nuka Hiva, Marquesas (Moss Landing) Greetings from latitude 9° south! Esperan¬ za once again trekked the unusual course, this time to the Marquesas. The destination isn’t so different, but we beat from Papeete when the cruising fleet was reaching by us in the other direction. Why would anyone sail against the tradewinds 700 rhumbline miles (actually 1,800 miles by the time we tacked here), the sane sailor asks? En route from Honolulu to French Polynesia, we broke a crucial chainplate, so we couldn’t point to weather well. Once again the ham radio real¬ ly helped us out. We got ahold of our friend, Dan Hewitt of Desperado, who suggested a super jury rig that got us into Papeete to repair the broken chainplate and three other vulnerable ones. We’re ketch rigged with split main backstays. The chainplate that sheared off was page 178
