Saltbreaker

There’s something you should know about us. We are slaves to tradition. “A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past.”, is how wikipedia defines it (with a recent download of the entire wikipedia database on the boat, it’s basically our source for everything), but within the Saltbreaker society, it should read, “A tradition is something that occurs one or more times, either accidental or intentional, which is then repeated ad…

Earlier today we officially marked our 2,000th (nautical) mile! Not bad. And to think, it only took us three months. If it were a little less windy we’d set off one of Aunt Mary’s lanterns… but on our 1,000th mile we learned never to set off a flaming flying lantern while going downwind. We’re currently right in the middle of the Sea of Cortez (our home for the last month) crossing from La Paz to Mazatlan. So far the crossing has been excellent. Fair consistent…

Jose Napoleon drives by on a 4-wheel ATV. He’s wearing ear-buds and a sweatshirt that says “Security”. Alex waves him down and asks directions to some landmark where in 18 hours, and with considerable luck, I am to meet a taxi to the Airport. Jose drives off. We are at Los Frailes (The Friars), an anchorage at the far south eastern tip of Baja. We are walking back to what we now know to be the main road when Jose makes a return appearance and…

I have decided to post my experiences with Saltbreaker in three parts and in relatively rapid succession since this is sort of past due and I just had too much to say for one post. I thank the permanent Saltbreaker crew again for letting me contribute to your blog and of course for allowing me to join you for this leg of your trip. Parts I and II are further below, read, or don’t read, at your leisure. Game plan for final leg: wake up…

“I’ve got all these squid biting at my lure but they don’t seem to grab, does anyone know how to catch these things?” This was a question presented to all the Ha Ha boats over the radio during the second leg at sea. Our response? “Yeah you pull your line in close to the boat and the squid will follow, then you gaffe the suckers and pull them up into the boat.” Now that’s how you Saltbreaker something. Then some joker came on the radio…

15 days. That is the amount of time that I was aboard the vessel Saltbreaker, a 32 foot fiberglass sail boat with tight quarters, a finicky head, only one lee cloth, and a crew that can be described as unsightly, hairy, smelly, and some of my best friends. My journey aboard this cruise was at times refreshingly breathtaking and awesome while simultaneously exhausting and unwieldy. I joined Saltbreaker for a rally called the Baha Ha Ha, in which we would depart from San Diego, California…

The taste of Tecate is still fresh in my mouth as I decide to stand up. The wind is strong, really strong, so much so that when I open my mouth my cheeks begin flapping around as if I were skydiving. I take a look around, there are 9 of us (more if you count dogs) crammed in the bed of a pickup. We’re doing 88 down an abandoned runway, surrounded by barren mountains of brown dusty earth. Presumably we’re in search of a surf…

“Grab the gaff! … and a club!” We’ve been catching a LOT of kelp. Everywhere we’ve gone we keep hearing about how great the fishing is. The Channel Islands had reports of schools of tuna in 40ft of water, Catalina Island is well known for its fishing, and in turn just about anywhere we’ve sailed there’s been a tuna jig trolling behind our boat. So far, all we’ve caught underway is kelp. Until this morning. It started with all the familiar signs. A tug on…

“Naw, that’s not nearly enough!” “Three bears is plenty, you want to make sure you can still get out of the maze!” We’re in San Diego and we’ve just finished painting the deck (another story there). Everyone’s pretty tired again. “I don’t know, you want to make sure there’s enough bears to make it challenging…” Nick is adamant. “Well, that just seems way too hard. You’re supposed to do that with just two cans of mace? How big is the maze?” I wonder. The fumes…