Mexico

"Trust Me" on the water…

… and we did. We went on the water with Trust Me and we are now convinced she is a great vessel.

After traveling for months on a ’84 WV Westfalia with 24 feet of sitting space, one can understand why we are so excited about those extra 3 feet that makes our 27′ trimaran a cozy home. Many people think having a boat is a luxury. ” Trust Me” is far from that, with no restroom, no shower, a tiny living room without tables, and few feet for me to stand up and cook, her role is more important than providing comfort. She is a tool. With Trust Me we plan to reach wild remote areas within the Baja to Beaufort ecoregion, that need to be documented. With her ability of folding up and been trailerable, we can take her on the road and pretty much go anywhere.

With her great sailing features, her shallow draft, she is light and fast! If you have the sails in the right position and some breeze, she will go. It makes it all so much smoother, quite and environmentally friendly. Although I must accept that it has taken Florian many hours of kind words and encouragement to convince me that sailing is easy to learn and is a good thing.

“Trust Me” has great extra features, including, solar panels, a water-maker (that we are still in the process of fixing), a solar shower (bought in REI) and my favorite: Arthur, the autopilot. When Arthur is on charge, we can enjoy the freedom of not having to hold the tiller all the time allowing us to search for wildlife.

We have now sailed the Loreto National Marine Park, and are planning to sail all the way down to La Paz to over an important area: The Loreto/ Cabo corridor. While on the Loreto waters, we discovered many incredible things including a young Humpback Whale that gave us an spectacular show… but that’s another story.

Been on a boat makes you a lot more aware of your surroundings. You are in the constant look out for hazards and even with Arthur in charge, you still have to continuously keep an eye on the water. Floating logs, rocks under the water, sudden changes in the depths, gusty winds, currents, tides, etc. can easily combine and leave you with a nightmare experience.

Navigating the Sea of Cortez is more challenging because of the lack of good charts and the fact weather channels are nonexistent. You turn on the radio and soon you hear “Pablo! Pablo! Andale, contesta!”, then a whole Mexican style conversation unfolds on the most important channel for marine communication: Channel 16.

We’ve been really lucky with the weather, but you cannot avoid waking up in the middle of the night three or four times to check outside, to look at the GPs and check on the wind. Is the anchor ok or are we dragging? Is the wind picking up? What was that sound?

It is a restless adventure, a constant challenge, … and we are loving it!