S/V Rutea Sails Around the World: Life As Usual

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Life As Usual

So why has it taken me so long to do a blog update??? Well... it's just life as usual!

The sun rises at 7:45 a.m. so it's hard to drag myself out of bed before 8:30! Then there is the morning radio net to check into and listen to- otherwise you would not know who is coming and going, who has what for sale, who needs something you can provide (or vise-versa) or what is happening around town! We then check email while sipping coffee or tea (just in case someone has written...) and recently we have been answering a slew of puddle jump email questions, updating rosters, and organizing radio nets and departure dates (one boat has already left!)! It's then time to head up the dock to the showers which are a solid five minute walk away IF nobody stops you to talk along the way (or if you don't forget your key). Since somebody always has some important early morning dissertation to share, it's at least an hour before you find yourself scrubbed, talked out and returning to the boat while trying to prioritize boat projects for the day! By now it's at least 11:00 a.m.! Life as usual!

Yesterday I left Corie and Neal to scrub the boat while I took the bus into P.V. to search out a music store for cuerdos para mi guitarra. In my furious practicing I had broken a string and we were having a Puddle Jumpers jam session last night so off I went! On a good day, it takes about an hour to get into Vallarta by bus from La Cruz. Well, yesterday the bus driver had to stop for gas on the way into Vallarta which added an extra 15 minutes to the trip. That did, however, allow a couple of musicians to hop on the bus and play a couple of guitar songs and then walk the aisle with palms out for donations. At the next stop another guy hopped on the bus and passed out key chains with pink flamingos attached and a note that said he was deaf. Before the following stop he passed each passenger again and either collected the flamingo or ten pesos.... what would you have done? The ride was long but at least it was entertaining! The only entertainment on the return bus trip later that afternoon was that the bus driver got a ticket! I'm not really sure why, but maybe it was because he couldn't get the bus doors closed.... the passengers standing in the aisle and the little kids sitting up front on the bus dashboard console were holding on for dear life! Life as usual!

Earlier in the week, in order to distract ourselves from feeling blue over Caity and Danny leaving La Cruz (we had a very fun six days together!) we sailed Rutea to Yelapa. Yelapa is eighteen miles across Banderas Bay (on the south side) and is accessible only by boat. Romeo zoomed out to meet us in his panga and convinced us that he had the best moorings in Yelapa and the price also included a panga ride through pounding surf into the beach (we never would have made it in our dinghy!). Built on the side of a steep cliff, Yelapa hangs on the hillside in a dense palm and hardwood tree forest. Narrow cobblestone lanes traverse the hillside and while we walked up and down them, we passed others traveling via horseback or ATVs. After hiking to the waterfall up above the town, we meandered the streets peeking through beautiful bouganvillea covered walls and courtyards out to incredible vistas of Banderas Bay. Life as usual!

After a very rolly night on the mooring we headed to the "relative" calm of Punta de Mita where we anchored just off two of Corie's favorite surf spots- El Anclote y El Faro. On the way over we tested our new auto pilot, practiced "heaving to" and flew our spinnaker while ooohing and ahhhing over breaching Humpback whales! Three days of boat projects and testing all systems (again) while on the hook allowed us to check a few things off of The List and add a few new things to The List! Corie got in a little surfing and Neal traveled to a seminar on the two perfect-weather days but one of the days was so windy that we couldn't leave the boat.

So finally tonight after a pretty quiet Sunday- well there was a pretty steady stream of people stopping by to examine the polishing job that Corie and I are doing on the stainless (yes, we are polishing the stainless on a 50 foot boat with a toothbrush...)- I find the space to update my blog and try to convey a slice of life as usual. Or, is it?

2 comments:

Jim BakerFebruary 28, 2011 at 5:59 PM
Very nice pics ! Your adventure is life as usual - NOT!
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maryFebruary 28, 2011 at 8:52 PM
Bus rides into town must be great people watching. Gotta love that culture! Good blog, but I'm wondering why you're the only one sitting in the picture. Are you putting tequila in your coffee? Life as usual? Miss you and love you....sitting or standing! Mary
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About Rutea

Rutea was built in 1984 by Conyplex in Mendemblik, Holland. A small brass plaque says that she's hull Number 9 but on the Conyplex website www.contestyachts.com there's no mention of them building that many. She's designed by Dick Zaal, who designed most of Conyplex's earlier boats. The brochure says that she's 48' overall with a 14'6" beam and she draws 6'. Her cast iron bolted-on fin keel weighs 12,000 pounds and she is supposed to displace slightly over 37,000 pounds but she's never been one to watch her weight and, ahem, she's gained more than a few pounds since we bought her in 1996. Her ketch rig sports Profurl furlers for the jib/genoa and the staysail. The main has a very tall aspect as does the mizzen. All of her winches are made by Enkes although I did add a Harken self-tailing for the main halyard. She uses an unusual reel winch that's equipped with Spectra rope for furling the genoa. There's a running backstay on the mizzen mast and there are no forward lowers on the main mast. The head stay is Dyform.

I replaced the original Volvo MD40A six-cylinder diesel with a Beta Marine 90 and I've been very happy with it although it puts out nowhere near 90 HP - probably 70 is more like it. Regardless, it's adequate and very economical on fuel. I also replaced the original Westerbeke 6kw genset with a single-cylinder Kubota diesel that drives a 150-amp alternator. Since we switched over to 12-volt refrigeration, we no longer have any 110-volt appliances on board, other than the water heater. Since the new Beta Marine engine has two big alternators (one is 100 amps and the other 175), we have our Victron inverter/charger power the water heater when we're under power (we don't have engine coolant circulate through the water heater).

Rutea's layout down below is different from many boats of her size. Aft of her water-tight forward bulkhead is a 'wet' head, complete with two sinks. Aft of that are two cabins, both with bunk beds on either side of the boat and each has a door to the forward head. This was perfect when we cruised with our family as our 3 children had their own quarters. The main saloon occupies the area aft of the forward cabins and her dinette and settees are large enough to seat 10 people (we've had many a memorable meal here!). Under the cabin sole are two 90-gallon stainless steel fuel tanks. Under the settee seats on either side is a 120-gallon water tank, also made of stainless steel. On the starboard side, aft of the dinette is the foward-facing nav station and on the port side is the galley where we have a 7 cubic foot refrigerator and a 5 cubic foot freezer. Aft of the nav station, on the starboard side is my work shop. This was originally designed to be another stateroom but the original owner had Conyplex convert it into a work shop, complete with a heavy-duty work bench and a massive 6" vise. I sometimes spend days at a time in there. Many a visiting cruiser has eyed with envy, drooled with desire and blatantly coveted my work shop! I have access to the engines from there. On the port side, aft of the galley, is another 'wet' head. Aft of that is the aft cabin, which has a settee as well as a full double-size berth. Aft of the aft cabin or 'owner's stateroom' as it's called on many boats, is her spacious lazarette, which is where the water heater and diesel-fired boiler are located. Bolted to the back of the aft deck and overhanging the transom are her Simpson davits (I sometimes tell people that the boat was built around those davits - they're very substantial with a capacity of 250 Kgs). Resting on top of the davits are Ruthie's roto-molded kayak and above that are two 215-watt solar panels. Hanging off the davits is our Aqua Pro dinghy and it's 15-horsepower Honda outboard.

On deck, starting at the bow, is Rutea's primary anchor, a Bruce 30 kilogram that's connected to the 350' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain with a Wasi Powerball. The anchor and chain are deployed and retrieved by a Lofrans Progress II windlass. In the anchor locker lives another Bruce 20kg anchor that's connected to 50' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain and 150' of 1" MegaBraid rope. Also in the anchor locker, amongst many other things, is the 18' Para-Tech sea anchor with it's dedicated 100' of 1" single-braid rope. Moving aft is Rutea's main mast, which has double spreaders, four Enkes winches and one Harken self-tailing winch. The mast is made by Selden as are the two heavy spinnaker poles. The tracks for the staysail and the genoa are stainless steel. In the cockpit are five more Enke winches and a Harken mechanical backstay adjuster. The mizzen mast is also quite substantial and has three Enkes winches on it. The turning blocks are stainless steel. The steering system on Rutea is the Whitlock Mamba system using a torque tube and a push-pull rod. The compass in the binnacle is made by Sestrel.

Even though we try to keep up on Rutea's appearance, she's still starting to show her age. I replaced her portlights (all twelve of them) and Ruthie has taken over the job of varnishing her brightwork. In 2000 we removed her teak decks and replaced it with painted fiberglass. Much less maintenance! She's what I call a 200-foot boat: She looks great from 200 feet!

Regardless, the best part of Rutea is the way she handles. While she's not the fastest filly in the fleet, she can cover a respectable amount of distance in a day. Her sail plan allows her to be easily balanced to the point where the autopilot has very little correcting to do. Her sails are all made by North except her spinnakers are Dutch-made.

Rutea’s electronics package includes radar, chartplotter, AIS, sounder and sailing instruments - all made by Garmin. Her radios are all old but they work well. Her Icom M802 SSB has been modified to use ham frequencies.