Well, they didn’t forget after all! I was positive the family would wake, tootle around for a couple hours, then freeze at the realization, do a quick huddle-up, and ask me where I’d like to go for dinner to celebrate Mother’s Day... like it was planned all along. **like I haven’t seen this routine before!**

It happens sometimes... it is unthinkable, but it does happen. Sailing has its risks, as our friend Jim Brown on s/v Little Fawn knows... unfortunately and all too well. We met Jim in Santa Rosalia, MX last year... June and July 2009.

This is a red prop. This is not good. It is important to put zincs on your boat, especially while in a marina because otherwise your prop might look like this! Whenever different metals are placed in a conductive liquid, such as salt water, a ‘battery’ is created. Electrolysis is what happens as the current tries to equalize.

We’ve hired Bob from Total Yachtworks here in Mazatlan to do the bottom paint job, which requires grinding out the blisters on the hull, epoxying, sanding, applying a base coat (or two... or three) and then applying anti-fouling paint. We did this last year on WINDFALL... no biggie.

I've been collecting cruiser recipes since we've been cruising... mainly because my cooking expertise aboard a vessel needed major help! Not having the handy KitchenAid mixer, the Vitamix blender, the bread maker... well, you get the point and can imagine how lost I was.

This post is for TOCK owner Hull #6 (aka Mike)... and for any other future cruiser that might want to watch a movie, grind up some coffee beans, and most importantly... drink an icy cold beverage out of the fridge... as the fridge is the main power hog!

There are several very nice marinas in Mazatlan to choose from. We have stayed in three of the four I am listing:

We had this problem before... how do we get the dog off the boat on the hard??? Simple solution... I built a "harness" out of a child's life jacket... cool! Where is it? Oh, Jim in his mad frenzy to get everything we don't need off the boat...

Hauling out always make us nervous. Will they damage the boat? Will we back into something when we're trying to get her in the slings? Will the slings sustain her hefty tonnage? Will we have issues that are more costly than we care to know about?????

It's almost too good to be true! The wind was light-moderate and so it was perfect timing to take 'Hotspur' for her very first spin around the marina since we bought her in January. We start the engine and... 45 seconds later it dies. There are those pesky air bubbles that Jim fought for days... haunting him still! Thankfully, we were still in the slip.