After our unexpected rigging and engine problems on passage from Acapulco, we anticipated the worst was yet to come as we slowly limped in to Chiapas in the wee hours of the morning. But Neptune seemed to grant us a reprieve, delivering us safely to a wonderful little harbor at the very southern extreme of Mexico’s Pacific Coast; Marina de Chiapas!
Clearance
Much like back in the Pacific Northwest, it is customary to alert the Capitania de Puerto (think Coast Guard/Harbormaster) over VHF radio prior to entering most harbors, particularly if conditions are rough or if you have difficulty maneuvering. So, despite my poor grasp of the Spanish language, I’ve developed a script for such announcements that has worked quite well in all our past port calls. However Chiapas proved to be a bit confusing…
Our request was simple enough: it was after midnight, we were tired and needed rest, and our engine was having trouble, so we asked permission to enter the harbor and anchor to get some sleep before proceeding to Marina de Chiapas after sunrise where we would formally submit to inspection (more on that later) and check in.
Though we made several calls starting about 2 nautical miles from the entrance channel, we could barely hear the Capitan’s scratchy response. It wasn’t until we were inside the harbor, no more than 400 meters from the Capitania’s office that we could finally hear his reply, albeit still a bit garbled. He gave us the choice to proceed directly to the marina or to anchor, and directed us to coordinates that were up a river in Guatemala.
We were in no condition (or mood) to proceed back out of the harbor toward some likely incorrect coordinates and with the low tide we didn’t want to risk maneuvering the tight channel to the marina in total darkness. Instead we proceeded with our original plan and dropped the hook at the upper end of the basin and hoped for the best. But no sooner had we laid down to sleep, we saw lights shining in through the windows… The Navy and the Capitania were there to inform us we had misunderstood…
Granted they were cordial about the whole ordeal, and allowed us to proceed to the marina who we thankfully reached on the VHF (quite clearly I might add). So we pulled up the anchor and slowly limped a bit further up the channel into a slip in the marina. But the fun wasn’t over just yet! It turns out all boats must be inspected by the Navy in Puerto Chiapas, no matter if they are arriving from within Mexico or from abroad. So about 2AM, we hauled all of our pets on to the dock as several Naval personnel and their drug-sniffing dog inspected our boat for contraband. I think their dog was far more interested in all of our pets’ smells and food to be of much use finding narcotics onboard, but we had nothing to hide anyway and the whole process was completed within about 30 minutes. The time had finally come to get some much needed rest!
Rigging
The next day began with a full damage assessment. Our concerns began to ease as we checked the rigging from top to bottom. Fearing that either the forestay wire had snapped, the masthead tang had broken or worst of all, the masthead welds had given out, we were absolutely delighted to find that only a clevis pin had worked its way out and released the forestay fully intact. Thankfully our oversized New England VPC halyard didn’t chafe too badly and held everything up during our last few miles in to port. A majority of VPC’s strength comes from the core, so the few frayed polyester cover strands can easily be mended with some extra whipping.
We carefully examined the tang for cracks but found none. So with a new clevis pin (we carry plenty of extras), a beefy new cotter pin and some stainless washers for added support, we set about re-mounting the top of the forestay.
First we loosened the turnbuckles at the bottom of the stay to give us the necessary slack to hoist up the wire and the furler. From the top of the mast, I used a cam block to carefully lift the stay into position and re-insert the clevis pin. After re-tightening the turnbuckles below, we were back in business!
Next we will tackle the engine troubles and hopefully resolve its overheating problems but first we will enjoy a relaxing dip in the pool.
👍