Two months had passed like two weeks and it was time to head home. My CD25D “From Now On” had proven to be seaworthy and comfortable thru several “northers “ which plague the Sea of Cortez in the late winter. Close encounters with whales, quiet anchorages, and the friendly people, both Mexicans and cruisers all soon to be fond memories. The afternoon before I planed to cross from Punta Chivato to San Carlos, a 75 KM passage, “Stargazer” a CD25D sailed into the anchorage, her skipper was Bruce. My name is Bruce. Stargazer was also planning on crossing early in the morning, and we agreed to make the crossing together, leaving at 1am, which should put us in at San Carlos mid afternoon. Stargazer left 20 minutes before we had finished coffee and we followed her running lights out of Punta Chivato, escorted by a dozen biolumininesent dolphins circling the boat, the moon had set and slight cloud cover made the morning very dark and the dolphin show was unforgettable. There was no wind, the sea was glass, and both Stargazer and From Now On were motoring at 2500 RPM, GPS confirmed matched speed and course, both boats had tiller pilots, so there was not much to do except sit and watch, so a nice hot breakfast was in order. After that and more coffee a slight breeze came up and I raised the main and Genoa and gained one tenth of a knot close hauled. After two hours we were even with Stargazer and about 200 yards to windward. I hailed Stargazer and told them of my sail plan and increased speed and they raised sail and again our speed and course were perfectly matched. A short time later Stargazer was only 50 yards away, then 50 feet, and I assumed they were coming over to say hello without using the radio, the crew of Stargazer assumed the same thing i.e. that I was maneuvering to them. When the boats where 20 ft apart both Bruces were standing amidships discussing what a perfect evening it was and then we both noticed no one in the cockpit of either boat. At this point things started to happen fast, one or both boats autopilots decided a collision course was in order and turned hard, the 20 ft went down to nothing very fast and Stargazer stuck FNO midships, not real hard, but her anchor was threatening to snag my stanchions and do damage. Back in the cockpit my tiller pilot was hard over in an electronic shoving match. We managed to separate, did quick damage check (gel coat scratch) and got on the VHF to figure out what happened, I started out by saying “imagine running into another CD25D in the middle of the sea of Cortez”. After we established that neither of us had rammed each other on purpose, we concluded some autopilot interference on one or both tiller pilots or perhaps that sister ships are just naturally attached to each other?
bvjanssen@yahoo.com
Collision on the Sea of Cortez
Moderator: Jim Walsh