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Messages - ianhlnd

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1
Off Topic / Hard aground, on your own
« on: September 15, 2008, 19:04 »
Hi everybody, been a while since I checked in, Here's a little adventure thats been published in a sailing rag,  this is the condensed version.  su amigo, Ian

Hard Aground, On Your Own

Murphy's law, as I've found works both on land and on sea.

Single handing and leaving Mazatlan to go back to La Paz across the Sea of Cortez, I'd changed fuel filters, oil, tightened all belts, I had 1/2 tank of fuel, so I felt confident I could make the 220 nm to Los Muertos, then up the Cerralvos Channel and into La Paz. But let me back up a little and start this story properly.

I'd received word by single side band that a friend of mine had found a ''Bloom" of scallops on one of the islands off the eastern coast of Baja. Being quite partial to these tasty sea creatures, I decided I'd head there before my friend ate the 500 lbs or so in the bloom. In Mazatlan, I'd re-propped following a dive of the bottom and finding a nick in the prop and a fair amount of electrolysis.  Helices Kelly in Mazatlan, supplied me with a new blank, cut it for the correct shaft size, pitch, and key way, and I went from a LH 18X12 to a LH 20X18.

Theoretically the new prop will produce an increase in speed with less RPM's. Why was there a 12" inch pitch in the first place, I don't know. By the way, this brand new prop cost $330.00. In the states, it would have been $1,500. If in Mazatlan, Kelly is highly recommended, it was ready in one day.

50 miles out of Mazatlan, with a northwest wind on the nose, 5 foot seas, wind at around 35, problems began. Engine died, but with the reefed main, staysail, mizzen, I could back off the wind and still make VMG to La Paz. Long story short, 5 bleeds later, 3 days and nights at sea and still 85 miles from safe harbor, I finally figured out the problem. My fault.

Whenever something goes wrong, I usually fault something in the system, but looking at it realistically, it was running good, til I did something to it. What did I do? Changed fuel filters. Pulling off the monster Dahl filter I noticed that I had used an OEM fiter, and had omitted the gasket which is integral in the Dahl filters. Dumb, yes, let's just mark this up to fatigue. Changes made, works fine. Safe harbor was made at the end of the third day just before sunset.

Anchoring in Bahia Los Muertos (Bay of the Dead), 4 beers on board, then a fantastic meal of fresh caught Dorado, michalatas, and then with a great bottle of wine from my stock, a chilean Santa Ema cabernet, 2003. I tucked myself in for a 4 am departure. Figured I'd beat the gale force winds that run between the mainland and Isla Cervallos, laying off the island and catching the downdraft from the the mountains on the island.

With a ketch behind me, I pulled anchor and steered to the right in able to clear the ketch, and the reef off to the left. I'd notice the hydraulic helm had little response when clearing the ketch, and with a flashlight saw that the steering pedistal and deck was wet with oil.

Turning right for open sea after clearing the ketch, and continueing  to turn left, no response to the helm. I immeditely put the engine in reverse, stopped all forward movement, then in neutral, big heavy boats don't stop, there's the momentum, current and wind.

The autopilot is a separtate system so I went below to steer by pilot. The pilot searching for the shortest route to the heading I'd set, couldn't make up it's mind to go left or right, it went left.

I knew I was in trouble when the bow lifted 5 feet in the air with a loud crash and bang, followed by crunches, bangs and whangs. The boat laid on it's side to it's cap rail.  A quick look into the interior showed all the plates, pans, books etc, on the cabin floor.   Done and done. High on a reef and seemingly hopeless.

Both sides of the Baja are unforgiving areas. No Coast Guard, Vessel Assist, and the Mexican Navy isn't interested. You're on your own, what you do is the only thing you can rely upon.

Jumping over the side with a high intensity light, I saw that the rocks were more round and worn lava than jagged coral. Swimming out from the stern, I saw the rock that I had rode over, 3 feet below the surface, 6 feet from the bottom. I figured if I could start the boat backward, I should be able to jump the rock again, and move into deeper water.

In low idle reverse, I jumped from port to starboard trying to rock this 40,000 boat, and noticed a few feet movement to stern. Waiting for the screech of the new prop on rock . . . it never came. Putting a bit more pressure on the throttle, a few more feet, then up over a rock, dipped to the other side, then freedom!

Anchor was dropped, and another trip over the side showed that there was a few scratches on the 18" wide full keel, and some of the bottom paint was missing from the starboard side.

Two things saved my bacon. A fully enclased keel, and a 6" thick hull. Hardin made a solid boat!

65 nm later, 8 hours, I dropped the hook in Bahia de la Paz, the bilge pump didn't go off once, and the fuel problems were fixed.  What did I learn from this experience? First of all, sh*t  happens. You can't prepare for everything. Second, if something goes wrong, look at what you did to it to make it go wrong. Third, there's only you, the boat, and the sea. If you get into it, it's up to you to get out of it.

Now, safely tucked to anchor, I'm looking forward to the 70 nm or so til I get to those scallops.

Ian, lucky as hell sailor,
S/V Blythe Spirit
 La Paz Mexico.

2
General Stock Discussion / Re: shrinking downloads
« on: May 09, 2008, 22:30 »
Let's face it, buyer's aren't stupid.  buy the smallest resolution you can get then run it through alien skin or genuine fractels.  Huh?  it costs a buck for a 5 buck picture.  They may not use it at that resolution, but they have it.   Then they can say to the boss how smart they are, and how they're saving the company money, if and independent, they charge for the upsize and charge the client.  What's the question?

Personally, which isn't much of a of a recommendation, I only upload to the lowest acceptable resolution of the particular site, saving the highe resolution for other sites who pay more for the higher resolution.    I'm sure you do the same thing.

3
Off Topic / Just checking in
« on: April 28, 2008, 22:15 »
hard aground, on your own

Hey everybody, don't get the opportunity to check in very often, but I do like to hear what's going on.  Here's a little tale of my last episode of insanity, or maybe just stupidity.  Where's a photographer when you need one?

Murphy's law, as I've found works both on land and on sea.

Leaving Mazatlan to go back to La Paz across the Sea of Cortez, I'd changed fuel filters, oil, tightened all belts, I had 1/2 tank of fuel, so I felt confident I could make the 220 nm to Los Muertos, then up the Cerralvos Channel and into La Paz. But let me back up.

I'd received word by SSB that a friend of mine had found a ''Bloom" of scallops on one of the islands off the eastern coast of Baja. Being quite partial to these sea creatures, I decided I'd head there before my friend ate the 500 lbs or so in the bloom. In Mazatlan, I'd re-propped following a dive of the bottom and finding a nick in the prop and a fair amount of electrolysis.

Helices Kelly in Mazatlan, supplied me with a new blank, cut it for the correct shaft size, pitch, and key way, and I went from a LH 18X12 to a LH 20X18. Theoretically increase in speed with less RPM's. Why was there a 12" inch pitch in the first place, I don't know. By the way, this brand new prop cost $330.00. In the states, it would have been $1,500. If in Mazatlan, Kelly is highly recommended, it was ready in one day.

50 miles out of Mazatlan, with a northwest wind on the nose, 5 foot seas, wind at around 35, problems began. Engine died, but with the main, staysail, mizzen, I could back off the wind and still make VMG to La Paz. Long story short, 5 bleeds later, 3 days and nights at sea and still 85 miles from safe harbor, I finally figured out the problem. My fault.

Whenever something goes wrong, I usually fault something in the system, but looking at it realistically, it was running good, til I did something to it. What did I do? Changed fuel filters. Pulling off the monster Dahl filter I noticed that I had used an OEM fiter, and had omitted the gasket which is integral in the Dahl filters. Dumb, yes, let's just mark this up to fatigue. Changes made, works fine.

Anchoring in Bahia Los Muertos (Bay of the Dead), 4 beers on board, then a fantastic meal at the Giggling Marlin, michalatas, and then with a great bottle of wine from my stock, a Santa Ema cabernet, 2003. I tucked myself in for a 4 am departure. Figured I'd beat the gale force winds that run between the mainland and Cervallos, laying off the island and catching the downdraft from the the mountains on the island.

With a ketch behind me, I pulled anchor and steered to the right in able to clear the ketch, and the reef off to the left. I'd notice the hydraulic helm had little response when clearing the ketch, and with a flashlight saw that the steering pedistal and deck was wet with oil.

Turning left after clearing the ketch, and trying to turn right, no response to the helm. I immeditely put the engine in reverse, stopped all forward movement, then in neutral. The autopilot is a separtate system so I went below to steer by pilot. The pilot searching for the shortest route to the heading I'd set, couldn't make up it's mind to go left or right, it went left.

I knew I was in trouble when the bow lifted 5 feet in the air with a loud crash and bang, followed by crunches, bangs and whangs. The boat laid on it's side to it's cap rail. Done and done. High on a reef and seemingly hopeless.

Both sides of the Baja are unforgiving areas. No Coast Guard, Vessel Assist, and the Mexican Navy isn't interested. You're on your own, what you do is the only thing you can rely upon.

Jumping over the side with a high intensity light, I saw that the rocks were more round and worn lava than jagged coral. Swimming out from the stern, I saw the rock that I had rode over, 3 feet below the surface, 6 feet from the bottom. I figured if I could start the boat backward, I should be able to jump the rock again, and move into deeper water.

In low idle reverse, I jumped from port to starboard trying to rock this 40,000 boat, and noticed a few feet movement to stern. Waiting for the screech of the new prop on rock . . . it never came. Putting a bit more pressure on the throttle, a few more feet, then up over a rock, dipped to the other side, then freedom!

Anchor was dropped, and another trip over the side showed that there was a few scratches on the 18" wide full keel, and some of the bottom paint was missing from the starboard side.

Two things saved my bacon. A fully enclased keel, and a 6" thick hull. Hardin made a solid boat!

65 nm later, 8 hours, I dropped the hook in Bahia de la Paz, the bilge pump didn't go off once, and the fuel problems were fixed.

What did I learn from this experience? First of all, sh%t happens. You can't prepare for everything. Second, if something goes wrong, look at what you did to it to make it go wrong. Third, there's only you, the boat, and the sea. If you get into it, it's up to you to get out of it.

Now, safely tucked to anchor, I'm looking forward to the 70 nm or so til I get to those scallops.

Ian, lucky as hell sailor, La Paz Mexico.

4
General Stock Discussion / Crystal graphics
« on: March 22, 2008, 10:02 »
Hello from beautiful Mazatlan.  A nice 86 degrees today, well, and yesterday, and last week etc.

I have a question, I did a google on my handle and came up with a site that has several of my pics, called Crystal graphics.  What interested me is that prints are going for $69.

I checked their home, and can't find any info with whom they're affiliated.  Does anyone here have any info on this site?

http://www.crystalgraphics.com

5
Off Topic / Not everything is sun, and tequilla
« on: December 19, 2007, 16:18 »
Running south with a stiff breeze off the starboard, ran into sever gales one packed next to the other.  Lost the masthead bringing down the rigging, and in fear of losing the main and the mizzen  masts.  Was able to jury rig in 50 mph winds and continue on with staysail and mizzen.  The things we can do when required. 

Finding refuge in Bahia Tortuga sat out the storms marching south, only to be caught in another, alas, sh_t happens.  The payoff is the spectacular sights:




6
Mag Bay, or Bahia Magdalena lies just up from the tip of Baja's Cabo San Lucas. It's a shallow inlet with fingers going off in all directions, generally a good all weather anchorage.  An old beat-up Playboy magazine will get you a bucket of lobsters from the local fishermen.  After a diet of lobster and fish, I'm hallucinating for a McDonalds Big Mac.

With the low pressure systems working themselves northerly, I took advantage of a front to run to Ensenada, (550 mi) to get the refrigeration fixed and some additional work done.  Right now, there's about 600 boats heading south from Canada and the US in the annual migration, some part of the "Baja Ha-Ha", and other freelancers like me who stay away from anything that appears organized.

By putting up for a couple weeks, I let the fleet sail past, then, have the anchorages to myself on the return and somewhat lower prices on trade goods. The weather should cooperate with  northerlies coming down for the return south.  And, I don't think I've ever seen the seas as blue as they are this year. At times you can't tell where the sea stops and the sky starts, you know there should be a line there, but you can't find it.

7
Off Topic / Checking In, don't want to lose my membership status
« on: October 17, 2007, 21:29 »
A sailors update.

Coming up from Mag Bay for some repairs and refits, currently  N32, W117 or thereabouts, the winter weather this far north has become uncomfortable, at 79 - 80  degrees F during the day and dropping below 60 degres F at night, humidity is an unbearable 35% and my skin is starting to dry out. Funny how we adapt.

After refits, I'll head south again riding the N-NW wind flow, round Cabo and head directly to up into the Sea of Cortez for the mating or birthing of the gray whale (or whatever nasty things they do  there), I've all the underwater equipment ready, and a really neat snuba set-up which allows unlimited underwater time.

I've had to repair my refrigerations system at the cost of a small Volkswagen, the watermaker needs a new membrane, and the generator needs an overhaul.  Other than that, life couldn't get better.

The Dorado, or Mahi-Mahi I had sent to Leaf wrapped in newspaper was returned as "refused" probably due to the stink that you could see pouring off the package like a fog.  I was able to give it away as crab bait.

My current first mate is a "pointilist" artist and botanist who is recording the flora of the rugged Baja coast, we plan to put together a monogram of the  isloated and primeval locations of Guatemala and Costa Rica.  It's amazing how little has been recorded in places well known.



8
Off Topic / Re: Alamy Online Uploads
« on: September 15, 2007, 20:22 »
Alamy gets a big kick out of all the questions about Mb, as a matter of fact, I think the word they use is "flabbergasted".  I used to think the file had to be 48Mb on disk, that ment I blew it up til you couldnt see anything at 100%, then I got their idea.  It's a problem with us English speakers, you never know what the heck the other persons talking about.

Pixels, Mb's, it's a British thing.  Go figure.

9
Off Topic / Re: Just for fun - "Careers in Photography"
« on: September 15, 2007, 20:16 »
Now there's a bunch of career fields that have evaporated with the onset of the the digital age.

10
General Stock Discussion / Re: Wow, how cheap and tacky!!
« on: September 13, 2007, 18:49 »
How much time did it take to log on, and request a refund?  Probably cost the company more in time than the download did.  Pennies, that's all we're talking about, pennies.

11
iStockPhoto.com / Re: IStock Drives me Nuts!!!
« on: August 26, 2007, 15:12 »
I agree wholeheartedly, Sometimes it's to laugh.  I just had this one rejected due to blown highlights, and a comment that I shouldn't use flash.  I guess they don't read the exif info on the file.  The engine is chrome!  any use of flash and I'd blind anyone within a 15 ft radious.  But I did find a "blown highlight"  att crop at 100?, mind you this is a 10.4Mp file.


12
Off Topic / Re: It's all fre
« on: August 02, 2007, 23:57 »
even if we see double,  Wha happen'd?

13
Off Topic / It's all free
« on: August 02, 2007, 23:51 »
it's all free, the eyes to see, the heart to feel, the synaptic nerve to push the shutter:

14
123RF / exceptional response from 123RF
« on: August 02, 2007, 23:34 »
A couple days ago I uploaded a picture of a '56 corvette to the site, which was rejected 'cause I put "corvette" in the title, potential copyright infringement  I re-uploaded, taking out the name "corvette", and sent support a note saying that a search showed 16 images of a corvette under search for "corvette"  They agreed with me and removed the images from that search keyword.   Don't you wish all sites were like that?

Now if only the pictures would show up in my portfolio

15
I'm starting to worry, nice site, good commissions, but nothing going on there.  3 week approval wait?  Hope they're not giving up.

16
Jeeze, we must be spoiled.  How many other sites notify you when a pic is sold.  It was a nice feature, but, do we really need it?  Just keep giving me the big commish! ;D

17
LuckyOliver.com / Re: keyword spamming
« on: July 17, 2007, 20:40 »
Leaf, I agree whole heartedly.  Spamming leads the buyer down all kinds of paths til he gives up.  Why not limit the key words to the catagories,  max maybe 12 keywords? 

18
Boy, now there's a talent you don't see everyday!

19
Adobe Stock / Re: the big clean out???
« on: July 12, 2007, 21:41 »
I think they're just lost in cyberspace somewhere along with the keywords.

20
Adobe Stock / Re: Why is this selling so well at FT?
« on: July 12, 2007, 21:40 »
Mad, where has it been selling?  I find that a lot of americana type stuff I have doesn't sell,  but industrial stuff sells in germany.  I think they have very targeted markets and you have to know what's used in those markets, and what would go good there.  Apparently that "happy sun" strikes a cord somewhere.  I would think Japan or China.

21
Adobe Stock / Re: uploading problems
« on: July 12, 2007, 21:36 »
I usually get about 20-30 sales a month at FT, nothing since June 11th  I queried them about the lack of sales, and a 2 cent sale that was logged.  Got the canned response.  Hopefully, they can get their ducks in orders.  Apparently they've lost all the keywords, and now they have to re-keyword them.   It's a great site, and it would be a shame if it went down in flames due to software

22
Shutterstock.com / Re: Finally!
« on: July 11, 2007, 13:55 »
Balateur: 
Quote
At a risk of being called nosy ...  Smiley  ... could I ask about how many downloads a day you're getting of this image to make it in to the top 50? I want to try and judge how far off it some of my images are.

No, no wide angle, just lens curve shot from a low angle.  I'm not sure how many per day, but uploaded on June 18, and approved around the 20th or so, 104 uploads, most in the last week.  Basically the background and all the people and other cars were dodged out, nothing more.  Sometimes less is more?

And thanks everybody for the kind words.

23
Shutterstock.com / Re: Finally!
« on: July 11, 2007, 10:48 »
I  don't know how to post a link.  I tried a couple times but it just kept disappearing!  You have to filter for photos only, it's still there, number 35



24
Shutterstock.com / Finally!
« on: July 11, 2007, 09:51 »
Sitting on the hook waiting for some work to be done to my generator, I was in a wireless area got hooked up and to my feigned surprise, I saw one of my images hit the top 50 of the week on SS.  Not only that,  but a respectable number 35.  Happy, Happy, Happy!

What I've found being in the top 50, is that it brings more people to your gallery, Pics I had thought of deleting due to slow sales are selling.   Not only that, but it's not a bikini babe business woman teleconferencing from the beach.  Just a minimally isolated old car!   Yea for the buyers! ;D ;D ;D

25
Photo Critique / Re: it never took really off - Why?
« on: June 27, 2007, 23:51 »
"Canola"  there's no such thing as canola. Well, there is, but after kiling a bunch a people AGCanada changed the name.   It's a made up word for rapeseed by AgCanada  (CAN=canada, ola=oil)  Looks like mustard to me, not rapeseed.   If you're going to spam keywords, why not add, blue, yellow, green, money, wavy, plain, plane, insect, insects, weevils,  heavenly, sirene, snake, agriculture, bituminous, sandy, agregate, agate, etc, etc.   

I think it was just fine the way it is. A very nice picture.  Why it didn't click?  Look at the top 50 at shutterstock, there's a couple just like it. 

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