As of Monday March 16th 2020 at 2pm we took delivery of SV Brisa. Brisa is a 2019 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410. This is a brand new hull design with design elements brought over from the big ocean racers.
The bow has a reverse angle and flat entry. A hard chine allows to boat to be very wide in the bow and carries it aft. Twin rudders ensure that the steering is balanced and once the sails are trimmed you can take your hands of the wheel and she stays on course.
We had an offshore delivery, then brought her back to the dock to finish up some commissioning work and have a canvas dodger and bimini added. These will provide some much needed protection from the elements.
While this was going on we also spent a day with a certified captain learning the boat. We both know how to sail, but coming from smaller boats have never dealt with anchoring, docking, line handling, and many other big boat systems we needed an expert to fill in the gaps. It was good training and we made our insurance company happy.
With the work done and her name officially on the stern, we had to plan and find a weather window to get out of California. We aren’t residents and really don’t want to pay the outrageous tax that the state collects, so we need to move the boat. We don’t really plan on keeping the boat in one place anyway.
We selected a good weekend to get on the boat and complete a couple of long sails. This was needed so that we could get comfortable operating the boat. Then 12:30 am on Tuesday March 31, we got up, slipped out of the dock and headed out to open water. This was our first long passage and night passage. Leaving San Diego at night was tricky because all of the shore lights were washing out the channel marker lights. To make things worse, the chart plotter decided that it was going to make up its own North and all of the headings were 30 degrees off. I hand steered going from green buoy to green buoy until I had a chance to fix the compass issue. In the end I found a button in the autopilot settings to reset the internal compass and we were okay. The rest of the night was spent heading south along the Baja coast. We made good time and by 7 am we were already rounding the corner and could see the lighthouse on one of the islands near Ensenada.
Then the dolphins showed up. Best part of the trip they came from everywhere and were playing and jumping in the bow wave only a few feet from us.
We made it into the marina and with the help of the dock staff got tied up. The marina manager then took us into town to get us checked in.
So now that we are here, we can drive down from the apartment in about 3 hours. we hope to visit as often as we can, but realize that once we do get the race season started, we might not have as many chances to do so.
So, stick with as as we document life with Brisa.