Broken diesel engine. Forced to hip tie the dinghy to push us into the travel lift.
February 18, 2026 · 13 min · 837 views · Sea of Cortez
Sailboat guided by dinghy toward travel lift dock
What this video covers
A broken diesel engine forces the crew of Haraya, a Tartan Marine 34 C, to haul out at Fauna Tour Marina in Guaymas, Mexico, ending their Sea of Cortez season earlier than planned. To reach Guaymas in time for an 8 a.m. travel lift appointment, they depart Pulpito around midnight after waiting two and a half days for 20–25-knot north winds and 3–4-foot, 3–4-second seas to ease.▶ 1:32 With light to variable winds, they hip-tie the dinghy to the stern and motor-push north for roughly nine hours at 2 knots, covering about 20 miles of northing before bearing off toward Guaymas on a 95-mile crossing.▶ 3:01 The strategy: gain as much northing as possible in the calm so that when north winds build, they can bear off and sail rather than fight a losing upwind battle.▶ 2:25 They arrive at dawn, anchor in 5 feet of water off the marina, and wait for the yard to open.▶ 6:52 At the travel lift, the crew discovers Haraya is too long to enter bow-first — the forestay would strike the lift frame — so yard workers spin the boat by hand before hauling.▶ 9:57 The boat is placed in the storage yard, and the crew packs it down for the season.▶ 11:35 Hip-tying a dinghy to push a sailboat upwind in calm conditions can substitute for a failed engine over a long overnight passage, but requires accepting a slow 2-knot pace.
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