Rocinante Lost on Baja Coast

There was misfortune on the coast of Baja last month, as 81-year-old Bill Fox of San Francisco lost his Beneteau 42 Rocinante on the beach at Punta Redonda, which is about 9 miles down the Pacific Coast of Isla Margarita. The island is about 175 miles north of Cabo and forms the western shore of Mag Bay.

The circumstances surrounding the boat going on the beach aren’t exactly clear, but former Bay Area sailor Sheldon Caughey, who currently lives in Cabo and who went to the wreck site, told Latitude that a line got caught in Rocinante‘s prop, after which she was blown/drifted 15 miles to leeward and onto the beach. It would seem that the singlehander could have set a sail and kept the boat off the beach, but perhaps there were other issues.

The uninsured boat came over a sandpit to get ashore, and according to Bob Hoyt of Mag Bay Outfitters and Caughey, the boat wasn’t badly damaged. Her new Volvo diesel and rig didn’t suffer any damage at all. Alas, despite digging a trench and bringing float bags to the site, the boat couldn’t be pulled off. Apparently she needed to be pulled across 600 feet of thin water over sand to reach water deep enough in which to float, and it just couldn’t be done.

We’re told that Fox had purchased the boat in Puerto Vallarta about six months ago and was bringing her north to California.