  Voyaging North
Along the Baja Coast
by Carolyn and Bob Mehaffy
Hundreds of sailors follow the lead of the gray whales each fall and migrate from the cooler waters of the North Pacific to the sunny, warm coves, bays, and lagoons of Mexico. With the approach of summer and the hurricane season in Mexico, many of these same sailors must follow the gray whales back north in the spring.
If you're one of those planning a round trip to Mexico, you can adopt strategies that shield it and you against the worst of the conditions of the rough North Pacific Ocean.  These strategies include waiting for the optimum weather and choosing the optimum route.
The majority of boats making the trip "up the hill" depart from Cabo San Lucas. During the spring months, the size of the northbound group fluctuates, numbering in the dozens one week when a weather window has opened, and shrinking to one or two boats the next.
The weather along the Pacific Coast of Baja California during the late fall, winter, and spring months features, with a few exceptions, northwest winds. The prevailing northwest winds can range from light and variable to gale force. In late fall and early winter, days of light and variable winds typically outnumber the days of moderate or strong winds. In late winter and spring, however, moderate to strong winds of 15 to 25 knots predominate. And that sums up the dilemma for voyagers in Mexico: to avoid the hurricane season, they must head south when light northwest winds are most common and return north when stronger northwest winds are most common.
Substantial waves, typically in the five- to 12-foot range, accompany the prevailing northwest winds that blow down the Baja Coast. And compounding the difficulties for the northbound voyagers is a south-flowing current that can reach one knot in places.
Cabo San Lucas, the primary point of embarkation for boaters heading north, sits in the lee of the Baja Peninsula. When northbound boaters who've enjoyed the warm weather of Mexico for months leave Cabo San Lucas in any weather conditions other than absolute calm, they round Cabo Falso--four miles to the west--and immediately experience a different atmosphere: cooler temperatures, strong winds, and steep waves.
Most prospective northbound voyagers wait for optimum weather, but even excessively optimistic sailors, however, can't postpone their departures indefinitely while waiting for calm winds and flat seas. Such a wait could take months! A reasonable compromise between ideal conditions (calm seas) and those that are likely (30-plus-knots of wind and 12- to-15-foot seas), is to depart when the forecasters and the evaluation of weather trends predict 15 knots of wind or less.
Some voyagers, when contemplating the alternatives to slogging up the coast, choose to sail all the way in two tacks: one long starboard tack of almost 1,000 miles, and one long port tack to the coastline. The drawbacks to this plan are threefold. First, the boat making this trip must go to weather well. Second, the time required for a sailboat to make the trip in two tacks, typically 15 days or more, equals or exceeds the time required to motor-sail up the coastline. And, third, 15 days hard on the wind is arduous work.
Anticipating the passage from Cabo San Lucas to San Diego, an 800-mile voyage to weather, with all its inherent challenges and hazards, intimidates many of us. Perhaps the better way to approach this voyage is to think of it as four separate voyages, each with its specific challenges and rewards.
The first leg for most is the 160- to-180-mile trip from Cabo San Lucas to either Bahía Magdalena or Bahía Santa Maria. Because the crew has been relaxing and sailing in the warm, calm conditions that typify Mexican waters beyond Cabo, the now unfamiliar cold weather, uncomfortable motion, and wet clothing--and everything else wet above and below deck--make this first leg sometimes the most difficult of the four.
After completing this first leg, you'll undoubtedly find the second leg, the approximately 230 miles from Bahía Magdalena or Bahía Santa Maria to Bahía Tortugas (Turtle Bay), easier. By this time the crew has become comfortable with the motion of a boat going to weather and has settled into the routine. This leg is often easier, too, because it allows for greater flexibility; unlike the first segment, between Cabo and Magdalena, where no intermediate stops are available, this leg offers the option of several overnight stops.
After resting up and enjoying the pleasures afforded by Bahía Tortugas, voyagers must then tackle the third leg to San Quintín, a distance of about 180 miles. Like the second leg, this one offers some options. The first part of the passage is the easiest if approached in one of two ways. The most popular approach is to round Punta Eugenia and head directly for the protection of Cedros Island, 29 miles northwest, stopping at the anchorage near the northeast corner to wait for good weather before making the remainder of the run.
The last leg, the 160 miles from San Quintín to San Diego, is normally the easiest of the four, with lighter winds and calmer seas, although the only certain rule concerning the weather along the Baja Coast is its uncertainty.
Carolyn and Bob Mehaffy are the authors of Cruising Guide to the Hawaiian Islands, published by Paradise Cay Publications.
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