I am looking for a book, which is out of print, called the Baja Bash. Also, any insights from anyone who has done the Bash would be greatly appreciated. What the best time of year, conditions, preparation, etc. We are planning on doing the 2001 Baja Ha Ha and want to bring our Catalina 42' back home to the Bay Area after the Ha Ha. What should we expect? Better to wait for another weather window? What do you think?
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Brian Pickton
Baja Bashing
Dec.12, 2000 Dear Steve, Sorry I don't have a copy of the "Baja Bash" for you. I would like to know how long you plan to spend in Mexico because that will influence your decision on how and when to return. The return trip is most easily made in the spring (late April through May) when the last of the winter weather will give you wind out of the southwest to run north with. When you get that weather window go and don't stop until you get to San Diego. The alternative to waiting for weather is to take the boat to San Carlos and truck it north. We didn't join the Baja Ha Ha when we came south because I have an aversion to forced marching and lemming runs. By not being part of the rally we were able to spend a leisurely month cruising down the Baja and spent a good amount of time snorkeling in places like Bahia Margarita, which was spectacular. The Baja HaHa pretty well requires everybody to get to Cabo in a week. We spent longer than that in Margarita alone! We were also able to wait out Santa Anna's which you can encounter as far south as Turtle Bay. In Ensenada for example the Santa Anna''s blew for a total of 11 days - 7 days in a row, a 2 day break and then 4 days more. Winds through the anchorage occasionally hit 62 knots. We prefer to wait for weather and make our own decisions on when and where to sail. Hope this is of some help. Brian Pickton @BeneteauOwners.net Aboard the Legend, Rodney Bay. St. Lucia
Dec.12, 2000 Dear Steve, Sorry I don't have a copy of the "Baja Bash" for you. I would like to know how long you plan to spend in Mexico because that will influence your decision on how and when to return. The return trip is most easily made in the spring (late April through May) when the last of the winter weather will give you wind out of the southwest to run north with. When you get that weather window go and don't stop until you get to San Diego. The alternative to waiting for weather is to take the boat to San Carlos and truck it north. We didn't join the Baja Ha Ha when we came south because I have an aversion to forced marching and lemming runs. By not being part of the rally we were able to spend a leisurely month cruising down the Baja and spent a good amount of time snorkeling in places like Bahia Margarita, which was spectacular. The Baja HaHa pretty well requires everybody to get to Cabo in a week. We spent longer than that in Margarita alone! We were also able to wait out Santa Anna's which you can encounter as far south as Turtle Bay. In Ensenada for example the Santa Anna''s blew for a total of 11 days - 7 days in a row, a 2 day break and then 4 days more. Winds through the anchorage occasionally hit 62 knots. We prefer to wait for weather and make our own decisions on when and where to sail. Hope this is of some help. Brian Pickton @BeneteauOwners.net Aboard the Legend, Rodney Bay. St. Lucia
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Justin Wolfe
Strongly disagree...
Steve, We have the book you speak of and leave tomorrow to do the Bash from La Paz to San Diego. We sailed down last March. I must disagree strongly about April-June being the best time to return to the states. It is in fact the worst time!!!! This is when the winds from the northwest are the strongest. The best time (and the Baja Bash book says this) is in the winter. The risk of storms south of San Diego is minimal that time of year and might provide you with some southerlies if you do get them, but in general the northerlies are lighter in the winter than in the spring. After you reach SD you can harbor hop up to San Fran watching the weather carefully. Of course Spring time is probably the most convenient, but likely to be the hardest bash wind wise. Better if you can leave earlier or later. I'll let you know in 3 weeks if I'm full of it or not. As a note we went down in early March and had light northerlies for the first half and moderate northerlies for the bottom half.
Steve, We have the book you speak of and leave tomorrow to do the Bash from La Paz to San Diego. We sailed down last March. I must disagree strongly about April-June being the best time to return to the states. It is in fact the worst time!!!! This is when the winds from the northwest are the strongest. The best time (and the Baja Bash book says this) is in the winter. The risk of storms south of San Diego is minimal that time of year and might provide you with some southerlies if you do get them, but in general the northerlies are lighter in the winter than in the spring. After you reach SD you can harbor hop up to San Fran watching the weather carefully. Of course Spring time is probably the most convenient, but likely to be the hardest bash wind wise. Better if you can leave earlier or later. I'll let you know in 3 weeks if I'm full of it or not. As a note we went down in early March and had light northerlies for the first half and moderate northerlies for the bottom half.
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Brian Pickton
Baja Bash - Justin
Dec.16, 2000 Dear Steve, The problem with generalities is they garner responses like Justin's. Just as my statement to you was correct with respect to the strategy I suggested to you but didn't tell you everything, Justins's commentary also contains the truth but leaves part of the information you need to know unstated as well. With respect to Justin's response let me say this, he is in fact correct as far as he goes. Northerlies are the problem. But let's be clear about this, it is the very northerly that Justin dreads that I am also trying to get you to avoid, and he had norhtlies to a greater or lesser degree on his entire passage in the month of March when he came south. From that I at least would conclude that March might not be the best time to head north. Now he proposes to head north in light northerlies again. Obviously that is better than heading north in strong northerlies. My advice is based upon avoiding northers completely. For the return trip you want southerlies ( south westerlies actually) and that is where the "pineapple express" comes in. As far as I recall the "Baja Bash" does not address this strategy or weather system (I don't have a copy on board but did look at it some years ago) but if I'm wrong about that I'm sure Justin can tell us what it says. But let's add some more information to help you both understand my advice. First, take a look at your pilot charts and note how the wind arrows vary from December through June along the Mexican coast. While Justin is correct that northlies are at their strongest in winter coming into spring, the weather window you are looking for is not a norther but part of what is called the "pineapple express", and the time frame we are looking at is the juncture between spring and summer in Mexico. The pineapple express is warm wet winds that blow out of the equiatorial Pacific through winter and spring. The other window that you are trying to avoid is the hurricane season which begins at the end of June and sends storms reeling out of the Gulf of Papagayo north as far as Cabo and beyond. For more information on this phenomenon and other issues about Mexican weather you should refer to John Rains excellent monogragh "Mex Wex". The weather window you are looking for is one of the last of the "Pineapple Express" systems. These alternate with northerly systems that either sweep out of the four corners area of the U.S. and are called Santa Anna's or are the remains of systems coming out of the Gulf of Alaska. The Pineapple Express comes out of the equatorial Pacific as I indicated. During the winter months these come ashore most frequently in Oregon but as winter gives way to spring the strength of the systems (100 + knot winds have been recorded in Oregon and we saw 4, 60 plus knot storms come ashore while we were there) diminishes and they start coming ashore further south, eventually reaching Mexico. The other good thing is that the amount of rain they carry also diminishes as winter gives way to spring. What you are trying to do is catch a pineapple express to ride up the coast between northers and before the hurricane season starts. Watch your weather window and get your weather faxes regularly and start timing those systems out of the Pacific and note how they alternate with the northers. The Santa Anna's are really a problem from Turtle Bay north. When you get those southerlies, and you will, because contrary to popular belief there is no place in the world where the wind blows from one direction 100% of the time, go and keep going as long as conditions allow. Once you are as far as San Diego you've broken the back of the beast. I first heard of the strategy I've suggested from a friend of ours who is in your neighborhood, Willi Robles. Willi is skipper of August Wind and Commodore of the local yacht club at Vallejo marina. He used the strategy I've suggested to deliver a Nauticat yacht from Puerto Vallarta to Point Roberts, Washington. The Nauticat was two berths over from The Legend in the marina in Point Roberts. As I recall Willi's explanation, they waited for a south westerly in late April and road it all the way to Point Roberts in about 17 or 18 days, making but one stop en route. They were running and reaching all of the way. Steve, why don't you contact my old friend Willi, say Hi from us, and check it out for yourself? Willi loves to tell stories of his adventures and to hoist a few in the telling. And while you are there make sure to stop buy and say Hi to Micheal and Casey on Freya as well. Because of what I learned from Willi and John Rains I carefully checked out this strategy for myself when we were in Mexico and as a result I am confidant in the advice I gave you, and Willi's experience bares it out. Justin, your not "full of it" whether your strategy works or not. What you've suggested is another solution to the same problem, avoiding strong northers, but rather than sail in light northers as you plan, I would rather avoid them altogether and ride southerlies up the coast. That is the basis of my advice and the time frame I've mentioned based upon my own observations of the weather seems to give the longest lasting southerlies to carry it out. I want to thank you Justin for requiring me to answer with greater rigor. As a recovering lawyer I still love a debate. (Here it comes.) Now Justin, when you say you strongly disagree with my advice your not actually suggesting that it would be better to go north in northerlies than it would be to go north with a south wind and following seas are you? ;-)) Justin, do let us know how your passage turns out, and do yourself a favour and look for a southwesterly to help you out. Fair winds and following seas. Brian Pickton@BeneteauOwners.net Aboard The Legend, Rodney Bay St. Lucia
Dec.16, 2000 Dear Steve, The problem with generalities is they garner responses like Justin's. Just as my statement to you was correct with respect to the strategy I suggested to you but didn't tell you everything, Justins's commentary also contains the truth but leaves part of the information you need to know unstated as well. With respect to Justin's response let me say this, he is in fact correct as far as he goes. Northerlies are the problem. But let's be clear about this, it is the very northerly that Justin dreads that I am also trying to get you to avoid, and he had norhtlies to a greater or lesser degree on his entire passage in the month of March when he came south. From that I at least would conclude that March might not be the best time to head north. Now he proposes to head north in light northerlies again. Obviously that is better than heading north in strong northerlies. My advice is based upon avoiding northers completely. For the return trip you want southerlies ( south westerlies actually) and that is where the "pineapple express" comes in. As far as I recall the "Baja Bash" does not address this strategy or weather system (I don't have a copy on board but did look at it some years ago) but if I'm wrong about that I'm sure Justin can tell us what it says. But let's add some more information to help you both understand my advice. First, take a look at your pilot charts and note how the wind arrows vary from December through June along the Mexican coast. While Justin is correct that northlies are at their strongest in winter coming into spring, the weather window you are looking for is not a norther but part of what is called the "pineapple express", and the time frame we are looking at is the juncture between spring and summer in Mexico. The pineapple express is warm wet winds that blow out of the equiatorial Pacific through winter and spring. The other window that you are trying to avoid is the hurricane season which begins at the end of June and sends storms reeling out of the Gulf of Papagayo north as far as Cabo and beyond. For more information on this phenomenon and other issues about Mexican weather you should refer to John Rains excellent monogragh "Mex Wex". The weather window you are looking for is one of the last of the "Pineapple Express" systems. These alternate with northerly systems that either sweep out of the four corners area of the U.S. and are called Santa Anna's or are the remains of systems coming out of the Gulf of Alaska. The Pineapple Express comes out of the equatorial Pacific as I indicated. During the winter months these come ashore most frequently in Oregon but as winter gives way to spring the strength of the systems (100 + knot winds have been recorded in Oregon and we saw 4, 60 plus knot storms come ashore while we were there) diminishes and they start coming ashore further south, eventually reaching Mexico. The other good thing is that the amount of rain they carry also diminishes as winter gives way to spring. What you are trying to do is catch a pineapple express to ride up the coast between northers and before the hurricane season starts. Watch your weather window and get your weather faxes regularly and start timing those systems out of the Pacific and note how they alternate with the northers. The Santa Anna's are really a problem from Turtle Bay north. When you get those southerlies, and you will, because contrary to popular belief there is no place in the world where the wind blows from one direction 100% of the time, go and keep going as long as conditions allow. Once you are as far as San Diego you've broken the back of the beast. I first heard of the strategy I've suggested from a friend of ours who is in your neighborhood, Willi Robles. Willi is skipper of August Wind and Commodore of the local yacht club at Vallejo marina. He used the strategy I've suggested to deliver a Nauticat yacht from Puerto Vallarta to Point Roberts, Washington. The Nauticat was two berths over from The Legend in the marina in Point Roberts. As I recall Willi's explanation, they waited for a south westerly in late April and road it all the way to Point Roberts in about 17 or 18 days, making but one stop en route. They were running and reaching all of the way. Steve, why don't you contact my old friend Willi, say Hi from us, and check it out for yourself? Willi loves to tell stories of his adventures and to hoist a few in the telling. And while you are there make sure to stop buy and say Hi to Micheal and Casey on Freya as well. Because of what I learned from Willi and John Rains I carefully checked out this strategy for myself when we were in Mexico and as a result I am confidant in the advice I gave you, and Willi's experience bares it out. Justin, your not "full of it" whether your strategy works or not. What you've suggested is another solution to the same problem, avoiding strong northers, but rather than sail in light northers as you plan, I would rather avoid them altogether and ride southerlies up the coast. That is the basis of my advice and the time frame I've mentioned based upon my own observations of the weather seems to give the longest lasting southerlies to carry it out. I want to thank you Justin for requiring me to answer with greater rigor. As a recovering lawyer I still love a debate. (Here it comes.) Now Justin, when you say you strongly disagree with my advice your not actually suggesting that it would be better to go north in northerlies than it would be to go north with a south wind and following seas are you? ;-)) Justin, do let us know how your passage turns out, and do yourself a favour and look for a southwesterly to help you out. Fair winds and following seas. Brian Pickton@BeneteauOwners.net Aboard The Legend, Rodney Bay St. Lucia
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