Passage to La Paz
Even this far into our journey, passages still command respect and preparation. Perhaps it is just us, or perhaps it is the right way to approach them, but we always take our time to prepare and look for the right weather window.
Since leaving Banderas Bay in late March, we had been working our way north on the Pacific coast of Mexico. We stopped at Isla Isabel, Stone Anchorage (just south of Maztlán’s main harbor), and then Marina Mazatlán. We spent the last few days waiting for the right weather window in the marina - fixing a freezer that had stopped freezing and letting one of our crew recover from a terrible stomach bug.
Getting to La Paz from Mazatlán requires heading northwest and crossing the Baja Sea (our chosen name for the Sea of Cortez aka Gulf of California). It’s about a 250 NM trip, meaning a bit over 48 hours for us. The trick is finding a weather window this time of year.
In the Spring, the weather patterns are in transition. The common winter “Northers” - strong winds pouring down the Baja Sea - are starting to fade but aren’t gone yet. “Northers” run the full length of the Sea, building big waves and generally making it quite hard to get north. The summer weather patterns haven’t settled in either, so there aren’t reliably southerlies. As such, the general strategy is to find a window just after a Norther has passed thru, with enough space to allow the seas to die down.
With our freezer fixed, the lively sights and sounds of Easter celebrations in Mazatlán, and our sick crew member on the mend, we were ready to go. We picked a weather window where we would have lighter northwest winds. Our strategy was to essentially sail the two sides of the triangle - up the eastern coast, then cut across the Sea as the winds turned more favorable.
Our track, with the orange lines drawn on to explain our approach
We got to buddy boat with another family headed north. It was fun to stay in touch as we progressed northward. We stayed in visual contact for a long way - which is often easier at night when the boat’s lights remain visible from a longer distance than the boat itself.
Heading up along the coast worked well the first day, requiring lots of tacking back and forth. We put our staysail to good use. This is a smaller headsail, positioned aft of the main jib and goes to a point about three quarters of the way up the mast. We are able to point higher - meaning we can sail closer to the wind angle - with this sail. With just a bit of the main out, the boat was well balanced.
Our staysail
The wind waves built quickly in the afternoon. These are waves created by local wind - as opposed to swell which is created by wind that blew far off and you are just feeling the left over waves. Wind waves are “short and choppy” - meaning they come every few seconds and are steep. They are created by the friction of the air on the water, so come up quickly as the wind speed increases (the converse is also true, they die down quickly as the wind decreases). Our boat has a pretty flat bottom and it will tend to “slam”, like a hand slapping the water, in these wind waves. To mitigate this, we have to find a sail angle where we are meeting the waves at an angle.
Sunset on the first day
This all added up to some boisterous sailing in the afternoon and evening that melted into calm water with little wind overnight. As we took the left turn and headed across we were more consistent on a starboard tack. The afternoon of the second day saw the same wind wave phenomenon, except the wind built even more, up to 18 knots. While it wasn’t that many more knots, the force exerted by the wind is not linear - it grows faster. For example, an 18 knot breeze is 180% of a 10 knot breeze but exerts 325% of the force of a 10 knot breeze. Needless to say, the passage got quite bumpy and the occassional slamming from these sudden steep waves made for an unpleasant couple of hours.
Sunset on the second as we sailed west
Overnight the wind died down and veered (moved clockwise around the compas) giving us better and better angles to make it over the top of Isla Ceralvo and then head into the pass between Baja and Isla Espiritu Santo. Our timing was perfect for the pass as the tide had just turned and made the current a following current. The smoothing water and favorable conditions were a welcome respite and made a pleasant night sail.
Moon and stars over Isla Ceralvo
In the morning, the sun rose as the moon was setting over the mountains of Baja. The warm desert air greeted us as we navigated passed Isla Espirito Santo and into Bahia La Paz. We finished off the trip with a lovely calm sail upwind into La Paz.
It is always a sense of relief and accomplishment to complete a passage. Each one teaches you something — and this one was no different as it was our first real “beat to windward.” Perhaps most rewarding was the realization that we had matured as a crew of sailors — the slamming and heeling of this passage would have been slightly terrifying just a few months ago, but our definitely saltier crew took it all in stride. And now the Sea of Baja awaits with its fabled anchorages of clear blue water teeming with wildlife — we are excited to explore.
Sunrise on day 3 as we neared the channel between Baja and Isla Espiritu Santo