Many American and Canadian cruisers sail their sailboats down the west coast to Mexico. At some point they may want to come back. Then it gets hard.

Leaving the Pacific Northwest in summer to sail down the west coast you sail with the wind and seas. Coming back up the coast you go against the prevailing wind and seas. It makes all the difference.

If you leave the Northwest for Mexico late in the Fall, like I did, you chance getting caught in southerly weather that prevails in winter, as did I. Then you have to fight your way down the coast. But most cruisers are smarter, leave in summer, and have a comparatively easy sail down the North American west coast.

So how to come back when you want to come back?

There are four options: two non-sailing options and two sailing options.

OPTION 1: The first non-sailing option is the easiest way to get your boat back: Put it on a freighter in La Paz, pay $10,000+, and pick the boat up in Victoria B.C., an easy sail to your final Pacific Northwest destination. Several companies do this and provide excellent service, so for people like me who can afford it, this option could be attractive.

OPTION 2: The second non-sailing option is the most common way sailers get their boats back: Motor into the wind, hugging the coast, seeking protection from the coast wherever you can, motoring at night and when seas are milder. This option appropriately is called the "Baja Bash", and there is a book of that title telling sailors how to do it, and the book is so popular among sailors stranded in Mexico that the book is now in an updated edition.

OPTION 3: The first sailing option is the easiest, and the most impressive to non-sailors: Sail back via Hawaii. What makes this comparatively easy sailing is that you can sail with the prevailing winds to Hawaii, and from Hawaii sail north around the North Pacific High with most of your sailing with the wind (although some sailing to windward will probably be necessary). It's a long sail to Hawaii, and then to the Pacific Northwest, both legs about 3 weeks, but you sail mainly with the wind.

OPTION 4: Hardly anyone ever sails this or understands it, but all cruisers recognize it if you refer to it: the Clipper Ship Route. Despite its shroud of mystery, the concept is simple. As you go west from the North American coast the prevailing winds gradually change direction, veering to become more NE rather than NW. Here's what you do: Sail hard on the wind, which will take you way off the Baja coast hundreds of miles. Your heading should gradually veer and become more northerly. When you think you can go to port tack and lay your objective, tack.

A fifth option is to try to sell your boat in Mexico. That avoids trying to get it back, but probably requires selling the boat for less. In some cases paying for option 1 might be economically better.


MY WAY
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Option 1: I think I would feel that I copped out, that I shirked a challenge, if I just put my boat on a freighter.

Option 2: I'm a sailor. I used only 15 gallons of fuel going from Ensenada down the Baja Pennisula and then up the Sea or Cortez to La Paz. So the Bash is not for me.

Option 3: I would like to sail to Hawaii and impress my non-sailing friends, but Hawaii is not a good cruising destination. There is a shortage of anchorages and marinas. The marinas don't want you. It puts me off.

Option 4: No one does this or understands this, which makes it a challenge I want to do. You could use a Clipper Ship Route approach to sail directly to the Pacific Northwest, or to somewhere closer further south. The further north, the further offshore and the longer the time for the passage.

The graphic above shows the idea I currently am favoring. Leave the Cabo area sailing a Clipper Ship Route and go to a port tack to lay Isle Guadalupe. Isle Guadalupe is a remote island about 200 miles south and about 200 miles west of Ensenada. It has few people, lots of Great White Sharks, and one acceptable anchorage. I'm sure I would love the respite there after the difficult passage from Cabo.

From Guadalupe I would hope to pick a weather window to lay Ensenada, or come close, on a port tack. After that I would look forward to stopping at new places on the way north up the U.S. west coast.

That is my current thinking of how to go north in the spring, after cruising more in the Sea of Cortez. If you are a sailor you undoubtedly have opinions about this, so share them with a comment. And non-sailors please comment if inclined too.