ADVENTURE IN SEARCH OF PARADISE
Many sailors dream of setting out on a Pacific crossing with warm tropical trade winds blowing over the stern quarter, making for a beautiful 3,000 mile milk run. This exotic South Pacific fantasy is usually filled with lush islands, flower-crowned dancers moving in hypnotic rhythm to the soft strum of a ukulele, and the sweet scent of tiara flowers drifting on the breeze.
For years, we worked on turning that dream into our reality. My wife, Rachel, and I spent two years cruising the Pacific coastline from our home port of Ventura, California, down Mexico, and through Central America to Panama. We slowly built our confidence and fine-tuned our Tayana Vancouver 42, , preparing to make the voyage across the Pacific Ocean. Exploring the wild coastline of Central America afforded us the experience of sailing in extremely diverse conditions, from rain-packed thunderstorms with 40-plus knots of wind to picture-perfect spinnaker runs. We managed to encounter practically every type of sailing, anchoring, and navigating we thought we might come across in the
