Beside the quiet, sun-bleached Mexican town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle lies a busy anchorage on the north side of Bahía de Banderas. Humpback whales cruise nonchalantly through the bay, unconcerned about the nearby boats. The combination of good shelter, cheap restaurants, and marine stores has led to a large community of cruising sailors.
Throughout March and April, the eager group of ‘puddle jumpers’ gather in the town’s sail loft. Amid dusty spinnakers and used paper charts, they chat about weather windows. Over beers and tacos they share knowledge about the 2,800-mile passage from Mexico to French Polynesia.
The crossing is similar to a transatlantic in distance, but without the three-week promise of tradewinds. We’re taught the right approach: wait for a low to push a few days of consistent northerlies down the west coast of North America. This allows a yacht to sail away from the usually benign Mexican coastline. A little over 500 miles offshore lies the island of Clarion, where we’ll find the north-east tradewinds.
From Clarion, it’s all downhill to the equator and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Here, we can expect a few hundred miles of light, variable winds. Finally, we’ll pick up the south-east trades before making landfall in the Marquesas.
SAILING FREE
In the second week of April, we leave Puerto Vallarta on a close reach, slicing through the brisk downflow from California and the Sea of Cortez. On board, I have two friends, Alex Thompson
