Crew Wanted: May need Baja Bash crew - late May

[TacomaSailor]

I am posting this for friends who MAY need two or three crew to help move an Island Packet 42 from La Paz or Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to San Diego in late May or early June.

They are very experienced sailors who are returning from their 2nd trip to Mexico. Their first trip started in Seattle, Washington and took them all the way to Zihuatenejo, Mexico.

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING:

They have asked me and another friend to help them. The two of us have done seven southbound Baja California sailing trips,four Baja Bashes, and eight years of Mexican cruising during the last 14 years. Neither of us wants to, one more time, beat our brains out for 10 - 14 days from Cabo to San Diego. I have been sailing since 1972 including 15 years of racing in the Pacific NW, and can say with certainty that my most miserable sailing experiences have been on sailboats returning from Cabo to San Diego.

160 miles from La Paz to Cabo - great down wind sailing
750 miles rhumb line from Cabo to San Diego
850 miles under the keel - trying to find comfortable sailing angle/into/out of anchorages
Upwind every inch of the way
Steady four to five swell right on the nose (when you are lucky)
Seven foot or bigger breaking waves on the nose when unlucky
15 - 25 knot head winds from 10 AM to midnight EVERY single day
95% motor sailing with reefed main at 15 degrees apparent

Most experienced Bashers haul anchor at 2 AM and drop anchor before 1 PM so much of the boat movement is in the dark

Once out of Cabo there is NO WHERE to get off and go home - your are stuck on the boat until Ensenada (if they choose to go in to Ensenada)

AND... safety and common sense frequently requires sitting in deserted anchorages for several days at a time waiting for NW winds and swells to diminish

You must be able to stand watch in the dark and hand steer for two hours at a time into stiff head seas and winds. This is not a trip for a novice!

You will pay all your own transportation expenses but food will be provided.

And, a valid US passport will be required.

If anyone is interested PM me or respond here.