What is the Baja Bash?

You can have a birthday bash, which is a great party on your birthday.
or…
A bully could bash in your face with his fist… that would hurt.

The Baja Bash is the second kind of bash.

Many consider heading from south San Diego down to Cabo San Lucas by sailboat a fun trip. In fact, they have turned it into a whole cruiser’s rally called the Baja HaHa. Going the other way, however, has been dubbed the Baja Bash. Why? Because the seas are rough, especially in 3 spots. Additionally, the wind and current are on your nose, pretty much the whole time (well the wind the whole time and the current, a lot). I recently completed my first Baja Bash as a delivery Captain, bringing a Hunter 420 north with another Captain, and the owner of the boat.

Often, deliveries are done with two people, however due to the nature of the Bash, the owner decided a third was a really good idea (or maybe his insurance company required three… that is happening more and more often). If you don’t know, a USCG Captain can work up to 12 hours in a day, so a crew of two would meet that requirement, however three experienced sailors made this turbulent excursion manageable.

Timing the weather, we raised anchor from Bahia de Cabo San Lucas as the sun was rising on a Wednesday and headed for what is typically expected to be the second roughest part of the voyage. That first several hours was pretty much what we expected. Our rotation was 3 hours at the helm and 6 hours “off”, so my first attempt to get some rest seemed like trying to fall asleep while riding a bull.

To be fair, it wasn’t actually that rough, but I struggled to find the right comparison and I refused to use AI to help me LOL. I was definitely bashed an inch or two into the air from my bed repeatedly during that time. To make it more interesting, (as if the seas were not enough of a challenge) the autopilot was not working properly and we chose to take advantage of this calmish (compared to usual) weather “window” and hand steer, rather than spending the time to try to repair the AP and miss that “window”, which would have set us back about four days based on the forecast. After two days, we pulled into a bay to repair the AP and rest a little before proceeding.

I’m not going to tell the whole story here, so if you are the type that likes to read part of a book and then skip to the end, you’re gonna like this. At approximately 10 PM on a Friday, the 10th day after waiving goodbye to El Arco, betweeen Playa de los Amantes (Honeymoon Beach) & Playa del Divorcio (Divorce Beach), we docked in San Diego and enjoyed a real home cooked meal and slept longer than 4 hours in a bed that was on a stable surface.

In case you’re wondering, I enjoyed the approximately 850-mile voyage. Sure it was challenging, but I was at sea, which is when I am at my happiest. And although conditions were rough, the three of us, and the vessel were safe at all times.

If you want some tips to help you make the Baja Bash a little easier on you and your vessel, I highly recommend this book. If you want to hire a licensed delivery captain to bring your boat up north from anywhere in Mexico, please reach out to me.

Fair Winds,
Captain Jeff