Notes from the Baja Bash

We’re going to guess that if you are reading this right now it is probably because either you or someone you know is looking for information on the Baja Bash, the name given to the trip made by boat up Mexico’s nearly 800 mile long Baja Peninsula. You have heard all the nightmarish tales about how difficult the trip can be, and you want more information. Maybe you’re debating whether or not to make this trip yourself, hire a delivery captain, or even ship your boat home. Our hope is that this site will help be a unique resource for you, one that will give you a better understanding of what the Baja Bash is all about.


Since most of us make our journey south into Mexico in late fall, we do so pretty quickly, hoping to quickly get to warmer weather and water in the shortest time possible. In our haste we often don’t stop at all the little anchorages along the way, so when it is time to come back up the Baja a season or two later, we aren’t sure how we’re going to do it. How often will we stop? Where will we be able to safely anchor? Will there be a chance to provision? Will it be cold?

We did the Bash in April 2007. We were anxious about it, mostly because we were forced to make the trip during a certain window of time, and we weren’t so sure we would have optimal weather to do so. We didn’t think we’d have terrible weather, but we also knew it wouldn’t be great. We had heard all the stories and been told of all the possibilities. We knew it could be a heck of nasty voyage, yet we also knew that many before us had been blessed by calm seas and a fairly easy trek north. I guess you could say we were hoping to get lucky.

You’ve probably guessed by now that we weren’t so lucky. We had hoped to complete the trip home in 2 – 2 ½ weeks, but in actuality the weather was terrible and by the time we reached Los Angeles, the trip had taken almost 5 weeks.

We have included for you here some commentary about our Baja Bash experience…an excerpt from the book we published about our season of cruising in Mexico, “Trading Ordinary… For Extraordinary."  I wrote this excerpt while we were awaiting a good weather window in a little village named San Juanico, which is situated north of Mag Bay and south of Abreojos.  I was full of frustration at the time (as you will see when you read further), feeling irritated that we were stuck there, waiting for the winds to let up so we could head north.

"...Crazier still is that San Juanico seemed like a pretty cool little Mexican town. There seemed to be at least a few Americans living there, drawn by the prospect of good surfing out at the point. There is a small market and an internet signal that while intermittent, is still appreciated. Under less stressful conditions I think I could have been happy spending some time in this pretty Baja cove.

At about noon on Tuesday Paul on s/v Casablanca got anxious and made a run for it. In his favor was the fact that his boat motors along at about 7 knots, which is something s/v Godspeed and s/v Salty Dog couldn’t ever hope to accomplish in those conditions. Good for him, we were thinking. We were really hoping he could make some progress north. What a trooper he is - as a singlehander, I wouldn't want to be out there if in fact the winds ratcheted up to 30+ knots as forecast. Talk about miserable. Not to mention the threat of breaking something.

During our exile in San Juanico, I kept finding myself wondering how to explain all of the weather drama to our non-sailor friends... After all, it was hard for me to come to grips with how trapped we truly were, so I can only imagine what our friends at home must have thought. They probably thought that we were sitting in some beautiful anchorage, sipping margaritas, and laughing about how we had them all fooled. Hah. Fat chance. Just for "fun," here's a little list I compiled for them about what life on a sailboat bashing north up the Baja is really like:

1) Bashing up the Baja is… realizing that you won't be able to wash your bed linens until you get to Ensenada, which could be a couple more weeks! Hopefully your boat isn't taking water through the dorade and getting the v berth wet with salt water, since salt water doesn't dry very well. When you're already freezing from your overnight watch, the last thing would want to do is climb into a soggy bunk.

2) Bashing up the Baja is… gaining a new appreciation for modern plumbing. At home, you can shower whenever you want to or need to. This is not always the case on a moving sailboat. Not only could it be hazardous to your health, but you may or may not have hot water, and you know how much fun an ice cold shower is!

3) Bashing up the Baja is… a lesson in conservation. You have to monitor your water consumption every day, especially if you don't have a water maker. But even if you have a water maker, you can't run it all the time or in all conditions, so every drop counts.

4) Bashing up the Baja is… a good way to lose weight. If you run out of food before you get to Turtle Bay, you can't just run to the store for more! Provisioning well takes on a whole new level of importance, or you may end up like us, eating boxed mashed potatoes and creamed corn more than you ever wanted to.

5) Bashing up the Baja is… Keeping your trash to a minimum, because there may not be anywhere to throw it away for quite awhile. You learn to smash everything down to its smallest size, and stack aluminum cans inside one another like puzzle pieces. And rinse everything before it goes in the trash can, because if it stinks... you have to live with it for awhile!

6) Bashing up the Baja is… Monitoring your fuel consumption carefully, because you won't be able to pull into the service station for more. Out here, you can’t just call Vessel Assist if you run out of diesel, so you might as well start sailing for Hawaii, because you won't make it north to Ensenada without a good southerly breeze.

7) Bashing up the Baja is… Being cut off from cell phone service and realizing that you won’t die because of it. You'll be lucky if you have signal 25% of the time. You just have to hope your loved ones haven't sent out the Coast Guard since they haven't heard from you in so long.

8) Bashing up the Baja is… a good time to renew your love of reading. At home you have cable TV. On the boat you have movies on the laptop that you watch over and over and over. Either that, or crack the cover on one of those books gathering dust on the shelf.

9) Bashing up the Baja is… cause for dishpan hands. At home you have the luxury of a dishwasher. On the boat, I AM THE DISHWASHER... sometimes three times a day!

10) Bashing up the Baja is… wishing you were more sure-footed. Going to the restroom on a sailboat bashing up the Baja is reminiscent of being in the “Shake Shack” in the carnival scene in the movie “Grease”: The floor is moving up and down, you're trying not to go airborne, and there are lots of interesting things that can happen to you in there. And at home, or even on an airplane, you just flush the toilet after you go, right? On a sailboat bashing up the Baja, flushing the toilet requires serious skills... The ability to stand up and turn around in a small space, brace yourself so you don't go flying, pump the handle with one hand and hold on for dear life with the other.

11) Cooking in those conditions is great fun, as well. Beans are easy - they stick to the pot. Boiling water, on the other hand, is a recipe for disaster. Bashing up the Baja is hoping you won’t have reason to put your first aid training to use.

12) Bashing up the Baja is… realizing how much you truly can accomplish on little or no sleep, because you'd probably have better luck sleeping on a roller coaster than on a sailboat doing the Bash in 10 foot swells spaced 8 seconds apart.

13) Bashing up the Baja is… wishing your boat had a pilot house, because it’s COLD out there! Prepare to dress like you're vacationing in Alaska. Three layers are not really enough most of the time, especially at night. You certainly don't get to come home from the Bash with a tan. Wind burn maybe, but definitely not a tan.

14) Bashing up the Baja is… a humbling experience. Hopefully you aren’t someone who has boasted about never getting seasick. EVERYONE, even the saltiest sailors among us, get a little queasy in the kinds of conditions the Bash can throw at you!