The Taco Traveler

Though I feel in a hurry, I have to point out that I'm a champion at waiting for weather. Because of my late start from Seattle, I waited in Port Townsend for at least a week after the boat was ready, and then in Eureka for at least two weeks (with a visit to Seattle). And the San Francisco delay of a month or so wasn't due to weather as it was to a 10-day trip to see the boys. Here in San Diego the delay hasn't been weather at all, until now, but patience seems even more important when single-handing or heading out with inexperienced crew.
 
What I use mostly for weather is a site that Captain Rich turned me on to: Storm Surf. That link goes directly to the Wavewatch III weather models, which are built based on the NOAA Wavewatch III data from around the globe. Last night before we decided it wasn't worth it, I was looking at the three Baja charts (last table on the page) to see the local wind forecasts up & down the coast. Here's the forecast for Northern Baja (Ensenada). We could have been in Ensenada right now, but we would have been fighting 11-15 knot winds the whole way, and would have probably just motored.

For Central Baja, the wind is flukey until Friday, and then it comes out of the south for a few days, and on Sunday it's up to 32 knots. We would have been past the 32-knot section, but "racing" the weather is never smart. South Baja looks great, though Saturday and Sunday would have been blowing against us, by Monday everything is once again as it should be, blowing from the NW about 15-20 knots.

So I guess what I'm doing is trying to convince myself that staying here until after my trip to Seattle next week was the right thing. I know it was, but to rely so much on "forecasts" rather than getting out there and just dealing with it, makes me feel much less adventurous. But I want nice following breezes, and in this case, given everything else I've already mentioned, it just made sense to wait for them.

Right now Denali is playing his Charango on deck. It's a 10-stringed Andean instrument, and sounds very cool. After I go inform the dockmaster that I'll need to stay here another nine days (wonder if they're getting tired of me?), we'll go out for a sail. Well, at least it's a beautiful day in San Diego.