Cruisers at the Crossroads

Every year between February and May roughly 400 cruising boats from all over the world head west from Panama to French Polynesia. Some are in the early stages of a circumnavigation and some are in the latter stages, while others are setting off on a Pacific circuit where they’ll eventually circle back to homeports in the Pacific Northwest or along the California coast.

These Pacific Puddle Jumpers, as we like to call them, are a fascinating group, each of whom seems to have an endless supply of cruising tales to tell. That’s one of the reasons we host an annual PPJ Send-off Party at the friendly Balboa YC, located just past the Pacific end of the Panama Canal.

One of the challenges of hosting a shindig for boats heading west from Panama is picking a date, as there’s no single day on the calendar when the entire fleet will be assembled. We picked last Saturday, March 10, which turned out to be a winner, as roughly 70 sailors attended from at least a half-dozen countries. You’ll meet them via mini-profiles in upcoming editions of Latitude 38. And this summer we’ll report on the fleet’s crossing experiences after learning the details at our annual Tahiti-Moorea Sailing Rendezvous, June 22-24. For a complete registration list of this year’s Puddle Jump ralliers, see the website.