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The 2010 Puddle Jump Stampede

Some folks prepare for decades to do the Puddle Jump. Others, like Louis and Alicia, simply get a spur-of-the-moment inspiration, like deciding they’d rather sail back to Oz than fly.

Tar Baby
©2010 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

From year to year, the tides of economic recession and political instability rise and fall, but apparently the lure of the South Pacific remains constant. Here at Latitude 38‘s ‘world headquarters’ boats are registering daily with the annual Pacific Puddle Jump rally, during which they’ll set sail from various points along the west coast of the Americas, all bound for the fabled South Pacific isles of French Polynesia.

In addition to West Coast-based Americans and Canadians, some members of this year’s fleet hail from as far away as New England, Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand. And a few crews — such as Tar Baby‘s — have a mix of nationalities. If we’ve got the story straight, Louie van Praag, 36, met his American wife Alicia, 27, a year ago while she was on a "working holiday" in Australia. She’d never been aboard a sailboat before Louie took her on a champagne sail in Sydney Harbor.

Today, however, she and Louis are about to cross 3,000 miles of open water from Mexico to the Marquesas, aboard their stout Westsail 32. While in California visiting Alicia’s family, they literally bought the little sloop as an alternative to the high-priced air fares they faced to get them back to the Land of Oz. We’re not sure their math would pass muster with a bean counter, but we certainly applaud their gusto in choosing a high-value way to travel.

At this writing, the van Praags and dozens of other crews are prepping their boats for the big crossing in anchorages all along the Mexican coast, as well as Panama, Ecuador and the Galapagos. More than 80 boats are currently registered.

We hope to meet many of these crews at our annual Pacific Puddle Jump Kickoff Party, Saturday, February 6 at the Vallarta YC (2-5 p.m.), located within Nuevo Vallarta’s Paradise Village Resort. And we expect to hear crossing tales from at least 50 boats at the annual Tahiti-Moorea Sailing Rendezvous, June 18-20. (Hosted by Tahiti Tourism and several partners, including Latitude 38.)

Stay tuned for further PPJ updates, as the fleet swells to record capacity.

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