The annual West Coast Mexico migration covered in the pages and pixels of Latitude 38 has been on people’s sailing calendar for decades or even a lifetime. For every sailor who participates in the Baja Ha-Ha or other southbound sail, there are dozens more who stay behind and say. “Maybe next year . . .”

Here at Latitude, we’ve watched from the docks as the Ha-Ha fleet makes its way down the coast to gather in San Diego for the kickoff parties and parade. We usually have a small delegation of Latitude crew who travel to San Diego to wave goodbye, no doubt with a good dose of sailors’ envy in their hearts. Occasionally, one of us manages to hop aboard and wave from the deck instead of the dock — but for the rest of us, the work continues as we keep you up to date with the fun in the sun.

Some might say that reporting on the swimming, snorkeling, beachcombing and relaxing can be almost as good as being onboard, as we live vicariously through the adventures of others. In reality however, it stirs the fires and makes us even more determined to hitch a ride on a southbound boat at the next opportunity. This leads us to ponder the idea of visualization. If one spends enough time thinking about, writing about and reading about sailing to Mexico, is it possible to manifest oneself onto a sailboat that’s cruising among the warm, exotic-sounding locations of La Paz or Puerto Vallarta and perhaps island hopping to Isla Espirito Santo and Isla Partida?

Recently, one of our own was presented with the opportunity to spend the winter chartering aboard the local educational sailing vessel Seaward.

What was the response? Well, you might have read our ad this week looking for a new team member. “It’s only for three months!” Said every sailor, ever.

“‘If poet John Milton had ever made it to Puerto Vallarta, he might well have penned a sequel to his epic poem Paradise Lost — this one instead called ‘Paradise Found.'” This is the opening line of a piece written by John Skoriak after he chartered a voyage on Call of the Sea’s schooner Seaward in 2015. Could this have been the catalyst that prompted our office marketing-guru to make the jump? Perhaps. But more likely, it’s simply one of many signs that presented themselves in a series of events that amounted to a serendipitous collusion of Neptune and the sailing gods to lure an otherwise solidly-grounded magazine employee to become . . . what can we say . . . a sailor.

“This is what sailors do,” she added while unsuccessfully stifling the huge grin on her face.

We can’t argue with that. In fact, being a sailor is one of the reasons we all work at Latitude 38. Being the West Coast’s favorite sailing magazine takes hard work, much of which involves going sailing. How could we possibly share with you the nuances of the wind in the sails, the water under the hull and the camaraderie of crewing if we didn’t ever step out of the office to experience these sensations? It would be like asking a child to tell us what it feels like to be an adult.

Still, the conundrum remains: Sailors sail, and when we’re not sailing we’re encouraging everyone to sail. So while we wish our newest — and shortest-staying — team member fair winds and following seas for Mexico, we also hope she will return and once more grace our shores to help us share the stories of the sea with you.