Latitude 38 Salutes the Puddle Jumpers

For nearly 20 years we’ve made great efforts to report on the annual westward migration that we call the Pacific Puddle Jump. Why? Because in the realm of cruising, the 3,000-mile passage from the West Coast of the Americas to French Polynesia is a substantial challenge — what you might call ‘varsity-level’ cruising. 

As we learn each year at our annual PPJ Sendoff Parties in Mexico and Panama, all sorts of people on all sorts of boats are attracted to this challenge. And we always find it fascinating to learn about the inspirations that led them to this bold adventure. 

Take the Daybreak crew for example. When we met Matt and Megan Martz at last Wednesday’s Pacific Puddle Jump Sendoff Party at the Vallarta YC, they explained that they were working in Alaska when they stumbled across the website of two guys who sailed around the world. "We didn’t even know that was an option," says Matt. "We’re from Indiana, so we’d never even been out on the ocean." That was five years ago. Today, they’ve become experienced sailors, their Port Townsend-based Nor’West 33 is fitted out for the crossing, and they’re rarin’ to go. At ages 29 and 30 respectively, Matt and Megan are among the youngest crews we met last week in Mexico.

This week, we’re hosting two similar PPJ Sendoff events in Panama. Yesterday’s PPJ fiesta at the Balboa YC drew a wide assortment of sailors, including a few who’d only been sailing for a year or two, and one couple who have been cruising since 1982, with periodic layovers to work.

Tomorrow we’ll meet another batch of Jumpers from many countries at our final 2015 Sendoff Party at Panama’s Shelter Bay Marina. Roughly 800 boats make the voyage to Tahiti each year — and we are sorely tempted to stow away aboard one of them!