Puddle Jumpers Prepare to Pounce

This month, in anchorages from San Diego to Panama, dozens of cruisers are making final preparations for the ‘jump’ to French Polynesia — the Pacific Puddle Jump. 

As regular readers know, we’ve been reporting on this ambitious annual migration for more than 20 years. And that tradition continued this month as we caught up with more than 100 boatloads of international voyagers at three festive events: the Mexico Pacific Puddle Jump Sendoff Party at Mexico’s Vallarta Yacht Club (March 5), and the South Pacific Bon Voyage events in Panama at the Balboa Yacht Club (March 8) and at the Shelter Island Marina (March 10).

Meet the fleet: In Panama we met crews from nearly 80 boats. As you can see in this clip from our Balboa YC event, they hail from many countries.

Who are these sailors? As always, their backgrounds are highly diverse, as are the boats they sail on. We met young adventurers in their twenties and thirties, as well as senior sailors who are on their second or third circumnavigation, plus wide-eyed kids as young as three or four years old. The overarching goal of every crew, of course, is to ride the easterly trades west to the storied isles of Tahiti and beyond, and soak in the tranquil beauty of their tropical lagoons.   

From Mexico — Banderas Bay is the primary departure point for West Coast sailors — it’s roughly 3,000 miles to the first possible landfall in the Marquesas (the easternmost of French Poly’s five archipelagos). From Panama, it’s more like 4,000 miles, which is why many Panama Puddle Jumpers stop at the Galapagos Islands en route.

In the April issue of Latitude 38 magazine we’ll introduce you to a variety of fleet members. Look for a recap of the fleet’s crossing experiences sometime this summer. We wish them all safe and exhilarating passages.