It all began in the summer of 2002. I was planning on buying a small sailboat with my summer lifeguard earnings and, eventually, living aboard. This plan wasnÕt as simple as I had first thought, but it ultimately fueled an idea of much greater significance. After checking out the local classified adds I came across a 28Õ Cal. This small, fast and affordable boat gave me the freedom I had always dreamed of. Catalina and The Channel Islands soon became a haven for weekend surf trips and underwater adventures. After two years of traveling the California coast I began to dream about a bigger boat that could take me to far away foreign lands; full of un-crowded perfect surf. This dream became a reality when my father became interested in sailing. After considerably more research than the Cal we finally agreed on a Hunter 34Õ. This boat needed some work but the potential for long distance cruising was there. Together, we spent the good part of a year outfitting the ÒMai TaiÓ for just that purpose. The voyage was set to depart somewhere in the middle of January 2004. The plan was to take a semester off of from college l and travel as far south into Mexico as possible and still be able to get back in six months.

The next step in any voyage, whether it is a short or long one, is recruiting a competent crew. This may seem to be a relatively easy thing to accomplish, but it wasnÕt. First you must find three friends who can simply disappear for months at a time. Suddenly, your list of possible crewmembers dwindles dramatically. Next, you must make sure that everyone is compatible. They must have a high tolerance for frustration and be able to function efficiently, while living in cramped conditions. Most importantly, they must have some sailing experience or have the ability to learn quickly. Many of my friends and acquaintances showed enthusiasm when presented with the possibility of a sailing voyage, but very few actually were willing to make the commitment. My final crew list included three of my best friends; Mike Gunsaulus, Dave Roberts and Willy Asprey. Bill Asprey, WillyÕs father, was a major influence in readying the boat for the trip. He joined our crew from Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas and his sailing experience was invaluable. Although, there wasnÕt much sailing experience in the rest of this group, the crew quickly adapted to the sailing life and became competent sailors under Bills tutelage.

As ÒDÓ day approached each of us prepared in our own way. If everything went as planned we would be traveling 2,000 miles along the coast of Baja and Mainland Mexico, by sail with a small auxiliary diesel engine. Many mechanical, electronic and safety modifications were made to the boat to customize her to our specific needs. The weekend before we were to take off we decided to take ÒMai TaiÓ on a shake down cruise. This was done to make sure that everything held together in a real life test. We chose the Channel Islands as our destination for the trip. We spent four days around Santa Cruz Island and scored some excellent waves. This gave us the perfect opportunity to give our new boards a test run and mellow out our over stressed minds.

The boat was then stuffed to the gills with as much food and provisions as the cupboards and floor space would allow. We then, miraculously, managed to squeeze nine short boards and a long board into our sleeping compartments. All of our farewells were said and we set sail for Ensenada, a 24-hour sail away.

It took us two weeks of sailing, fishing and surfing to get to Cabo San Lucas. This would be our first real port of entry into Mexico. The weather had slowly improved as we traveled south and Cabo was a warm relief. Our mentor, Bill, flew back to the states at this point. We were now on our own with thousands of miles of unknown coastline ahead of us. We restocked and prepared for the next leg, which would mean crossing the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan, on the mainland. The one hundred and seventy five mile, 2 days and 2 nights, crossing would prove to be a struggle against foul weather, but an un-expected bonus lifted our weather beaten spirits. We were approximately half way across when one of our trolling lures was struck. Thirty minutes later Willy landed a 45 Lb. Yellow Fin Tuna. . Dave quickly gaffed it and with my help brought the struggling giant into the boat. It was huge! We cleaned the Ahi and had some excellent gourmet ceviche and sashimi in the middle of ocean. Twenty-four hours later we reached Mazatlan and relaxed in the comfort of the marina hotel pool, devoured more fresh Ahi and nursed our bruised and broken bodies back to health.

From Mazatlan we headed south along the coastline of the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Colima, Michoacan and Guerrero ending up in the harbor of Zihuatanejo. We experienced a wide variety of surf along this thousand-mile stretch of coast. The majority of the surf spots broke over long sandbars. These sandbars were created by river mouths, which fluctuate throughout the seasons.

Traveling along this barren coastline looking for surf was exciting, but difficult. When approaching a prospective surf break by sail boat a lot of variables come into play. Our only view of the waves was from the back, which gave us a skewed estimation of how big the wave actually was. We would then search for a spot to drop anchor, which was hopefully close to the main break and relatively safe. We managed to find some excellent spots, like Rio Nexpa and Troncones, which provided us with consistent surf and comfortable overnight anchorages.

It took us close to two months to reach Zihuatenejo. This bay is a haven for tourists and sailors alike, full of bustling bars and open-air markets. There is an abundance of surf spots in the area ranging from pounding shore break in nearby Ixtapa to really long point breaks a few hours sail away. We spent six weeks in Zihuatenejo surfing and enjoying the nightlife, but something seemed to be missing.

The crew and I had heard so much about the infamous Mexican Pipeline, Puerto Escondido. It seemed a shame that we had come so far without being able to surf this wave. Our time was running out and we were going to need the entire two months we had allotted to get home. The only option we could come up with was to take a bus to Puerto. We packed our surfboards and said good buy to our floating home and headed to the bus station. After a grueling all night bus ride we arrived early in the morning to a pleasant surprise. The swell had just picked up and it was double overhead. We spent six full days of solid surf and enjoyed sleeping in a real bed that didnÕt move. Life was perfect. The swell stayed consistently overhead the entire time and when it was too big and blown out we headed down the beach to the long left point. This vacation from the boat gave us a new appreciation for each other and the communal life aboard a small sailboat.

Once we were back aboard and our larder was restocked we headed north, the dreaded direction. The wind would be coming from the direction we wanted to travel. This would prove to be a huge factor throughout our, two month uphill journey home. The wind seemed never to cease. It unraveled our senses and frustrated us to the breaking point. We only found sanctuary in small, protected, coves and when we could get off the boat to go surfing. We ran aground on a hidden sand bar, spent thirteen hours traveling one stormy night and only covered two miles.

Once we reached Cabo we were relieved to be half way home, but the worst was still ahead of us. The stretch of coastline from the tip of Cabo San Lucas to Ensenada is known for being extremely difficult for the northbound sailor. We set out and left warm water and sun behind us. We were hoping to hit Scorpion Bay and maybe get lucky with an early summer swell. We arrived in the bay late by the afternoon, after a long sail from Magdalena Bay. When we got closer and dropped anchor we noticed that Sean Collins, the originator of Surfline, was out. If Sean was at Scorpion Bay we knew that we had hit a big south swell. We were stoked! Our spirits were instantly lifted and we quickly jumped into the line up to join the surf forecasting legend. We spent three days surfing all day and feasting in the evenings at the local taco stand.After Scorpion Bay we had little to look forward to. We stopped in Turtle Bay to refuel our diesel, restock food supplies and surfed nearby Natividad Island. We only scored shoulder high surf but even at that size the potential for perfect barrels was there. We were now in cold water, full suit weather. We looked back on the past few months filled with warm water surf and tropical starry nights with envy.

Living and traveling through a foreign land aboard a sailboat, with three friends, created a catalyst for fantastic times and wild adventures. Although surfing uncrowded perfect surf was our primary incentive for going on this trip we all agree that a lot more was gained. We read a variety of books, practiced guitar, became confident fish angler, met a wide variety of intriguing people and gained a deep appreciation for the complexities of our mother ocean. This trip has awakened my desire to make documentary films. I am currently editing through the footage of our trip and will ultimately produce a short surf documentary. Nowadays, the Mai Tai rests in her homeport and although, we are all pursuing separate interests a future voyage is definitely on our horizons.

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