CABO SAN LUCAS
OFFSHORE PASSAGE
BY Jeanne Leighton
2000

We just recently completed one of our ASA Offshore passage making classes. The group was composed of three of our local students: Manny Sans, Charles Lederman, and Clark Miller. One of the students was Aubrey Smith from Texas. The remaining crew was composed of Paul Miller our director and ASA Offshore Instructor Evaluator and myself, Jeanne Leighton manager of CSA. Our trip began in San Diego in a boisterous southerly wind. After three hours of slamming to weather, Paul said " if you are not having fun you are doing something wrong" and it was not fun. A quick retreat to San Diego and the next morning brought us perfect weather with the wind aft and surfing down the coast for Mexico. We enjoyed magnificent sunsets and sunrises as we were out shooting stars, planets, the moon and sun as our navigation was to be predominately Celestial. Our first landfall was Cedros.

A short time later we caught a beautiful yellow fine tuna for dinner. Before we took in our other line we snagged a 60 pound Ono. In that we had far more fish than we could possibly eat we slipped into Bahia Santa Maria and gave it to the cruisers anchored there. This was our only stop and we were on the way the next day sailing fast before a spreading front. With our spinnaker pulling us along at awesome speeds we slipped into Cabo San Lucas a day or so later. A good time was had by all, along with an extension of our sea legs and sailing education.