When Can I Sign Up for PPJ 2017?

Our Pacific Puddle Jump Recap article in the current (September) issue of Latitude 38 has prompted a number of Tahiti-bound cruisers to ask "When can I sign up for the 2017 Jump?" The short answer is, sometime in late October or early November at the official PPJ website.

If you’re unfamiliar with Latitude 38 events, let us explain that the PPJ is fundamentally different from next month’s Baja Ha-Ha rally, which sets sail from San Diego October 31 bound for Cabo San Lucas. Unlike the BHH, where all boats depart on the same day from the same location, and a committee boat shepherds the fleet with mandatory daily roll calls and weather info, the (free-to-join) Puddle Jump is a ‘rally’ only in the loosest sense of the term. Each year between late February and early May, Puddle Jump boats from many nations depart for French Polynesia independently from a variety of locations along the west coast of the Americas. Along the way, many fleet participants keep in touch via HF radio nets, but often they don’t meet in the flesh until they arrive in the archipelagos of Polynesia.

For well over two decades, we’ve had a fascination with this annual cruiser migration, as the ‘jump’ to those fabled isles requires sailors to cross 3,000-4,000 miles of open ocean nonstop, without any possibility of a pit stop along the way. Many who make this passage are highly experienced cruisers and, as you might imagine, possess a wealth of salty tales that we love to share with readers. 

Dates have not been set for our annual PPJ sendoff parties in Panama and Puerto Vallarta, but they will be set soon. The tentative time slot for the Puddle Jump’s arrival celebration, the Tahiti-Moorea Sailing Rendez-vous, are June 23-25 (hosted by Tahitian partners and Latitude 38). And if you happen to be in San Diego — for the Ha-Ha or otherwise — be aware that we’ll be giving a PPJ seminar Saturday, October 29, 5-7p.m. at the Shelter Island West Marine (1250 Rosecrans). 

On the PPJ site, you’ll find lots of other pertinent info on the ‘bucket list’ crossing to French Polynesia, much of which will be updated as soon as our webmasters come up for air.