Kelly offered to drive me down to Santa Cruz where I was to disembark on my journey. Luckily the captain scheduled for us to leave on a Monday which means I could travel down on a weekend and bum a ride from a friend. I thought that I was going to have to take the Cal Train to Gilroy and figure out a bus from there. I have faith that I could have made my way from San Francisco to Santa Cruz by public transportation, I just think it would have taken me a full day. I never bothered to look into it.

Since Kelly was driving me, we could leave any time on Sunday and I could tarry tying up the last loose ends before I left: I put my gigantic mint-colored cabinet on the street, dropped off a couple boxes at my brother’s, bought guitar strings, and got cash from the bank. I even had time for one last brunch with my friends and a shower before I left.

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I’m finally doing it. I’m getting on a 55′ Catamaran and sailing down to Cabo San Lucas. I found a crew list posting online at Latitude 38 and found a skipper that would take me. The vessel is called Crystal Blue Persuasion and she will be accompanied by 200 other boats, starting in San Diego, as part of the annual Baja Haha rally.

There are many ways to travel and I’ve done most of them: airplanes, cars, trains, buses, and bicycles. All that leaves is motorcycles, boats and hot air balloons. Boating (more specifically, sailing) is probably the least popular method of transportation due to its expensive and inconvenient nature. It is also the most romantic (or so I’m hoping). Being propelled without motor on the open ocean and nobody and nothing but who and what’s on the boat. Historically sail boats were the only efficient way to transport cargo and men would labor on them for a meager wage. Now sailboats are toys and men sail them for recreation, paying for the opportunity.

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