Isla Cerralvo is a desert island in the Sea of Cortez that is 10 miles east across the water from La Ventana, Baja. I have been coming to La Ventana off and on for 10 years to kiteboard and have always wanted to paddle across to this deserted island, populated only by herds of goats. Larry thought I was going just for the goats.
This race was our chance to do the crossing safely with boat support. Warren knew the race director, Tim Hatler, and had talked him into letting us compete. Warren was the first and only surfski competitor in the crossing race last year.
Every year there are 2 races starting on the island coming back to La Ventana across a beautiful blue stretch of water.
A light wind day is best for the SUP race, and a windy day for the kite race crossing.
Warren and I awoke early on Thursday morning, Jan 20, to do the race with the SUP's. The SUP's were to be transported over to the island by pangas (the local fishing boats) at 7 am. The race director told us our boats were too long so we would have to paddle over to Isla Cerralvo first to get there in time for the 930 am race started. We were on the road by 6 am to the put in north of La Ventana.
The morning was stunning. The moon had risen behind us to the east. The black water was calm and there was a slight tailwind coming
off the desert. The water felt fairly warm even though the air was cool. We set off about 630 am and paddled through several schools of
flying fish that skittered across the surface toward the thin orange line on the horizon where the sun was to rise in the next hour.
I paddled the V10 over and Warren the V10 Sport. We planned to trade boats once on the island so that Warren would have a fast shot at improving his record time from the year before in the V10 of 1:34min for 10.34 mi, an average pace of 6.6 mph.
The sunrise was welcome and warmed us up for the rest of the relaxed paddle over. Warren guided us perfectly to the launch site on the
18 mile long shoreline. We landed on the large sandy beach after an hour and a half of paddling just as the first panga full of SUP's and
paddlers arrived. We hung out on the beach for an hour or so as the race organized.
The race start was beautiful with 20 colorful SUP paddllers on calm water. Warren and I took off with them at the gun. I was hoping to
keep him in sight in my V10 sport and enjoy the paddle back to the mainland.
We took off fairly fast with Warren cruising up to 7.0 mph and holding the pace. I took a slightly higher line, as we couldn't see our destination
on the other side. We used various landmarks on the desert mountains to guide us. After the race, Warren's GPS showed a perfect straight line to Baja Joes,
a small resort hosting the race finish line.
I fell into line behind Warren and kept him in sight as he pulled steadily away. The water was beautiful with just occasional chop in the morning sun.
We quickly left the SUP's behind and shot straight across the Sea of Cortez.
We were greeted with a large crowd of kiteboarding and SUP spectators who didn't really know we were in the race. They were curious about what kind of SUPs these were. One person said she thought they would be hard to stand up in.
Warren had a great race. He paddled the 10.3 miles in 1:29, an average pace of 7.0mph. I didn't have a GPS but came in 6- 8 min or so behind Warren for a pace of about 6.4 mph, a nice cruise in the Sport. I have to thank Warren for going with me and making it a great day. La Ventana is a stunning destination for paddling, kiteboarding, and relaxation in the winter.
