SmoCo Sailingvideo
[Ep 50] When Weather Dictates Your Moves | Sailing To San Carlos & Las Cocinas
February 17, 2026 · 17 min · 563 views · Sea of Cortez
Cosmo’s bow cuts choppy turquoise water toward rocky cliffs.
What this video covers
Armand and Liya depart Bahia San Pedro aboard their boat Cosmo in 20-knot winds with whitecaps, navigating a rock-framed channel entrance with current before conditions ease enough to shake out reefs and reach 5–5.5 knots.2:01 After anchoring in San Carlos, a midnight crossing of the Sea of Cortez to Bahia de Los Angeles gets cancelled when a Chubasco system — 26 mph winds, 35-mph gusts — develops directly on their intended route.10:28 Lightning and thunderstorms hit at exactly midnight, confirming the call to wait.12:09 Weather planning uses Windy, PredictWind, NOAA radar, and LuckGrib, with LuckGrib specifically used to overlay wind barbs, pressure lines, and GRIB model data hour by hour to assess pattern stability.10:00 A separate Chubasco-specific report flags two localized storm cells that standard forecast maps miss.11:19 The next morning, with the system cleared, they sail 30 miles north along the Baja coast to Las Cocinas instead, arriving in flat water at 13-foot anchorage depth as the only boat there.12:31 Recent anti-fouling work noticeably improved boat speed.16:18 Letting weather dictate the route rather than forcing a pre-planned crossing produced both a safe outcome and the best sailing of the passage.
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