Urdaneta found the Pacific return route by sailing away from the goal

Spanish ships had sailed west from Mexico to the Philippines since Magellan's expedition, following prevailing trade winds and currents that made the outbound crossing straightforward. The return trip east, from the Philippines back to the Americas, was a different problem entirely: the same easterly trade winds and currents that made the outbound leg easy pushed directly against any ship trying to sail the direct route home, and for decades no reliable eastbound Pacific crossing existed — a one-way ocean, as far as Spanish navigation was concerned.

Andrés de Urdaneta, an Augustinian friar and veteran navigator of earlier Pacific expeditions, reached Cebu in the Philippines in April 1565 as part of the Legazpi expedition and set out on the return voyage on June 1. Instead of pushing east against the wind that had defeated every earlier attempt, he sailed the ship far north first — away from the Americas, up to roughly 42° north latitude, well outside the belt of opposing trade winds.

Sailed north to pick up the Kuroshio Current and westerlies, trading distance for a favorable current that carried the ship home in 123 days.

Sailing north left the belt of opposing trade winds.

At 42°N, the Kuroshio Current and westerlies flowed east, the needed direction.

The detour traded distance for a route where wind did the work.

The favorable current made the indirect path faster than any direct attempt.

When a direct path faces a strong opposing force, look for an indirect route that first moves away to pick up a favorable current.

Urdaneta's tornaviaje ('return route') became the standing route for the Manila galleon trade, the Spanish crown's regular shipping line between the Philippines and Mexico that ran continuously from 1565 until 1815 — 250 years on a route discovered by deliberately sailing away from the goal to find the current that would carry a ship to it faster than fighting the direct line ever could.