Stats- Sailed/motored over 2,000 nm in 25 days. We spent approximately five days at anchorages or at a slip in Cabo thus averaging 100 nm/day over the 20 days we were at sea. My son Jason and I were the only two to sail both ways and we had Doug as crew for the trip down and Larry as crew for much of the return trip. Jason described the trip as the best of times and the worst of times. I totally agree but I will focus mostly on the "best" parts.
Pre-trip
Well this year has been a year of sailing for me. In August of this year my son, Jason, stated that he thought he would like to sail with me in the 2014 Baja Ha Ha. Read the previous blog about getting the crew together and it will bring you to this picture above. The rally started on Oct 27 but we left and sailed to San Diego on the 25th.
I can't even explain how I became so engrossed in planning, buying safety equipment, getting all of the Mexican paperwork prepared and trying to cross every "T" and dot every "i". My wife swears that I was totally absent for more than a month before departure and I would say that it was probably two months.
Sailing to San Diego was a piece of cake with only 81 miles. We left at around midnight and managed to sail most of the way to San Diego. Wind was light but the sky and ocean were beautiful.
As we slowly sailed south, we just made our self imposed deadline of getting there before dark.
The next morning was composed of Doug and myself motoring our under inflated inflatable to the Skipper's meeting at West Marine. Right after the meeting we beat it back to the boat and decided to have the wives (Peggy and Mary) meet us near the boat and drive us back to the afternoon party. It was fun, but we were all really focused on getting out of there and sailing.
The top picture shows me standing at the bow and cannot even start to show the excitement that filled our boat. Watch the Youtube video at the bottom of this and it gives you a better idea of our anticipation and relief at starting this trip. There were a total of 170 boats registered but only about 135 actually started the trip in San Diego. Some began from Ensenada, Mexico, after getting all of their paper work done there. Thank God I had all of our paperwork done before leaving Long Beach.
Jason and I instantly became great friends with Doug and thoroughly appreciated his attitude and friendship. We nick named him "All in Doug". He was as excited as anyone and he never had to be asked to do anything. From doing the dishes after meals to wrestling the whisker pole in the dead of night, if something needed to be done, he did it.
Communication was done with the YBtracker that I had purchased before leaving. We could send text message type communication to our three wives and they could follow our position every six hours on a web based map. I would highly recommend this device and will use it on all future travels. Oh yes, there was a time on our return trip that I let the charge on the unit drop and it stopped sending for about 46 hours. Wives were trying to figure out if we had sunk or if we had just run away with some senoritas but Mary just prayed for our safety and trusted that I was a competent sailor in a competent boat. They were relieved to finally get our messages again and know that we were fine.
I will not go into a lot of detail except to say, watch the Youtube video when you get a chance. You will find the link at the end of this.
Stop 1- Bahia de Tortuga- 340 nm south of San Diego. We loved this sleepy little Mexican town that had no paved road but was filled with friendly people who were happy to have our business. It seems that part of their canning industry had closed down and this group arriving once a year was very welcomed.
We were all happy with being delayed here for one extra day to watch tropical storm "Vance" and were not quite as happy to spend another day after that when Vance turned into a hurricane. Let's just say that we had explored all parts of this town by the time we finally set sail.
Each year the locals play the fleet on a dusty dirt baseball field. This year, they had just put in a modern, green, beautiful new field. The game was fun as there could be as many as 15-20 people/team on the field. Every body (even little kids) got a hit and no one kept score. Teams come from all over to play on this field now.
Latitude 38 magazine sponsors the Baja Ha Ha every year and this was their 21st year of making this trip.
The weather had been getting slowly warmer as we headed south and it was perfect here in this beautiful bay.
One thing that has to be mentioned is how all of us in the Ha Ha were experiencing the same thing with this trip. We bonded easily and made friends that we will probably keep the rest of our lives. Jason and Doug were making friends and everyone loved my two favorite crew members.
The ariel pictures were taken with a helicopter type radio controlled device with a GoPro camera attached.
During the next leg of the trip, we had some of the best sailing and highest winds. The winds were from the rear of the boat so sailing was generally very comfortable. The swell height ("Oh swell") was somewhere over ten feet high at times and at one point when I relieved Doug from his watch, our dinghy rode three consecutive waves up the back of our boat higher than Tor, our monitor wind vane. As the back of my boat gently lifted, the dinghy (we were pulling the dinghy behind the boat) would stretch out on it's tow rope and get ready to do it again.
Watch system- There is a lot written about how to do this but we settled into three watches during each night. First watch became Doug's and was from 9:00PM to midnight. Then came my watch from midnight to 3 AM and finally Jason's watch from 3AM till 6 AM. For safety we ran our electronic chart plotter so that we could see exactly where we were and also we ran our radar with a guard zone of four nautical miles. If any land, boats or ships came within 4 miles of us, an alarm was set off. I believe and trust this system.
Stop 2- Bahia Santa Maria
This was a beautiful bay approximately 3/4 of the way to Cabo. There is no town here and except for this one time a year, the bay is mostly vacant. Our sponsors had arranged with some locals that lived a short 90 miles away to prepare food and live entertainment for our fleet. Even with the delay due to hurricane Vance, they were there when our fleet pulled in. Great food, music and company
Due to the delay in Bahia de Tortuga we arrived one morning and left the very next morning. A short, but fun day on the beach.
Our next leg of the trip took us to Cabo San Lucas our final destination south. It was the shortest of the legs and took us only a day and a half from Bahia Santa Maria. Here are some pictures of Cabo.
Notice our crazy friends in the background who were helping us make the picture more interesting. We loved them all.
Enjoy the video of the trip on Youtube at-
http://youtu.be/UYeAkgM9UzQ
 |
| BAHA HA HA 2014 START |
Well this year has been a year of sailing for me. In August of this year my son, Jason, stated that he thought he would like to sail with me in the 2014 Baja Ha Ha. Read the previous blog about getting the crew together and it will bring you to this picture above. The rally started on Oct 27 but we left and sailed to San Diego on the 25th.
I can't even explain how I became so engrossed in planning, buying safety equipment, getting all of the Mexican paperwork prepared and trying to cross every "T" and dot every "i". My wife swears that I was totally absent for more than a month before departure and I would say that it was probably two months.
Sailing to San Diego was a piece of cake with only 81 miles. We left at around midnight and managed to sail most of the way to San Diego. Wind was light but the sky and ocean were beautiful.
 |
| Sun rise on the way to San Diego |
The next morning was composed of Doug and myself motoring our under inflated inflatable to the Skipper's meeting at West Marine. Right after the meeting we beat it back to the boat and decided to have the wives (Peggy and Mary) meet us near the boat and drive us back to the afternoon party. It was fun, but we were all really focused on getting out of there and sailing.
The top picture shows me standing at the bow and cannot even start to show the excitement that filled our boat. Watch the Youtube video at the bottom of this and it gives you a better idea of our anticipation and relief at starting this trip. There were a total of 170 boats registered but only about 135 actually started the trip in San Diego. Some began from Ensenada, Mexico, after getting all of their paper work done there. Thank God I had all of our paperwork done before leaving Long Beach.
Jason and I instantly became great friends with Doug and thoroughly appreciated his attitude and friendship. We nick named him "All in Doug". He was as excited as anyone and he never had to be asked to do anything. From doing the dishes after meals to wrestling the whisker pole in the dead of night, if something needed to be done, he did it.
Communication was done with the YBtracker that I had purchased before leaving. We could send text message type communication to our three wives and they could follow our position every six hours on a web based map. I would highly recommend this device and will use it on all future travels. Oh yes, there was a time on our return trip that I let the charge on the unit drop and it stopped sending for about 46 hours. Wives were trying to figure out if we had sunk or if we had just run away with some senoritas but Mary just prayed for our safety and trusted that I was a competent sailor in a competent boat. They were relieved to finally get our messages again and know that we were fine.
I will not go into a lot of detail except to say, watch the Youtube video when you get a chance. You will find the link at the end of this.
 |
| You can see all of our white dinghies on the beach. |
 |
| They actually had a brand new (Astroturf) baseball field. |
 |
| The Ha Ha fleet having a beach party potluck. |
Each year the locals play the fleet on a dusty dirt baseball field. This year, they had just put in a modern, green, beautiful new field. The game was fun as there could be as many as 15-20 people/team on the field. Every body (even little kids) got a hit and no one kept score. Teams come from all over to play on this field now.
Latitude 38 magazine sponsors the Baja Ha Ha every year and this was their 21st year of making this trip.
The weather had been getting slowly warmer as we headed south and it was perfect here in this beautiful bay.
One thing that has to be mentioned is how all of us in the Ha Ha were experiencing the same thing with this trip. We bonded easily and made friends that we will probably keep the rest of our lives. Jason and Doug were making friends and everyone loved my two favorite crew members.
The ariel pictures were taken with a helicopter type radio controlled device with a GoPro camera attached.
During the next leg of the trip, we had some of the best sailing and highest winds. The winds were from the rear of the boat so sailing was generally very comfortable. The swell height ("Oh swell") was somewhere over ten feet high at times and at one point when I relieved Doug from his watch, our dinghy rode three consecutive waves up the back of our boat higher than Tor, our monitor wind vane. As the back of my boat gently lifted, the dinghy (we were pulling the dinghy behind the boat) would stretch out on it's tow rope and get ready to do it again.
Watch system- There is a lot written about how to do this but we settled into three watches during each night. First watch became Doug's and was from 9:00PM to midnight. Then came my watch from midnight to 3 AM and finally Jason's watch from 3AM till 6 AM. For safety we ran our electronic chart plotter so that we could see exactly where we were and also we ran our radar with a guard zone of four nautical miles. If any land, boats or ships came within 4 miles of us, an alarm was set off. I believe and trust this system.
Stop 2- Bahia Santa Maria
 |
| Doug lowers the mainsail in preparation for anchoring. |
 |
| Our 2014 fleet members having a great time. |
Due to the delay in Bahia de Tortuga we arrived one morning and left the very next morning. A short, but fun day on the beach.
Our next leg of the trip took us to Cabo San Lucas our final destination south. It was the shortest of the legs and took us only a day and a half from Bahia Santa Maria. Here are some pictures of Cabo.
 |
| Myself (left), Jason (middle) & Doug (right) |
Notice our crazy friends in the background who were helping us make the picture more interesting. We loved them all.
Enjoy the video of the trip on Youtube at-
http://youtu.be/UYeAkgM9UzQ
