The "Baja Haha" is an annual cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas (at the southern tip of Baja California), organized by Latitude 38. This year, a large turnout of over 140 boats participated. It is about 740 miles of southerly sailing.
I planned to participate in this year's "Baja Haha", but it turned out to be in two parts for me:
I flew to San Diego on Sunday to sail on a boat to Cabo (Moody 41 "Make It So..."). The boat was having severe electrical problems and we missed our Monday start. At noon on Tuesday, the boat was still not working well, so I decided to return home and rethink my vacation plans. I did have a great time in San Diego with college classmates and with talking with a few of the 33,000 PhD attendees at the annual worldwide Neurosciences convention.
I decided that I would fly to Cabo San Lucas anyway, join the beach party and take a vacation from the news and elections. Had a great time with new friends and with old friends, including "friends of Impetuous" from the bay area: Christian, Erika, and Eva, who together went sailing further to Puerto Vallarta on "Angel" (see below). Had a fun California departure get-together with a group of partying/vacationing ladies combined with retired HP managers (see photos below).
You can read a lot about what happened at the Baha Haja in the December 2004 issue of "Latitude 38".
There were many CAL boats there, but I did not get to meet them or visit their boats:
Erika, a "friend of Impetuous", sailed down there on "Isis", a fast Santa Cruz 52. See her readable and interesting writeup about her adventure at: Erika - Baja 2004. She continued south from Cabo on "Angel", a Cheoy Lee 47 from Alameda, along with other "friends of Impetuous" Christian and Eva (see photos below).
Two other members of the "Make It So..." crew also decided to fly to Cabo for the parties. Afterwards, John flew back home to the Bay Area, and James continued to Puerto Vallarta on "Nakia".
I was disappointed that I did not get to sail to Cabo for a sixth time, but I understand that. It would also have been fun to play guitar duets (Bach and Pachelbel) with Tony, who does very well on the guitar, in the style of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, but that might have driven the other crew members nuts.
It was a fine trip, made so by all the people around me.
+++ Seeing college friends Phemie, Ben and Ursula
++ 33,000 sharp neuroscience PhDs to interact with
++ White pants and matching belt
++ Long-sleeved checkered shirt
+ Quick taxi ride home from San Jose Airport - $50, including tip,
but worth it
+ Hotel was expensive, but with very nice rooms
Not so good
- Need to keep glasses TOGETHER
-- Not enough glasses straps of the kind I like
-- Too many t-shirts
--- Lack of cross-track autopilot on boat
See below for details.
The boat had a lot of problems. The skipper had worked hard to get the boat ready, but it was just not ready. The Moody boats themselves are sturdy and sail well; the rigging was fine. It was all the other things.
(This list is not intended to be nit-picky or harsh. It is very typical from my experience on other old/new small/large/very-large sailboats. As my wife says, "What did you learn?", so use these observations for your own learning. The skipper, Tony, gets an "A" for effort with all these challenges, again typical from my experience.)
Alternator failed on trip from Santa Cruz to San Diego. Barely made it in on battery power. Arrive Saturday mid-afternoon.
MON 3:20P receive a rebuilt alternator. Install it. Fills boat with smoke...burnt wiring. Take it back to shop; they rebuild it; install it; it burns again, setting a fire in the engine compartment.
TUE 11:15A New Honda 1KW generator is neat, though there is no ammeter to measure what it is doing and no circuit breaker or indicator to indicate that it is no longer supplying power.
Status as of noon Tuesday:
I thought that if just one more thing breaks, we will have to sail without power and hand-steer all the way....not a pleasant idea.
I decided that the boat and captain were not at all prepared for offshore at this time, so I left at noon. By that time (Tuesday) all the other boats had left, so there were no opportunities on other boats.
I said "I'll fly down to Cabo and see you at the party". John and James did just that.
After I left the boat at noon TUE, they departed that afternoon, without checking the weather. Unfortunately they and one or two other late-start boats got hammered by a storm system moving north, bringing 35-knot southerly winds and 10-12-foot seas. They eventually turned back to San Diego, where the remaining crew left the boat.
During this short trip, the following things happened.
For reference, "Impetuous" alternator is rated at 55 amps and showed 62 amps during 2004 test.
The alternator on the Moody 44 "Miela" is rated at 120 amps.
I talked one skipper when I got to Cabo, and he said the following:
Quite important for the downwind run to Cabo. If not connected to the autopilot, then at least the GPS should show cross-track.
[My standard of excellence is the brand-new Swan 56 "Celerity" checked personally at the factory by Ken Keefe of KKMI (Richmond, California). I learned a lot on that trip.]
More thoughts, after my return home:
FRI - Dinner at Mocambo /fluorescent lights, zero ambiance, but great food
- Met Catherina on street walking to Mocambo..she was on "Angel"
- Breakfast at marina - "Baja Cantina"
- 10:00A met the girls from San Jose at beach, they were moving slowly,
or as they say "a little tired in the morning" - see photo
- 1:00P Baja Haha beach party at Manga's
SAT - "Gardenias" tacos is closed for remodel, so ate next door.
- Marquez novels depressing, so I tossed them. Ditto for Oscar Wilde
- More genset/alternator talk with "Sea Angel" and with "Miela"
- CAL-34 leaves VERY ROLLY mooring for a better one further east
SUN - Breakfast at "Hacienda Resort"
- Tried sunset sail on square-rigger, but they were closed for the day
- Read my excellent book - "Mexifornia"
- James departs to PV on "Nakia"
- John flies home to Bay Area
- Dinner at "Mi Casa"
- Drinks at Edith's, with same blondes. Bartender had my drink ready!
- Back to piano bar at Casa Rafael, and shut it down
MON - My Verizon cell phone now works in Cabo - dial 011 + area code+ #
Things that worked well
+++ Having plenty of cash
+++ The piano bar at Casa Rafael
+++ mgb67.com cards (need more and fill them out completely)
+++ Having fresh underwear each day
+++ Having a good book
++ Carrying camera and pen and business cards at all times
++ Customs/immigration at San Jose Airport was quick and pleasant
+ Take baja map (8-1/2x11) on plane
!! Cell phone worked in Cabo
Not so good
- Daily jackhammers redoing the hill in Cabo. See "Hill" photo
--- Driving OUT of San Jose (California)airport was incredibly frustrating
--- Non-Kodak one-shot cameras combined with xrays spoiled lots of pictures
These photos were taken with a disposable camera, so the quality is not the greatest. They are about 55KBytes each)
Cherie and Jean are not going on the Baja Haha this year, but they never miss a chance to party. Cherie's web site with lots of pictures:
I like the following pictures she took (especially the "Wizard" one):
[I took many "bar pictures" but most of them got fogged by the airport xray machine. Or perhaps it was I who was foggy.]
Here are a few more pictures of people I recognize from the beach at Cabo, along with a story.... Girls on the beach, photo and story
And the "Here to Eternity" kiss, good photos of Isis, Bronco, and more.... More beach photos, sailing photos, and story
