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 signed up to crew on "Bronco", which involved three parts:
"Bronco" is now based in Mazatlan, so in order to participate in the Baja-Haha, we must bring the boat about 900 miles upwind and up-current to San Diego.
This is the main part of the "Ha-ha". My log-format writeup is at:
You can read a lot about what happened at the Baha Haja in the December 2005 issue of "Latitude 38" and in my excerpts in Part B below.
We return "Bronco" to its home berth in "Mazatlan".
All the photos are at: http://www.mgb67.com/baja2005photos.htm
These include the great photo of "Bronco" which was on the cover of the December 2005 "Latitude 38".
It's hard to explain, but our crew was mature...not in the sense of being older (which we were...60+ average), but in the sense of "emotional maturity", where one gets temporarily highly emotional (meaning "really pissed off") for whatever reason and then soon thereafter is back on a friendly track with the other people.
BajaHaha years of experience (including 2005):
- Mike 5
- Lynn 2
- Bob 8
- Ron 2
- Nels 6
- Average 4.6
And of course it helped a lot to have the crew include contractors, electrical contractors, riggers, navigators, mechanics, cooks, etc., who were quite adept at doing and fixing things.
- Experienced crew: An average of 4.6 Hahas, several on "Bronco"
All crew can sail boat, stand watch,
have harnesses ready, etc.
- Keep pushing: The skipper wants to win. We run the spinnaker
at night, in the fog, during dinner, etc.
- Forget the wind: Many boats keep "seeking the wind" by going
offshore. "Bronco" does DDW rhumb line to the
finish mark, staying on the track line almost
all the time.
- "Rolling starts": This year, we could motor the first hour
without penalty. Other boats chose to motor
offshore to "seek the wind". "Bronco" headed
south instead, to a big advantage.
- Regular spinnaker: "Bronco" has a traditional symmetrical spinnaker,
which, rigged and sailed properly, is best for
the DDW (Dead Down Wind) conditions of the Baja Haha.
Many other boats had asymetrical spinnakers, which
are easier to use but require a much broader wind angle.
- Great starts: Nels uses the autopilot on ETA mode to a
starting waypoint. We then use it to do
a countdown start. Very effective.
- Leg 1 start: Start leg 1 near Point Loma, not near
committee boat; start other legs near
committee boat.
- Creative rigging: Clew of spinnaker flaps too much in strong
winds so we rig a "foreguy" to control it.
Clew of spinnaker flops too much in light
airs on leg 3, so we rig whisker pole to
stabilize it....sort of a wing-on-wing.
- Ate & drank well: Happy, well-fed crew.
- No mechanical problems: Everything worked fine on the Haha,
the upwind bash from Mazatlan was truly a "shakedown"
cruise for fixing problem. Six days in San Diego
were busy fixing various problems, so we had
very few problems on the Baja itself.
- Autopilot: With wind angle. And its "sidekick" the generator.
We got to have all crew below for dinner while
the autpilot steers us across the finish line!
- Generator: What a joy to have an easily-started reliable generator.
Autopilot needs voltage? Microwave a baked potato?
Cook dinner in the electric frying pan? Charge
cell phones, DVD players, laptop, iPods?
No problema. (Ron fixed the blinking orange light.)
- Dinghy: Having a stern-mounted dinghy increases our windage
and our downwind speed by 0.05 knot, which adds
up to about one hour on the first leg into Turtle Bay.
+++ bronco@skymate.com works well, so we keep in touch if need be
+++ Simple Green in squirt bottle (smelly down below, but
very effective, better than most solvents)
--- Leaks in forward cabin
--- Water leaks into the cockpit instrument panel, shutting down
the display and the autopilot. The panel is loose and
easily bumped.
--- Cleating approach is not always correct....cf. Chapman and
Google. Barber-haulers slip under load due to missing wrap.
++++ Good medecines - Fresh antihistamines
- Bayer aspirin (adult, NOT Tylenol, etc.)
- Asthma inhaler (Bob, etc.)
+++ Throwaway white socks
+++ Blue pillow
+++ Blue blanket - it got a lot of use
+++ LOTS of white undershorts (x10)
+++ Having plenty of cash
+++ Having fresh underwear each day
+++ Having several good books (paperback of course)
++ White pullover I bought at San Diego YC
++ Red vest insert
++ Four pairs of sailing shorts (two light and two dark)
++ Having two pairs of sailing gloves and two sailing hats,
so I always have a (mostly) dry one
+ Thermal long johns
+ Thermal gloves
+ Grey long-sleeved shirt
- Not enough clickable ballpoint pens
- Firefly strobe / not used, heavy
- White floppy hat - pretty grubby (so replace)
- Need holder for toothpicks
-- Way too many ziploc bags
-- Too many t-shirts
--- Forgot to take email address list, so unable to send messages.
Boat names:
Glad to see that John Reilich was able to participate, though he (again) got on a boat that had severe electrical problems, but he was able to jump ship and get onto "Island Mistress" in Turtle Bay.
You can get a pretty good feel for our northward "bash" from my log:
Basically, we did the trip in the eleven days we planned, but we got bashed by the headwinds and got pretty wet. We were most happy to get to San Diego and take clothing and bedding to the local laundromat... Ron especially so.
Many problems with the engine, having to do with oil leaks and one "compression lock", probably caused by seawater getting into the engine air intake. Nels and Ron kept everything going, though they had to spend a lot of time doing it.
Marianne had a medical problem as we were approaching the U.S. border, and the U.S. Coast Guard did a medical evacuation at 9:30P in the dark. Quite exciting, with helicopters, USCG 80-foot patrol boat and a USCG inflatable.
This is a long and detailed story unto itself. After medical attention in San Diego and San Francisco, she recovered well and was able to fly down to Mazatlan to rejoin Bronco.
We arrived in San Diego and had several days there, to recover from the northward "bash" and to work on mechanical problems. We first stayed at the guest dock at the San Diego YC...the prime slip in the area and they to another guest dock at the yacht club before we moved to a marina.
We had two rental cars, which helped us run errands.
Sunday was the Baja Haha Halloween party....see photos.
On Monday, we got a great start with the spinnaker up. Great wind and sailing for a while, then no wind, fog. Drifted around quite a bit. Fortunately the ocean current is about 0.5K southbound, so we kept moving south, even in no wind. We are determined not to start the engine, so we keep sailing. After a day or two, the wind comes up and we get to sail, helped by the autopilot, so we can all go below and have a fine dinner while the autopilot steers us across the finish line for Leg 1 (to Turtle Bay).
The usual fine parties. We were interviewed by the editor of "Cruising World". It will be interesting to see their article.
For leg two, more of the same...great start, then wind dies...we eat well.
Fix a few things at Bahia Santa Maria, and party on "Bronco" with a fine lobster dinner and (the next day) a classic Pusser's rum party hosted by "Profligate" (see photos).
I thought I was helping by moving part of the bottled water from one jug to the next to reduce storage, but I got the reverse-osmosis water, the natural high-mineral spring water, and the regular spring water mixed up, much to the consternation of a few of the crew. (I drink water from the tanks, and Nels drinks a concoction of water, sun tea, and powdered flavoring.)
Cabo is Cabo. "Bronco" stayed at a slip in the marina. I stayed in my favorite hotel, "Casa Rafael", for a few days, and we all survived the various parties before the awards ceremony. We came in first, by the way and Nels received a special award (see "Spirit of the Ha-Ha" writeup below).
... boats also had decent night winds. But by dawn the second morning, everyone had lost the breeze. So while everyone raved about the getaway sailing conditions on the morning SSB roll call, most confessed they had resorted to their 'iron jibs'. Indeed, most of the fleet ended up motoring much of the way to Turtle Bay — in admittedly salubrious motoring conditions. Motoring is allowed in the Ha-Ha, but skippers who stick it out under sail are held in particularly high regard. Two Northern California entries : Nels Toberson and his Morgan Out-Island 41 "Bronco", and Michael Ganahl and Leslie Hardy and their 60-ft schooner "Millennium Falcon" refused to capitulate. "We had to wait out 42 hours of calm, but we never motored," said the patient Toberson.
As with the two preceding legs, the wind died during the evening, and most of the boats motored the remaining miles. This would not include, of course, those aboard "Bronco" and "Millennium Falcon", who had sailed the entire first and second legs, and who weren't about to fire up now. Despite the wind fading at night, Toberson reports that this year was the fastest he's ever done the third leg.
The Spirit of the Ha-Ha trophy, the most prestigious in the event, was renamed the Steven Swenson Spirit of the Ha-Ha Trophy this year. A year ago, the trophy had been awarded to Steven, his wife Roma, and young sons Leif and Gage of the Seattle-based Hallberg-Rassy 46 "Trinity". The family had been one of just a few boats to have sailed the entire course. They were the epitome of the capable, young, fun, intelligent cruising family. A few months ago. Steven died in tragic diving accident in Costa Rica.
With his widow Roma's permission, the Ha-Ha renamed the ultimate trophy in his honor. Steven was almost as passionate about the environment as his family. He was the kind of young man who always rode his bike to work, and out of principle rarely turned on Trinity's engine. As such, Roma asked that the trophy be awarded to the skipper who treaded the lightest on the environment.
Having given the award to Steven and his wonderful family, and just a year later in the same place having to award it as a memorial in his name, ripped up the Poobah. He wept as he tried to explain the significance of the award. Fortunately, there was a most deserving recipient : Nels Torberson and the crew of Bronco. This is the sixth consecutive Ha-Ha for the 66-year-old owner/skipper, and he motored for only two hours in the collective 4,500 miles. We congratulate him.
On WED 16 NOV "Jenny" reports: Planned to sail to La Paz today. Got about 20 miles north and the wind increased to 30 knots, coming from the north, which made the boat pound through the water. We decided to come back to Cabo. Two other boats had similar problems and came back too.
Latitude 38 reports: "Sometimes tragedy strikes when you least expect it. Such was the case late Sunday night (27 NOV) when Alex Heller's Long Beach-based Newport 30 Sea Ya was destroyed at La Paz - after enduring a very rough trip north from Cabo."
On 27 NOV, a "Mayday" reported capsized kayakers in the water in high seas. One died in the incident.
We took down the main and sailed with jib and mizzen, a good combination for the strong reaching winds. Unfortunately, we did the direct rhumb-line course to Mazatlan (directly east of Cabo) which meant that we got strong rolling seas across our beam, which made for extreme rolling.....I got sick three times.
On his late evening watch, Ron calls out "There is a boat close to us!". We had not spotted this commercial traffic, and fortunately it was passing us port-to-port only about 1/4 mile away. Whew! [We had thought there was no commercial traffic out here, but we probably should have had the radar on.]
Monday, I had a fine night watch...warm and with a full moon. In the morning, Nels and Ron vacuumed the bilge (small oil leak + water tank leak) "one last time". With all the strong winds, we made good time, and got to Mazatlan mid-day on Monday.
Mazatlan itself is a Mexican city of about 750,000 people (like San Francisco but without an area around it). Ron, Marianne, Lynn and I took a tourist bus tour of the city, which gave us a good appreciation for Mazatlan. Nels remained at the boat, working on the dinghy motor.
Mazatlan has the usual old town, a cathedral, shipping port and new high-rise hotels spread over several north-south miles of beach. And LOTS of new marina building at the north end of town. They want to be a big tourist-oriented city, but frankly don't have a lot more to offer than others. The channel into the northern marina area is extremely narrow and only safely passable in daylight with local knowledge.
Fun and good local restaurants are: "Ponchos" and "Purple Onion". I also liked the Italian restaurant. The breakfast buffet at Marina El Cid was fine, but hotel restaurants are blah.
Revised: December 15, 2005