Despite all the pleading that pride would allow, the MVP of our passage from Seattle to San Diego (Chris Miller) couldn’t join us for the HaHa. And, that was a shame. Because the Baja HaHa is one of the very few events I’ve found that lives up to its hype. Each year – at the end of the hurricane season (around Nov. 1st) – over one hundred sailboats and crew converge on San Diego to join in a well-organized rally to Cabo San Lucas, BCS (Baja California Sur).

And, of course, when talking about a large group of sailors, the phrase “well-organized” is a relative thing: kinda like herding butterflies.

It had taken two and a half years of outfitting the boat – and particularly, learning to sail Aventura – before I felt the boat and I were ready for the trip. And, yes “outfitting” a well-loved (if previously benignly neglected) blue water sailboat is not cheap. I’ve heard that the best way for a guy to know if he’s cut out to be a sailor is to step into a cold shower with all his clothes on – and start tearing up $100 bills. If that’s “fun”, he qualifies to start spending B.O.A.T. (bring on another thousand) bucks.

So Chris was out and I really wanted an experienced third guy for the trip. One of the biggest risk factors when passage-making is fatigue. That’s what causes more mistakes than weather or break-downs combined. And, with a crew of three – everyone gets a full 8 hours of sleep every 24 hours. And, yes – that does require some initial gentle persuasion and scheduling; because in the beginning – nobody wants to sleep. We got very lucky. One of Chris’ best friends was a big, good looking rigger with a cool name: Brooks Dollar. In addition to being a rigger and an excellent hand on-deck – Brooks was previously trained as a chef. It doesn’t get any better than that. Brooks had just flipped a Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter he’d rehabbed and was ready for some time on the water.
The third member was Dale Geiger an Investigator for the Oregon Department of Justice. Dale’s sailing experience may have been limited; his enthusiasm for the trip was solid.

Dale is a very good friend and I will always appreciate his time and efforts in sailing Aventura all the way from Seattle, Washington to La Paz, BCS.
All 120 sailboats left San Diego harbor on Oct. 29, 2012 and headed south. The trip to the Cape (Cabo San Lucas) is broken up into three legs of approximately 300 miles, each. The first stop is Turtle Bay for a couple days of R & R after a 2- 3 day passage. Then comes Mag Bay – an almost deserted place that comes alive each year when the fleet arrives. As usual, there was a live band, beer and a great beach BBQ – complete with volley-ball, base-ball and everyone’s favorite pastime: watching newbies like us try to do their first beach landings (dinghy) in the surf.

The last leg ends in Cabo with a bash among what has now become a fairly cohesive group. Each crew member gets a certificate commemorating his status as a “Baja Ha-Ha Survivor”. Each boat from each class gets an award.

In keeping with the non-competitive nature of the rally, the first two finishers in each class get “real” first and second place awards. The rest of us all get a “Third Place” Ha-Ha “fish” award. Everyone always keeps the fish award.
But, as one might imagine the trip is all about the journey. There were no foulies and slacks were rare.

Sunscreen became a daily ritual – as did setting out the hand-retrieve fishing lines. I’ve never had more fish. We got it down to a science: One guy would be hauling in the next entre’ while another was turning on the salt-water wash-down pump and gathering the necessary cutting board, knife, paper towels and Baggies.

The third guy would start the grill and be sure the Yashida’s was handy. Oh, yeah – he had to keep sailing the boat, too. Seared Ahi, Ahi and Dorado (mahi-mahi) and Wahoo sushi and ceviche. We finally got sick of the tuna and quit using the lure the Ahi loved. It didn’t matter – they still bit. We gave away gallon bags of filleted fish at the beach parties. And Brooks’ ceviche was the rave.
One of the best moments of the trip came when there was a very steady – but light – breeze directly on our “six”. It was too light to do a “wing on wing”, although we tried. Improvisation and inspiration (OK it was Brooks’ idea) caused us to try something odd. We poled out the jib to windward and then raised the asymmetrical spinnaker to leeward. Two head-sails. And, it worked. Believe it or not, in a very steady 5 kts of breeze, we maintained 4 – 4.5kts Speed over Ground.

Magic. Later, I found out that a photo of Aventura with her dual head-sails made it into the Latitude 38 magazine (the magazine is the sponsor for the HaHa). It’s kinda the amateur sailor’s version of the “Cover of the Rolling Stone”.
We made it to Cabo, ate the burger, got the Tee-shirt –

(OK not THAT Tee-shirt) and said goodbye to Brooks. Dale and I continued on to La Paz. And the life in Mexico began.

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