Pusser's Helps Put The HaHa In The Baja

When Loretta of Natazak won a bottle of Pusser's for being the only dentist in the crowd, some doubted such a lovely young woman could really be a dentist. So Profligate crewman Robert was enlisted to play patient on the back deck of the cat, and the 28-year-old dentist playfully demonstrated her drilling technique with a bottle of rum.

Want to draw a sure crowd? Just announce a Pusser's Rum tasting with free hats for skippers and crew.

Kids enjoy the Baja too, but note the fine hat dad/skipper is wearing. Good to the last drop...

Turtle Bay Beach Party.

The Baja Ha-Ha which started October 31st, is an annual 750-mile Cruisers' Rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, with two stops on the way. By the time the beach party and awards ceremony have been held in Cabo, it's a two-week event.

The two stops in the Ha-Ha are Turtle Bay, about halfway to Cabo, and Bahia Santa Maria, just 180 miles from Cabo. Turtle Bay is a small, dusty - but charming - little fishing village. Bahia Santa Maria is uninhabited except for a few fishermen in the mangroves. Its rugged natural beauty is spectacular, however, and a few boats always drop out to spend a few extra days there.

The Ha-Ha is open to monohulls, multihulls - and even powerboats - over 27 feet in length that were designed, built, and have been maintained for offshore use. This year, in its 12 outing, the HaHa saw 530 sailors competing onboard 132 yachts.

Prior to the Wednesday start of the 175-mile Baja Ha-Ha Leg 3 from Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas, the Grand Poobah told the fleet of 530 sailors aboard the 132 boats that of the top ten sails of his life, perhaps three of them had come on final legs of the Ha-Ha.

Here's a few words to describe the last leg from Richard Spindler and Andy Turpin of Latitude 38:

"And darn if the weather didn't come through again. After an atypically good Bahia Santa Maria start, the breeze filled in from the northwest, and the rally fleet was treated to some of the sweetest sailing imaginable. As Steve Williams of the Santa Cruz-based SC 52 Natazak put it, "We were hitting a lot of 14s, and the conditions rivaled the best of what we've seen in any of our races to Hawaii."

"Oh yeah, baby, the wind was from aft at about 15-18 knots, the seas were almost flat, the fish were biting like crazy, and because the fleet was in the process of crossing the Tropic of Cancer, the wind and air were warm, warm, warm. Did we mention the brilliant canopy of stars?

"So as it turned out, the first 12 hours or so of all this year's Ha-Ha legs were nothing short of spectacular. Conditions did tend to peter out in varying degrees after those initial 12 hours, so only two boats - Nel Toberson's Morgan Out-Island 41 Bronco and Michael Ganahal and Leslie Hardy's 60-ft modern schooner Millennium Falcon - sailed all of all three legs.

"No matter if a crew sailed all of the last leg or did some motoring also, the arrival at Cabo San Lucas - aka Cabo & Gomorrah - couldn't have been more shocking. After the spectacular natural paradise of Bahia Santa Maria, which was the second stop, Cabo was like being hit in the face with a giant boom box. Every kind of boat imaginable seemed to be rushing off in different directions, the cruise ships were gushing well-fed passengers, time-shares and condos were being flogged with a will, and there were people everywhere.

"But when in Cabo, you might as well do as the Caboans, so the Ha-Ha fleet - outfitted in brightly lettered Ha-Ha shirts and hats, and/or neon orange Some Like It Hot shirts - hit the dance floor in unprecedented numbers. Young and old, male and female, no Ha-Ha fleet had ever hit the Squid Roe dance floor as hard and as long as this year's fleet. It was wild but clean fun. Then the alcohol kicked in, and some people - we won't mention any names - got pretty naughty in a Cabo sort of way."

And who was there to welcome these hardy sailors? Pusser's Rum...

Two boats have already signed up for next year's event and nd not just any boats, but the legendary S&S 80 Kialoa III that established truly international maxi racing, and the 65-ft S&S Alaska Eagle, veteran of two Whitbread Around the World Races. Both of these great yachts were donated to the Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship, under whose auspices they will be doing the Baja Ha-Ha.

While Kialoa III will be number one and Alaska Eagle number two in next year's Ha-Ha, no other entries will be accepted until the event - which will start on October 30 - is formally announced next May. Until then, the Ha-Ha is in hibernation.

Many thansk to Richard Spindler and Andy Turpin of Latitude 308 for their words and pictures.