The 2018 Baja Ha Ha had over 150 boats and over 500 people attending.  The overwhelming following of this regatta has been great.

On October 28^th the Baja Ha Ha took off with its usual fanfare in San Diego with all the boats joining the parade leaving San Diego Bay on the way to the starting area in the Pacific Ocean.  This year as with some years in the past when light air is predicted to stay through the day, a “Rolling Start” was initiated.  This means that participants can motor at 6 knot towards the destination of the leg until it is determined by the “Grand Poohbah” (Richard Spindler the founder of the Baja Ha Ha and fearless leader) that the wind is sufficient enough to keep boats moving at a reasonable pace.  Once the wind fills in and the Rolling start is ended, motoring time has to be logged and counts against your time.

This year the winds were unseasonably light for the first two start days so an executive decision was to have a rolling start for the first 24 hours, at that time it was then extended another 20 hours.  This did not deter many of the participants, at least those with inboard engines.  The Ullman Sails boat, a Beneteau 60, caught 2 yellow fin tuna, and 2 Dorado within two hours of daylight the first morning and packed the fridge and freezer for the rest of the first and second leg.

The first stop on the Baja Ha-Ha is Bahia Tortuga or better known as Turtle Bay.  It is named for the shape of the bay rather than the wild life.  Turtle Bay is the only coastal stop with civilization between Ensenada and Cabo.  Civilization is used loosely because it is a small fishing village with dirt roads and very simple life.  However it has one of the best baseball stadiums for Little League or Adult play that larger cities would have.  Completely green with Astro Turf and stadium seating out of the sun.

There are two events organized by the Grand Poohbah organizes in Turtle Bay.  First is the Baja Ha-Ha Baseball game where the cruisers get to try their hitting and fielding with and against the children of Turtle Bay.  Everyone gets a hit, no one strikes out, and legends are made.  This year a blind man hit and made it safe to first base and was later driven home by a grand slam from a 9 year old girl.  At the end of the game donated baseball gear is handed out to the local children as well as Halloween candy.

The second event is the Annual Beach Party of Turtle Bay.  The locals set up taco carts and bars on a remote beach and the Grand Poohbah plays music for dancing.  A volley ball net is set up and the highlight of the event is a women against men tug-a-war.  The women are now sitting on and 18 year straight victory streak.

The fleet departed the morning after the beach party and again with light air had very little sailing to one of the favorite stops Bahia Santa Maria.  This Bay has nearly no residence but the natural beauty and exploring options are almost endless.  Surfing one of the many beach breaks and the world class point break with no other surfers is one of the options.

There was enough sailing for a few boats to damage sails, so Ullman Sails did offshore repairs on these sails to get the cruisers to Cabo and to keep enjoying their trip.

The highlight of the stop in Bahia Santa Maria if not the entire Baja Ha-Ha is the Bahia Santa Maria Beach Party.  A band comes from La Paz, a 12-18 hour drive across ferries and beaches at low tide, and sets up a generator to power their sound system as they play classic rock and roll for tips.  Hundreds dance on a bluff overlooking the bay where the boats are anchored in this surreal setting.  Bahia Santa Maria offers a lot of great things to do.  Paddling through the mangroves that appear endless, hiking to great views of the Pacific Ocean and Bahia Magdalena, or the multiple surf breaks.  I always hate leaving this spot.

The morning after the Bahia Santa Maria beach party the fleet took off for Cabo.  The weather brought on nice sailing with a small dose of early morning fog.  The wind picked up to near 18 knots as boats passed the openings to the bays.

The wind held most the night and temperatures were near perfect.  This was the type of sailing that is typical on the Baja coast.

Early in the morning boats started to arrive in Cabo, slip assignments were slim due to sport fishing tournaments held around the same time.  The anchorage is great in Cabo so most of the boats anchored out and enjoyed a little more quite than Cabo San Lucas usually brings on shore.

The Awards party was a standing room only event with free beer and great stories from many of the participants.  There were awards for the most sailed, and fastest in each class as well as the special awards.  These ranged from who used the VHF the most to who caught the most fish.  The final and largest award is the “Spirit of the Ha Ha”, this is given to the boat and crew that give to the Baja Ha Ha the most.  This year the award for Sprit of the Ha Ha went to Ullman Sails for their continued support of repairing sails to get the fleet to Cabo San Lucas.

For four years Ullman Sails San Diego and Ullman Sails Puerto Vallarta have participated in this event and repaired sails at no charge to get sailors back sailing and enjoying their trip to Cabo.