Deb here with impressions on Cabo San Lucas. It's absolutely awful. The most obnoxious, loud music blasting, thumping for 20 hrs a day. Jet skis racing through the already rolling anchorage. charmless. crowded even in the off-season. will return only under the greatest duress.

Cabo de San Jose

We're now happily parked at Puerto Los Cabos Marina, getting to know lots of Ha Ha'ers in a laid-back, friendly environment. Lots of cool sculpture, nice nice beaches. The lovely provincial town of Cabo de San Jose is nearby and a world removed from the pit of Cabo San Lucas. San Jose has beautiful old restored buildings with galleries, cafes, interesting people, wonderful atmosphere, great food, and even YAY craft beer. waiting for weather window to make 280 mi crossing to Nuevo Vallarta, probably this weekend.

rally, not race

Deb here. After belaboring the point for weeks that this was a RALLY, not a race, I am going to mention that---ahem---we were first in our division. Mostly due to our "soul" sailing, meaning we sailed the whole thing. Strangely enough, I agreed to this without duress.

Fed Deb and I (and friends) for three days!  Yum.  But we need a bigger fish fileting table.

Fish on!

sooo as we were sailing in to Bahia Santa Maria, had light wind so threw out the handline and were amazed to catch our first fish on Brainwaves, a 48 in mahi mahi, about 3x as long as our fish prep table. Also need longer filet knife---

Howdy from Cabo San Lucas. It was a bit surreal coming into this highly condo' city after 10 days on the ocean. The water is gorgeous, but it's a loud, brash place. We left San Diego with lovely sailing weather and figured out that 2hr watches at night worked well for us. Deb easily slept during her off-watches, Jimbo not so much. Maybe because less experienced Deb woke him up when things got a bit dicey. Which was quite often in her estimation. The wind vane steerer was wonderful, as were the twin jibs in our downwind in big big seas nights. The radio chatter reminded us we weren't alone out there though we seldom saw other boats. Though it was tempting when the wind died, we didn't turn the motor on, even to charge the battery as Bob's most marvelous solar panel got us all the power we needed. After 3 nights and 350 miles, Bahia de Tortolas was a great sight. Plenty of room for 100 boats to anchor. Breaching humpback nearby, the only marine life we saw other than flying fish. Friendly little town, cold beer.
And on to Bahia Santa Maria, another couple of hundred miles downwind, 2 nights with variable conditions. Fast little Brainwaves stayed close to the big boys, passing lots of boats, but when the wind died a few times, we limped along instead of turning the motor on. Does this sound like a Jimbo thing or what?? Those twin jibs did prove to be the ticket when going dead downwind, worked well (maybe better) even with the main reefed or down.  Deb Liked this a lot--what's not to love about little possibility of broaching or unintentional jibes (of which there were plenty in light winds.)
Bahia Santa Maria---Aaaah. Incredible scenery. Gorgeous water. Tiny fishing village in the mangroves. Party there completely imported from La Paz. Super band, fun fun folks.
Last leg was only 1 nighter and was by far the most challenging. Big quartering seas, lumpy, dead downwind, 18-25 kt winds. A very bad time for the wind vane steerer to explode. On Deb's watch, of course. And at night, of course. Not fixable with stuff at hand so we were on 1 hr watches hand steering for 10 hrs at night and all the next day. Whew. And then the wind died within 20 miles of the finish line. Aggghhhh! Still we did not turn the motor on. It was dark by the time we came into the bright lights and tight anchorage in Cabo San Lucas. Very weird--like Vegas on the water. Excellent beach party put on by Ha Ha folks. Participated in the passionate kiss in the surf contest a la From Here To Eternity. Didn't win and spent the rest of the party with sand in my suit, but after many g&t's,  it didn't matter at all.
The boatyard here has been terrific getting a new part welded to not only fix our wind vane steerer, but improve on the design to take more stress without failing. Must have since our other self steering failed (hydraulics) on the 3rd day out.
Have made lots of friends we'll no doubt run into all over this side of Mexico. Especially enjoying terrific couple Grant and David from Portland OR. We are definitely not done with those guys yet!
We're off to Cabo San Jose tomorrow, only 20 miles from here, but nicer Marina, quieter town, good place to provision and hang out until the weather is better to cross over to Nuevo Vallarta.
Cheers!

More news via 'Lectronic Latitude: Fleet started leg 3 early this morning. Blowing like 'stink', as Jim would say and expected to be a very fast leg 3. Brainwaves should be in Cabos by Friday.

News that the Ha-Ha fleet is in Bahia Santa Maria

From 'Lectronic Latitude: The Baja Ha-Ha fleet is safe and sound in Bahia Santa Maria after great sailing for much of the 260-mile second leg of the rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. Leg 2 of the Baja Ha-Ha rally takes cruisers from Bahia Tortugas to Bahia Santa Maria. Spread out over 100 miles, the 111-boat fleet met a variety of conditions on the ocean between Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria. Some boats saw up to 30 knots from the northwest or northeast, while others drew the no-wind card and had to motor part of the way. Crew aboard the mothership, Profligate, report that the 63-ft catamaran sailed about two-thirds of the way. Fleet members are relaxing in sunny Bahia Santa Maria today, enjoying various activities including hiking, surfing, kayaking and paddleboarding. The sailors are looking forward to tomorrow's big rock 'n' roll beach party sponsored by the local fishermen. The final leg will begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, with boats trickling into Cabo on Thursday. Fair winds are predicted, with no tropical disturbances on the horizon. - latitude / andy

Turtle Bay

Bob got a call from Jim yesterday and they've made it to Turtle Bay! It sounds like it was a good sail, although it had its challenging moments. They haven't figured out how to make sail mail work with the SSB, so can't email yet. Glad to hear that the first part of the adventure went well.

-Kristen

Almost there

Howdy all,
We're in lovely San Diego harbor, really enjoying the weather, the camaraderie with other Ha Ha'ers at the transient docks, and the incomparable IPAs at Stone and Ballast Point breweries. We are most grateful to Long-time friends Jim and Leah, transplants from Nederland, CO to Coronado Island, CA, for their terrific loaners of a truck and apartment. Tomorrow is the kick-off costume party--me in flamingo and Jimbo in grass skirt and coconut bra (or two for both upper and lower boobage.) Monday we finally FINALLY head south for Mexico. No hurricanes, please--
Woohoooooo