A Roundabout Route to Mexico

Since its inception 18 years ago, sailors from greatly varied backgrounds have participated in our annual Baja Ha-Ha rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. Some are lifelong sailors with vast offshore experience, while others are relative newcomers who’ve only recently tested offshore waters. Some sail aboard million-dollar yachts, while others sail on bargain-priced fixer-uppers. Many hail from California ports, while others come from Oregon, Washington, Canada and Alaska. And a few, like Jackie and Leif Watson of the Alberta-based Condor 37 Dodger Too, take a wildly circuitous route to reach the starting line.

"We had the boat built for us in England in 1983," explain the Watsons, "allowing us to make our own mistakes. Within seven days of launching we sailed her from England to Gibraltar as a shakedown cruise. After that it was two summers and one winter in the Med, with much of that time spent in the Greek Islands and Turkey. We then sailed to Madeira and the Canaries prior to crossing to Grenada, taking in carnival in Trinidad, and visiting most of the islands on the way to the U.S. and British Virgins. A quick jump to Puerto Rico and Haiti, then it was off to the Bahamas, and finally into the Intracoastal Waterway at West Palm Beach.

"We made our way up to Urbanna on the Chesapeake and then cheated by shipping our boat on the I-90 to Bellingham, Washington. Since then we have spent many summers in the San Juans and Puget Sound, happily gunkholing.  We left Bellingham in July to sail to San Diego (a cold and foggy trip with either too much or too little wind) for the Baja Ha-Ha and hopefully some Mexican warmth."

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We think we can guarantee them plenty of warm Mexican sunshine as they travel south, as well as good times in the company of like-minded sailors. You can read mini-profiles of all entrants in the first of our three-part preview of this year’s event, found in the September (available now), October and November editions of Latitude 38. We wish them all the best of luck in their upcoming adventures!