"Anna, the Atlantic 57 catamaran owned by Kelly Wright of Santa Fe, New Mexico, that flipped 125 miles from Niue in the South Pacific the first weekend in August, somehow managed to make her way unscathed through the East Reef passage of the outer reef at Vava’u, Tonga, then washed up against an island and was badly damaged," report Scott and Cindy Stolnitz of the Marina del Rey-based Switch 51 cat Beach House. "She’s now tied to a mooring in Neiafu, where she looks like "parallel submarines at Disneyland."

With Anna‘s arrival has come a lot more misinformation and baseless speculation. First off, the name of the cat is Anna, not Anna Valdivia as previously reported. Valdivia is the city in Chile where Awolplast, the builder of Anna and other Atlantic 55s and 57s, is located.

There have also been erroneous reports that Anna was a "giant Hobie Cat" that only weighed about 14,000 lbs, and her ultralight displacement contributed to her flipping. Designer Chris White assures us that the 14,000-lb weight rumor is complete nonsense, and that Anna weighed about 30,000 lbs when she went over. We have no doubt this is true, as Bob Smith’s Pantera, which has been sailing all over Mexico for years, weighs 14,000 lbs, and she’s only 44 feet, has a tiny salon, is ultra simple, and was built of carbon fiber.

There have also been reports that Anna‘s spinnaker was up when she flipped, so that she wasn’t just carrying a reefed main and a self-tacking jib. Apparently this belief was based on the fact that the spinnaker, or part of it, was seen at some point billowing around in the water. Only Wright and his crewmember Glen McConchie of Christchurch know for sure, but we believe their claims that the chute wasn’t up. After all, it was nighttime, there were only two of them, it had been squally, and rough weather had been forecast. Unless somebody says they found the halyard attached to the head of the chute and all the other spinny lines had been run, we’re not going to doubt Wright. It’s very easy to imagine that the chute had been in a bag on deck, and some or all of it had come out after more than 10 days of sloshing around in the ocean.

One of the crew of Forum Pacific, the ship that rescued the crew of Anna, took some interesting video while picking up the crew of the cat. Check it out below, because it’s very interesting. You’ll see the two men, Wright and McConchie, each standing up next to a rudder as the ship approaches, one of the ship’s crew firing a really cool bucket-like device that shoots a line, and the two men climbing a ladder up the side of the ship.

The most amazing thing is how both Wright and McConchie, despite having been on the overturned cat for somewhere between 12 and 17 hours — reports have differed — looked like they had just come out of a very warm pool after a pleasant swim. Talk about being none the worse for the experience! As a result, the biggest lesson we’ve taken from the accident is that if you’re going to flip a cat, do it in the tropics. If you’re going to do it in cool or cold water, have a wetsuit or a survival suit handy.

There’s a rumor going around Tonga that the owner of Forum Pacific, which rescued the Anna crew, fired the captain. According to the rumor, the owner is mad that the skipper, having a 50-ton crane on the Forum Pacific, didn’t pick up the very valuable year-old cat. Don’t bet the farm on this rumor being even remotely true. Besides, judging from the sea conditions in the YouTube video, the cat would have been bashed to pieces had they tried to lift her aboard the ship.

As it was, apparently there has been a squabble over the ‘salvage’ of Anna. We’re betting that none of the squabbling parties know anything about salvage law — not that it tends to matter in the more remote parts of the world.

A surprise guest anchored off Sausalito Wednesday morning — the 394-ft megayacht A, owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko. We first wrote about A in March when the publisher saw her anchored at St. Barth, then again about a month later when The Wall Street Journal disclosed details about the boat and her secretive owner.

We’re not sure if Andrey and his model wife Aleksandra are simply taking a tour of the West Coast — they’ve spent the last week or so in various Southern California ports — or are here on business, but the futuristic A is certainly causing a buzz. While most Bay Area residents are not likely to be offered a personal tour, we can live vicariously through The Wall Street Journal‘s Robert Frank. Get ready to be astounded.

I have 147. . . 148. . . 149. Do I hear 150?

With only 21 days remaining until the entry deadline of this year’s Baja Ha-Ha rally, the current fleet roster stands at 149. Will your boat be #150? If you’re on the fence about joining our annual San Diego to Cabo San Lucas cruise, you’re apparently not alone. Last year on this date we had a few less entries, yet the total eventually reached 193 — an all-time record. So we anticipate a last-minute rush, as in years past. After all, the event does require a $350 entry fee (or $325 if your age or your boat length are under 35), and it’s human nature to wait until the last minute before paying a substantial bill.

This year’s event kicks off Sunday, October 24 with a grand Halloween Costume Party and BBQ in the San Diego West Marine parking lot (1 p.m.; 1250 Rosecrans), followed by a boat parade through the harbor the next morning at 10 a.m., en route to the 11 a.m. start of Leg One, outside the bay off Point Loma. Most of the fleet will reach Cabo by Thursday, November 4, and the Awards Ceremony will take place Saturday, November 6 at Cabo Marina.

If you don’t have your own boat to enter, but would like to crew, let us remind you that Latitude 38‘s free Crew List is online and available 24/7 for both sailors looking to crew and skippers in need. This morning there were over 60 boats offering rides to Mexico this season (some, but not all, on the Ha-Ha).

Let us remind you also, that our annual Mexico-Only Crew List Party and Baja Ha-Ha Reunion will take place September 8 at Alameda’s Encinal YC (6 to 9 p.m.). See you there!