
The Cruisin’ Life Begins Anew

© Latitude 38 Media, LLC
It’s a bright new cruising season in Mexico. While a bunch of the Ha-Ha fleet sailed up to La Paz and the islands for the festivities and fun, we and several other Ha-Ha boats cruised across to beautiful Banderas Bay. Here’s a little photo story on how life has been around here:

© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

©2010 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

©2010 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

©2010 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
If you’d like to share a photo story of someplace great you’ve cruised to, we’d love to share it with our readers. Email Richard.
Annual ARC Rally Begins
The 25th running of the granddaddy of all cruiser rallies, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, got underway yesterday from the Canary Islands with a massive 233-boat fleet bound for Rodney Bay in St. Lucia. Though it looked as if the fleet would be greeted with rain at the start, boats from 26 nations sailed out of Las Palmas de Gran Cranaria under bright sun and light reaching conditions. Thousands of spectators gathered on shore and on the water to send off the fleet, which included the following American boats:
- Bambochip, Pierre Bausset’s Florida-based Shipman Seaway 80
- Glass Slipper, John Martin’s Michigan-based Moody 46
- Herceg-Novi, Nikola Kovilic’s Chicago-based Roberts 58
- Moonshadow, George Backhus & Merima Dzaferi’s Sausalito-based Deerfoot 62
- Neki, John Noble’s Oyster 655
- Time Warp, Peter Nelson’s Seattle-based Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45.2
- Westwind, Josef Kol’s Ferretti 12.0
The lead boats should make the 2,700-mile crossing in 14 days, with the slowest boats taking as long as 21. Keep up with rally news — as well as read a variety of entries’ logs — at the ARC website.
Cruisers Gather at Papas and Beer
Last week, in the aftermath of this year’s Baja Ha-Ha rally, some cruisers headed to Puerto Vallarta, others went to Mazatlan and still others sailed on to La Paz — encouraged to do so by the promise of an elaborate welcoming fiesta.

Patsty Verhoeven of the La Paz-based Gulfstar 50 Talion gave us this report: "The city of La Paz welcomed Baja Ha-Ha cruisers with open arms at the Papas and Beer Beach Club Thursday night. The first 50 Ha Ha’ers got in for free, and were given free margaritas, beer, fish tacos, and raffle tickets!
"Papas and Beer is a great venue right on the beach off the Malecon. We were entertained by the Ballet Folklorico, and the dancers even invited cruisers to join them in one number. A mariachi band played next, followed by an evening of dancing to fabulous rock ‘n’ roll played by the Baja South Band.
"The event was put on by the local marinas and the La Paz Hotel Association, with the additional support of many other local businesses which helped with both organization and the donation of raffle prizes. A good time was had by all!"
Support the Cup, Save the Dates
If you were one of the dozens of people who showed up October 4 for the Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee meeting to support San Francisco’s bid to host America’s Cup 34, then you know the impact your presence made on the tenor of the public comment. If you missed it, you have a second chance. The Host City Agreement is in the process of being shepherded through the channels of City government and the next step we’ll have access to is a special Port Comission meeting tomorrow (Correction, the meeting will be a week from tomorrow, November 30) at the Ferry Building’s Port Comission Hearing Room located on the building’s second floor at 9:30 a.m. The next opportunity will be the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee meeting a week from this Wednesday, December 1 in Room 263 at City Hall. The agenda has not been issued yet, so we don’t know the exact time. We will keep you updated in ‘Lectronic Latitude. In the meantime, plan on bringing as many people as you can; six of the 11 Supes have co-authored the HCA, which bodes well for its acceptance, but we’d prefer a greater margin for error. So come on down and show your support!