“The 2017 Ha-Ha Was the Best Two Weeks of Our Lives!”
We don’t just see former Ha-Ha participants in the VIP seats outside Oubli in St. Barth, we also see them during Sunday-Fundays from on the hook with ‘ti Profligate at Colombier.
Late yesterday afternoon a couple came close by in a high-powered powerboat and yelled, “Remember us? We’re Randall and Lennie Smith from the 2017 Ha-Ha with the Leopard 48 catamaran Happy Together!”
To be honest it took me a minute, but then I did remember them. She’s a big-time general contractor and he’s a really big flooring contractor, both working out of Delray Beach, Florida. They were so fun-loving and happy together in the Ha-Ha that we created a special “Happy Together” award for them.
This is from their bio in the Ha-Ha “Meet the Fleet” guide:
“I’ve been reading Latitude 38 since my childhood in the Bay Area, and the Ha-Ha sounds like a lot of fun,” reports Randall. “After the Ha-Ha we’ll sail back thru the Panama Canal, and a little more than a year from now we’ll take delivery of Leopard 50 hull #1 and do a circumnavigation.”
The couple, who had owned their Leopard 48 and sailed her all around Florida, the Caribbean, and the north coast of South America, and had brought her through the Canal and up to San Diego to do the Ha-Ha, indeed followed through with their plan to acquire the first Leopard 50 cat.
Given COVID and all that, we’re not sure they did the circumnavigation, though.
And given the hot rod Contender they’d chartered for the afternoon in St. Barth, it crossed my mind that maybe they’d gone over to the dark side with a larger motoryacht. Nope.
“We’re having a big custom catamaran built in South Africa,” they hollered to me. “Once we take delivery we’ll spend a year aboard her cruising the Caribbean.”
And who knows? Maybe they’ll even do another Baja Ha-Ha.
For the record, registration for the 2023 Baja Ha-Ha begins on May 9. The event itself is October 30 to November 12. For all you know, it could be the happiest two weeks of your life, too.
See the rally notice here, and bookmark the sign-up page here.