Baja Ha-Ha 18 Heads South

Despite gloomy gray skies, the 137-boat Baja Ha-Ha XVIII rally fleet headed south with boundless enthusiasm. It was no wonder the mood was upbeat, though, because for many of the 503 participants this 750-mile cruise to Cabo San Lucas serves as the inaugural step into a new life of cruising.

As in years past, the two-week event began on a festive note yesterday, with a Costume Kick-Off Party at West Marine’s Shelter Island compound. In attendance were all sorts of gnarly pirates and saucy wenches, as well as a broad range of other colorful characters, who might have given passersby the impression that they’d stumbled onto the back lot of a movie studio. Needless to say, it was all great fun, with West Marine managers Galen Piltz and Louis Holmes emceeing in elaborate swashbuckling attire.   

On the way out to the 11 a.m. start, the fleet gave a unified salute to the Port of San Diego, which has been a generous host to them for 18 years, in the form of a boat parade past downtown, then Harbor and Shelter Islands. With TV, radio and print journalists recording the departure, local dignitaries and well-wishers waved the fleet onward toward the sunny skies of Baja.

The longest of three legs began today, a 360-mile blast to the fishing village of Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay). We’ll attempt to send another report from there, with additional reports from the event’s final destination, Cabo San Lucas. In the meantime, you can follow our Spot position reports on our Facebook page and our near-real time track here. With any luck it will be "lovely cruise" — to borrow a line from Jimmie Buffet.