Baja Ha-Ha XXIX Draws to a Close, and ‘Boat Bum Gal’ Has Her Say

As the 29th Baja Ha-Ha fleet made its way into port at Cabo San Lucas, those already at the dock headed to Squid Roe for the annual “Can’t Believe We Cheated Death Again” dance and party. Unfavorable weather conditions meant the start of Leg Three out of Bahia Santa Maria had been delayed a few hours, and the fleet was scattered in its arrival at Cabo. But that didn’t dampen the spirits of those taking to the dance floor.

The Poobah has also shared some comments regarding last week’s incident in which one of the Baja Ha-Ha fleet, the Nicholson 38 Boat Bum Gal, sank after hitting rocks at the entrance to Turtle Bay. The boat’s owner, Sandra Barnes, has contacted the Poobah to let him know that she is safe, now with her family, and that she won’t be “publicly addressing” the incident.

The Poobah continued:

I understand that, as we all know how people who don’t know anything about any given incident say all kinds of ridiculous stuff about them. It’s a universal truth.

As the Poobah, I want to point out a few facts to give some clarification and context to the incident:

1) In order to encourage people to stay offshore following the “finish” of Leg One, I set the finish 15 miles north and 15 miles west of Turtle Bay. I didn’t want anybody “finding themselves” too close to shore.

2) In the Sailing Instructions I issued a specific warning with regard to the finish of Leg Two: “CAUTION: Entering unfamiliar anchorages at night can be extremely dangerous. Enter Turtle Bay at your own risk.”

3) I also made this same warning about Turtle Bay at the Skipper’s Meeting.

4) Despite these cautions, entering Turtle Bay, even at night, isn’t even as difficult [as] entering San Francisco Bay. The safe width of the entrance to San Francisco Bay is about seven tenths of a mile, or about 3,700 feet. The safe passage entrance to Turtle Bay is a full mile, or 5,280 feet. Given the navigation lights and today’s electronic navigation, it’s hard to have trouble. The thing that perplexes me is why Boat Bum Gal was hugging the coast on the approach to Turtle Bay.

Here is the written explanation given by Ray McCormack, who holds a 200-ton Coast Guard license, and who was the Person in Charge for the final three hours of Boat Bum Gal:

“Around 10 p.m. on November 2nd I awoke to the boat heeling over from wind. Got up and found that we had an offshore breeze blowing about 22 knots. Eased the sails and made the decision to turn inland a bit to mitigate the wind conditions the boat was seeing. The sails and rigging on this boat were quite aged. The boom vang had already broken off the mast. Our route had us going into the center of the entrance of Turtle Bay as noted by cruising guides, and this is what I have done over my last four times into Turtle Bay.

“The new plan was to run the 10-meter depth or 30 feet to get close to land, allowing us to take the sails down. Usually when I deviate from my planned route I will drag my waypoints over to the new intended route. I did not do this, which means I had no reference to the boat changing direction. Also, my Coastal Explorer stopped showing tracks for reference of the direction of the boat.”

What puzzles me is why, if you’re very close to an irregular coast in just 30 feet of water at night, you’d be planning to head almost straight toward land in order to drop your sails.

McCormack also reports that, “As we headed down the coast, we saw that the autopilot would make 30 degree turns without notification….”

Further, “… [w]e found that when putting the autopilot in Standby mode, the hydraulic pump would not release the helm for 20 seconds.’

That strikes me as double and triple reasons why you wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a rocky and irregular coast at night. If you were a mile or two or three offshore, the autopilot could go bonkers and you’d still have plenty of time to get it disconnected.

Our approach to sailing is the same as riding motorcycles — we like to leave a big margin of error for possible problems, except when racing. So we don’t tailgate on our bikes, and we don’t hug the shore when approaching harbor entrances at night.

We’re glad to report that Sandra was treated wonderfully by the Mexican navy and other officials. When we met with Sandra and Ray on Profligate the morning after the loss of Boat Bum Gal, we asked her if she needed any monetary or other assistance. She said she was fine.

Three boats of the more than 3,000 that have done a Ha-Ha have been lost. A J/120 was sunk by a whale. The six crew took to their life raft and were picked up by a Coast Guard helicopter in what the Coasties later described as a “textbook rescue.”

About five years ago a Newport 41 was driven ashore just north of Turtle Bay before dark in benign conditions. “We fucked up,” was the explanation by the crew, who mistook a “false bay” a few miles north of Turtle Bay for the real thing.

And finally, Boat Bum Gal. We wish all of you safe sailing.