Baja Ha-Ha Updates Part 1— Things To Know Before You Go

While the entry deadline for the Baja Ha-Ha XXX has passed — wait, you’re not completely out of luck; see the bottom of the page for details — there are 124 paid entries, with another four or five expected. That puts it right in line with last year’s 131 entries.

Here’s the fleet breakdown as it currently stands: 102 monohulls; 17 multihulls, 16 of which are catamarans; five motoryachts.

Three boats are tied for the shortest in length at 32-ft: Chris Fowler’s Ericson 32 Red Beard, Robert Davidson and Joan Mueller’s Gulf 32 Savanna, and Mike Meloy’s Catalina 32 Even Keel. These are the longest small boats in the history of the Ha-Ha. Sapphire Knight, the custom 79-ft sloop skippered by Phil Friedman, is the longest entry. There are four Catalina 42s, making them the largest number of sisterships.

If you haven’t got a Temporary Import Permit (TIP), GET IT NOW!!!
The online system is apparently a bit overloaded, so approvals are taking longer than expected. If your boat were to have some sort of issue, you might not have time to get it fixed and start with the Ha-Ha fleet. And don’t think you can sail into Mexico without a TIP. These aren’t the old days. By now, all Ha-Ha entries should have been given instructions on how to get a TIP two, if not three, times.

Boater’s card or license.
One of the things that some navy port captains are requiring is a “captain’s license” for someone on every boat. This has been a Mexican law for ages, but it was never enforced. But that’s exactly what the port captain in La Cruz, and likely other places, is asking for.

Before you freak out, they are not asking for a US Coast Guard “captain’s license,” as they will accept boater cards from states such as California and Washington. There is a small fee for them. Or you can get one for free from BoatUS. The downside of these online tests is that there is a long mandatory pause between questions, so they make you take almost four hours out of your life.

So far, only one person per boat has needed such a card or license, although it’s best if it’s the captain or owner, because technically there always has to be a person onboard with such a “license.”

If you blow this seemingly silly requirement off, don’t blame us if you find yourself in hot water.

First-Timer’s Guide errors.
Capt. Pat Rains, whom we first met in Puerto Escondido way, way back in 1977, reports there are a couple of errors in our First-Timer’s Guide to Mexico.

Pat reports that her Mexico Boating Guide was last updated in 2023, not 2015, and that a newly updated version will be hot off the press on October 10. She says that In the future her guide will be updated each October. In addition, she reports that the First-Timer’s Guide has it wrong on a couple of unique Mexican winds.

“An elefante is a strictly local offshore blast of cold wind focused down onto nearby waters of the upper Sea of Cortez,” she writes. “An elefante can reach out maybe 10 miles from a near-coastal mountain, but the powerful blast actually originates as northwesterlies on the Pacific side of Baja. Because elefantes blast down narrow ravines in the coastal cliffs, some folks call them Gap Winds.

“A chubasco, on the other hand, starts over mainland Mexico as a low-pressure mass of tropical thunderstorms that build up thunderheads during the afternoon. Then, as the sun goes down, temps drop, and the rain and windstorms tumble down onto the eastern side of the Sea of Cortez and out 20 miles — sometimes even crossing all the way across the Sea of Cortez to Baja.

“Both of these WX terms are clarified in my little red book, MexWX: Mexico Weather for Boaters.”

Finally, the deadlines to sign up for Baja Ha-Ha XXX
As you know, the deadline was officially September 4, two months before the start of the Ha-Ha. That has passed, of course. But because the Poobah hasn’t wanted to exclude anyone, in the past he’s allowed skippers to sign up as late as a day before the start. But those were the good old days, when life was simple.

If you know anyone who wants to sign up, please let them know that they may have to start from, or stop in, Ensenada on the way.

To check into the country with our agent in Bahia Santa Maria, all documents must be in by October 11. In some special circumstances, passport copies and the TIP may be submitted right up until the day we leave, with prior approval.

The Poobah and Assistant Poobah are looking forward to sailing south with you on what very well might be the last Ha-Ha.

We’ll share more updates in Part 2 next week — stay tuned. In the meantime, you can learn more about cruising to Mexico at our Heading South page.