Baja Ha-Ha XXIX Registrations Cast Off to a Healthy Start

When we put out the word to “stand by” for the opening of the 2023 Baja Ha-Ha registrations, we weren’t kidding. Once the starting horn blew, the sailors were hauling a** and filled the first 51 spots in the first 20 hours. We call that a healthy start!

The Poobah was guessing there would be 41 in the first 24 hours. Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven, veteran of 15 Ha-Ha’s, guessed 51. But the entries didn’t stop there; the list currently sits at 57 boats heading to Mexico. This includes nine catamarans. “It could be a record cat year,” the Poobah wrote. And while there hasn’t been time to analyze the entries, Patsy did note that “almost everyone” said they would have Starlink.

Is the Poobah hoping for a record fleet? Not at all. “The quality of the fleet is much more important than the quantity.

“That said,” the Poobah added, “it’s a great-looking fleet.”

Here are a few of the boats and crews that have already signed up:

Dave and Michelle Opheim from Alameda signed up to sail aboard their Catalina 42 MkII Endless Summer. We met them at the boat show last weekend and they were already counting the hours to the sign-up time. They were hoping to be the number-two signup after Scott and Jill Stephens of the Catana 47 L’Avventura, who are the honorary #1 Ha-Ha registrants. Dave and Michelle didn’t get the #2 spot, but they are the sixth boat to be signed up for this year’s cruisers’ rally. Well done, guys!

Farther on down the list are Kim Eddy and Lena Fluharty aboard the Island Packet 440 Amazing Grace III. These sailors call both Seattle and San Diego home. Even farther along are Talisa, a Fountaine Pajot 47 skippered by Christopher Schwerzler from Kapaau, Hawaii, and Jeffrey and Lynn Venier from Queen Creek, AZ, aboard their Californian 45 Sundowner. There are also sailors from Utah, Montana, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois … they’re coming in from all over the US … and Canada, with more than one boat signed up from British Columbia and other parts of the country.

This is warming up to be a humdinger of a Ha-Ha. The kind of rally you won’t want to miss. And neither do we! Does anyone want to take a Latitude 38 sailor aboard?

You can check out who’s who for yourself at Baja Ha-Ha.com, then slide on over to the registrations page and add yourself to the list.

We’re pretty sure that Steven and Karen Kittle, who joined the 2018 Ha-Ha aboard the Beneteau Oceanis 35.1 Parrrot Head, echoed the feelings of Ha-Ha sailors across the years when they wrote, “We had a blast on the Ha-Ha!”