Baja Ha-Ha XXX Fleet Members Smile for the Camera
In the current September issue of Latitude 38 we featured a selection of the wide variety of cruisers who are heading toward San Diego for the start of the 30th annual Baja Ha-Ha. Below we feature two more who will be joining the over 120 boats signed up for this year.
Kalewa — KM Design 50 Cat
David & Emily Cuevas
Nawiliwili, Kauai / St. Thomas, USVI
David, 38, is a charter boat captain, while spouse Emily, 35, is a chef. The two will doublehand.
The couple started sailing together eight years ago, the day after they met at a happy hour. Their first sail, out of Hanalei Bay aboard David’s Hobie 16, didn’t go as David planned, as they flipped and David lost his phone. But it was so much fun that Emily was hooked. The couple have owned three boats together: a Nacra 20 beach cat in Kauai, a Peterson 44 shortly after they married, and Kalewa, which they acquired a year ago. Designed and built by Kevin Millett of Kauai, Kalewa has already done four Ha-Ha’s with Kevin at the helm. The couple accurately describe their cat as “fast, sexy, and one-of-a-kind.”
She’s not as one-of-a-kind as she originally was, however, as her original troublesome electric motors have been replaced with diesels. But she still doesn’t have lifelines.
Multiple-Ha-Ha vet Kevin is currently awaiting the construction of a very high-performance 51-ft cat in Australia, the delivery of which is currently running six months late, and counting.
David and Emily have crossed the Pacific three times, the longest taking them 21 days. After the Ha-Ha, they hope to find surf on the way back up the Baja coast, after which it will be time for them to head to work in the Caribbean. The couple run luxury charters aboard Plus 10, a Fountaine Pajot 59 cat.
The couple’s dream destination is the South Pacific, while Kalewa is their dream boat — at least until they see Kevin’s new boat. Up until mid-August, their nautical heroes were explorer Ernest Shackleton and wacko Captain Ron. But both have been displaced by San Diego-based Annie Gardner, a lifelong sailor supreme on everything from sailboards to the America’s Cup and a charismatic instigator of sailing adventures, particularly for women.
Their favorite quote is, “If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up space.”
Freeranger — Beneteau 50 (W)
Larissa Clark & Duncan Copeland
London, England / British Columbia
Larissa is a communications director, while spouse Duncan, 48, is an executive director.
They will have their two offspring aboard: Eden Copeland, 8, a student of life; and Skye-Elizabeth Copeland, 6, also a student of life. Both have been sailing since they were babies.
There will also be two other adult crew: Theone and Alistair Mole, old friends who are experienced ocean sailors.
Duncan grew up sailing. Indicative of the importance of sailing to the Copeland family, he was taken straight from the hospital nursery to the family boat. Between the ages of 9 and15, he was raised aboard the Beneteau 38 Bagheera, a boat featured in several books that his parents Liza and Andy published during a circumnavigation.
Since then, Duncan has spent time delivering boats in the Med and across the Atlantic, cruised extensively in various parts of the world aboard Bagheera, which is still in the family, and sailed all over Sweden and Norway.
For over 20 years, Duncan has worked for marine conservation not-for-profits, particularly on the issues of illegal fishing and associated crimes. He has worked in Africa, Asia and South America with stakeholders from community to ministerial level and across fisheries-enforcement agencies. He is a co-founder of, and until recently, spent 11 years as the executive director of TMT, an international NGO working with developing coastal states to combat illegal fishing. He is a United Nations Ocean Panel expert, sits on the advisory board of the University of British Columbia’s Sea Around Us, and is a member of the Royal Vancouver YC, the Ocean Cruising Club, and the Bluewater Cruising Association. Duncan’s longest passage as an adult has been from Guinea-Bissau, which you’ll remember from your junior high geography class is in West Africa, to Brazil.
Larissa grew up in London, rather far from the open ocean, and thus didn’t find her sea legs until age 30 during a tall ship passage from Spain to Brazil. She has since cruised in British Columbia and Scandinavia with her family. Inspired by her transatlantic tall ship experience, she founded the Another World Adventures travel agency to help others realize their own unusual travel ambitions. She runs the business remotely with an international team. Larissa is a member of the Explorers Club and the Bluewater Cruising Association, and trustee of Women in Ocean Science.
Joining Freeranger for the Ha-Ha will be Theone (Theo) and Alistair (Ali) Mole. Theo grew up living aboard and cruising the British Columbia coast on the family sailboat. In her 20s, Theo entered the private yacht industry, where she met the dashing Scot, Ali, who was trying his hand as crew. Together, they worked for many years as a very successful partnership in the private yacht industry, based in Europe but working throughout the world. Now based in Palma de Mallorca, Ali continues to skipper large private yachts, while Theo has become a qualified sommelier and offers wine experiences in Spain and internationally.
“Our plan is to enjoy a great family sailing adventure, have a lot of fun along the way, but also voyage with purpose,” the Copelands say. “So we have set up Free Range Ocean, www.freerangeocean.org, a nonprofit to use adventure sailing, citizen science, and storytelling to inspire action for a healthy ocean among boating and coastal communities. We invite everyone to join our efforts.”
Larissa’s favorite quote is, “The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist hopes it will change, while the realist adjusts the sails.”
The US “epidemic of loneliness” won’t be felt by the fun, friendly and adventurous fleet that sails south together in the Baja Ha-Ha. It’s amazing how “getting away from it all” brings so many people so close together. It’s one of the great attributes of the Baja Ha-Ha and sailing in general.