Photos of the Day: Ha-Ha Start

Slow news was good news for the 150 boats in 14th Baja Ha-Ha, the cruisers rally that started off San Diego on October 29. At this writing, most are anchored safely in Turtle Bay with – compared to previous years – relatively minor bumps and bruises, especially considering winds to 35 knots on the two-day, 380-mile passage. There were lots of torn sails, but the only really painful injury was a possible shoulder dislocation.

That doesn’t mean there was no excitement. On Wednesday morning, Mary Forrest, sailing aboard the 45-ft catamaran Capricorn Cat, was dipping a bucket of water off the back step to clean up after filleting a fish, when the bucket jerked and off she went. Quick work by the Cap Cat crew had her back aboard so quickly that half the crew (recently off watch and asleep) didn’t even know about it until they woke up.

After a night of fun ashore at the Veracruz Restaurant yesterday, any Ha-Ha’ers left standing will assemble on the beach for the first of two big pot-luck parties ashore beginning at 1 p.m. today. Tomorrow, it’s off for Bahia Santa Maria on the second leg. Then it’s on to Cabo San Lucas where the first boats are expected to arrive on Thursday, November 7.