Should You Do the Last Baja Ha-Ha? We Answer a Skipper’s Question
A reader and delivery skipper wrote in, asking, “A client I did a delivery for between S.F. and Oxnard invited me to be the skipper on his Catalina 42 for the last Baja Ha-Ha. Is it really the last? I’ve never done it and have never been that enthused. If my buddy Dave had ever pushed to do it on his boat I would have, of course, signed on. Your opinion? You asked if I was a cruiser or a racer. I am a cruiser that thinks every sailor should do some racing for their own benefit. Is the Ha-Ha kind of a race?”
“I’m going to Santa Barbara to hang out with my daughter and take a look at the boat,” the reader continued.
This is how we responded:
We’re quite sure it’s the last Ha-Ha Richard and Doña will do, but who knows if he’ll find a successor or what will happen?
Lots of people have been hesitant to join the Baja Ha-Ha “mob,” but I’d say of those who do, 99.9% love it. If you’re really, really looking for quiet, empty coves, maybe you don’t want to do it, but the social side is not a wild Burning Man party scene. It’s quite a community of sailors meeting and helping other sailors while enjoying a great sail south in the company. I’d say do it.
The best way to get a feel for it might be to read about last year’s Baja Ha-Ha.
Or pick up any back issue since 1994 (scroll down) and read stories of each Ha-Ha, covering all of the its 30 years, in the December issues. You can read about the very first Baja Ha-Ha here. They’re all a little different and all fun.
He responded, “Thanks so much. You may have just sold me on doing the trip.”
We’re not trying to sell anyone. We’re just saying that finding someone who didn’t have a good time is not impossible but very difficult. It’s hard not to love the Ha-Ha.
We forgot to mention: It’s not a race. It’s a rally, but like most sailors, some people just can’t help themselves.
If you need crew or want to be crew, come to our Latitude 38 Fall Crew List Party on Thursday, September 4, at Spaulding Marine Center in Sausalito.
Ahh, yes, now the “…this is the last Ha Ha…” drumbeat now comes with a disclaimer on perhaps someone else will take it up….
You folks never give up stirring up more entries whenever the numbers don’t look too good
Just let this thing die peacefully and with a modicum of grace
It’s a Bay Area bucket list sailing event, if you have done everything else on the west coast then it’s on the short list. I’ve been wanting to do it for decades and have done the whole crew, less parties, etc. to try to find the boat good chance I will do it this last year on the fence Boat, who is going down if he can deal with a huge tip problem. Hopefully see you there.
100% who didn’t do a Haha loved the way they did San Diego to Cabo, including me multiple times…
William – we know there are numerous people who love cruising on their own. However, we’d guess it would be very hard to know if 100% of the people who have sailed San Diego to Cabo on their own have loved it. Who would collect that data? We know there are a few people who didn’t love the Ha-Ha and we suspect there are others who sailed south on their own might have wished they’d done the Ha-Ha. As we know, cruising is exploring and many people do it to expand their horizons. Roger Briggs comments below say he isn’t really the Ha-Ha type but he tried it anyway and found the really liked it.
We wish anyone who wants to sail south on their own the same fair winds we wish all the Baja Ha-Ha participants. Cruising to Mexico is fantastic no matter how you decide to get there. If the social side if sailing is not your thing it’s probably better to stay away from the Ha-Ha. However, it’s always nice to build friends in the cruising community and you can do it one boat at a time or join a the Baja Ha-Ha rally. Everyone should follow their preferred course, either way, we’d love to share your cruising adventures in Changes in Latitude. We wish everyone who sails south this year another great cruising season in Mexico.
My wife and I like our solitude in anchorages. We are not the party goer types. So we were somewhat reluctant to do the HaHa as the first part of our six month cruise in Mexico. But we did it (in 2006) and we are very glad we did. For one thing, once we signed up, it gave us a deadline and we had to get out of the mode of thinking, “there’s one more thing we need to do to the boat before we leave.” As far as crowds, once you’re out on the ocean, it is not crowded! There were many hours of sailing where we saw no-one else. As for the beach parties, we basically went to two of them, in Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria and guess what: they were fun. There was also the security of having a VHF net and people who could help if help was needed. In Cabo, we hit Squid Row but other than that, just the final awards ceremony. It was all good, even for us non party people.
I did sign up but as of today I don’t really see what that entry fee is for. It still feels like I am mostly on my own to figure it out. Does anyone have an idea what the 500 dollars is buying? It’s certainly not for the TIP I can see that now. ( my mistake I actually thought it covered a service to get that)
That’s a lot to cover. As a start you could look at this year’s schedule: https://www.baja-haha.com/Dates.html or preview the free ‘First Timer’s Guide To Mexico’ or read what thousands of past participants have said on the Latitude 38 website: https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=baja-haha&domains=www.latitude38.com&sitesearch=www.latitude38.com There’s more on our Heading South page: https://www.latitude38.com/heading-south-latitude-38s-guide-to-sailing-and-cruising-the-coast-of-mexico-and-central-america/ Looking forward to seeing you in San Diego.
I see all of that, but how exactly is that stuff monetized? 500 bucks is a lot and so far everything I’ve seen is no host bar kinds of things. From here on is all the food and beverage covered all the way down? no pesos by the taco? 500 is still a LOT. But okay….
Perhaps it seems like a lot but it maybe it is hard to appreciate before you go. The kick off party in san diego includes free food, beer, and wine, goodie bag and the entire event takes a colossal amount of time, planning and work. It’s hard to evaluate events but a random comparison might be the $260 Boston Marathon which is a one day event and you have to run the whole way! You can easily spend $500 for a Taylor Swift concert ticket. The number of repeat participants seem to feel it’s a good value. We’re sure you’ll feel the same when you reach Cabo.