From the Sky to the Sea Baja Ha-Ha Crews are Gearing Up for Mexico

Are you among the 76 boats currently signed up for the 32nd Baja Ha-Ha? The latest boat to join the fleet is the Moody 42 Adagio. The boat’s crew, Ernesto and Zulema Corral, are from La Crescenta, Southern California. They’re in good company with this year’s sailors hailing from various ports and walks of life.

From the sky to the sea, Seattle-based commercial pilot Christian McLaughlin, 58, is swapping his wings for sails, cruising to Mexico aboard the Jeanneau 44DS Irish Goodbye. His crew Kevin Doggett, 59, is also a pilot; and crew Hakan Soderborn, 61, is retired from the tech world.

Christian says his longest passage to date has been crewing with 59 North from Bermuda to the Azores, and from Cartagena, Colombia, to Panama and through the Canal. He adds, “This year’s same captain and crew brought Irish Goodbye to San Diego on the Coho Ho-Ho rally in 2025.”

It’s always comforting to be flying with a pilot whose favorite quote is “Everything will kill you, so choose something fun.”

And what is an Irish goodbye? “It is the act of leaving a social gathering, such as a party or bar, without telling anyone or saying official goodbyes. It is a method used to avoid long, drawn-out farewells, prevent disrupting the event, or bypass drunken, emotional departures.” In the Caribbean and in the Northeast, the act is known as the “Newport Ditch” and was perfected by the former Grand Poobah of the Ha-Ha.

Mark Whitehouse and Tom Jacobs from San Diego and Cardiff and Heath, TX, are sailing south aboard the Elan GT5 43 August Bernhardt, named in honor of Tom’s grandfather.

Mark, 58, is a retired software engineer and co-owner. Tom Jacobs, 70, is a retired executive. Their crew will be Mark’s spouse Deborah (Debbie) Slee, a research scientist, and Tom’s spouse Dana Jacobs, also a retired executive.

Mark and Debbie were 18 when they met in college in England. They moved to California in 1994 and have been married for over 30 years. Mark has sailed for the past 20 years, mainly racing on other people’s boats. But as a couple they have sailed to Catalina and the Channel Islands many times. This will be their first Baja Ha-Ha and their longest cruise. After the Ha-Ha they plan to cruise the Sea of Cortez.

Tom and Dana live in Texas and have commuted to San Diego for the past 12 years. They met in Dallas in the mid-’80s and have been married for over 38 years. Tom was around 8 years old when he started sailing. Dana started in 1985 as foredeck on a J/24 on the Texas circuit. In addition to being members at Southwestern YC, Tom and Dana have been members at Rush Creek YC since 1980.

August Bernhardt is Mark and Debbie’s first boat. Tom and Dana have owned 12 boats over the years. “Our longest passage has been from Nanny Cay in the British Virgins to Newport, Rhode Island, via Bermuda,” the Jacobs tell us. That’s about twice as long as the Ha-Ha and much more challenging.

“We’ve also done a Newport Beach to Cabo Race and sailed from Civitanova Marche [Italy] to Lavrio [Greece] in Europe. Come to think of it, we’ve also sailed or powerboated in Sweden, the Med, the Adriatic, the Aegean and Tonga.” After the Ha-Ha they will fly back to Texas to host Thanksgiving.

“Our boat partnership is interesting,” the four sailors report, “as our views are quite diverse, being influenced by the cultures of England, the US and Texas.” For example, thanks to Debbie and Mark, Tom and Dana are learning how to speak the King’s English, especially around the galley, where tea at breakfast, at 10 a.m. and at 2 p.m. has become a brilliant addition. “While we come from different cultures and have different opinions, we share many common values and have developed a really great relationship. We are like family.

“The four of us love good food, traveling, having fun, and exploring different cultures, so we’re really looking forward to the Ha-Ha.”

Charlotte and Elliott Metcalfe caught the sailing bug from their son. “We reduced our bank account by helping him refit his Hans Christian at Puerto Peñasco in 2020. It was after watching couple after couple launch their boats for the season that I got the idea cruising might be in our future, too,” Elliott explains.

The couple from West Hollywood/Modesto will sail their 1993 Catalina 42 Quixote. They bought the boat in San Francisco Bay, with the intention of relocating her in San Diego and refitting her in time for the 2026 Ha-Ha. And that’s what they’ve done.

Elliott, 60, a retired physician, and Charlotte, a sales director for Mary Kay Cosmetics, will doublehand to Mexico.

“We bought our first boat, a Catalina 30, in 2022,” Elliott continues. “We took a couple of lessons and made the typical early mistakes — a couple of groundings, docking misadventures, and sail trim shortcomings — while on San Diego Bay. But we enjoyed the ability to travel to fun places with fun people, and then squeeze into a really tiny V-berth at the end of the evening after having one or two too many drinks. Over the last couple of years we’ve sailed to Catalina and up the California coast.” Elliott has also cruised with his son on his Pacific crossing.

“What it means,” Elliott says, “is I have enough knowledge and experience to dream big, but enough respect for the ocean to start small.”

“The 42 is a fantastic upgrade after the 30,” they say. No wonder Catalina sold almost 1,000 of them under the ownership of legendary Frank Butler.

“We renamed our new boat Quixote after my favorite fictional character,” says Elliott. “He would have made a great boat captain, although a short-lived one. I hope to avoid his fate and achieve many years of happiness and adventure aboard Quixote with Charlotte, who is my Dulcinea.

“We are really looking forward to meeting our fellow Ha-Ha’ers and becoming a part of the cruising community,” the couple report. “Charlotte and I are quite social and plan on very liberal use of our dinghy for visits in anchorages. If you see us coming and are thinking about hiding belowdecks, keep in mind that we always bring wine and snacks, and we usually leave when those items are exhausted.

Elliott and Charlote plan on spending the winter in the Puerto Vallarta area after the Ha-Ha, and then going back up to Puerto Peñasco in the spring.

Matt Carey and Jessica England from San Diego will do the Ha-Ha aboard their Jeanneau 410 Sassafras. Matt, 39, is a major in the United States Air Force Reserves JAG Corps. This means he’s an attorney in the military, so watch your step. Spouse Jessica is a commercial litigator, so don’t mess with her either.

“We moved aboard Sassafras full-time in June 2025, just in time to turn our Ha-Ha into the ‘world’s longest, saltiest honeymoon.’”

“We tied the knot in March 2026,” Matt tells us. “Technically, we already did a transatlantic crossing for our ‘official’ honeymoon — but that was on a cruise ship with a spa. We’re pretty sure the motion of the ocean feels the same even when you have room service, so we’re counting it as heavy-weather avoidance training.”

By the time the fleet heads south the couple will be semi-retired. They are officially calling it a sabbatical: “We plan to keep it ‘indefinite’ for as long as we can get away with it.”

How do two attorneys deal with doublehanding? “We try to leave the litigation at the dock and promise not to file briefs against each other.” Although Jessica is considering a formal motion to suppress Matt’s unauthorized seizure of the snack supply. For his part, Matt pleads guilty to eating all the chips.

The couple generally enjoy doing their own boat maintenance, although Matt admits that his background as a former space-program engineer leads to some overplanning.

“But that engineering obsession has paid off,” he argues, “as we’ve successfully retrofitted a dishwasher into a 41-ft sailboat.” A dishwasher on a 41-ft boat?

“While we are ready for adventure, we draw the line at hand-washing dishes.”

After the Ha-Ha Matt and Jessica plan to spend a few years in Mexico before heading to Panama to “backward” through the Canal to the Caribbean. Matt will pick up military orders during the summers to top up the cruising coffers while avoiding hurricane season.

“Backward through the Canal?” Matt is referring to the fact that when you transit the Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean, you are counterintuitively moving from east to west. That will often win a bar bet. So will the knowledge that parts of the Pacific Ocean are to the east of New York City.

Keep an eye out for more 2026 Baja Ha-Ha bios. And if you haven’t signed up yet, do it now! Sign up here.