Still Cruising Strong 26 Years After Their 1997 Ha-Ha Voyage
What do sailors do after sailing to Mexico with the Baja Ha-Ha? Many continue cruising. One example is ex-Hawaiian couple Dave and Kim Wegesend of the Eric LaRouge 48 cat, Melelana, in the Caribbean. The Ha-Ha’s Grand Poobah Richard Spindler tells their story.
The couple met working for American Airlines ages ago, before retiring very early and buying the Catana 42 Maluhia. They subsequently enjoyed the 1997 Ha-Ha, later did another run down the Baja coast, and spent a lot of time based out of Paradise Marina in Nuevo Vallarta.
A while back — it might have even been 10 years ago — they took off for French Polynesia. I don’t know the details, but as I recall, they lost Maluhia on a reef in the Tuamotus. In the “if you fall off a horse, you need to get right back up in the saddle” frame of mind, the couple headed to Grenada, where they bought the LaRouge 48. She’s a pretty high-performance cat and has tillers instead of wheels.
The Wegesends have been based out of Grenada for the last few years, making annual trips up and back down the Eastern Caribbean. We bumped into them while sipping a drink at — where else? — Le Select in St. Barth.
The Wegesends had news of another old Ha-Ha and Banderas Bay hand, John Haste, then of the Perry 52 catamaran Little Wing. We did so many Banderas Bay races against John with Profligate that we decided we needed a change of scenery. So I challenged him to meet us in St. Barth, 3,000 miles away, for that year’s New Year’s Eve Around the Island Race. And we both showed up!
John spent some years with his boat out of Cartagena, where he once hit 28 knots — by mistake — with Little Wing. He later sold the boat and bought a small multihull he could trailer to the Finger Lakes of New York. Then we lost track of him …
… Until about five years ago when we bumped into him at the Hollywood, Florida, airport, of all places. John told us that he’d purchased a hurricane-damaged Catana 52 with a carbon mast that had been broken into three pieces. We were skeptical that John, then 75, could ever put that boat back together again. Or would even want to try.
Well, John is now 80, and Dave and Kim tell us that he is heading for Vallarta with his restored Catana 52. He must be missing that Banderas Bay sailing and Mexican food.
We also got news that Steve Schmidt, formerly of the South Bay and more recently of Santa Barbara, was headed back to St. Barth with Hotel California Too, the only cruising Santa Cruz 70 ever built.
We did a couple of Voiles de St. Barth on Hotel. The one day we took off, Hotel hit 24 knots, her highest speed ever. Mind you, this was with a short rig and Dacron working sails.
If you want to be like Dave and Kim and still be cruising 27 years after doing a Ha-Ha, this year would be a good year to get started.
The Notice of Rally can be found here and sign-up information here.
I almost forgot about this bit of local buffoonery. The other night, friends here in St. Barth sat next to a table of a dozen or so people. Their bill — meaning the other people’s bill — came to $50,000. It must have been the wine. Or maybe all the starters.
Wish you were here.
Well, we don’t imagine too many people looking forward to a $50,000 dinner bill. But we do imagine most sailors would be happy with their bill when dining out locally in Mexico. Get onboard and sign up for the 2024 Baja Ha-Ha and maybe you too will be cruising well into your 70s and 80s.
I miss Richard’s writing. Yes, John repaired that big Catana. But he misses his old Little Wing, presently owned by I-14 sailor Ron Boehm of Santa Barbara. Thanks for posting the story about Dave & Kim.