The SoCal Ha-Ha Is On!

Consider this to be the official announcement of the first-ever SoCal Ha-Ha. The itinerary will be as follows:

Sept 9 — Potluck on the Santa Barbara waterfront

Sept 10 — Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz Island, 25 miles

Sept 11 — Lay day, Santa Cruz Island, hike and socialize

Sept 12 — Santa Cruz Island to Paradise Cove, 38 miles

Sept 13 — Paradise Cove to King Harbor, Redondo Beach, 22 miles

Sept 14 — King Harbor to Two Harbors, Catalina, 23 miles

Sept 15 — Lay day, Two Harbors, Catalina

Sept 16 — Adios from Two Harbors to your homeport

The event will be open to no more than 50 boats over 27 feet in length that were designed, built and have been maintained for open ocean sailing. Because there will be multiple crossings of possibly foggy shipping lanes, radar reflectors will be required, as well as either AIS receiver or radar, and an operating auxiliary engine. Sailing will be encouraged, but motoring will be allowed, as this is a rally not a race. All boats must be equipped with the normal offshore safety gear. Each boat must have a minimum of two crew, each with offshore overnight experience.

Since this will be a first running of the event, it will not be for wimps or whiners, but rather fun-loving and flexible folks. For example, berthing in Santa Barbara will be on a first-come, first-served basis through the harbor office. If no berths are available, you will have to anchor out. If that’s not acceptable to you, this event isn’t for you. As most of you know, there are no shore boats or shore facilities at Santa Cruz Island or at Paradise Cove. There will be no guaranteed reservations at Catalina, either, although if you’re willing to go to the back side, there’s never a problem finding room there. But if all this is too much uncertainty for you, this is not the event for you.

We plan on having a number of informal social gatherings during the event, including an afternoon potluck on the shore in Santa Barbara, a reception aboard Profligate for half the skippers and first mates at Santa Cruz Island one night, and for the other half of the skippers and first mates the next night at Paradise Cove. We’ve received the green light to moor up to 50 boats behind the breakwater at Redondo. This will require everyone cooperating to create several big raft-ups, and the anchoring boats will be required to anchor bow and stern. The folks at Redondo have also identified a place where we can land dinghies, but there is a proposal afoot in the King Harbor YC to offer a much warmer welcome. We’ll know more about that possibility after their board meets this week. We’re still working on social events for the two nights at Two Harbors, where it will just happen to be their BeerFest Weekend. But we plan to have potlucks each night, along with slide shows from the SoCal Ha-Ha as well as from 18 years of Baja Ha-Ha’s.

The cost of the event will be a flat $200, but there will be swag and hopefully discounts from sponsors. We will be accepting entries starting on June 1 around noon, when that day’s ‘Lectronic Latitude is posted.

Ha-Ha or Ta-Ta?

"I love the idea of a Southern California Ha-Ha — SoCal Ha-Ha — but I don’t like the name," one reader wrote. "Because when, in the future, people brag by saying, ‘Oh yeah, I did the Ha-Ha,’ I won’t know if they meant the Baja Ha-Ha or SoCal Ha-Ha. I’m also thinking the name ought to have more of an identification with Southern California. As I was trying to think of the universal symbol for Southern California, two well-endowed women walked into the the Starbucks where I was sitting. It suddenly hit me — boobs are certainly one of the symbols of Southern California! So I struggled to come up with a euphemism for boobs that was at least vaguely related to ‘Ha-Ha’ and wasn’t crude or vulgar. I mulled over the problem while the gals ordered coffee, but got nowhere. But as they left, one of them sort of smiled at me, so I said, ‘Ta–ta,’ meaning goodbye. Wait, that’s it! Ta–Ta, which means all kinds of things, most notably ‘goodbye’, ‘boobs’ in a light and fun way, and ‘yes’, all of which work for me. So what do you think, the SoCal Ta–Ta?"

Who cares what we think, what do you potential participants think? Send your thoughts to Richard.