Who’s on Board for the Last Baja-Hoorah-Ha?

There are currently 83 boats signed up and paid for Baja Ha-Ha XXXI. And if the past is any guide, there’ll be up to 140 by the November 2 Ha-Ha Kick-Off Costume Party and BBQ in San Diego. Of the 83 entries, 69 are monohulls, 11 are catamarans, and three are motor yachts. Now is the time to add your details to the list of sailors who are joining the rally to Mexico, and it’s also the time to send in your bio for the annual “Meet the Fleet” booklet.

If you’ve signed up, or are about to sign up, and are a little unsure of what’s needed for a bio, check the following one from Dave Gilbert of the Chula Vista-based Hans Christian 38 Heure Bleue. He provides all the basic information, adding additional stuff that helps us get to know him, and there is humor. We’re not looking for bios quite this long, but it should give you an idea. And if you’re a person who is on the private side, feel free to share as little as you want.

Heure Bleue — Hans Christian 38T (W); Dave Gilbert, Chula Vista
Dave, a 65-year-old liveaboard, is a stem cell scientist for cancer research. “I learned to sail on San Francisco Bay in the early ’80s while in graduate school at Stanford. At the time I lived aboard a Columbia 36 with a lady friend, and later a Ranger 26 by myself. For the next 30 years I was married to a landlubber who forbade me to sail. Eventually I was allowed a Venture 17, followed by a Compac 16. I sailed those boats all over the forgotten coasts of Apalachicola, Port St. Joe, and Mexico Beach on the Florida Panhandle.

“After becoming single again I did a fair amount of chartering before purchasing my Hans Christian 38, a design I’ve been in love with since the ’80s. In July 2023 I sailed Heure Bleue from Green Cove Springs, FL, to her home here in Chula Vista.

“I have a box turtle pet named Indy who sails with me, and probably hates it. He’s getting close to 100 — middle-aged for a box turtle — but doesn’t have any choice in the matter. My daughter will take him when Heure Bleue arrives in port with no captain aboard. LOL.

“I’ve always said I was going to do a Ha-Ha, and since this is the last one, I have to go this year. My longest passage has been Florida to Puerto Rico, which took nine days. What I do after the Ha-Ha depends on what the current administration has planned for the National Institutes of Health. If biomedical research keeps getting slashed, I will sail off into the sunset and leave the few remaining jobs to younger people. If it’s all a bluff, I may see as much of the Sea of Cortez as I have time for and then slosh back up to Chula Vista.

“My dream destination depends upon how much I’ve had to drink. When sober, I’d say winter in La Paz and summer in Chula Vista sounds like heaven. After a few drinks, Tahiti, Fiji, and all of that South Pacific stuff would be tops, with the Mediterranean as a distraction. I own my dream boat. I first saw a Hans Christian 38 in a boat show in 1984, and I promised myself that someday I would own one. I’m very stingy making promises because I always keep them.

“My sailing hero is Michael Attridge, my late best friend. He taught me everything I know, and had so many more sea stories than I do now, even when we were both young. May he rest in peace.

“I like the Clint Eastwood line in Mule: “The only people who want to live to be 100 are people who are 99.”

“I’m left-handed and have been ‘DNA Dave’ since 1984. I had a lot of non-scientist friends at Stanford, such as those who started Apple and stuff, and a lot of them were named Dave. To distinguish me I became ‘DNA Dave’, so I got that as my California license plate. I also had that plate in New York and Florida, and now I have it in California again. You may hear other people say they are DNA DAVE, but hands down, I am the original. But Dave is just fine. Depends on how many Daves you have around.

“I love any dessert with dark chocolate. Like a chocolate mousse with those 90% dark chocolate cacao chips in it. And maybe some chocolate dust on top.

“If I haven’t shared enough already, I’m a damned good harmonica player, and have written many songs on two CDs, I play guitar pretty mediocre, but well enough to lay down 300 songs or so to a drunk audience. And I sing and tap my feet.

“What else? I play basketball with people less than one-third my age, and I used to garden when I had dirt. Oh, yeah, I have been a professor for over 30 years and started a field of science. I raised a family, recorded music, run a nonprofit music production company to support kids with broken homes, played and coached basketball, pumped gas and fixed cars, and studied philosophy (how to think and write 101). Unfortunately, I’ve also lost a child and a marriage.

“I don’t feel I have enough money yet to safely retire, so I’ve started DNA DAVE LLC to help others disrupt the status quo in science while I’m sailing, and maybe I’ll do some fiction or nonfiction writing and publishing. I’m taking a course. If all that works, I just might be able to make the sea my home. Or as I said, if the current anti-science attitude is the new world, I’ll just move to Mexico. ‘Nuff said?”

If you are curious about the Ha-Ha or want to sign up, both the Notice of Rally and entry forms can be found at www.baja-haha.com. We hope you can sail south with us, as this is your last chance to do a Ha-Ha.