Part 1 : December 1995
On Monday, October 30, I sailed out of San Diego Harbor aboard the Cal 34 Tafia, part of a 60
boat fleet for the 1995 Baja Ha-ha. Latitude 38, publisher Richard Spindler, started this
cruisers’ rally last year, and chaired it from his boat, the Ocean 71, Big O. The race/rally has
three legs : San Diego to Turtle Bay - 340 miles, Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria - 260 miles, and BSM to
Cabo San Lucas - 120 miles. Boats were assigned informal handicaps depending on propellers, sails,
and whether they planned to use a pole. Motoring was permitted, but you received a penalty equal to three
times your motoring time (one hour of motoring = 4 hours of sailing).
The fleet was very diverse. The smallest boat was Duck Soup, a Cal 25. The largest was Northern Dancer, a lovely MacGregor 65, which sailed past us at the beginning of leg 2 under asymmetrical spinnaker. Experience levels varied as well. The Pedrick 43 Route Du Vent was skippered and crewed by long time Bay Area racing champions, and there were several Pacific Cup veterans in the fleet. There were also folks who were on their first trip on their new boat, new to ocean sailing, and at least one couple fairly new to sailing altogether. Some folks had been to Mexico before, many of us had not. However, we all had at least one thing in common : we were all excited and pleased to be part of this wonderful adventure.
We were one of the smaller boats, and we were notorious for two reasons : we planned to (and did) sail all the way, and the three crew were all female. We were also set to compete with the fleet’s other Cal 34, Sea Beast. It was newer and lighter, with a genniker that looked an awful lot like a higher-penalty spinnaker! The Beast’s skipper, Tom Lyon, known as ‘Fabio’ for good reason, had sailed against our skipper Jim on another Cal 34 in the 94 Ha-ha. Jim had squeaked out a win on the last leg. Both of them were ready to go at it again this year.
Part 2 : January 1996
We spent several busy days in San Diego getting fishing licenses, tourist visas, provisions, and the
inevitable dozens of other last minute things we needed. This always happens before any cruise, but
setting out for a country like Mexico, you can’t be sure of finding things you could pick up enroute here.
We also took the boat out for a brief shakedown cruise, attended at least one party per day, and made
several visits the complimentary hot tub at the Sheraton next to the marina.
Our menu was simple. We chose to do 3 or 4 dinners 3 or 4 times : macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, chili and soup. We varied them by adding things, like peas, or tuna fish. Breakfast ended up usually being 1-2 packets of instant oatmeal apiece, supplemented with bananas, juice and coffee or tea. Lunch was leftovers, bagels, fruits and veggies, and other snacks. We were able to gauge our consumption pretty well, since we didn’t have a lot left in Cabo. We only bought a few things at our Turtle Bay stop; we made sure that we soaked the produce in a dilute bleach solution. Fresh tortillas were a particularly good addition. Overall, everyone felt that we ate well and by keeping the menu simple we were even able to persuade our bachelor skipper to cook a dinner. He did pretty well, too.
We had a nice windy start off Point Loma, and soon were past the Coronados. Unfortunately the next two days were pretty light. Wind direction was prevailing northwesterlies, but we had a fair amount of south and southeasterly breeze too. We soon separated from the fleet, especially since many of them lost patience with ‘slopping around’ and turned on the iron Genoa. We were particularly concerned with monitoring the Sea Beast’s progress, especially since the ‘genniker’ they declared at the skipper’s meeting looked an awful lot like a spinnaker to us. One night around midnight, 60 miles offshore, we came sailing up to another boat with a familiar looking genniker. They did not respond to our hail, but blinded us with their spotlight. When we heard the "Yo-ho-ho" and "Har-har-hars", we concluded that it must be Sea Beast, and proceeded to engage the in a jibing duel, in about 1 knot of wind!
We had a daily radio check with our fleet captain and monitored channel 68. Initially, there was quite a bit of radio traffic as people compared notes, fishing tips, etc. As the trip progressed, folks moved to single sideband (SSB) or ham or to one of the other VHF frequencies for chatting. In Mexico many more VHF channels are open and there appear to be fewer restrictions on what you can say (based on at least one conversation we overheard!). Almost everyone in the fleet had SSB or ham : not only is it good auxiliary communication, it is a way to get information not available otherwise, such as weatherfax. Best of all, Deanna, Jan and I were able to ‘phone home’ with the help of Mike Colyar and Seattle ham operators.
We finished the first leg at midnight November 2. To finish, boats recorded the time they passed west of a certain longitude and south of a certain latitude. Since the coast cuts away to the southeast we determined at sunset that the fastest line to the finish was due south, a broad reach, although it meant we finished nearly 40 miles offshore. At the time we decided to do this, we were watching Sea Beast head over the horizon, yet we finished three hours before they did! As though to celebrate, we were greeted by hundreds of Dall’s porpoises and a group of bottlenosed dolphins on our way into Turtle Bay at sunrise.
Part 3 February 1996
My impressions of Turtle Bay were similar to those of Summer Snow. The contrast was more exaggerated because we were there with 60+ boats, a sizable influx. We had a great potluck at a nearby beach, where I had my first encounter with dealing with surf in a dinghy. I now understand why Latitude 38 recommends dinghy wheels. It is quite challenging to launch into surf without swamping, especially after a party, with four people in a dinghy meant for three! It is also a good idea to put everything into a plastic garbage bag.
We had not planned to use Tafia’s spinnaker, since Jim and Jan had not had much experience. However, because it was so slow in the first leg and Sea Beast’s 'killer genniker', we decided to try it on the second leg. On the first set, in front of everyone!, the foredeck got confused as to which green edge was the foot. Why was it so long and short?!? The second set went much better, and at least we got to practice dousing. Of course, I maintained that I had planned it that way!
The chute was an old radial cut, but much more effective than the genniker, especially in light air. Jim was particularly pleased, since he had never used it in the eleven years he had owned the boat. Our first jibe was at 0200, in winds of 10-15 knots. I was driving and was somewhat nervous, because the pole was end for end and we did not have a proper downhaul so it was somewhat unstable. Also, our only wind indicator was some old nylon strips taped to the wind vane, kind of hard to watch while looking forward too! It went well though.
Our weather was pretty good, except for the light winds. We did have a storm system on the third leg that lasted about 24 hours. Winds were SE, right where we wanted to go. Since the boat’s tacking angle was about 110 degrees, our painful choice was north of east or due south, and try to make east later. We chose the latter, and watched the coast line recede with every fix. It’s kind of scary when the next landfall on your course is Antarctica! Fortunately, by the next day things had calmed down and winds went to the north, allowing us to go in to land again.
Sailing in swell waves in light air was tough. To make any way, you had to reach, because if you tried to head down or up the chop would kill boat speed. We had several heated discussions about ‘proper course’ vs. boat speed. I maintained that we had no proper course if we had no way, and became known as ‘the reaching queen’. The GPS didn’t help much because it almost always said 1.5 knots or higher. We think it was measuring the mast’s up and down movement rather than true speed over ground in those conditions.
We had two Tillermasters, George and Dieter. Under light to moderate conditions they could drive the boat well, although I wouldn’t trust them with the chute. However, they got pretty beat up, and we hand steered virtually the entire last leg. This was fun but tiring. It was made more difficult since Jim only has a compass on the port bulkhead. Trying to read it from the starboard side was an art.
We started out with a set shift schedule, but quickly went to an informal rotation depending on the conditions and how tired folks were. Quite often, I would do solo watches with George or Dieter, either in the afternoon or on graveyard, midnight to sunrise. This worked well because : 1) I had the illusion of luxurious privacy, especially with my Walkman, and 2) everyone else on the boat smoked, inside and out, so it was my escape from nicotine fumes as well.
As in the first leg, we separated from the other boats for most of the rest of the race. We tended to be offshore in the shipping lanes, in part because it seemed that there might be wind there, so we had to keep an eye out for freighters and such. Jim’s experience in the Merchant Marine helped to determine course, type of boat, and likely destination. During the third leg, we began seeing big boats go by in the Long Beach - Cabo race. We followed one in shore at the finish to find the morning breeze we needed.
During our last night, we were becalmed, and a pod of whales swam by. One of them started swimming back and forth under the boat, popping up right next to us and actually bumping the boat once! We thought that since it had been so long since we had bathed, one of the smells we were producing was attractive to whales. Deanna got on the radio to ask whether anyone else had ideas as to what to do. Those who responded thought it was funny, but had no suggestions. Actually, we learned later that whales try to scrape barnacles off against boats. Some may have lost keels from this. So, we had reason to be concerned.
Spending three days in Cabo was a nice way to relax after the trip. The resort town was quite a contrast to the town at Turtle Bay, a typical small Mexican fishing town. In some ways I think I liked Turtle Bay more. I got to know many of the other cruisers better; we had two parties, and danced until our muscles complained at the abuse after days of inactivity. Several of the Long Beach - Cabo boats had a race for fun on Saturday, and Deanna and I both went out on different boats. She on a Mumm 36 and I on a Santa Cruz 70. Sometimes it helps to be blonde! We also got to tour the 60 foot trimaran Lakota, which sailed from Tokyo to San Francisco in 12 days! They took only three days to sail down the coast, and were disappointed because they had hoped to set a record by doing it in two days.
It was hard to leave, in more ways than one, since my flight was delayed four hours. I was envious of those who got to stay, and continue on to other adventures. Someday, I will do the same. Maybe next time, I’ll even let David come!
Susanne Windels, Sky Hi