A BIG BAJA HA-HA SHOUT OUT TO RODNEY PIMENTEL
AND HIS ALAMEDA-BASED CAL 40 AZURE
Rodney and Jane Pimentel's Azure is entry #10 in this year's Ha-Ha, but right now Rodney and his crew are concentrating on maintaining their lead in class with Azure in this year's Pacific Cup Race from San Francisco to Hawaii.
Azure is currently 1st in the Ocean Navigator Class, 2nd in PHRF, and 13th among All Boats. She still has more than 800 miles to go.
Rodney and crew can be forgiven for not being in first place overall with the 56-year-old — that's right, 56 years old — Cal 40, as they got dealt a dirty hand at the start. In all crewed races to Hawaii fleet standings are often determined in the first day or two, depending on what day a boat starts and what the conditions are like on that day.
In the early going Azure and the others in their start were treated to almost no wind. At one point Azure was sailing at 2.7 knots while headed in the general direction of Juneau. This had to be maddening.
Given the inequality of starting conditions, all any owner and crew can hope for is to do well against the other boats that started the same day. And Azure is doing about the best that can be done.
It's a shame we couldn't get their Ha-Ha burgee to them in time for the Pacific Cup.
Speaking of Ha-Ha burgees, Chris Maher of Walnut Creek, whose Jeanneau 45 No Worries is entry #25, reports that in the course of hiking the last 90 miles of the John Muir Trail this summer, he'll be planting his Ha-Ha 2022 burgee atop 14,505-ft Mt. Whitney. So we'll give him a second one. Maher is a vet of the '95, '97, '98, '03, '06 Ha-Ha's, and maybe others.
The 2022 Ha-Ha burgee will be flying from the mothership Profligate starting on August 30th, when the Poobah and Dona de Mallorca start the 1,000-mile Bash north from La Cruz / Puerto Vallarta to San Diego. Since Starlink reportedly works great at Santa Cruz Island, we plan to spend several weeks out there. We wonder as Santa Cruz Island has many more anchorages than Catalina, and all of them are free, will Starlink render Catalina somewhat irrelevant to more adventurous sailors?
If you're entered in the Ha-Ha, where will you be flying your burgee in the next few months?
If you're not signed up for the 750-mile cruisers' rally that starts on October 31 from San Diego, now is a good time. All the details are available at www.baja-haha.com.
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