WHAT IS THE DEADLINE FOR SIGNING UP FOR BAJA HA-HA XXX?
It's a bit of a complicated question. Let me explain.
As noted on the Baja Ha-Ha webpage, the deadline is officially September 4, two months before the start of the Ha-Ha. But because the Poobah hasn't wanted to exclude anyone, in the past he's allowed skippers to sign up as late as a day before the start. But those were the good old days when life was simple.
While you can still do this, you can only do so under very specific conditions. The conditions being that you will have to start from Ensenada, in which case you will have already checked into Mexico, or after starting from San Diego, you will have to stop in Ensenada and check into Mexico there by yourself. The latter means you will find yourself a day or so behind the rest of the fleet.
Another option would be to check in at Cabo San Lucas, but you could not legally stop in Bahia Santa Maria without checking into Mexico first, so you would have one long leg from Turtle Bay to Cabo. Plus, you would miss the Rock 'n Roll Party!
If you want to check into Mexico at Bahia Santa Maria, which we expect almost all the fleet will want to do, and which you'll only be able to do if you enter the Ha-Ha, there is one drop-dead sign-up deadline — October 1.
Why? Because we have just learned that our agent has to prepare the entire fleet’s paperwork for the Port Captain in San Carlos, the savior of the Ha-Ha, one month prior to our November 11 arrival in Bahia Santa Maria. Each boat will need to get paperwork into Mag Bay Outfitters and make payment by October 4 or pay a substantial late fee. Everything must be paid and completed by October 11. These fees are quite a bit less than those we paid to the agent in Cabo San Lucas for many years.
If it makes any difference, the earlier you sign up, the easier it is on the Poobah who has to write all the bios. The earlier you sign up, the easier you make his life.
WILL BAJA HA-HA XXX BE THE LAST LAUGH?
I haven't told Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven or Head of Security Dona de Mallorca, but as the Poobah I'm putting the odds at 75% to 25% that this will be the last Ha-Ha.
Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven will scoff at this, claiming I've said this every year for the last several years. She has a point, nonetheless . . .
I love the Ha-Ha dearly and would like to be able to do them forever. It's brought many thousands of participants, and me, unimaginable pleasure over the years. But there are a combination of reasons why this year's event may be the last.
While I'm in good physical health and get lots of exercise, and still have my marbles intact, I would nonetheless be 77 during next year's Ha-Ha. At this age so much could happen between now and then, and I absolutely don't want to lead a Ha-Ha unless I'm in top condition.
In addition, each year outside forces and circumstances seem to make organizing and running the Ha-Ha more difficult than the year before. It's like death by 1,000 little cuts. And the older you get, the more serious those little cuts become.
In the past, I've asked both Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven and Chief of Security Dona de Mallorca if they would be interested in taking over the event. They both said 'no', although I haven't asked them recently.
The thought of selling the Ha-Ha to someone else has no appeal to me. I'm vain enough to think that I, along with their enormous help of Patsy, Dona, and others, created and run a sailing event that has a unique style and flair that would be impossible for someone else to replicate. And I'm not interested in the event's golden reputation being diminished for a few bucks.
When I started Latitude 38 magazine, my goal was to run it for 40 years. Which I did. About 15 years ago, Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven and I set a goal of doing 30 Ha-Ha's. This year will be 30. Maybe that's a sign.
I'm not suggesting the likelihood of there not being anymore Ha-Ha's as a threat to try to 'force' more people to enter this year. Indeed, I long ago started caring more about the quality of entries than the number of entries. I just want to give folks a heads-up that the odds are 75–25 that this is the last laugh.
Be healthy, keep sailing, and I hope everyone who has ever done a Ha-Ha will accept my gratitude.
The Immigration official, with Patsy, stamps passports aboard Profligate at Bahia Santa Maria.
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Bahia Santa Maria, a great place to check into Mexico.
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