TWENTY-SIX YEARS AFTER THE 1997 HA-HA,
THEY ARE STILL CRUISING STRONG
I'm referring to ex-Hawaiians Dave and Kim Wegesend of the Eric LaRouge 48 cat, Melelana in the Caribbean. (That’s Dave and Kim in the photo, bookending Tracy, who is singlehanding her Manta 40 cat.)
The couple met working for American Airlines ages ago, before retiring very early and buying the Catana 42, Maluhia. They subsequently enjoyed the 1997 Ha-Ha, later did another run down the Baja coast, and spent a lot of time based out of Paradise Marina in Vallarta.
Awhile back — it might have even been 10 years ago — they took off for French Polynesia. I don't know the details, but as I recall, they lost Maluhia on a reef in the Tuamotus. In the 'if you fall off a horse, you need to get right back up in the saddle' frame of mind, the couple headed to Grenada, where they bought the LaRouge 48. She's a pretty high-performance cat and has tillers instead of wheels.
The Wegesends have been based out of Grenada for the last few years, making annual trips up and back down the Eastern Caribbean. We bumped into them while sipping a drink at — where else? — Le Select in St. Barth.
The Wegesends had news of another old Ha-Ha and Banderas Bay hand, John Haste then of the Perry 52 catamaran, Little Wing. We did so many Banderas Bay races against John with Profligate that we decided we needed a change of scenery. So I challenged him to meet us in St. Barth, 3,000 miles away, for that year's New Year's Eve Around the Island Race. And we both showed up!
John spent some years with his boat out of Cartagena, where he once hit 28 knots — by mistake — with Little Wing. He later sold the boat and bought a small multihull he could trailer to the Finger Lakes of New York. Then we lost track of him.
Until about five years ago when we bumped into him at the Hollywood, Florida airport, of all places. John told us that he'd purchased a hurricane damaged Catana 52 with a carbon mast that had been broken into three pieces. We were skeptical that John, then 75, could ever put that boat back together again. Or even want to try.
Well, John is now 80, and Dave and Kim tell us that he is heading for Vallarta with his restored Catana 52. He must be missing that Banderas Bay sailing and Mexican food.
We also got news that Steve Schmidt, formerly of the South
Bay and more recently of Santa Barbara, was headed back to St. Barth with Hotel California, Too, the only cruising Santa Cruz 70 ever built.
Steve hadn't done much racing before he got to the Caribbean with Hotel in the early 90s, but started entering races for the social aspect. And he got hooked. He began doing 30 to 40 races a year. Between races, Steve would cruise the Caribbean, often singlehanded. And get this, he once cruised and raced the Eastern Caribbean for nearly two years... without an engine! And often singlehanded.
We did a couple of Voiles de St. Barth on Hotel. The one day we took off, Hotel hit 24 knots, her highest speed ever. Mind you, this was with a short rig and dacron working sails. I caught them flying down a wave.
If we remember correctly, Steve is a couple of years older than we are, and we'll be 76 next month. It just goes to prove that there are a lot of us geezers still out on the water.
Speaking of the Ha-Ha, sign-ups for the 750-mile cruisers rally begin at noon on May 9. If you want to be like Dave and Kim and still be cruising 27 years after doing a Ha-Ha, this year would be a good year to get started.
The Notice of Rally can be found here and sign-up information here.
I almost forgot about this bit of local buffoonery. The other night, friends here in St. Barth sat next to a table of a dozen or so people. Their bill — meaning the other people's bill — came to $50,000. It must have been the wine. Or maybe all the starters.
Wish you were here.
|
