The Baha Ha Ha 2008

Due to the lack of internet, I am writing this all as one posting so it’s going to be long. Enjoy. We are sitting in beautiful Cabo San Lucas currently.

Leg 1

Without, Fred (the name of the Auto Pilot), we started the race, all be it, very late. However, we quickly caught up to the rest of the fleet and sailed on for a couple of days to Turtle Bay – the first rest stop of the race. Then the wind completely died. Oh well, motor on, then sailed, then motored, well you get the picture!

Filling our days with reading and shift watches, Brian cast out a couple of fishing lines in the hopes of catching something. Here, fishy, fishy, fishy…..ah, Ahi, mmmmmmmm. Kitty likes the fishy.

Dinner

Turtle Bay (Rest Stop)

We arrived very early in the morning on Thursday, escorted in by a group of large Dolphins, not like the small black one in California. When I immediately was hit with a wall of smelly, salty, fishy sea air. Wow, it sinks literally smells really bad, coupled with it being very warm out (even that early in the morning). We anchor in the dark, always a challenge. I’m going to bed!

It’s daytime, and now we can see where the smell is coming from – headless bait fish floating in the water – ewwwwweee gross! Rumor had it that a fisherman dumped all his bait fish in their because they closed the lobster season and he couldn’t make any money selling it, and had to empty his boat so he could go catch something worth some money. Wow. I am hot, dehydrated and have a massive headache! Oh, did I mention that I stopped drinking coffee, couldn’t handle it on the boat. Most likely cause of the huge headache – grumpy, smelly Kat! MEOUCH

So the town, dirty, dusty and typical of a Mexican place. The roads all dirt, the houses mainly cinder block, but the people, very cool, very sweet and welcoming. They even had an internet café in town, however no bank. No worries, it was not that expensive. The fleet had a huge beach party that was a potluck with all kinds of amazing food and fish. We forgot to bring plates so we ended up eating out of some empty serving bowls. We were lucky as we saw some eating off scraps of tin foil. We met lots of cool people and took a massive group photo with the camera man standing on a near by cliff.

The next day – Halloween – Day of the Dead, and the town was having a big fiesta in their new Grande Plaza. Food and music and dancing and of course, memorials/shrines to the dead. It was very neat to see and fun to hand out candy to all the kids. I had a Tamale de Pina – Pineapple Tamale for those not in the know. Yes, my Spanish is slowly improving. I think I had an easier time learning Chinese. Oh well, it will come hopefully.

Leg 2

Its 5:30 am must mean we are all awake, as this is the usual time our Capitan gets up. As we prepare for the start of this leg of the race, we are prepared. We will not start late! Oh, did I mention, we figured out why Fred (auto pilot) wasn’t working and fixed himit. We now have our 5^th crew member up and working – yeah! We decided the night before, that we were determined to be first across the start line – race on!

Alas, it was not to be as we had a rolling start due to lack of wind. This means motoring at 6 nm in any direction until the wind picks up and the race director – the “grand poobah” says “Go”. We were under sail at 9:30am (race was to start at 8am) so not bad. We popped the spinnaker and away we went. We flew the kite all night, we were cruising down to our next location – “Mucho Gusto”.

Bahia Santa Maria

This is a big beautiful bay, surrounded by beach, some mangroves (where the river comes to the sea), hills and not much else. No town here, just a couple of structures up on a hillside. The water is pretty clear and good. We went for a long walk on the beach and found so cool shells and sand dollars.

Our Anchorage - Bonita

Birds on the Beach
Karen, Robbi and I at the Beach BBQ/Party

Leg 3

It’s 5 am – that must mean we are up – time to start the race day for leg 3 – Bahia Santa Maria to Cabo San Lucas. This is the shortest leg of the trip and I am really looking forward to getting there. The weather predicted for this leg is good – Windy so it should be fast.

Start of leg 3

What an understatement about being fast. That coupled with the PC (partly cloudy) skies lead to what I like to say: “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”! I don’t know if that even does it justice in describing it. It made me totally sick, not even Dramamine would help. Well, only during the night, great, not. It was dizzying. No sky, no horizon, no water – it was just dark. I felt like I was floating through a black sea of abyss- just like the ride but worst – I lasted for 8 hours! Can I puke now please? Where is that plastic ziplock bag I slept with again? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh The big boat hits speed of 11.7 knots, fast for a 41000 lbs boat.

Cabo San Lucas

We are here – hooray! Fast too, less than 24 hours crossing the finish line, but it takes us another 3 hours to get in and anchor. Yes, it’s 6am again. I wonder, will I ever get to sleep in again?

Wow, we are so close to the beach and it is beautiful, even with all the timeshares and condo’s. The water is clear and warm. We have to go in and check into the country now, get our tourist visas and all that junk. Well, might as well take in the laundry too. Wait, when was the last time I washed my hair? Or took a shower for that matter? Ooo, smelly Kat. Must bathe first.

Cabo