The Baja Ha Ha
First leg to Tortuga (Turtle) Bay
It’s been a wild ride! We left for Mexico on November 1st with 140 other boats, all participating in the Baja Ha Ha which is a rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. They call it the Ha Ha because it’s suppose to be fun, but it’s not all fun when it comes to sailing the high seas!
The first leg out of three was to Tortuga Bay, which was 360 nautical miles. We were a large fleet of mostly sailboats leaving San Diego and heading out into the deep blue wonder. There were a couple of boats that were keeping track of everybody. We had to keep the VHF radio on 69 to check in with the organizers every morning. We also used the same channel to talk to other boats that were following a similar course as us to make sure we didn’t hit each other. Being part of this large rally of boats was a great way to get offshore sailing experience. It pushed us to jump into the deep end, head first! It gave us confidence knowing that other boats would be nearby if something went wrong.
Lynn and Sue are friends of ours from the South Beach Yacht Club. We invited them to be our crew. Lynn has her coastguard captain’s license and teaches sailing at Club Nautique in San Francisco and Sue is her partner. They are both adventurers and love to travel. We were all very excited to sail together. The passage included three legs and the first one was going to be 2 nights and 3 days at sea! We were grateful to have help with all the watches, the cooking, cleaning and most importantly keeping each other company. It was a perfect match.
As we sailed out of San Diego Harbor, we had our mainsail up and the engine on. It was tricky because there were so many kelp beds to avoid. We managed to get some kelp wrapped around our rudder and around our propeller. Putting the boat in reverse a few times got the kelp off and our speed picked up again.
Then it was time to shut off the engine and begin to sail which was called by the rally organizers. The conditions were perfect for putting up our asymmetrical spinnaker. Peter was chomping at the bit to fly it, but I was feeling a little nervous because it is a huge sail and we only put it up once before on the ocean in very light conditions with the help of our teacher, Norman.
Lynn was a good role model for me. She showed confidence in using the spinnaker and encouraged us to get it up. It’s a process to get it out on our bow sprit with the tack line connected, getting the sail out of the bag and hoisting it up in front of the forestay. Once we got it to fly, the boat took off down the coast like a race horse, eventually hitting 12 knots in 15 knots of wind!
We sailed past the Coronado Islands which are about 19 miles south of San Diego Harbor. They are a Mexican wildlife refuge. Visitors can anchor, snorkel or scuba dive but they cannot go ashore. The islands lie about 8 miles north of Mexico’s mainland.
There were other boats with their spinnakers up behind us and it was a spectacular sight!
The sailboat on the left with the big pink spinnaker caught up to us and we called them on the radio to ask them to take a photo of us flying our spinnaker. They took the shot but we haven’t received it yet. They came up very close to our boat, passing in front of us. They got some great shots of us as we did of their boat. I must admit, it felt scary with them being so close to us. It seemed like they were only 2 feet away before they turned to sail ahead of us.
After all the excitement, I went to lay down in the pilot berth in the salon to rest up before my watch later on in the night. Peter and Lynn were out in the cockpit working the sheets of the spinnaker and keeping watch. I still had an uneasy feeling when all of a sudden our boat broached, meaning the wind picked up significantly and the spinnaker caused us to heel so hard that the side rails went pretty deep into the water. Everything on the inside of the boat came crashing down onto the floor, including a drawer full of things in our vee-berth. I dashed up to the cockpit and saw Peter on the deck trying to get the spinnaker down. They already let the tack line go, and were bringing down the sock, which gathers the huge sail into a big sausage that makes the sail much easier to handle. I went up to the deck to help Peter put the sail into the bag with all of the lines and we dropped it through the hatch onto our bed in the vee-berth. Phew, that was a close call. Sometimes spinnakers can get wrapped around the forestay or fall into the water and get caught under the boat. This did not happen which was a huge relief.
After we got the spinnaker put away we decided to reef the mainsail because it was blowing harder while getting dark and it would be easier to do in the light. Reefing means making the sail smaller so the wind doesn’t overpower the boat. After we reefed, we were still moving pretty fast as the wind climbed up to 20 knots. The waves were building from 4 to 6 feet, and occasionally up to 8 feet. Sailing downwind is easier with these conditions than sailing closer to the wind. Salacia was doing well until the autopilot alarm when off because it was overpowered by a large wave and it couldn’t track our course. The boat rounded up. I grabbed the helm while Peter turned the auto pilot back on to adjust our course back to where we were sailing again. We took a deep breath.
Going downwind made for an uncomfortable ride. The boat was moving like a corkscrew from the waves behind us at an angle. We didn’t want to go straight downwind which increases the chances of an accidental jibe. Peter and I were in the cockpit together at the beginning of the night. It was better for me to be outside with the fresh air because I was starting to feel sea sick. During his watch the autopilot was overpowered again by a big wave. It happened twice on his watch. So he stayed awake for most of my watch which ended at midnight. We were feeling pretty exhausted at this point. The sea was pitch black because there was no moon that night. There were many stars and we could see phosphorescence in the dark water which was beautiful. We focused on these silver linings.
During this dark night, it was easy to hallucinate. When I looked out over the darkness I saw a huge forest of trees. It was like a painting. The trees were dark with outlines of detail. I felt so comforted by this forest in front me. The trees reminded me of forests in Pennsylvania where I grew up. I started to feel more relaxed as I stared out at them. They kept me company. I told Peter about them and soon he said he could see them too!
After my watch was over, Lynn took over. There weren’t any more autopilot issues and I was able to fall asleep. Sue’s watch was at 3 am and it was pretty uneventful as well. Peter took over at 6 am. It was warming up as we continued South and we enjoyed being on the water during the day.
The next night watch was less eventful and when we woke up the following morning we knew we would make it to Tortuga Bay in day light. We were greeted by dolphins on our way in and all was well in the world! We sailed all the way from San Diego to Tortuga Bay only using our motor to enter the Bay at the end of our passage.
Peter kept us all calm and grounded with his knowledge of sailing, the sea and his ability to give direction and solve problems quickly. He was very conscientious of all the boats around us and used the radio often to cooperate with other boats when needed. One time was when a cargo ship was on the horizon. He did not hesitate to contact the cargo ship’s captain on the radio to learn about their intentions and to let them know where we were. The ship’s captain said that he would turn his lights on brighter for all of us to see. Peter shared the ship’s intensions with the boats that were around us. He demonstrated incredible seamanship to do what’s right in very intense moments. I also want to acknowledge Lynn and Sue for being relaxed, present and focused on their responsibilities on board Salacia. We were all a great team!!
I love reading about the details of your life on the boat, sailing in the seas, watching the dolphins play around you. I feel the adventure. Love you
It’s so lovely to be able to follow along with you on the journey, Donna and Peter, and crew! Thank you for defining all the terms as you share your story <3 Miss you a lot!