Haha Pics (from years past)

Departing: Baja Haha

Ahoy,

I depart shortly for the 21st Annual Baja Haha.  I will be joining a boat for the voyage from San Diego to Cabo.  We start on Monday and arrive in Cabo 10 days later.  There are 170 boats and 600 folks which is a very large group.  Our first leg is 325 miles to Turtle Bay.  A small fishing village in the middle of no where.  We will have baseball game with the locals on the first afternoon and a beach party on the second day.  Then a 250 mile run to Santa Maria Bay for another beach party with a band.  Another 24 hours and we will be in Cabo San Lucas, MX.  I will be seeing some old friends and meeting many new ones.  Wish me a bon voyage!


Start at the 5 min. mark for a look at the Hahahahahahahahah.  This is from last year and the only year I have missed out of the last 5.

Sailing Tip: Fairlead Positions

It took me a while to understand the positioning of the fairleads that control the shape of the jib.  Here is a great explanation.

Sunday Pics

We are on Mission Bay in San  Diego for the weekend.  There are several boat rental spots nearby.  One boat had no clue how to sail the boat.  They would tack and did not know you need to get the jib to leeward and they kept crashing into the rocky shore.  I ran out to advise them to release the jib sheet when you tack and secure on leeward.  They finally got it.  Also, we visited the wild animal park and went on safari and hand fed a white rhino.  Amazing.

Ha Ha Bound

Just got back from knocking on hulls for the 21st annual Baja Haha.  I found a boat with a small family heading down and will join them next week.  She is a French boat about 45' and well equiped for the trip.  I am feeling very lucky as this is my 4th Haha.  The event is a 750 mile rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas.  We have two stop overs in small bays along the way with the highlight being the beach parties which are always epic.  More beach parties when we arrive in Cabo.  This year we have a big fleet with over 170 boats and 600 friendly folks.  It's going to be an awesome trip and I will be sharing my log on this blog once the Haha is completed.  Can't wait to get out on the Pacific once more!

Financial Happiness

One thing about this blog is I know where some of my readers are from, but nothing else about the demographics of my readers.  If I have any younger readers (18-30), here is a great website that may help you find your way in our $$$ based world.  It's called Wall Street Playboys.  Its from several folks on Wall Street that give free advice to the younger set.  Their advice is spot on and it may give you some insight on how to shape your financial future (so you can buy that really nice Pacific Seacraft down the line).

In one of the posts, they were talking about starting your own company.  I decided to chime in in hopes of giving the younger readers some inspiration in starting their own business.  Here is my comment:

Hello All,
I came upon your blog and am very impressed.  I am in my mid 50's and have a son who just started college.  I plan to pass the website to him as the advice is spot on .  To echo some of these insights (and to help the younger readers), I started in the hotel biz out of college (my degree was in Hotel Mgt from UNLV).  I was in sales and working for Hyatt (grinding as they say on this site).  The money sucked and the hours were long.  I was going nowhere, but was always having a great time in life (lived in Palo Alto many years and life was outstanding)  It seamed I could never have more than $3k in my savings account.  Then I met some folks who were event planners at a convention booked at the hotel.  It was a female crew and they were having a blast as they worked the daily events.  I quit the Hyatt the next week and joined them.  I had a few year run with them in the Silicon Valley in the late 80's.  After learning the biz, I asked myself, why am I working so hard, making under $30k and they reap all the rewards?   I quit at the end of the year and started my own event planning company in the valley.  Here we are 22 years later and my wife and I run the biz out of our home and we have an excellent life and a very comfortable lifestyle.  If you can start a successful home biz, you will cut down on much of the stress in life  (being at work 7am (drag), commuting (drag), meetings, meetings, meetings (drag)). My happiness comes from making other people happy and that is what my company brings to me.  I just watched a vid that said why waste your time doing something you hate and getting fired when you can take a chance on something you love and be successful. Granted, alot of small businesses fail, but you never know unless you try.   I started with nothing so I had nothing to lose!

The bottom line: Find something you love and makes lots of money doing it.  Best of luck!

Houston, We Have Lift Off

One more from the Volvo Ocean Race.




Getting ready to crash the Baja Haha Rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas.  170 boats and 600 like minded folks for a 10 day, 750 mile sail down the Baja peninsula.  I don't have a boat yet but then again, that has been my story for the last two times I did this fun event.  Confidence is high and good times are on there way.  The adventure begins on October 27!

Thursday Pics

Famous Ship Restored

Back in the days when MTV just showed videos, one of my favorite's was Duran Duran's "Rio".  A sailing video that got the heart pumping.  Well the boat had some damage due to a collision and sank shortly after the vid was shot.  Many years later (40), her original owners found her and restored her to her former glory.  She was first launched in 1937!  You can read the full story of the good ship "Eilean" here.


Go full screen!

Turns out the lead singer, Simon Le Bon, was a serious racer and did the Fastnet twice and the Whitbread Round the World race:
While Duran Duran was on hiatus in 1985, Le Bon drew media attention when his maxi yacht, Drum, lost its keel and capsized during the Fastnet race, just off Falmouth, along the southern coast of Cornwall. Before being rescued, Le Bon and other crew members were trapped underwater, inside the hull, for forty minutes. They were all rescued by the Royal Navy, using a Search and Rescue helicopter from 771 Naval Air Squadron based near Helston. The rescue earned the Rescue Diver, POACMN L Slater, a George Medal.^[4] Despite the accident, Le Bon and Drum went on to participate in the 1985-1986 Whitbread Round the World Race, coming in third overall in elapsed time. Le Bon and his partners eventually sold Drum; the events surrounding Drum and the races were chronicled in a 1989 movie entitled Drum – The Journey Of A Lifetime and the book One Watch at a Time^[5] written by Drum's skipper, Skip Novak.
Twenty years after his accident, in 2005, Le Bon made public his desire to race again. During a touring hiatus in August 2005, Le Bon again raced Drum in the Fastnet race, borrowing the vessel from her current owner (the Scottish multi car garage owner Sir Arnold Clark) to participate, and raising funds for the RNLI charity. Le Bon had to leave the race unfinished, as light winds were slowing Drum (and the other competitors), and would have delayed the boat's arrival at Plymouth, interfering with Le Bon's obligation to perform in Japan.^[6]

It's Electric!

Capsize

Weekend Pics

 Don't forget to close the screen door.

Enjoy your weekend and get on the water if possible.

My First Mate

My boy Kona has over 450 sails over the last 6 years.   He has been an awesome companion and sailing buddy.  His favorite part: the swim to the beach.   We do alot of that.  He loves having crew so he can snuggle, mostly the females.  Who knew?  Here is to many more sails together!