General information
DATES: The complete schedule for the 15th annual Baja Ha-Ha cruisers rally has been announced. The start of Leg One will be Monday, October 27.
Pre-Registration
We are in the process of developing an online system, and you can now pre-register online. After you pre-register, we will email you when the final forms and payment system is online. You can also still request a sign-up by mail (see About the Ha-Ha). They will be mailed out beginning in the first week of June.
About the Ha-ha
The 750-mile Ha-Ha is a cruisers' rally, meaning overloaded boats are the norm, engine use isn't frowned upon, and the emphasis is on making friends rather than beating strangers. The Ha-Ha fleet sails from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, with stops after 360 miles at Turtle Bay and after 560 miles at Bahia Santa Maria. Unlike a yacht race in which there is only one winner, everyone who finishes the Ha-Ha is considered a champ.
The Ha-Ha is a laid back opportunity for responsible cruisers to have some fun meeting each other while sailing down the coast in a very loosely structured group. There's only one organized Ha-Ha party before the start, a daily roll call, two beach parties, and an award's party. And folks are welcome to customize their itineraries. The few folks who enter the Ha-Ha with trepidation - fearing either a tasteless frat party atmosphere or a militaristic schedule - report being pleasantly surprised.
We never would have suspected, but the most hard fought competition in the Baja Ha-Ha has become the Here To Eternity Kiss Contest, which celebrates the most famous smooch in film history, the adulterous one in the crashing Hawaiian surf between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in the 1953 classic flick From Here To Eternity.
The Ha-Ha version — the only one in the world, we might add — takes places at the end of the Ha-Ha in the warm waters of Bahia Cabo San Lucas. Unlike previous years, in which the Grand Poobah had to sometimes cajole folks to get participants, this year there were many volunteers. We presume the surge in participation was in response to the recent death of Kerr.
