I-36s Do 2004 Baja Ha Ha Cruise to Mexico

I thought that the attached photos might be of interest to either the webmaster or the newsletter editor as they are of the four Islander 36s that participated in the Baja Ha Ha rally this fall. While five Islanders registered, only Mai Pen Rai, 36 Double Ds, Misfit and Some Day actually participated.

I was not able to spend much time with the skippers and crews of these boats, but did learn that they were having a great time. The photos were taken at Bahia Santa Maria, the second stop, about 3/4 of the way down the peninsula. If I remember correctly Misfit was the only boat with any problems and theirs was confined to the auto pilot.

None of the four boats had gone out of the way to add on much in the line of extras for the trip and at least one had a gas engine.

As I recall from the awards ceremony, Mai Pen Rai won their division for racing, but you may want to verify that fact with Latitude 38 before publishing it.

The rally conditions were a bit different this year as it took place during the period that inclement weather was coming down the coast. Start day dawned with a light rain but cleared shortly after the start. The first two days were spent reaching in northwesterlies of about 12 knots. But at midnight the second day out, the wind swung to the southwest and built to 25-30 knots. Beating was the point of sail for the next 30 or so hours as we approached Turrle Bay.

The second leg started in light to moderate northwesterlies but built to close to 25 knots before night fall. Reaching and running in confused seas were the conditions for the nest 24 hours. On board the Sabre 38 I was riding, we covered 171 miles in a 24 hour period and hit a high speed of 11.9 knots. There were a number of blown out spinnakers along with several headstay wraps but not on the I36s.

The last leg was another down wind run in light airs and ended with most folks motoring the last 5-10 mikes into Cabo.

While Misfit, Some Day and Mai Pen Rai were going to spend some time in Mexico, 36 Double Ds turned around and did the bash back to the Bay right after the awards ceremonies.

If anyone would like more details on the event, please don't hesitate to get in touch. All in all it was a great time and I look forward to taking my Islander on the rally in the not too distant future.

Cheers,
Mike Reed, 2reeds@nas.com
Islander
Bellingham, WA




[Click to enlarge]
36 Double Ds		 [Click to enlarge]
Mai Pen Rai		 [Click to enlarge]
Misfit		 [Click to enlarge]
Some Day