Baja Haha 2009 Update

[Tom Madden]

i thought you all might appreciate an update on the 2009 baja haha, which i just completed in saint mary II.   i know many of you have been following Steve Dowling's update from the beautiful Black Dragon, so i will limit my comments to those that i think are of most interest.

most important to note, my catalina 34 performed like a dream.. she was just PERFECT.  as some of you may know, day 3 presented the haha fleet with challenging conditions.  the wind built to 35 knots with 15 - 20 foot seas at about 12 second intervals. the fleet tried to avoid these conditions my hunkering down in san quentin for night 2, but we ended up just sailing into the worse of it.  having said that, saint mary II handled it perfect.  about noon we put a single reef in the main and then had her double reefed by 1300, it was easy to tell the conditions were building fast.  we poled out the headsail (a 135) and tried to pretty much keep the wind at 150 degrees, which pointed us at cedros, where we were headed.  autopilot did a great job during the trip, but could not come remotely close to handling these conditions.  we had a 3 man crew, so we steered her for the next 16 hours or so.   she performed perfect.  SM II is a 2007 catalina, with a wide transom ... and she surfed just wonderfully down the big waves.  we had 5 jerry cans (water & diesel) tied down midship on each side, which seem to improve her balance and handling in these conditions.  also, we used our aft water tank first, which seemed to help her to surf.  i was amazed at how well we had her surfing down the big waves.  the top speed we hit was 14 knots!  we hit 12 and 13 many times ... and at times were maintaining speeds over 10 knots consistently.  the main message i am trying to deliver here is the boat is wonderful when rigged properly and with competent crew (me excluded of course.)

night 3 was the most fun, but every day was fun also.  we carried two spinnakers, a symmetrical and an asymmetrical.  the both serve their own purpose and performed wonderfully.  i had a 135 headsail, leaving my 155 at home (it just seemed to hard to fold my larger racing headsail.)  i kept my dinghy on the foredeck right side up with a cover over it.  we used the dinghy as the place we kept our spinnakers, this was a great idea and helped to keep the boat neat down below.

i'll stop here.  if anyone is interested in more, i am happy to correspond with anyone, i believe you can see my email in my profile.

it was great to meet Steve Dowling and his wonderful family on Blackdragon.  i also met two other members of this message board from the SF area (both know Stu, and they were crewing on a 47 foot catalina.)  we all got together, and looked at each other's boats.  so this board continues to pay huge dividends, i thank all of you for the input you have provided me.   SMII ended up taking second in her division... ok, the haha isn't the transpac... but we are very proud just the same.

tom madden

[waterdog]

And we thought the only way to make a Catalina 34 do 14 knots was to drop it off the Travelift!     Actually some of the waves south of San Quentin were a little bit like falling off the Travelift.   Scupper was not impressed with surfing 12 knots under double reefed main so we opted to duck behind Punta Baja.    The limitation of the boat is most often the crew as was the case on Blackdragon.   

We did catch up with Tom in Turtle Bay and again in Bahia Santa Maria.   Foster now sports a Saint Mary II hat and T-shirt!  It was a pretty neat trip and a lot of fun sailing with all the other boats.    Tom has done things on C34 that not many others have done.  His second place finish is actually something to be proud of.   Blackdragon's third place finish indicates, ah well, completion - everybody gets awarded at least 3rd place!  Saves the race committee from actually having to sort through the times.

We are now kicking around La Paz and the islas to the norte.   Amazing.  Just stunningly beautiful.  I would charter a boat down here if I wasn't already here on Blackdragon.

We've been catching sierras and big dorado.   If anybody ever tells you to squirt alcohol in the gills of a fish to peacefully put it to rest, don't listen.   Tequila sprayed in the gills of a dorado is the signal to party.   My entire cockpit was covered in blood.   I had to jump clear to avoid having my leg broken.   A few blows with a heavy winch handle and an ice pick to the brain is a much tidier way to go.  Scupper is not impressed by fish, though he does like grilled mahi mahi.

The "tortillas" here are fun to watch.   These are manta rays who believe their wings are meant for flying.   They shoot eight feet out of the water doing back flips.  I would not want one of these in the cockpit.   Scupper is not impressed by manta rays. 

Anyway there is a "norther" starting to blow.  Foster wants me to go help him put the sail on the dingy so he can see what it'll do in 15 to 20 knots.  Scupper is impressed with sailing in the dingy.   He likes that very much.   

I just shake my head thinking about how priviledged we are to be here.   But I spray a little tequila in my gills and the feeling of awe diminishes just a bit...