They're.... OFF!

The Baja Haha got off with a bang as 140 boats paraded out San Diego harbor to the adulation of crowds, cannon fire, fireboat fountains and media hoopla. We sailed past the Committee boat packed with spectators, dignitaries and even a mariachi band. It was quite the event.

It turns out this is actually a race. Who knew? A dozen or so divisions, each with about a dozen boats are ostensibly competing for first place honors, although what that means is anybody's guess. I say that because once again we are doing more motoring than sailing. When to motor and when to sail is up to the crew. The only constraint is that you can't be so stubborn about sailing that you arrive days later than the rest of the fleet. The objective, after all is not time, but having a good time. Hence the rally (er, race) name.

We were a little slow to get our spinnaker up at the start, mostly because we hadn't given it much thought. Oops. But soon we were flying along, passing boats right and left, pointing out boats that had an even tougher time getting their sails sorted than we did. Baja Haha, that's hard to believe. I imagine there are plenty of boats that have crew without much time on their boat.

I have no idea where the other boats in our ' Enchilada' division are, but since 4/5 of our time is spent motoring, no one really cares. The objective, at least our objective is to arrive in daylight, which means speeding up and burning lots of fuel, or slowing down and burning much less. We'll burn about a third of the fuel arriving after sunrise than we would by putting the pedal to the metal and arriving before sunset tonight. Many of the boats are familiar with the anchorage and don't mind arriving after dark. I've never been there, so I'd rather not. Safety first!

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