The Boat

It's funny how things sometimes come together in the most unexpected ways.

At the beginning of last summer, I took a leave of absence from work because I had, well, a lot of non-work things I wanted to do: remodel a rental house in Washington, take my annual commercial fishing trip to Alaska, trips to Hong Kong and Germany, and work on my sailing skills. I figured six months would do. That would have me going back to work in November, which would be ideal. They weather would be getting colder, the days shorter, and best of all—it would give me time to sail in the Baja Ha-Ha.

Well, it was a great summer. I did just about everything I set out to do when fall arrived, but with a few setbacks. The first was getting into a little altercation with a Volvo while riding my bike home from the Sailing Club in Berkeley. Bicyclists never win in collisions with cars, and I was no different. The car escaped with no visible damage; meanwhile I had a separated shoulder. Volvos are indeed solid cars. While I was home convalescing with my arm in a sling, Kevin, my boss calls to tell me I'm out of a job. The company had closed its office in Alameda and my job with it. Great.

Fall got better after that, thankfully. When not looking for work, I traveled more, swam a lot, did some triathlons, and continued to work on my sailing. Fall turned into winter, winter to spring, then summer came around again. The big event of the summer was a sailing trip from Hawaii. When October came, I was ready for the Baja Ha-Ha again, much more so than last year with all the recent sailing experience.

Through the match-making skills of Donna at the local sailing magazine Latitude 38, Sally Lightfoot (a Corsair 31 like the one pictured) has an enthusiastic new crew member for the Ha-Ha this year.

I'll do my best to bring you the latest and most lurid events from the Ha-Ha over the coming weeks....

-Jared