Most boats leave Cabo and head to La


Kokomo’s First 100 Days


By


Becky and Denny Flannigan


Paz, but we decided to keep going north up the Sea of Cortez. We went from sandy beach to sandy beach, anchoring in 12 to 35 feet of water for 36 days without seeing a dock.


The second part of the trip was


from Newport to San Diego and included stops in Eureka for fuel and Catalina Island. We wasted a few hours, so we would reach San Diego in the morning instead of night. There was no wind the whole second leg. We passed the dreaded Point Conception in waterskiing conditions. Once in San Diego, we started planning for the 2010 Baja Ha Ha. On October 25th, with Pat and


Currently in Mexico, the Flannigan’s reflect on sailing from Tacoma to San Diego, doing the Baha Ha Ha, Denny’s walk-in operation, and Christmas aboard the boat.


We are in the beginning of what


we hope to be a six or seven year circumnavigation of the globe. After many years of dreaming and preparing Kokomo, our 1992 Sabre 425, and more importantly ourselves, we were ready to leave the dock. On September 17, 2010, we cast our lines off the docks in Tacoma, Washington and headed south; first to California and then to Mexico and beyond.


The trip down the coast can be


put into two parts. The first half was three days from Tacoma to Newport ,Oregon. After we got fuel in Neah Bay, we rounded Cape Flattery and headed south. The seas were confused, coming from all directions. Soon most were sick, including me. After 24 hours, some of us started to recover, but two were having a tough go. We pulled into Newport and got fuel and let the two that were still sick off the boat. We’re sorry they had to go, but understand as well. Becky had sailed to Hawaii with five guys in 2008 and chose to let the boys go alone this time. She made the right call.


We swam everyday and hiked the beach most days as the water was 75° to 80° degrees and the air 80° to 90°.


48° NORTH, FEBRUARY 2011 PAGE 40


Christine as crew, Becky and I said good-bye to the USA and hello to Mexico. The Baja Ha Ha is an annual boat race/rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. It takes 12 days as you stop twice along the way to party, potluck on the beach and meet new friends that will also be spending the winter in Mexico. We had a great time and like most the boats in the fleet we finished third in the race. If there were ten divisions in the Baja Ha Ha race, There were 10 boats that finished first, 10 that finished second, and the rest, approximately 135, finished third. there were several boats from Tacoma in this years Ha Ha. The Corinthian Yacht Club of Tacoma had three boats and 13 members participating as crew on those boats. Since Cabo we have been on our


own as far as boat crew, but I can’t say we’ve been alone. We have met several people sailing around as we are, we have been buddy boating with the three boats from Tacoma – Jim and Connie Merritt on S/V Sound Effect, Ron and Connie Holbrook on S/V Intuition and Marvin Fritz on S/V Roksan. We don’t see each of them daily, but they are around and it’s helping us get acclimated to our new life. Most boats leave Cabo and head to La Paz, but we decided to keep going north up the Sea of Cortez and come back to La Paz at a later date. As it turns out now, we will be missing La Paz all together. We


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