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I first saw Beneteau’s Excess brand of sailing catamarans in 2019 in Düsseldorf, Germany, with a room full of marine journalists, some of whom, like me, weren’t convinced of the brand’s vision. Most were perplexed, some got snarky. The models were based on modified Lagoon designs, and none of line made sense—not the marketing, positioning, or design.

But two years later, Beneteau revamped the brand’s management and messaging and launched the Excess 11, which was new from the keels up. Fast forward another two years and another from-scratch hull in the form of the Excess 14, which made its U.S. debut at the Miami boat show in February, and now it’s safe to say that the brand has evolved and is living up to its initial promise.

The design by VPLP naval architects leans on the firm’s ocean racing expertise. The hulls are asymmetrical, with hull sides that are fuller outboard and flatter inboard. This moves the center of buoyancy outboard for better stability and reduces interference drag between the hulls. The bridgedeck has been raised for better clearance, and the bows are inverted and free of the surface, which makes for more precise steering. By comparison with previous Excess models, the keels are thinner, and the rudders are 8 inches deeper for a better bite and higher pointing ability…

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(May 26, 2023; Day 6) – Skipper Kevin Escoffier and his Team Holcim-PRB have shattered the existing 24-hour distance records for monohull boats.

First to fall was The Ocean Race 24-hour Speed Record Challenge sponsored by Ulysse Nardin, previously set at 602 nautical miles by Simeon Tienpont’s VO65 Team AkzoNobel in the 2017-18 race.

A few hours later and the outright monohull record, 618 nautical miles set by the 100 footer Comanche in 2015, had been eclipsed. As of 0630 UTC today, Team Holcim-PRB pushed the 24 hour distance further to 640.9 nautical miles.

The previous high speed for the 2023 race was on Leg 3 when 11th Hour Racing Team posted a 544.63 nautical mile run over the 24 hours, which at time improved on the distance for a monohull up to 60-feet over the record set in 2017 of 536.81 nm. All record times must be submitted to the World Sailing Speed Record Council for ratification.

Conditions have been near perfect for making a record run – downwind reaching, in 25-27 knots of wind, with a relatively flat sea state.

“It’s a great boat and I’m really pleased! It’s not every day you break a record like this,” said Escoffier. “I’m really happy for the whole team after what happened on the fourth leg (the team retired after dismasting). We don’t know what’s going to happen next, even if we’re going to do everything we can to win this leg. In any case, I think it’s a great reward for the whole team.”

The run has brought the team within a couple miles of 11th Hour Racing Team who continue to lead the leg…

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(May 25, 2023; Day 5) – It’s going to be an interesting 24-hours in The Ocean Race as the leading trio find themselves in record-setting conditions with strong downwind reaching angles and ‘relatively’ flat water.

11th Hour Racing Team, at the head of the fleet, is already posting a run of over 550 miles for the past 24 hours, a number that is currently going up with each hourly position report.

It was on Leg 3 when 11th Hour Racing Team posted a 544.63 nautical mile run over the 24 hours, which improved on the distance for a monohull up to 60-feet over the record set in 2017 of 536.81 nm.

“We’ve got plenty of wind, there’s a bit more pressure than forecast, and it’s still a little bumpy, but we got out across the front earlier than the other guys which seems to be a gain for now,” said 11th Hour Racing Team’s skipper Charlie Enright. “And we just had 31 knots as a 10 minute average, which isn’t nothing!”

Team Holcim-PRB and Team Malizia, in second and third place respectively, are striving to match that pace. This is a flat out drag race, with limited tactical opportunities…

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Somehow, Badalona in Spain seems to be the pasture where the former steed assemble and await an unceremonious death. Kialoa (iv) is there with the bungs on the outside and hardware-store-grade plywood epoxied on the transom. I always think someone will be nostalgic enough to rejuvenate these yachts.

The Arctic grade anchor tells the tale of trials and tribulations and aborted ambitions… – anarchist Valentin.

Title inspiration thanks to The Pixies.

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(May 22, 2023; Day 2) – The Ocean Race commenced yesterday in light winds following stormy weather the day prior which postponed the In-Port Race and had it incorporated into the fifth leg start from Newport, RI. While Team Malizia snatched the In-Port victory from hometown team 11th Hour Racing, it is the later that now leads the fleet across the Atlantic Ocean.

After being squeezed between two Marine Mammal Exclusion Zones for much of last night, the US-flagged team has shown an extra gear as the race course opened up. With the 11th Hour, Malizia, and Holcim-PRB near even at the edge of the zone, American skipper Charlie Enright’s squad has been a couple knots faster with speed over 20 knots on the second day of the double-points leg to Aarhus, Denmark.

Sea conditions could get worse as the boats move into a favorable Gulf Stream current that will be pushing against the northerly winds in the forecast to dramatically disrupt the sea state…

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Not a fun day for this Club Swan 50 at the Swan Sardinia Challenge. Thanks to Max Ranchi for the candid shot.

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Ten days ago the 2023 Baja Ha-Ha opened its cabin doors to registrations, and with 64 boats now joining the southbound rally later this year, we’re coming back to our earlier post, “Five Years On: Where are the 2018 Baja Ha-Ha Sailors Now?”
Ha-Ha Poobah Richard Spindler had emailed the 2018 fleet to ask where they are now and what they have been doing since arriving in Mexico all those years ago. Here’s part two of their responses.

Steve Schafer, Shooting Star, Hylas 42, Napa:
“After the Ha-Ha I crossed over to Mazatlán and headed down to La Cruz for New Year’s. I departed the Puerto Vallarta area in March 2019 and headed to La Paz for a month. Then we went up the eastern coast of Baja, finally crossing over to San Carlos, where we left the boat for the summer.

“In November 2019 we crossed back over the Sea of Cortez to Agua Verde, then worked our way down to Cabo. From Cabo we motored north to San Diego, passing the 2019 Ha-Ha fleet as it headed south. I was upgrading Shooting Star for the Pacific Puddle Jump when COVID hit, and ended up selling the boat to a young couple. I now live in Prescott, Arizona. But I miss the ocean and Mexico.”

Eddie Harrison, Harizon, Dufour 310, Chicago:
“Both our 2017 and 2018 Ha-Ha’s were great. We continued south after 2018, through the Panama Canal, to Providencia, Roatán, Mexico again, Cuba, into Miami and trucked the boat back to San Francisco. The Ha-Ha was fabulous and set it all up.”

David Hostvedt, Severance, Wauquiez 43, Seattle:
“Although we planned to go farther, we fell in love with the people, the food, the weather, the beaches, the culture, and the community of Mexico. We got as far as Barra de Navidad, Mexico, and decided to make it our home. We moved off the boat in 2021, rented for awhile, then bought a house here on the water in 2022. Barra is our forever home.

“Many thanks to the Ha-Ha for helping us make it down here. We wouldn’t have had the confidence to do it without you.”

Marshall Peabody, Tenacity, Roughwater 33, Seattle:
“I enjoyed the Ha-Ha very much. My boat has remained in Mexico — La Paz or Nuevo Vallarta — ever since. I spent a season doing the mainland coast to Zihua, another doing Baja to Bahia Concepción, and spent the COVID year in Paradise Marina. In the meantime, I have loved exploring Mexico, taken many trips inland, found crewing opportunities that took me to Nicaragua, did the ‘Bash’ on a boat returning to San Diego, and last season ‘Puddle Jumped’ with another Ha-Ha boat, Aldabra, to the Marquesas and Tuamotus.

“The Ha-Ha launched me into the sailing lifestyle that I’d dreamed about for decades! Thanks for helping get me where I’ve always wanted to be!”

Donald and Roz Franks, Ramble on Rose, Caliber 40 LRC, San Francisco:
“We are still cruising. We spent the COVID years in Mexico, then left Chiapas in November this year. We’ve stopped at El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and just arrived in Panama. We will most likely go through the Canal next year to begin exploring the Caribbean side.

“My advice to cruisers is to get Starlink, it’s a game-changer. It makes so many things easier, even for those of us who don’t work. Good luck with the Ha-Ha 29.”

Kent and Cathy Powley, Coquette, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45, Seattle:
“We continued cruising all the way to Panama, then west to the Galápagos, French Polynesia and Tonga. We’re now in Hawaii and will head to Alaska next.

“Cruising Mexico and Latin America is great. We particularly enjoyed Bahia del Sol in El Salvador. Learn at least a few words of Spanish and use them, as it goes a long way with the locals.”

Derick and Barb Sindell, Stray Cat 2, Lagoon 380, Vancouver, BC:
“We’re still out cruising aboard Stray Cat. After three seasons in Mexico and a year off due to COVID, we decided to head for Panama. We left Puerto Peñasco in October ’22 and we just arrived in Vista Mar Marina in Panama a couple of days ago. We plan to transit the Canal in early May so we’ve got a few weeks to explore the islands and Panama City. We will leave the boat on the hard in Shelter Bay and go home to Vancouver for five months.”

Steven and Karen Kittle, Parrot Head, Beneteau Oceanis 35.1, Point Richmond:
“We had a blast on the Ha-Ha!

“We are now in the process of selling our home and moving out of the Bay Area to San Diego. We plan to sail out of San Diego and explore farther south, and maybe even do another Ha-Ha.

“And, as an aside, our neighbors up the hill took off with the 2021 Ha-Ha fleet. ‘Just a few months,’ they said. They still haven’t come back!”

Sign-ups and all the details can be found here: Baja Ha-Ha XXIX

The post 2018 Baja Ha-Ha Sailors — Where Are They Now? appeared first on Latitude38.

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The Cruising Club of America (CCA) is a collection of 1,400 ocean sailors with extensive offshore seamanship, command experience, and a shared passion for making adventurous use of the seas. Their experiences and expertise make them, collectively, one of the most reliable sources of information on offshore sailing. In partnership with SAIL, the CCA is sharing some of this hard-won know-how in
SAIL e-newsletters.

This story was shared with CCA member Brian Guck by a friend in Pulpit Harbor, Maine. The author, an experienced sailor and mountaineer, had just returned from a successful trip to the summit of Mt. Everest. He wished to remain anonymous but still pass along what he learned from this incident.

I hopped into our motor dinghy and headed out to the boat to do some routine chores. Once completed, I got back in the dinghy and headed back to the dock.

It was low tide. I needed to navigate shallow water to get to my usual tie up spot. I did what I frequently do in this situation, turning around to lift the idling motor into the shallow water setting. The new motor we bought this year doesn’t raise and lower quite as easily as our old one did, so I had to jiggle the motor to get it to lock into position. As I did this, the motor tiller brushed the side of the dinghy and jerked into full throttle. The dinghy surged forward, then swerved violently to starboard. I was thrown from the dinghy into the shallow water.

Outboard motors are sold with emergency cutoff switches, commonly called kill switches. These are stretchy rubber lanyards intended to be worn around the operator’s wrist, with the other end connected to a switch on the motor. If the operator is inadvertently thrown into the water, the lanyard pulls the switch and immediately shuts off the motor.

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