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iscounts collecting on the bottom of the Canal were adaptable to pump the rice out of the ship's hold or, experts believe, the rice might have expanded until the ship's hull was forced open.
ce , , Ra e s i u Cr ialize Soc Oakland
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Page 58 •
Latitude 38
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• October, 2012
Brownell Boat Stands
⇑⇓"BEST $7 BUCKS I'VE SPENT" Thanks for hosting the Crew List Party at Berkeley YC last month. I went looking for a crew position to Mexico, and also for crew for daysails aboard my Venture of Newport 23 Clarsa out of Glen Cove Marina. I not only made one contact for the former and three for the latter, but also hooked up with a boatowner in Sausalito seeking crew for daysails aboard his boat. All that, and a new black Latitude 38 T-shirt to boot, made it the best $7 I've spent in many a moon! Bill Crowley Napa ⇑⇓THE HA-HA IS ABOUT HAVING FUN, NOT RULES We on Daybreak are in a dilemma about whether we should sign up for this year's Baja Ha-Ha. Our family wants to socialize and thinks the Ha-Ha would be a lot of fun. Yet the captain wants to take time on the way down Baja to windsurf and surf. So our question is whether we can sign up for the rally, but take off early or stay longer at places such as Punta San Carlos for windsurfing, then catch up with the fleet in Turtle Bay. In other words, can we casually do the Ha-Ha to meet our surfing needs? Frank Dubuc Daybreak, Perry 43 motorsailer Squamish, BC Frank — Of course you can. The purpose of the Ha-Ha is not to try to make folks adhere to a strict schedule and an arbitrary set of rules, but to offer a framework for them to have fun with their boats while cruising south. As a result, we frequently have boats leave a little early or late from San Diego, as well as Ensenada or one of the two official stops. We've also had boats stop at Isla Guadeloupe, the Benitos, and Cedros on the way to Turtle Bay, as well as some of the surf spots. Basically, we want participants to do whatever they feel like doing, as long as it's safe and responsible. All we ask is that everyone be scrupulous about letting the mothership know what they are doing so we don't send the Coast Guard out looking for them. We're pretty sure that your kid(s) would have more fun on the Ha-Ha than sailing down solo, as they would no doubt enjoy socializing with others their age. And like all kids, they'd probably like to engage in a little anti-authoritarian behavior, which in the case of the Ha-Ha usually involves 'water-ballooning' the Grand Poobah. But no matter if you decide to join the Ha-Ha — we're confident that you and your family will have a great adventure cruising down the coast of Baja. ⇑⇓OUR READERS ARE AWESOME My husband Robert and I crew on his brother's Sausalitobased Kalimera about 18 times a year. Robert doesn't miss an issue of Latitude, which he reads from cover to cover. I have four things to say about the September issue: 1) Your editorial reply to a letter about cruiser safety in Mexico really got our attention. You said you can't recall the last time a cruiser had been attacked on their boat in Mexico. Did you overlook the unfortunate incident in which a man was beaten to death off the west coast of Mexico, which you reported on in '11? Perhaps that doesn't qualify as 'piracy'. 2) You used the United Nations as your source for the number of homicides per thousand in a whole bunch of countries in the Americas to compare the relative safety. Do you rely on