Banderas Bay Regatta and tsunami



Where did dock 11 go???  Glad we left!



The Banderas Bay Regatta is aimed at cruisers here in the bay, with boat ratings reflecting all of the various gear attached to the boats to increase comfort while on the water.  We joined friends of ours, Judy and Torben on their Beneteau 42S7, Tivoli, the big sister of our boat for the racing event.  They invited some other guests from their home town who flew down to assist as crew.  We all had high hopes for beating the local favorite boat "Cirque", another 42S7 that is not a cruiser, but more set up for racing.  Our rating was friendly, but in the end, not friendly enough for us to overcome Cirque's challenge.  Day one showed light winds and a large field of yachts in 7 different classes.  We were class A, the big boats, and another notable yacht in our field was Kialoa 3, a 78' sloop.  The race was fun, even though we didn't strut our stuff very well and ended up a lousy 7th out of 9.  The crew doused their sorrows with beer and had a lengthy discussion on how to improve on the next race tomorrow.  We hopped a cab back to La Cruz for the night, ready to show our better efforts the next day.
   Well, as fate had it, we awoke to the horrible news of Japan's earthquake and subsequent tsunami warnings up and down the coast.  The vhf radio was alive with chatter of what to do, where to go, when it might be here, how big, how small, etc.  The port captains closed all the ports on the pacific side of Mexico, leaving folks wondering now what?  People were really at a quandary as to how to react.  The race committee finally decided to cancel races for the day, after initially just having a delay in start times.  Problem was, most of the crew on the racing yachts had their own boats to worry about in various marinas, leaving the racers without crew.  This had been our decision as well, better to take care of Honcho than go and race and be worried all day.  When we heard that Santa Cruz was hit hard, we decided to sail out into the deeper water of the bay, over 200', and get some chores done on the boat like making water as we were low.
   At 1:30p.m. the surge hit, and the marinas were all mentioning the currents running in and out at about 10+ knots and the rise in water to 6' or so.  This kept up all day, in and out.  The ports stayed closed all day, so most boats anchored off La Cruz in the only real anchorage in Banderas Bay.  Finally Nuevo Vallarta opened up after dark, but with warnings of high surge continuing and stiff currents swirling inside.  La Cruz was going to open, so we upped anchor and motored over to get in quickly ahead of the rush.  This ended up being a false alarm, so out we went back to the anchorage to try to find a little spot for our barco.  The night passed with frequent surges causing rolling and tugging at the anchor, but no problems.  As the sun rose, we saw other boats heading into the marina, so we upped anchor once again and jumped in line.  We rounded the jetty to find the dock on which we had been tied was not all there, two large slips were in tangles, upside down and sideways, and missing altogether.  Honcho pulled in and tied up and we went to inspect the damage to the end of our dock.  The surge had apparently caused the fingers to flip with the stress of current sideways and then broke in half.  I was really glad to have left, as the strain on our keel would not have been a good thing, possibly causing more of the dock to give way. 
   So, after a restless night, and busy morning, we hopped back into a cab, and headed for day three of the races!  We arrived to find our friends all safe and ready to go.  Day three brought more wind, which was to our advantage.  Torben steered the boat into a great position for our start and off we went.  The course was more to our liking as well with some tactical elements to it, allowing us chances to outwit our opponents.  I forgot to mention that on day one, Kialoa tore their jib from leach to luff, and they apparently had no spare, so they were out of competition.  We ended up finishing 2nd in corrected time for this race and the crew was very pleased with the day's performance.  We all felt that if we had sailed three races instead of two, we'd have been in the trophy presentation.  But alas, we ended up 4th overall, not a bad improvement. 


Tivoli's Crew:   Top row: L-R, Lisa, Sylvia, Judy, Lynn; Bottom row: Tom, Phil, Torben, Howard, Leif 




Wrong boat, wrong direction!



Tom, Lynn, Judy and Torben returning from the practice run?

The start... and they're off...

   I was spinnaker grinder and rail meat each day, and after all of the excitement, I was exhausted and glad to return to Honcho for some rest.  We are looking forward to a trip inland to San Sebastian and Tequila tomorrow for a couple of days off the water.