Banderas Bay Regatta

Every March the Vallarta Yacht Club hosts a regatta which includes many different classes of sailboats and abilities.  This year there were cats, J 80's, racing yachts, and cruising yachts.  Each class has its own rating system, as the cruising classes are varied with everything from stripped down cruising boats to yachts with dinghies, davits, dodgers, biminis, kayaks, outboards and liferafts all mounted on deck.

The start line with the committee boat surrounded by different classes.

   We were fortunate enough to snag a ride on Snapdragon, a beautiful Beneteau 473, which is a larger version of our boat.  Russ, the skipper had it in excellent shape for the races, and so we joined for 4 days of racing which included a day of practice racing and starts.

Snapdragon leading at the start!  Notice our extensive group on the rail, Alan solo, as we had 5 on this day.    

 Gregg and captain Russ looking serious at the start.  Note the solar panel and bimini!  We were in cruising class.

   The winds were blowing nicely on the first three days, which favored us.  Russ got to the start line in great position each day, and we all worked hard to get the boat working at her best.  We had to give time to everyone in our class of 6 boats, so we knew we needed to get a move on and be out in front by at least 21 seconds a mile.  Our courses varied from 12 miles to 16 miles, so we really needed to be moving on our competetion.  On day one we were second by 2 seconds, day two, we had some difficulties and ended up third, and on day 3 we did better and pulled in second.  Overall we ended up second place.  We knew that with only slight changes we could have been in first, so we felt pretty good about our racing.  The crew had never worked together and some were a bit inexperienced with racing.  I tried my best, but by day three I was pretty bleary eyed and tired.  My jobs were mostly jib and spinnaker trim and pushing the buttons on the automatic winches.  Thank heavens for them or we'd have been exhausted after one day with all of the tacks and jibes.

Our crew ranged in number from 5-8 on different days.  L-R:  Lon, Steve, George, Alan, Lisa, Leif, Gregg, Russ. Celebrating at Vallarta Yacht Club.

   On the last night there was a banquet for all of the racers and a trophy presentation.  We had a wonderful time out on the beach front in Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta.  There was a long buffet line of great food, and a band that played some popular songs that many folks danced to, including me.  I brought a bottle of BV cabernet, a Georges de Latour 1997 to help celebrate our racing successes, and everyone had some to toast our second place.

Russ and Leif with our second place trophy!

   Each day Leif and I walked in to the taxi stand at the marina entrance and hopped a cab ride into Paradise village, a 200 peso trip each way.  We tried the bus on day one, and it was ok, but took so long we needed to leave 1 1/2 hours early to make it on time.  So, it was with great pleasure to relax and clean our boat on the day following all of the festivities.  One note, as we just finished hosing and scrubbing our boat, a huge helicopter circled and landed in a dirt field upwind of us, spreading dirt and debris all over our clean decks.  Apparently the dignitaries get to fly in for the Copa event.  Hopefully this won't happen everyday, but it's been two days in a row so far...  It looks like a large military transport of some sort.

The happy, tired, crew.  L-R:  Alan, Russ, Lisa, Leif and Gregg.

   During this time in Marina Nayarit, the regatta Copa Mexico was ramping up, which is an even larger event for on the water racing.  It includes: sailboards, kite boards, Lasers, Optimists, J24 North American Championships, 420's, and larger ocean going cats (Ormas) and yachts.  It will be a spectacle to observe all across the bay, and runs for about two weeks.  We will get to see some of it, as we are leaving to go north in a week or so.

This boat was not racing... and is more typical of some we've seen cruising.  We try to keep the decks clear on Finisterra.