March 24, 2012

Day three of the Banderas Bay Regatta starts soon

PARADISE VILLAGE, Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit - Admiral Fox and I will be heading out to La Cruz in a couple of hours to jump aboard the sailing vessel Lotus to crew in the third and final race of the 20th Banderas Bay Regatta.

Adm. Fox had been benched in the first two races because of her bad cold (which had turned to pneumonia) but says she is up to the task in this last race.

In the first race Thursday, Lotus blew a fitting on the boom vang and we had to retire from the course. The winds were around 25 knots with harder gusts - perfect conditions for the boat, apparently not so perfect for the boom vang.

In Friday's race the winds were light and while we made it around the course in a timely fashion, lighter boats that could point higher whupped us firmly.

The race organizers changed the courses and many other details of how the races are actually run. The jury is out about the changes, but at the finish line yesterday we had about 20 boats all close-tacking right in front of each other trying to end the race.

We had several close calls and there was a lot of shouting in English, Spanish and French.

Below are some photos from the opening day parade before the first race.




















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