Banderas Bay Regatta March 21-23 - We missed the mark but emerged intact.

I can't believe we have been in La Cruz for almost three weeks! We blame it on being slightly detained by the Banderas Bay Regatta, however the regatta hasn't been the only entertaining thing in the area. When Windjammer showed up Ashley and Cathie rented a car and very graciously chauffeured us all over the place for some sightseeing and shopping.

We ran errands at chandleries and Costco down in Nuevo Vallarta, discovering that the only way to turn LEFT is to get into the RIGHT hand lane. Don't ask. Occasionally another option is to utilize the "Retorno" which lets you turn around in a big circle while negotiating lots of local traffic. We were unable to find any store without using the "Retorno" at least three times per store, so we became VERY well acquainted with it.


The Retorno will drive anyone to drink.

We did a day trip to the charming beach town of Sayulita where Tom surfed, Cathie and Ashley swam in the waves, and I went on a mission to find a hand-crafted Hernandez ceramic mug for my friend Judy who had one of her set broken. I'm happy to say we all had a successful day. Now I just have to get the mug to Judy in one piece. (And she has to get it to her boat in the Caribbean. Good luck Judy!)

Tom LOVED Sayulita (an artsy/hippie/surfy town ala Capitola, CA)

The infamous mug.

The next day after the La Cruz Sunday Farmer's Market (which is excellent!) we drove up to the historic and lovely silver mining town of San Sebastian. It was an active mining town from the 1600s to the 1930s. It is high up in the sierras and we enjoyed a wonderful hike up to the mines.

Cathie tackles the mine.

Back in La Cruz, after visiting the local British pub and enjoying some Guinness in honor of St. Paddy's day, we turned in early to start getting ready for the Banderas Bay Regatta. More photos of our first couple of weeks can be found HERE.

Regatta prep started with Cinnabar coming into the La Cruz Marina so we could put our dinghy, surfboards, kayak, and other in-the-way junk on the dock. While at anchor a damn gigantic frigate bird landed on our windvane and broke it, so fixing that instrument was high on the list. Ashley and Cathie were signed up as crew and were a great help with the prep.

Repairing windvane broken by friggin' frigate birds.
It took 6 hands to align the windvane before the repair glue set

 

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Local bird perch solutions include: a 30 peso ($3) rake bungied to the masthead, wrist rocket, and pellet gun.

After getting Cinnabar race-ready we went out for a practice day, noting that all the other boats in our division had at least 12-15 crew on board as opposed to our 4! Luckily we managed to pick up a terrific 5th crew member, Barry from J-World who was in PV working but was available to race. What luck for us!

Day 1- Room for improvement: We had an OK start but allowed the J-160 to barge us at the start. What else are you going to do with a brand new paint job?




Don't touch me!   Strange Bird Photography ©

We flew our only spinnaker, our small reacher (made even smaller after getting repaired [thank you Dominic] from its 2010 shrimping-shredding in the Pacific Cup). Let's just say that this day was a huge learning curve for us. We discussed the day over copious beers and decided the spinnaker sock was more trouble than it was worth (inexplicably jams halfway up). The sock was going to be ditched in favor of yarn banding and letterbox drops.

Day 2 - First to finish: We had a great start but later found out there was a bad accident adjacent to us at the starting line. The J-160 made contact with one of the other boats and the J's local pro/tactician slipped and had both of his legs crushed between the boats. (We hear he'll be OK but there is all sorts of brouhaha going on about this.) We sailed very well this day and were the first to finish but still corrected out into third place.

Multihull Vamonos, Cinnabar, and Olas Lindas just after the first mark rounding.
Strange Bird Photography ©

 One of the most exciting vessels on the racecourse was the new, state-of-the-art multihull Vamonos sailed by pros and owned by multimillionaire Thomas Siebold.

We're #1. Sort of.

Day 3 - Oh no you didn't!!: Another good start and our crew work had really come together.

Cinnabar haulin' ass...to the wrong mark.
(The kite repair is terrific Dom (Marchal Sailmakers)!)
Strange Bird Photography ©

We rounded the windward mark between TWO LOCAL boats but had a heck of a time finding the next rounding mark. Where in the hell was it? And why was it upwind?

Oh bloody hell! There it is!
Strange Bird Photography ©

After we rounded it, one of our competitors informed us we had rounded the wrong windward mark! Oh hell yes, we sure did that bonehead maneuver, but hey, we followed the local knowledge! We decided that rather than unwind and resail the entire course, we would just withdraw, enjoy our beers, and be the first ones at the awards party that night. This turned out to be our best decision of the day, the worst decision having been previously mentioned.

So we went back to the marina, gave Cinnabar a good scrubbing, gave ourselves a good scrubbing, and headed over to the final beach party to get a good table, some ice cold drinks, and be the first ones at the buffet tables. This was clearly our best tactic of the day. We decided that a great time was had by all and nobody, including Cinnabar, got injured or broken.

Partying down with Vagabundo (our dock neighbors and fellow racers) at the awards fiesta.

A few more Regatta pics can be seen HERE.

We've spent the past couple of days getting Cinnabar back into cruising mode and trying to decide what to do next - stay here another week so Tom can get some surfing in, or use the current weather window to head north up to La Paz.

Vagabundo - Cheoy Lee 50 from Oregon, ~20 yr cruising vets, head up to La Paz.

Choices, choices...might just have to open a cold beer to cogitate on this one.