Banderas Bay Regatta
12 March 2011
Fred
The Banderas Bay Regatta is in its 19th year and is a race for cruising boats. Quite a few boats are home as many folks that we have met have sold everything and moved onboard and are taking off (escaping?). So you race your boat/home with all your cruising gear onboard and the committee handicaps you taking that into consideration. We entered and were looking forward to sailing in the regatta but had no crew lined up. While we were in Chacala 2 months ago we met Gary and Genie who said that they would love to crew for us and that their son and daughter in law were coming down for the regatta and could go as well. All four are experienced sailors and racers. So we have 6 including Penny and I. Then we run into Em Black, a friend from the Yacht Club that I sailed with years ago and he is on board as well. We are now 7. We meet Tom and Mary Ellen and they said that they would love to sail with us also so we are now 9. I also invited Ian and Ellen so we would be 11. Not bad for not having any crew a month or so ago.
First Race, gets underway with a boat parade going out the channel for the hotel guests complete with an announcer that introduces your boat, crew and tells a little history or whatever you told him about the boat. Well there are over 60 entries and we are all suppose to line up in the lagoon that can probably hold half that many. So we get there early to hopefully get in line early and get the hell out of the resulting mess. Unfortunately that didn’t pan out as boats kept jumping in front of us as we were circling and trying to keep in place. We finally got through the parade and headed to the race course to check in with the race committee boat. We were in Class C which was for the bigger cruising boats and had 12 in our class. We got a perfect start right on the line with speed and clear air and were going good against our competition. We tacked and got settled in for the 2.5 mile weather leg and had good speed and were first at the weather mark and turned on the reach. It was supposed to be a tight reach that would be a jib reach but the mark was lower so we were able to set the asymmetrical spinnaker. We had a good jibe and a good reach to the leeward mark where we pulled the snuffer down and tried to unfurl the jib and drop the snuffed spinnaker. We neither would budge as the snuffer got caught up in the furler. We were quite far ahead of the second boat that we owed 6 seconds a mile (11.5 miles X 6 = 69 seconds we had to give him. We got the jib unfurled except for a small portion up top but could not get the spinnaker down so just lashed it to the mast and went upwind to the mark where we rounded behind our competition. We were able to reset the spinnaker for the final run and finished just 34 seconds behind him for a second place finish for the class. We were happy with our crew work and boat speed and we felt we knew what the problem was with the drop and could fix it which we did.
So we were really happy with the race and looking forward to the race the following day which was to be a distance race with mostly reaching and running courses which would suit us fine. However the earthquake hit Japan and there was a Tsunami warning and the race was postponed for an hour. It became clear later that it was prudent to leave the marina and take the boat out to sea before the expected surge would hit at 12:30. Penny and I left at noon and our other crew left on their boats as well except for Gary and Genie as they decided they would take their chance in the marina. We got out the channel and there were lots of boats out so we motored around for awhile and made water and then the wind came up and we set sail and had one of the best days of sailing ever. Nice breeze, warm weather, doesn’t get much better. As the day went on the chatter on the radio grew with questions as to whether the marina was going to be open or not. There was 6-12 knots of current going in and out and the sea level rose and fell several feet in short periods of time, like less than 30 minutes. At about 5:30 it was apparent that the Port Capitan was not going to open the harbor so most of us sailed up to the anchorage by La Cruz where we are anchored for the night with at least 80 boats. The marina at La Cruz lost some of their docks and the main docked has cracked in half so there is some damage there. Not sure about our dock where we left our dinghy at Paradise Village but we are about to sit down for a delicious Tuna and Noodle comfort food dinner. We will find out tomorrow morning whether there will be another race or if we can get back to the marina. Story to be continued.