BANDERAS BAY REGATTA 2019

March 4-5, 2019

The DHL Office in Mezcales

Monday was a busy morning.  I cleaned my room, changed the sheets, and did a load of laundry before I went to the gym.  I went home, showered and changed, and then headed to the DHL office in the El Faro shopping center in Mezcales to return the printer ink I had purchased from Amazon in error.  That went amazingly smoothly and I was soon back on a combi and headed for Sam’s Club where I changed to another combi headed for Paradise Village.  I got to Scout by mid-afternoon.

Greg wasn’t feeling well, so Blair and I walked up to the mall and ate dinner in the food court.  Going to Paradise Village was like taking a vacation in the United States.  There was a Starbucks, a McDonald's, a Domino’s Pizza, and a Subway.  I opted for a local burrito place and had a delicious and only slightly overpriced shrimp burrito.  Blair opted for Subway.  We brought a frozen yogurt smoothie back for Greg.

Paradise Village Marina at Dawn

I got up early on Tuesday and ran around to the Port Captain’s office and back.  After a shower and breakfast, I headed back to the immigration office and successfully collected my green card.  I was officially a legal resident of Mexico. 

Greg was still recovering, so we didn’t do much.  Cliff and Ray from Sea Note came over, thinking we were going to practice.  They helped us reinstall the jib which had been out to have the sun cover repaired and restitched.  Ray climbed the mast.  With nothing much else to do, they returned to their wives in La Cruz.

When evening came, Blair wasn’t hungry and I scraped together some pasta for Greg from what I could find in the refrigerator.

March 6, 2019

Wednesday was the boat parade and practice day.  The theme for the boat parade was Saturday Night Fever.  I had gone to the party store and purchased what paraphernalia I could find.  The entire crew dressed in wild sunglasses and gaudy gold chains.  The guys showed off their chest hair and the women sported feather boas.  We all danced a choreographed routine for the reviewing stand and the judges. It was a lot of fun.

 

Scout Crew Dressed for the Parade

Greg and Me in Our Disco Attire

We failed to take advantage of the practice starts, being too disorganized to arrive at the start line with our class.  We had intended to practice gybing the spinnaker but decided against it for some reason.  As Blair said, “What could possibly go wrong?”  We got back to the dock early and most of the crew dispersed.

When it was time for dinner, Blair, Greg and I ordered a sampling of dishes from the Italian restaurant in the mall and then repaired to McDonald’s for ice cream.

March 7, 2019

McDonald's Anti-Straw Campaign

I went for an early morning run to the Port Captain’s office and then Greg and I went to McDonald’s for breakfast.  Fifty-four pesos got me eggs with ham and an English muffin with juice.  The McDonald’s in Nuevo Vallarta was on a campaign to eliminate straws.  I wondered if such a thing could ever happen in the United States.  Mexico also had very different laws regarding employment discrimination.  It was perfectly legal to specify the age and sex of the employee one was seeking, as well as their educational level.  At McDonald’s, only young men were hired to work night shifts and only middle-aged women were sought for cleaning.  Most positions were filled by high school and university students.

Mexican Help Wanted Poster

 All the crew had arrived by the time we returned from breakfast and we soon left the dock and headed for the starting line.  There were four boats in our class: Talion (a Gulfstar 50 with a substantial handicap and our nemesis), Agave Azul (a Catalina 47’ with a puzzlingly large handicap), Mermaid Magnet (a Jeanneau 54 with the same rating as Scout), and Scout (a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 52.2.)

We got off to a reasonably good, if uneventful, start and headed for the windward mark.  It quickly became apparent that, despite the fact that we owed them time, Agave Azul was the fastest boat in the fleet.  Mermaid Magnet withdrew early in the race when their electric winches failed, leaving us to duke it out with Talion for second place.  Cliff and Ray, the two brothers from Sea Note, turned out to be great crew and Cliff acted as tactician, as well as main trimmer.  I was on the foredeck, out of harm’s way, with Blair and Tom.  Greg drove and Ray, Lysa, and Cary trimmed.

Scout's Spinnaker

We managed to stay ahead of Talion in that first race, reaching the windward mark and setting the spinnaker without incident.  This was somewhat of a miracle, as we had not had a chance to practice together as a crew.  The sock on Scout’s spinnaker was a bit too short and a bit small in diameter, which often caused the fabric to jam when raising the sock.  The line was also a bit short so Blair, who was quite tall, could barely reach it.  We had clipped it to the mast with a light nylon line to keep it from flying up out of reach, but Blair was still concerned about the spinnaker taking him aloft like Tarzan.

Ray Trimming the Kite of Nuevo Vallarta

The day’s course required us to sail back to a mark off the beach near the starting line and then back to the windward mark before heading off to a mark near Puerto Vallarta.  We put up the chute a second time and reached off for the mark.  The other boats doused their chutes before rounding the mark, but we elected to gybe, planning to douse the chute later.  By the time we sorted out the gybe and prepared to douse the chute, we realized that the wind had dropped and we were carrying the chute just fine.  Carrying that chute all the way to the downwind mark allowed us to gain time on the other boats.  Agave Azul eventually put theirs back up, which permitted them to stay just ahead of us, but we left Talion in the dust and took second place for the day.

We were a merry crew as we sailed back to Paradise Village.  Greg had received two complimentary buffet tickets as part of his entry package and we elected to use them on Thursday night.  There was a reasonably good band and a nice seafood buffet.  Lysa went off to have dinner with Trisha and the Sea Note boys returned to their wives in La Cruz.  The rest of us spent a pleasant evening at the Vallarta Yacht Club party.

March 8, 2019

The Paradise Village Mall

Greg and I ate breakfast at the Moonstar Cafe and Pancake House in the Paradise Village Mall.  It was nice to sit down and be waited on but it seemed wrong to be eating in a modern shopping mall while cruising in Mexico.

After one day of staying home alone at the hotel, Trisha decided sailing wasn’t so bad after all and joined us for the race.  She didn’t want to participate in the sailing, but made sandwiches and acted as photographer.

  

Talion Squeezing Past Us

Mermaid Magnet was back for the second day of racing.  We squeezed them out at the start and they were determined not to be bested by their boat’s smaller, older sister.  They had no sense of humor.  We beat them to the windward mark, but they caught up to us as we reached towards Nuevo Vallarta.  They took our wind and then we took theirs.  This went on for some time with neither of us able to get clear ahead.  Agave Azul came up on the outside and passed us both.  Eventually, Talion caught up with us and got in between us.  Everyone was screaming and yelling as the boats were very close.  In the middle of that melee, a whale surfaced about a hundred feet in front of Talion.  They were so busy yelling at each other that they never even saw it.  I was sure someone would hit the whale, but it cleared out in a hurry.

The Happy Crew of Scout

There was another zoo at the mark and then we headed back towards the finish line.  The race remained close.  As we approached the finish line, it looked like Mermaid Magnet was going to best us.  At the last moment, we managed to get inside of them and tack over to cross the finish line half a boat length in front of them.  It was a very exciting finish and they were not pleased.  Due to the time we lost, messing with Mermaid Magnet, Talion edged us out for second place.  We came in third but felt like winners after having defeated Mermaid Magnet. 

The Sea Note bros headed back to La Cruz after the race.  The rest of us took a quick trip to the swimming pool to try out the crocodile water slides.  They were pretty amazing.  We whooped and hollered and generally made more racket than any of the children.  Then we retired to the hot tub at the adult “zombie” pool.

 

Trisha and Cary at Fajita Republic

For dinner, we took a cab to Fajita Republic, a lovely outdoor restaurant.  There were just a few too many of us to fit in the dinghy or we could have dinghied up there.  The restaurant was situated in the jungle on the river bank and featured an extensive menu of fajitas and other Mexican and American dishes.  I ordered a Mexican combo platter that was quite tasty.

It was almost Trisha’s birthday and the staff overheard us singing happy birthday and sent her a piece of birthday flan.  It was a fun evening out and we were sorry that Ray and Cliff hadn’t joined us.  Their wives weren’t interested in coming to Nuevo Vallarta for any of the festivities.

March 9, 2019

After another McDonald’s breakfast, we assembled the crew and set off for the last day of racing.  We had to beat Talion to hold onto second place for the regatta.  We were late to the start and had a tough time all day.  There was considerably more wind than there had been on the earlier days.

Rail Meat Going to Weather

 We doused the chute at the Puerto Vallarta mark but didn’t put it back into the bag because we planned to put it back up again after we cleared Nuevo Vallarta.  The thing was determined to fly away, so I had to hurl myself on top of it where the tack joined the bow to keep it from unfurling.  It was wet from a sloppy takedown and waves were breaking over the bow.  I was soon soaked to the skin.  I held it down nearly to Nuevo Vallarta before Blair took pity on me and gave me a respite.

Passing Georgia

Mermaid Magnet lost someone overboard and tangled their chute during their attempt to douse it.  The crew member was quickly rescued by the mark set boat, but the kite flew like a flag for at least an hour, causing them, once again, to withdraw from the race.  We charged along, nearly catching Agave Azul, but unable to get far enough ahead of Talion to beat them on corrected time.  Once again, we finished third.

Mermaid Magnet Flying Their Chute

We took a quick dip in the pool and hit the crocodile slide one more time.  Blair went down head first and skipped across the water like a stone upon entry.  Head first entries were not allowed and the pool monitor admonished him.  We were bad children.

The regatta concluded with a banquet on the beach at Paradise Village.  There was an Italian buffet and Luna Rumba played before and after the awards presentation.  We knew we were third in our class, but still harbored the hope that we had won the boat decorating contest from the boat parade.  Despite our superior choreography and great costumes, Agave Azul won that, too, with their inflatable flamingos.  We weren’t sure what flamingos had to do with Saturday Night Fever, but there was nothing we could do about it.  The Agave Azul folks were fun and friendly, so we couldn’t hate them.

The Scout Crew with Trophy at the Banquet on the Beach

Greg was still recovering from his cold and I hadn’t slept well the night before, so we left early.  I couldn’t believe I was walking out on Luna Rumba, but I could barely keep my eyes open and the beach wasn’t a great venue to hear their music.  Apparently, they played Happy Birthday for my housemate, Cherie, and I was sorry to have missed that.

March 10, 2019

I got up early on Sunday and ran north along the coast towards Mezcales.  We checked out of the marina when the office opened at 9:00 and had intended to take the water taxi across to the port captain’s office to check out and then eat breakfast at a restaurant on the other side.  Unfortunately, the water taxi wasn’t running, so the marina sent a panga to take us to the port captain.  We couldn’t expect him to wait while we ate, so we ended up returning and eating at MacDonald’s, once again.  I was thoroughly ready to get out of Paradise Village and away from fast food, although I did break down and get a latte from Starbucks.

Greg Riding the Panga to the Port Captain's Office

We had a relaxing boat ride back to La Cruz and then I took a load of stuff back to my house and spent the afternoon doing laundry.  I finished just in time to meet up with Blair and Greg for dinner at the Red Chairs.