Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Banderas Bay Blast

Yesterday we got out for some long-overdue recreational sailing.  For the past two months now I've been focused on boat projects here in La Cruz, talking to every mechanic in the area and trying to decide what to do about our oil-burning, overheating engine -- not exactly fun-in-the-sun Mexico cruising.

So, as the annual Banderas Bay Blast kicked off we had the opportunity to join in on some of the activity.  This is a 3-day rally where some of the boats here go out and race around the buoys for bragging rights and raise money for local charities.  It got started yesterday with a leisurely sail down to the Vallarta Yacht Club for brunch followed by racing today.  Anyone on a boat, racing or not, was invited to the brunch with a few of the big cats here in La Cruz offering rides.  So, we decided to relax and let someone else pull the lines for a day.  We managed to hitch a ride on Profligate, the 70-foot catamaran owned by Latitude-38 founder Richard Spindler.  There were more than enough people on the boat to work the sails so we just stayed out of the way and enjoyed the ride.

The nice thing about catamarans, other than the speed, is the comfortable non-heeling motion.  We're accustomed to the tilted deck of a monohull so it was a pleasant surprise to sit in a folding chair with a beer while sailing under an enormous spinnaker, doing 6 knots in about 10 knots of breeze.  And, a 70-foot cat provides a big safe area for Colin to run around in while mom and dad sip cold drinks...nice.

We got back to La Cruz around 4 in the afternoon, grabbed some fish tacos at the marina and went upstairs to the rooftop bar where the party got started with live music, food, and a lot of drinks.  We made a few new friends, enjoyed some free tequila, and remembered what it's like to have fun again.
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2 comments:

Saeed said...

A happy and fun post. I'm confused! Is everything OK or it is free tequila effect :-) Glad to see you're having fun.

Rgar22 said...

The catamaran sounds like fun. Dawm col's growing, miss you bro, hope all is well & w'll talk soon.