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A Splash and a Blast

Because the Banderas Bay Blast is held in mid-December, the wind tends to be light and the air warm: mellow tropical sailing. This file photo is from the Blast in 2012. 

latitude/Richard
©2016Latitude 38 Media, LLC

The next big event on the cruiser calendar in Mexico is the fifth annual Sailors’ Splash, a welcome-to-the-bay party hosted at Marina Riviera Nayarit and sponsored by Riviera Nayarit Tourism with the support of the Baja Ha-Ha cruising rally and Latitude 38 magazine.

Everyone is welcome to join the festivities on the malecon of Marina Riviera Nayarit at 6 p.m. on December 9, where there will be food, drinks, live music and socializing. Riviera Nayarit Tourism will acknowledge the cruising fleet’s support of the communities and villages of Riviera Nayarit by handing out free hats and shirts — while they last.

The Banderas Bay Blast, three days of Ha-Ha-style ‘nothing serious racing’ will start two days later, on December 11. Race 1 will be off Marina Riviera Nayarit. Did we mention that the marina will be providing free slips to participants? Race 2 will sail up to Punta Mita for the annual opening ceremony of the Punta Mita Yacht & Surf Club. Lifetime membership is just $1, but you have to sail there, and you have to present your bottom to the Commodoress for the carbon-fiber paddle initiation whack.

Lifetime membership in the Punta Mita Yacht & Surf Club is not expensive, but the initiation can be painful. 

latitude/Richard
©2016Latitude 38 Media, LLC

The final race of the Blast is the Pirates for Pupils Spinnaker Run for Charity, a 12-miler from Punta Mita to Paradise Marina in Nuevo Vallarta. Boats are encouraged to take guests who contribute money to this worthy fundraiser. Did we mention that harbormaster Dick Markie and crew will be providing free berthing for participants at Paradise?

Danger at the entrance to Banderas Bay!

As Chris Barry of the Renton, Washington, Jeanneau 42 Spill the Wine learned, boats from Mazatlan or Cabo San Lucas need to pay very close attention when entering Banderas Bay between Punta Mita and the Tres Marietas Islands. The problem is that there are reefs and rocks, not all of which are charted or charted correctly.

Barry was navigating with a low-resolution Navionics chart and paying attention as best he could to the flashing white lights. Unfortunately, the low-resolution Navionics chart is not accurate for Punta Mita, and as Barry entered the area, he found himself in a ‘field’ of white flashing lights on fishing boats. When he hit the rock, his boat stopped dead.

There was no immediate ingress of water, but Barry eventually took Spill the Wine to the Opequimar Yard in Puerto Vallarta for repair of some detached tabbing, a few small cracks, and removal of the keel for resealing.

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Leaving behind the sinking Noah, her crew drifts away. © Dr. Bramley Murton / National Oceanography Centre Four family members and their one crew were successfully rescued last weekend from the BH39 Noah in the Atlantic Ocean while participating in the 2,750-mile Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) from the Canary Islands to St.
The view from Nereida at sunset, off Southern California, last night. Nereida
©Latitude 38 Media, LLC Jeanne Socrates’ attempt to be the oldest person to circumnavigate the globe singlehanded without stopping is, unfortunately, making an unforeseen stop.