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March 7, 2008

Banderas Bay Blooming with Race Boats

Larry Mosher’s Jeanneau 41 Snow Goose looked good at the reaching mark despite the light winds.

© 2008 Jay Ailworth

A total of 46 boats — 27 cruising boats in the Banderas Bay Regatta, and 19 serious racing boats in the MEXORC — went at it on two seperate Banderas Bay courses yesterday afternoon. Although the skies were completely blue, the wind, unfortunately, blew only 10 knots or less for much of the day.

Bob Smith’s 44-ft cat Pantera, a true cruising boat, posted the best elapsed time in the BBR’s first race.

© 2008 Jay Ailworth

While the MEXORC fleet has been racing since Sunday, this was the first of three races for the Banderas Bay fleet. While everyone could have used more wind on the 11.74-mile course, it was still hard not to have a great time.

You could be forgiven for wondering if Pantera, the boat with the fastest elapsed time in the BBR fleet, is truly a cruising cat, but consider the evidence: owner Bob Smith has sailed south from Vancouver to Mexico three times, and twice sailed — not motored — all the way from Mexico to Vancouver. Singlehanded, too. If that’s not a cruising boat, we’re not sure what would be. In any event, Pantera overcame a -50 PHRF rating to correct out over David Crowe’s San Jose / P.V.-based M&M 68 Humu Humu by five minutes.

Not your grandad’s kind of cruising boat. Jim Coggan’s Schumacher 40 Auspice turned in the second fastest elapsed time, just 13 minutes behind Pantera.

© 2008 Jay Ailworth

The second fastest elapsed time was turned in by Jim Coggan’s San Francisco-based Schumacher 40 Auspice. Again, you might mistake Auspice for a racing boat, but Jim and members of his family have been cruising her all winter. Many of today’s cruising boats aren’t like the typical cruising boat of 10 years ago. Auspice nipped the second place boat, Sooner Magic, a Beneteau 47.7 from San Francisco driven by Jim Taylor.

While the light winds were hardest on boats like Patsy Verhoeven’s Gulfstar 50 Talion, she endured to take her class.

© 2008 Jay Ailworth

Correcting out first in Class 3 was Ha-Ha vet Patsy Verhoeven with her Portland-based Gulfstar 50 Talion. Hers is one of a number of Banderas Bay Regatta boats planning to compete in the revived Sea of Cortez Sailing Week April 1-6.

Class 4 honors went to Rush Faville’s always competitive S-2 7.9 Escape Velocity, a boat that’s based out of P.V.

Charles Naslund, a two-time Ha-Ha vet currently based out of Mazatlan, took the first race in Class 5, continuing his dominance of that fleet from last year. The average age of the crew on his Morgan 382 Moon Shadow? Seventy years, as two of them are in their 60s and two are in their 80s.

ETNZ Files Lawsuit Against Defender Alinghi

Emirates Team New Zealand filed suit yesterday in the ongoing America’s Cup saga, charging the trustee, Société Nautique Genève, and Ernesto Bertarelli’s America’s Cup Management with breach of contract over enticements they tendered in return for ETNZ’s signing of the much disputed AC 33 protocol. ETNZ is claiming that SNG and the ACM failed to deliver on those — namely the promise of holding the event in 2009 despite having what ETNZ contends was reasonable opportunity to do so. By most accounts, this one will take a lot longer to resolve than BMW Oracle Racing’s pending matter in the New York Courts. And while we don’t know where it’s going, we can’t help but think it won’t be much help for Ernesto Bertarelli’s case in the court of public opinion.

Big Daddy Regatta This Weekend

If work or other commitments kept you from making the Banderas Bay Regatta or MEXORC, don’t sweat it too much — you’ve got a local alternative. Then again, if the "Some Like it Hot" Mexican theme of this year’s Big Daddy Regatta lives up to its billing, you’ll probably end up breaking a sweat anyway.

Racers in this weekend’s Big Daddy may not have the same warm weather as last year but at least the rainy forecast has been pushed back.

latitude/LaDonna
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

It could happen with a visit to tomorrow night’s taco bar featuring chicken mole, chile verde, beef and carnitas. It could also happen when you get your groove on to the Shark Sandwich Band later that evening. Actually, now that we think about it, it could even happen while you’re racing. The organizers at Richmond Yacht Club have accounted for this and thoughtfully included bargain-priced adult beverages in Saturday morning’s 8 a.m. pre-race program, in case you feel yourself heating up prematurely. For Sunday’s festivities, they’ve done the same along with a $5 breakfast, albeit an hour later for both.

If you haven’t yet registered for the regatta, it’s not too late. Registration won’t close until 6 p.m. tonight. Tomorrow’s three races are scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. with the taco bar scheduled to get going at 5 p.m. and music an hour later. Sunday’s only race, the reverse-handicap pursuit race — aka the "Two Bridge Fiasco" — starts at 11:50 a.m. Entry fees are based on the length of the vessel and whether or not you race both days.The weekend’s forecast hasn’t looked great most of the week, but the National Weather Service is no longer calling for rain. The 2008 Big Daddy Regatta already has 124 entries in 10 classes, which means that the racing could be pretty hot also. Visit www.richmondyc.org/cal2/EventShow.asp to register online and read the fine print.

Dorado for the Entire Family

After dabbing a bit of wasabi and soy sauce on this beauty, Heather and David commenced enjoying their sashimi lunch.

Eupsychia
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

"I held the record for the biggest dorado caught aboard our boat," reports Heather Corsaro of the Monterey-based Cal 36 Eupsychia, "until David managed to catch the big one in the photo above. That baby was 52 inches long and weighed 22 pounds. The dorado we usually catch feed the two of us and the cat, but this one could have fed an entire family."

If you’ve landed a nice fish this season in Mexico — or elsewhere while cruising — why not email us a high res copy and a few words on the circumstances.

If you’re lucky enough to be sailing around the Northern Caribbean next week, you won’t want to miss a special celebration (March 14 & 15) on the tiny island of Jost Van Dyke.