Banderas Bay Blast Couldn’t Have Been Better

The crews of the 30 boats that participated in this year’s first ever three-day Pirates for Pupils Banderas Bay Blast for Charity couldn’t have hoped for better weather or sailing conditions. The cooperative effort of the Punta Mita Yacht and Surf Club and the Vallarta YC featured three fun races — Paradise Marina to La Cruz, La Cruz to Punta Mita, and Punta Mita to Paradise — and was dominated by a large fleet of big cats plus many boats from the last two Ha-Ha’s.

The first race was a light air reach, the second was a 10-mile flat water beat with winds to 20 knots, and the finale was a 12-mile spinnaker run that had the fastest boats sailing in the 11s. With air temperatures in the high 70s shortly after sun-up, being cold was never an issue. In fact, being too hot was the excuse the large crew of one boat made for sailing naked most of the time.

A highlight of the event was the new Marina Riviera Nayarit in La Cruz being opened several weeks early to accommodate all the boats. True, it was still a full-on construction site, but there was no charge, and Manager Christian Mancebo even threw a post-race party for the fleet. A short time later, the fleet marched up to Philo’s Bar and Restaurant for a rockin’ good time in the lovely and authentic town of La Cruz.

After a fabulous second race, the fleet was taken ashore in pangas to the Punta Mita Yacht and Surf Club — aka Margarita Restaurant — for a festive afternoon and early evening. New members, who are required to have sailed there and pay a $1 lifetime membership fee, were signed up, at which point Commodore Eugenie Russell used her winning personality to get new members signed up for the event’s charities. Before it was all over, Commodore Eugenie and others had raised somewhere in the range of $2,500. By the way, this is a week after the Vallarta YC raised $3,400 for charity via their Chili Cook-Off.

The final race was a lovely spinnaker run on the traditional Pirates for Pupil’s course. It doesn’t get much better than 10 to 15 knots of wind from aft, whales and turtles, dolphins and rays, and bright sunshine. Who won? Everybody who participated and the respective charities.