Making Sailing Happen with Asociación de Vela in Ensenada

For 20 years, a dedicated group of parents and coaches in Ensenada have been teaching kids to sail and race in a fleet of donated boats and equipment. They’ve been producing incredible results and growing both youth and adult sailing. But as a grassroots, shoestring-budget organization, they need a little help from the community.

The Asociación de Vela de Baja California, A. C., (translation: Baja Sailing Association) has been operating out of Hotel Coral y Marina on the weekends for two decades. They have about 20 kids at any given time, with ages ranging from 6 to 23 years old. “It was founded in 2004 by my aunt Cristina Sánchez and Dr. Manuel Vélez, and I started sailing there as a kid — I was 10 years old in an Optimist,” said Jorge Kornegay, one of the lead organizers. Jorge told us that the governor of Baja California gave the association 10 Optis at its inception.

“That first year, we went to the Nationals,” Jorge told us. “We have to go a very long distance to compete, and it costs a lot of money to get the boats there. The kids don’t have their own boats — we give them them the hull and rigging.” In May, at this year’s Conade National Games in Puerto Vallarta, the kids reached a milestone. “We never won until this year — when we took two medals,” Jorge said.

“But we need all the support we can get.”

“We took these kids to Nationals, and their boats broke every single day,” said Ed ‘Frondo’ van Os. “Luckily I was there, on the water, and able to repair boats in time for them to continue the race. But one girl almost lost what could have been a gold medal because her boat broke in the last race. The fact is, we don’t have much equipment.”

Frondo — who is my cousin — is the perfect person to perform spontaneous repairs on old equipment. He has been making Mexicats, commercial-grade, custom-built catamarans, in Ensenada for over 10 years. He’s a born improviser who can make any boat work with any part. And Frondo’s 17-year-old son León has sailed with Asociación de Vela nearly his whole life.

It is not uncommon to see a 9-ft Hobie Holder Hawk with a Sabot sail and rig, and other unconventional combinations, sailing between the slips at Hotel Coral y Marina, and out on All Saints Bay.

You do what you can to make it work.

Asociación de Vela has relied on donations, and the community has come through. “We now have 10 Lasers,” said Jorge. “We are supported with the help of many parents, and people in our community have given us time on big boats like J/24s and Catalinas.

“There is a lot of support out there. We’re a community. They help us with regattas. Frondo was a big help. He got us Lasers — he has contacts in California and he got them for free.”

Before the National Games, Newport sailor and Olympian Charlie Buckingham donated an assortment of gear such as hiking pants, lines and lifejackets. Mission Bay and Lido Isle yacht clubs have donated parts. Asociación de Vela has also been supported by a variety of SoCal racers via the San Diego to Ensenada race, and Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race.

“We speak with those guys and receive donations,” Jorge said.

Jorge, who is 30 years old and works as an engineer, explained that in Mexico, the majority of junior sailing is concentrated in the south in cities like Puerto Vallarta and Cancún. But there’s very little youth or dinghy sailing in the north of the country. Despite its isolation and humble roots, Asociación de Vela has official status. “We are in the federation of Mexico Sailing — we pay our annual fees to be recognized as an association.”

Still, there’s room for growth.

“My personal goal is to establish a permanent Laser fleet for masters and kids, having real races, and making it a real thing.” Frondo wants to establish perpetual trophies, and have more races in general, rather than the few races a year at no more than three locations across the very large country that is Mexico.

“We did a fundraiser regatta a few weeks ago and had 13 boats race around the island of Todos Santos in 20-plus miles of open-ocean sailing,” Frondo said. “It was the biggest dinghy race in Northern Baja, maybe ever. León won the regatta; I got second in the mixed-adult-and-kid fleet. I’m still sore,” Frondo added.

“We are growing,” Frondo said. “We’re not Mission Bay Yacht Club, but we’re growing.

If you have spare equipment, supplies, boats, gear, money, etc., that you’d like to donate to Asociación de Vela, please contact them via their Instagram: @velabajacalifornia. Or you can contact Jorge Kornegay here.