More Impounded Boats to be Released

Tere Grossman, owner of San Carlos Marina, reports that AGACE agents were back at San Carlos Marina on Tuesday, and that as a result she expected that most of the impounded boats in her marina would soon be "liberated." This would include 16 boats that had already been taken away by their owners. Can we get a ruling on the question if a government can truly "liberate" a boat that the owner has already fled with?

So how many of the 338 mostly foreign boats impounded are still impounded? Nobody seems to know, but we’re thinking about 100. And how many of the 338 boats were in any kind of violation of Mexican law. We don’t know the answer to that question, but apparently not very many at all.

Grossman, who is president of the Mexican Marina Owner’s Association, reports that Hacienda (the Mexican IRS) is working on changing Temporary Import Permits (TIPs) "to make them easier and to avoid future problems." We sure hope this is true because the last thing Mexico needs is another fiasco that flies in the face of two of their big natural interests: filling marinas and anchorages to capacity and luring all kinds of tourists south of the border.

Following November’s seizing of 338 foreign-owned boats, and Latitude‘s admittedly endless hammering of this blunder, it’s almost hilarious that on Wednesday we received a special invitation from the Tourism Board of Puerto Vallarta for an all expenses paid trip to Vallarta to cover the MEXORC in late March. So we assume they aren’t holding a grudge against us for our editorials.

One indicator that the impounds have not done irreparable harm is the relatively strong entry roster for next month’s San Diego-to-Puerto Vallarta Race:

• Pyewacket / Roy Disney / Andrews 68 / Waikiki YC
• Condor / Lindy Thomas / Andrews 70 / SDYC
• Invisible Hand / Frank Slootman / R/P 63 / Encinal YC
• Resolute / Tim Fuller / J/125 / SDYC
• Hamachi / Fritz Lanzinger / J/125 / CYC Seattle
• Peligroso / Lorenzo Berho / Kernan 70 / Club Nautico Izar
• Orion / Charlie Ogletree / MOD70 Tri / StFYC
• Mighty Merloe / HL Enloe / Orma 60 / Silvergate (TX)
• Vincitore / Ricardo Brockma/ nn R/P 52 / Club de Yates de Acapulco
• Meanie / Thomas Akin / R/P 52 / San Francisco YC
• Bretwalda 3 / Bob Pethick / Rogers 46 / Cal YC
• J World’s Hula Girl / Wayne Zittel / Santa Cruz 50 / SDYC
• Deception / Bill Helvestine / Santa Cruz 50 / StFYC
• Horizon / Jack Taylor / Santa Cruz 50 / DPYC
• Maverick / Chris Slagerman / Santa Cruz 70 / Cal YC
• Grand Illusion / James McDowell / Santa Cruz 70 / Waikiki YC
• Mirage / John DeLaura / Santa Cruz 70 / Shoreline YC
• Holua / Brack Duker / Santa Cruz 70 / California YC
• Velos / Kjeld Hestehave / Sloop / SDYC
• Westward / Sam & Willie Bell / Sloop / LAYC
• Bad Pak / Tom Holthus / STP65 / SDYC
• Swazik / Sebastien de Halleux / Swan 45 / Golden Gate YC
• Second Wind / Dean Fargo & John Chamberlain / Swan 651 CRA
• Destroyer / Eduardo Saenz / TP 52 / Club de Yates de Acapulco
• Distraxion / Jeffery Coyle / XP44 / NHYC

It’s also worth noting that at least six of those boats will stick around to compete in MEXORC, which is Mexico’s biggest ‘serious’ regatta. Look for coverage of both the PV Race and MEXORC here, and in the April edition of Latitude 38 magazine.