The Revived Sea of Cortez Sailing Week

Twenty-five years after founding the Sea of Cortez Sailing Week, which flourished for about seven years before going into a long decline and eventually dying, Latitude revived the event starting on April Fool’s Day. Folks who participated will, we’re certain, assure you they had a helluva a great time.

There were two main differences between the original and the revised versions. The first is that the revised Sailing Week was, by intent, much smaller. Not wanting another fleet of 175 boats at Caleta Partida, we deliberately downplayed the event, targeting it toward folks who really love to sail. The result was 34 sailors on 12 boats that included everything from a Corsair 31 to a Santa Cruz 52. It was like Cheers, where after a couple of days everybody knew each other’s names. Thanks to such a small group, Profligate was able to accommodate the entire crowd for potlucks, sundowner parties, and even a sunset cruise.

The second difference is that there were four relatively long races: from La Paz to Caleta Partida, to Isla San Francisco, back to Caleta Partida, and back to La Paz. As can be expected in the Sea, there were periods of light winds. Other times, however, the sailing was excellent. The run from Isla San Francisco back to Partida, for example, was in as much as 22 knots of wind, with several boats topping out at 16 knots or close to it. And although yesterday’s sail back to La Paz started with several hours of light air, the breeze came up for the last eight miles. It was warm and dry, the sky was all blue, the sea was all blue, and on Profligate we were sailing in the low to mid teens in conditions as sweet as we could ever recall.

There was also a memorial flavor to the event, as many of the group had come to know and love the late Jim Forquer of the Newport Beach-based Catana 52 Legato. Forquer’s estate allowed Kevin Millet and family, the delivery crew, to attend Sailing Week with the boat on their way back to California in recogniton of his love of sailing. Tributes were left on peaks at both Caleta Partida and Isla San Francisco, overlooking the waters that Jim had loved to cruise.

We’re currently consulting with Patsy Verhoeven of the La Paz-based Gulfstar 50 Talion, who did so much to help the event, on how to proceed with it in future years. We’ll keep you posted.