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March 15

Puerto
Vallarta

Lat:
20 41.20
Lon:
105 17.90

Talion arrived at beautiful Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta and quickly cleaned up the boat for the new crew. Tim Morris, Susan Coulson, and Mike & Chris Quigley were the first to arrive and somehow knew to go directly to the Yacht Club for a margarita where they ran into Patsy catching up on computer work. Later John Cavanaugh flew in and checked into the hotel. We got an email from "Odyssey" Marv and Ardy Dunn's Peterson 44. They and their son Malcolm picked up Charlie McDonald and Cindy Criss in Yelapa and are sailing to La Cruz to anchor for the night and then into Paradise Village. Unfortunately Ardy will not be able to join us for the races but her son Malcolm will be taking her place. The crew is coming together!

March 16

Some of the crew were total tourists today and took the bus to downtown Puerto Vallarta. We shopped, sampled tequila, walked, ate, explored, chased an iguana, shopped, and... did I say shopped? Later we did some real shopping at Costco for provisions... beer, tequila, rum and brandy... oh and a little wine!

March 17

Today was beach day and most of the crew took to the shore for some sun, tropical drinks, boogie boarding, "Talion" henna ankle tattoos, reading, napping, swimming and just hanging out under a palapa. That evening was the opening of the regatta with a presentation of traditional dances and costumes from across Mexico, performed by the internationally famous Folklorico Mexcaltitan. The dancing was beautiful and the margaritas were very strong!

March 18

We managed to make the Skippers Meeting in the morning and with 4 of us present we hoped we wouldn't miss anything. That afternoon the race committee set up practice starts for the fleet. We elected to do practice spinnaker sets and jibes instead which turned out to be invaluable. With 12 as crew the choreography became very important. That evening after dinner at the Yacht Club some played pool & danced on stage in front of a huge tv screen showing a hockey game (very weird) at the Jungle Room. Lucky for us it closed at midnight!

March 19

Day One started with a mandatory boat parade of the racing boats out the Nuevo Vallarta channel in front of a viewing stand. Each boat was announced and a little was said about the crews. "Talion" was proud to be announced as having 12 people from the Portland Oregon sailing community aboard! We had a great start and were in front for the day until the 50' schooner "Rose of Sharon" came out of no where and rounded the final mark in front of us! On the downwind leg to the finish we believed we had caught up enough to correct on them. Unfortunately that evening at the Yacht Club we found that they had a last minute rating change and beat us by quite a bit... bummer.

March 20

The tactics for Day Two were to keep one eye on that schooner and not let it get by us. We were side by side at the start and after starting we were amazed the schooner pointed higher than us! We sailed a great race but again at the finish another boat came out of nowhere and finish before us! Humm now we have a second and a third! That evening we all crammed into a taxi and headed out to La Cruz. We took a short walk around the brand new marina and then stopped for cocktails at the Yacht Club and went up to the Club's top deck for the breathtaking view of the marina and the anchorage. We walked through the small quaint town, stopped for a dance at Ana Bananas, and peeked into the famous cruiser hangout Philo's Bar. We were joined for dinner by Patsy's La Paz friends Jody & Shelly Ward from "Eros" and Pete Cookingham on "Jade".

March 20

Day Three's strategy was to be sure we saved second place... forget the schooner they have two bullets and it would take a miracle to beat them! Just before the race we passed by them to give them a little stink eye. Seconds after that a miracle happened! The schooners mainsail caught on a cotter pin and tore right in half! They quickly reefed it at the tear but were very late for the start. We sailed an awesome race and took first place for the day which gave us a first for the series! While we felt bad for the beautiful schooner it was hard not to celebrate.

March 20

A party was in order! Cocktails on Talion which included tequila shots
à la Cavanaugh (cinnamon sugar and orange wedges instead of the more traditional salt and lime). Then it was on to the awards ceremony a fabulous mexican buffet on the beach.

Great sailing, friends, sun, wind, parties, beach, pool, jokes, exploring, food... check out the Bandaras Bay Regatta website for more pictures.