Wanted…

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one whale for hit and run incident, Christmas Day…

Ok, in all fairness, I suppose it could go either way… I’m sure our friend (sistership pictured above) isn’t too thrilled either. It was an unfortunate surprise for all parties concerned when our J/120 happened upon a couple of whales while on a leisurely cruise a couple of days ago. The startled skipper turned hard, and the startled whale dove quickly… but as the tail gave a mighty shove for the inky-deep, the flukes lightly grazed the port bow. And when one of these beauties weighing lord-knows-how-many-tons (and that’s a precise measurement, metric of course) grazes something, they leave a path of destruction. The bow pulpit was tweaked off to starboard bending a stanchion as it went, the headfoil was snapped clean in two, and the harken furling drum was bent. The crew reported that there was plenty of whale skin along the side of the boat…
And that was a glancing blow?! We can only can imagine what the force of a direct hit would do!
The upside is that there are more whales around the Bay than we think we have ever seen. And they really are spectacular. Being in quiet sailboats means that we don’t scare them away, but also that we have to be on the perpetual lookout…

Dear Santa….

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…all I want for Christmas is a fine sailing ship. A schooner would be nice, but whatever you see fit would be fine. My tree isn’t so big, but I’ll make some room under it in case you bring along something nice…


The beautiful Italian built schooner Seljm, holiday-ing in Puerto Vallarta. The weather isn’t wintry, but it takes pretty stout holiday spirit to get a tree up there…

Happy Holidays, everyone…

Something BIG for Christmas…

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The big boys and girls are back in town… yes, the whales have returned to Puerto Vallarta. And they are spectacular this time of year. It is a rare day when we don’t see them in fairly close range. And being in sailboats, they really take very little notice of us…

These are some truly amazing animals, and we are fortunate to be able to enjoy them in a setting like this. In the next couple of months, we’ll be seeing the calves getting comfortable and preparing for the journey back north.

Happy holidays and peace on earth indeed…

2008 Banderas Bay Blast

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So a little over a week ago (I know, I am slow getting these postings up), the Banderas Bay Blast was down here in Mexico. It’s a fun-filled informal race/rally, with everyone sailing to La Cruz the first day (and being hosted in the NEW marina) there, then out to the anchorage at Punta Mita for the second night (fiesta ashore!), then the fantastic downwind run back to our Paradise Village Marina the final day.

As usual, the weather didn’t disappoint (but I missed the first day, and I hear it was a bit light). I caught up with the fleet at La Cruz, just in time for all the shoreside fun at the new marina Sky Bar… what a great facility. I hear the food there is good too, but we adjourned and headed to Philo’s restaurant/bar for some refreshements and live music.


On Thursday and Friday, Richard and Dona of Profligate were kind enough to have me aboard, along with a small but fun bunch, and we had a great time. That’s J/World coach Eugenie posing in front of Richard and myself (well, somone had to do the sailing!). The upwind leg out to the point saw us getting beat up by the likes of the J/160 Blue (and a ton of other boats, but, well, we were the RC boat too, so we had to pull up anchor and head off after everyone else started). We took it all pretty easy…


a really nice day on the water… and what a crew we had…

Everyone anchored in the marina, and headed ashore for good times and the annual meeting of the Punta Mita Surf and Sail Club… dinner and drinks at Margarittas and the Blue Water Grill. Then back to the boat for a quiet evening, hanging on the hook in Mexico. And despite the cervezas and tequillas, we still managed toget up pretty early and go catch some surf down the beach at La Lancha. Then it was back to the boat, and off on the run back to Paradise. Whales, dolphins, and 15 knots of breeze. Profligate loved the conditions, and we weren’t complainig at all either. Here she is (on a different day)…

 


Anyway, that’s the report of he 2008 Banderas Bay Blast…

We are now into a great December down in Mexico, looking forward to a busy Christmas season. We have lots of sailing and bareboat charters going on, a racing week, and learn-to-sail classes. And of course we are getting ready for such special events as the Banderas Bay Regatta in March. Flights to Mexico are about as chape as I have seen them (it’s a three hour, $250 trip from San Francisco!), so the excuses for missing out on the fun are few and far between…

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Tropical Dreams…

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So down here in amaing Puerto Vallarta, life has indeed been good. We rolled into town over the past month or so, with J/80s coming down the highway, and our trusty J120 making the annual cruise down the coast. The drive wasn’t bad (I pulled that duty), but the crew on J World, led by Capt. Eugenie, seemed to have a better time (duh!). But now we are all here… with a fleet of J/80s, a J/120, a J/130, and our showpiece 70′ custom catamaran. And the conditions couldn’t be better. Breeze. Sun. Warm water. Dolphins. Turtles… and the whales are on the way!


Opening day at the Vallarta Yacht Club included racing for the Juniors, and the annual blessing of the fleet by a local priest. With that send off, we have launched into our sailing season, and are looking forward to a spectacular winter. We have all sorts of things on tap…


… of course we offer all our courses (sailing, racing, and cruising), as well as skippered and bareboat charters. December 3-5 is the Banderas Bay Blast (fun rally/race to La Cruz, Punta Mita, and back). Every other weekend or so is the “dine-and-dash” race from Nuevo to La Cruz, lunch at Philo’s, then race back. February is the J/24 North Americans in Valle de Bravo, and of course in March is the Banderas Bay Clinic and Regatta…

Anyhow, that’s the latest from down south. We hope that everyone is having a mild Fall, and that when the winter blues grab hold, remember you can easily shake them off… sailling down here in only bathing suits and sunglasses, it’s hard to believe that we are hardly a three hour flight from San Francisco!

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Still Something Southbound….

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Hey all… surprising as it is, we still have space on our annual crossing of the Sea of Cortez on Novemver 10-16. This is a truly special trip, with warm weather and incredible wildlife. Captain Eugenie will be leading the trip, and she knows all the great places to go. So if you want to get away for a bit and sharpen your skills in a hands-on environment, now’s the time.
Meanwhile, Eugenie and crew are in San Diego, getting ready to depart on the Baja-Ha-Ha tomorrow!! They had a great trip down from Santa Barbara, even if the breezes were a bit lighter than they had hoped for. Pictures will be coming soon… but for now, you can reminisce with these… or clich here for the report and scrapbook from the 2007 Baja-Ha-Ha and Mexico Cruise…

And remember that we are now booking al our courses (Learn to Sail, Racing Instruction, and Cruising Classes) in our beautiful Puerto Vallarta Sailing Facility…

What happend next…

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Ok… this is pretty cool. J/80 at speed. Man, these boats are fun to sail. An absolute blast, until, well, you know… I really want to see what happend next!

 

Southbound Cruising….

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So our southbound cruise to Mexico leaves SF tomorrow… we still have limited spaces available on the Santa Barbara to San Diego leg, on the Baja-Ha-Ha (San Diego to Cabo), and on the Cabo to Puerto Vallarta crossing… come sailing with the Best Sailing School in America and have a great time doing it!

Drop us a note or give a call if you are interested in this!

Rockstar!

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So the new issue of Latitude 38 just hit the stands… and we are proud to say that we made the cover… and J World bowman extraordinaire Kevin Sullivan is the covergirl! Here he is doing the ‘foredeck two-step’ as our J/120 punches thru a wave at the weather mark. Sweet picture from Peter Lyons… (and scroll down for the unedited version of the shot, which we posted here a couple of days ago…)

Kevin did a great job on the pointy end while the rest of our awesome team were working back in the (somewhat) drier regions of the boat, propelling J World to third overall… see below for a more detailed report!

New Facility at Jack London Square

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So, for you loyal blog followers, we have a bit of a sneak preview on two very exciting developments here at J World… First off, we will be offering classes from a THIRD San Francisco Bay Area sailing school location in the next month. Ok, it’s really more of an extension of our Alameda facility, but we are thrilled that we will be offering courses from the famous Jack London Square at the Oakland waterfront!

This hotel is front-and-center amidst the restaurants, shops, coffee houses, bookstores, and nightclubs… not to mention the great marina. The Waterfront Plaza has just undergone a complete renovation, and is offering great room rates to all our students. We are excited to offer this new location to increase the sailing opportunities for our clients!

So that’s one bit of news… and for the other bit, I am going to make you wait a couple of days… but you are going to like this one too!

In the meantime, we are getting ready for our cruise down to Mexico. We still have berths available on our J 120, with four legs to choose from. If you have ever dreamed of cruising south, now is your chance… a real education-vacation! Sail with us from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, or from Santa Barbara to San Diego… or, head for Mexico with us! More info on our cruise to Mexico is here…