Past the Blast…

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The tail end of last week saw the Banderas Bay Blast wrap up. Three days of some serious fun-in-the-sun sailing (racing??) culminating in the Pirates for Pupils Spinnaker Charity run from Punta Mita to the home of the J World Puerto Vallarta Sailing base, Paradise Village.

Yours truly was invited aboard the 65′ cat Profligate with a great bunch of friends… and with a boat like this, there is plenty of room! Now that is a cockpit! We had great breeze for the first part of the run, and were putting up a good fight… we saw boatspeed up to 13 knots at one point… and all in great comfort!
But as it lightened up a bit, the beautiful J/160 Blue strutted her stuff, and snuck across in front of us (see pic above) and there she remained until the finish… J World’s Josh was aboard Blue and gets bragging rights now…

Then on Saturday was the annual Chili cook off fundraiser for local underprivileged families. J World Sailing School and Club joined forces with Full Sail Canvas, and Camelia and Lisa brewed up an AWESOME batch of chili.
Anyway, that’s the latest from down here in Puerto Vallarta… hard to believe we are into December already!
All the best,
Wayne Zittel & the J World Team

Pac Cup Redux Redux

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Yep, as promised, here’s the ‘gag reel’ that Kevin put together. For our friends and family at home: this is to help you know what happens to fully grown men when they are deprived of sleep for long periods, exposed to the elements, and fed a steady diet of freeze dried spaghetti (or Beef Stroganoff?) and Cliff bars. Please understand that when we come home from an overnight race, we are a bit mental. And this is (or should be) a cry for help. And to the crew, all I have to say is that really, you should all be ashamed of yourselves…

Ok, actually that wasn’t too bad… except for that thing about moving Tom’s leg… really, what was that?? Even so, why do I suspect that sometime, somewhere, this will be entered into a courtroom as “Exhibit X…”

Oh well…

So for those of you NOT frightened off by all of this, we have the Newport to Cabo Race coming up in March. Still a couple of spots open aboard Hula Girl.

Cheers,
Wayne Zittel and the Hula Girl Team

 
 

Pacific Cup 2010 Redux…

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So J/World coach/watch captain/bow dude/officer-on-deck Kevin shot a bunch of video on the way over to Hawaii last summer aboard Hula Girl in the 2010 Pacific Cup. He got a bit busy moving across the country and all, so the cinematic project got put on the back burner for a while… but now, roll out the red carpet, get your popcorn and Jujubes (sorry, no 3-D glasses) and join us for a ride from SF to Hawaii…

Part One:

Part Two:

Many hearty thanks to Kevin for putting this together. And thanks to the other coaches Geoff and Barry, and the crew of Bob, Mark, Rick, Tom, and Vern. Well sailed, gang!
But you all are not off the hook yet… I’ll be posting the ‘gag reel’ of out-takes in another day or two. And for the rest of you out there who thinks this looks like some sort of twisted fun, we are sorry to report that the 2011 Transpac is sold out, but we have a couple spaces left in the Newport to Cabo Race in March… and of course there is always the 2012 Pacific Cup…
Cheers, gotta run… sailing in the Banderas Bay Blast today, and wow it’s pretty here in Mexico!
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Blast!… of the Banderas Bay Variety…

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Yep, the 2010 Banderas Bay Blast kicks off today here in Puerto Vallarta. This is a low-key, informal ‘regatta’ (and we are using that term in the loosest way possible, since the ‘winners’ are chosen from a hat!) is made up of three days of point-to-point cruises.

Today is from wherever-you-are to La Cruz. Tomorrow is La Cruz to Punta Mita. And Friday is the Pirates for Pupils Spinnaker Run for Charity… 14 miles downwind from Punta Mita to Paradise Village and the Vallarta Yacht Club in Nuevo Vallarta. The conditions? Looks to be perfect 12-16 knot afternoon seabreeze, air temp at about 80 degrees, with water temperature at 78. Hmmm… December is looking good!

Anyone down in Vallarta should try to make it out for this good cause (and fun event)… and those of you not down here should seriously think about making the excuse to join us south of the border. J World Sailing has lots of sailing courses running at our Puerto Vallarta sailing base, and we offer skippered charters and bareboat charters to boot!
And for the racers…. our next sailboat racing course is the week of December 13. Then there is the Banderas Bay Regatta and Clinic in March, and don’t forget the Newport to Cabo Offshore Yacht Race!
In the meantime, we’ll post a report of the Blast in a couple of days…
All the best,
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

On the Road…

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… to Mandalay. Indeed. We here at J World Sailing School are excited to announce the latest addition to our fleet: the stunning J/160 Mandalay. I personally know this boat quite well… I have sailed her up and down the West Coast from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta and back. Since then, she has done some serious miles… all the way to the South Pacific!

Mandalay
Mandalay is a stout, fast, offshore passagemaker with all the amenities you could ever dream of. Two staterooms with heads, a huge salon, spacious galley, state of the art nav center, central heating & AC with three climate zones, washer/drier, even a dive compressor!
Great lines. Big rig. Relaxed crew. What’s not to like?
Making fresh sushi off the coast of Baja is a breeze in the huge galley…
… let’s have Frank finish off this post… here’s the ol’ Blue Eyes outro…

 

All the best,
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team

Really, I’m not…

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Ok, I’m not trying to rub it in… as the winter starts to take hold up north, this is what was happening down south last weekend:

The J World Puerto Vallarta office was open for business… and the business at hand was, of course…
… another awesome day of sailing. Seriously. This place is amazing. With cruising season underway and new boats arriving everyday, and with Thanksgiving holiday right around the corner, which will be immediately followed by the Banderas Bay Blast, you really need to get down here. Take a sailing course, charter a boat, whatever. You can’t go wrong!
Wayne Zittel

The Girl gets Gussied Up….

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Hula Girl in San Diego getting a bottom job….

Wet-sanding the bottom to 1500 grit… it’s a burnished bottom with a nearly polished finish to it by the time they get done.
Hanging in the slings to get under the pads and the bulb…
The Hula Girl is getting ready for the 2011 season…. she’s fully booked for Transpac, but available for charter for other events…
Cheers,
Wayne Zittel

Up and Running South of the Border

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Our Winter season in Mexico is off to a fantastic start. We have a Learn to Sail class and a Performance Cruising course running this week, and the conditions really couldn’t get any better right now: the seabreezes have been 12-15 knots in the afternoons, with warm water and almost more sun than we can handle and dolphins and sea turtles all over the place!


The season is just getting going, so grab your sunscreen and flip flops and c’mon down. A little over three hours from San Francisco, with great deals on travel and accommodations, and some seriously great sailing….

Newport to Cabo Race

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Well, our offering in the 2011 Transpac has been met with so much interest and enthusiasm that it has already sold out… so we have decided to add another event to the calendar: the 2011 Newport to Cabo Race! This West Coast classic has the distinct advantage of being shorter in length (and time commitment) than the Hawaii races, so if you have dreamed of offshore downhill sailing on a great boat but can’t afford that much time away from home/office, we’ve got an option for you. The race starts March 18, so visit here or contact us for more info…

But if nothing but a Hawaii Race will do, we are taking reservations for the 2012 Pacific Cup…

Life List…

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Ok, this is pretty cool…

Outside Magazine published their “Life List” in the September issue (on newsstands now…). In this version of the ultimate ‘bucket list,’ they run thru 51 “dream trips, daring quests, essential skills, and exalted states of body and mind…”

… and J/World Sailing made the cut! Become a bush pilot, trek the Himalayas, lasso a steer…. and:

  • #37 Sail Across an Ocean – Make it the Pacific. From May to September, it’s downwind all the way from California to Hawaii. It’ll get warmer every day, phosphorescent plankton will light up the rolling seas at night, and the hula music keeps getting louder on the radio. Before you cash in the house to buy your own boat, go with some pros. Joining a crew isn’t easy – it’s every sailor’s dream trip – but J World Sailing School offers up to six spots a year for either the Transpac (L.A. – Hawaii) or the Pacific Cup (San Francisco – Hawaii) on a Santa Cruz 50, a boat designed for offshore racing. You won’t sleep much over the eight to ten days, but isn’t that the point?

While we are flattered, we are not entirely surprised… it truly is (in the words of one of our crew in the 2010 Pac Cup that we just wrapped up), “the adventure of a lifetime!” And I personally have done the trip a number of times, and can attest that the magic of the experience never goes away…


If you are wondering, the 2011 Transpac Team has only three berths left…

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team