Sol Sailing…
Yep, another tough weekend down here in Mexico. Josh and Drew got released from the J World salt mines last weekend and went off to play in the local Capri 37 fleet… they’ve got a handful of them down here, and they hit the water monthly with highly competitive one-design racing. Josh issued this report today:
This weekend saw a fleet of five boats turn out for two days of racing. On the first day, the fleet saw conditions ranging from 8-10 knots for race number one, picking up to around 14 knots for the second race, then slowly dying for the third race of the day. These changes in pressure were also accompanied with some major shifts, keeping the fleet on their toes and constantly trying to find the favored side of the course for that extra edge.
Drew and I were on board with Team Azteca to help fill spots at the mast, mainsail and tactics. For the first race, we found ourselves in good position on the starting line with good speed and were able to hold on to the lead for a 1st place finish. For race two, we climbed back from a bad start to battle it out with Crew Dos and Dreadnought, and managed to pull off second. Race three saw the whole fleet getting a solid start. A left shift favored us and Crew Dos, and we managed to prevail over them after the run for another win.
On day two, the fleet saw slightly more breeze. Race four started in around 12 knots of breeze at around 230 degrees. Throughout the race the breeze clocked to around 240, favoring the right side of the course. At the end of the race Azteca finished first with a Dreadnought and Crew Dos in a heavy fight for second, in which Crew Dos was victorious. As race five started, the wind started to climb and the fleet found themselves in 20 knots of breeze and carnage started to appear on the course. Dreadnought pulled the bullet, Chivas second, and we wrapped the weekend with a third.
The weekend was full of close competition and challenging conditions making a great weekend of racing. A big thanks to the guys aboard Azteca for having a couple of J World gringos along for the race!
And thank you for the report, Josh! Lots of great sailing going on around here right now: Our Learn-to-Sail classes are running almost continually at our Puerto Vallarta Sailing Center, and there are lots of sailing charters to boot.
Our San Francisco Sailing School is starting to book springtime courses, so don’t be left on the dock, give us a call now!
All the best,
Wayne Zittel and the J World Team
