J/24 Top Banana at International Banderas Bay Regatta XXIII JBoat News
go to original March 21, 2015

(Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)- What a day the first day of Banderas Bay Regatta XXIII was! With more pirates parading out of the marina than you can shake a saber at, then the first race! Things were okay, then they got light, and for those who stuck it out, it got windy again at the end. No matter, everyone had a great time!

The second day of BBR brought more wind, and the lovable PRO decided everyone (well, almost everyone) needed a sightseeing tour of Puerto Vallarta and all of Banderas Bay!  All classes, except two, headed to the Puerto Vallarta Sea Buoy, enjoying winds that diminished a little on the PV side, but definitely didn't disappoint on the Nuevo Vallarta side of the course.  What a day! Absolutely beautiful winds and fantastic racing from start to finish. It was a spectacular day of sailing to show off the beautiful Banderas Bay to so many folks.

The beach party that evening was to die for! For those of you who don’t know how the Mexican hosts celebrate in such grand style, well, you just gotta be there!  If you thought ANY Caribbean regatta was fun, then you can rest assured their Mexican counterparts are their equal, if not a few notches higher on the entertainment scale. No joke!

How did the J/Teams fair in their quest for eternal with the Aztec God’s? Not bad. While the J/War Canoes were up to the task across the board, some faired better than others.

In the case of Performance Class B, the runaway winner was the J/24 JUGGS sailed by Ken Yachehcak.  Not far behind them were a trio of J/80s from the local Puerto Vallarta fleet, including 3rd place J/80 J/WORLD BLUE skippered by Patrick Farrell, 4th place J/80 J/WORLD RED sailed by Debby Coach, and 5th place J/80 SHIVA led by Rush Faville.

In the big boat divisions, it was the J/130 ITAJIME sailed by Alan Robin that took 3rd place in the Cruiser Class E division!  Good on ya mates!  It was the first time that Alan had ever raced his J/130!  He was thrilled to pick up some silverware!  Why?!  Because he and his lovely lady friend were simply headed south on their way to sail into the South Pacific for a long cruise together!  An awesome performance for this cruising couple!

Finally, the J/109 JOYRIDE sailed by James Vicker managed to place 5th in Performance Class A with a number of friends on board who were just learning to sail. Cool.

See the Banderas Bay Regatta sailing photos on Facebook

For more information, check our Banderas Bay Sailing Regatta.

Read related: You Are Invited to Banderas Bay Regatta XXIII 

  Learn about Vallarta Yacht Club