VYC WesMex Race in the Record Books Vallarta Yacht Club
March 22, 2012

Vallarta Yacht Club's signature event is now in the record books and despite the lack of cooperation from the wind on some of the race days, it was quite a competition.

The field of competitors was the largest in the 7 year history of this event.

There were 53 "Lasers", 77 "Optis", and, as an added treat, 20 "420's" that were skippered and crewed by members of the Mexican Navy.

What was really great for the local area was the participation of 19 kids from the club's Junior Sailing Program - 5 sailing Lasers and 15 sailing Optis. What was also interesting and certainly a positive sign for the future of sailing was the fact that the average age of the young folks participating in the Opti class was the youngest ever in the history of this race.

Seven of the competitors (all Laser Class) were ranked in the top 20 Laser racers in the world (including #1 ranked Laser racer Tom Slingsby of Australia).  These top racers not only added to the competitive excitement of the event but added a bit of an "awe" factor that seemed to motivate many of the younger sailors.

A good example was when one of the young competitors asked Tom Sligsby to autograph her life jacket. When Tom gladly signed the jacket and them kneeled down to allow the competitor's mother to take a picture of the two of them together, one would imagine that this young girl's desire to emulate the competitive spirit of someone who was undoubtedly her "hero" was increased many fold.

The Navy competition in the "420's (small two person boats) was an added attraction this year. This competition pitted Navy Cadets against Navy Officers and brought out some interesting dynamics of competitive spirit between the two groups.  These Navy folks also helped crown a new "winner" in the area as well.

Having dinner one night at the Club, one of the Cadets announced that the Club's cheeseburger was the best he had ever had. With that announcement came an order of 40 "burgers" and the consensus was a resounding "yes, it was the best burger". Finally the age old argument about who served the best Cheeseburger in the Banderas Bay Area was finally put to rest with the "awarding" of the Navy seal of approval to VYC.

Awards to local sailors went to Manuel Dussault, Vallarta Yacht Club, 3rd place Laser Juvenile Division; Tania Elias Calles, La Cruz Yacht Club, 1st Place Laser Radial Division and 1st Place Laser Radial Women's Division; and to Juan Bosco Varela, Vallarta Yacht Club, 2nd Opti Overall.

Finally, it would be impossible to specifically name each person who volunteered their time and talent these past two weeks without making this article very long and unwieldy. Simply said, there were 30 people who provided 1295 hours of on the water support and 18 folks giving over 300 hours of time of on land support.

Your help made this event a success - THANK YOU!

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