By Chuck Skewes Ullman Sails
After an address by the President of Mexico and a sail by to greet him the first day of MEXORC was off to a great start. Winds from 9-15 knots out of the south west made for great rac
ing on the Random Leg course that starts all MEXORC Regattas. The starting order started with Class D and worked up to Class A. As the starts went off the fleets got more and more aggressive until in class A 2 boats were called over early and had to return. This allowed Alchemy to control the first half of the race out towards Punta Mita. Under Genoa headsail conditions and some reaching to the second mark where a hole developed for a short while allowing class A boats to catch up to the smaller boats. After rounding the Western most mark it was a combination of running and tight reaching in a building breeze. Alchemy and Peligroso held off the TP 52's on the 3 reaches and last run giving Alchemy a great start on their quest to be repeat champions at MEXORC. The middle reach of the race was 8 miles and boats went from running spinnakers to Code 0 and headsails reaching at 12-14 knots. It was close bow to stern racing on this leg and the boats with cleaner headsail changes benefited. Vincitory and Patches came close twice to passing Alchemy but could not get past before the turning marks.
ing on the Random Leg course that starts all MEXORC Regattas. The starting order started with Class D and worked up to Class A. As the starts went off the fleets got more and more aggressive until in class A 2 boats were called over early and had to return. This allowed Alchemy to control the first half of the race out towards Punta Mita. Under Genoa headsail conditions and some reaching to the second mark where a hole developed for a short while allowing class A boats to catch up to the smaller boats. After rounding the Western most mark it was a combination of running and tight reaching in a building breeze. Alchemy and Peligroso held off the TP 52's on the 3 reaches and last run giving Alchemy a great start on their quest to be repeat champions at MEXORC. The middle reach of the race was 8 miles and boats went from running spinnakers to Code 0 and headsails reaching at 12-14 knots. It was close bow to stern racing on this leg and the boats with cleaner headsail changes benefited. Vincitory and Patches came close twice to passing Alchemy but could not get past before the turning marks.Class B MEXORC day 1 report from SC-50 Hula Girl by Wayne Zittel JWorld
Seriously. I don’t get it. For the life of me, I can’t fathom why this isn’t the most popular regatta in the world. I absolutely love MEXORC!
Today was Day 1 of the 2012 MEXORC regatta in Banderas Bay. The fine city of Puerto Vallarta is nestled into the southeastern corner of this glorious bay, but we were sailing our of Marina Riviera Nayarit in the fantastic town of La Cruz, which is just north of our J World Base in Nuevo Vallarta.
Seriously. I don’t get it. For the life of me, I can’t fathom why this isn’t the most popular regatta in the world. I absolutely love MEXORC!
Today was Day 1 of the 2012 MEXORC regatta in Banderas Bay. The fine city of Puerto Vallarta is nestled into the southeastern corner of this glorious bay, but we were sailing our of Marina Riviera Nayarit in the fantastic town of La Cruz, which is just north of our J World Base in Nuevo Vallarta.
For this event, we have a half dozen J World coaches and seven clients from the US and Canada aboard. Our team is comprised of sailors who regularly sail boats ranging from 14 to 40 feet. Almost all of them are J World alumni, and we are thrilled to have them all aboard.Ok, back to the event. Perfectly warm weather. Not a long sleeve in sight (unless it’s for sun protection). Great breeze. Spectacular scenery. A phenomenal fleet. We hit the water toady for the Governor’s Cup race, and after a brief warm up were informed that the President of Mexico had arrived on the Race Committee boat and was going to address the fleet (as he did at the 2010 event). Yes, that’s right the PRESIDENT of MEXICO! Now that’s what I call supporting the sport of sailing!
Well, if El Presidente put all his political clout to bear, he couldn't have ordered up better sailing. We had a reverse start, with the slower classes starting first, for a long tour of the Bay. On board Hula Girl, 
we got a glean start, charged the weather mark, had a great first reach, negotiated the light air at the close-to-the-beach second mark, took off on a great long reach across the bay, performed an excellent peel form the 2A to the 3A (the very first for many of our team!), and got to the line nice and smoothly. While we are almost the slowest boat in our Class B, we thought we kept close enough to the leaders to have a respectable finish.
Then it was back to the dock, and off to the party tent. Dinner and drinks are served with style to all the racers, and daily awards were give out. While we were a bit disappointed with our 5th place corrected finish, the great atmosphere of the regatta eased the pain. And the knowledge that we have 5 more glorious days of sailing here certainly gave us a lot to look forward to!
That’s what I got… for today. Tomorrow is W/L racing, and will be a huge test for our ‘young’ team. But win, lose, or draw, I have little doubt that we will have a blast!
we got a glean start, charged the weather mark, had a great first reach, negotiated the light air at the close-to-the-beach second mark, took off on a great long reach across the bay, performed an excellent peel form the 2A to the 3A (the very first for many of our team!), and got to the line nice and smoothly. While we are almost the slowest boat in our Class B, we thought we kept close enough to the leaders to have a respectable finish.Then it was back to the dock, and off to the party tent. Dinner and drinks are served with style to all the racers, and daily awards were give out. While we were a bit disappointed with our 5th place corrected finish, the great atmosphere of the regatta eased the pain. And the knowledge that we have 5 more glorious days of sailing here certainly gave us a lot to look forward to!
That’s what I got… for today. Tomorrow is W/L racing, and will be a huge test for our ‘young’ team. But win, lose, or draw, I have little doubt that we will have a blast!
MEXORC 2012 Preliminary Results:
Race 1 Governor's Cup
Class A
1st Andrews 70 Alchemy 1:44:01
2nd TP-52 Patches 1:47:29
3rd TP-52 Cazador 1:47:37
4th K/C 49 Katana 1:47:55
5th SCR-52 Vincitore 1:48:05
6th K 70 Peligroso 1:49:35
Class B
1st NM46 Insurgente 1:45:01
2nd 1D48 Trigarante 1:45:31
3rd RP-50 Blue Blazes 1:1:46:24
4th Concordia 47 Ruahatu 1:47:01
5th SC-50M Hula Girl 1:49:34
6th Farr 46 Wasabi 1:50:30
7th FOX 44 Ocelot 1:50:43
Class C
1st J125 Timeshaver 1:46:34
2nd CM1200 Velocity 1:47:49
3rd Farr 40 Flojito y Cooperando 1:48:20
4th J133 Veloce II 1:48:51
5th Farr 40 French Kiss 1:49:09
6th J133 Paladin 1:49:20
7th Farr 39ML Farr Out 1:55:35
Class D
1st Peterson 40 Piet Hein 1:46:26
2nd Capri 37 Dreadnought 1:47:33
3rd Capri 37 Azteca 1:49:13
4th Capri 37 Chivos 1:49:50
5th Bandido 1:50:09
6th J120 Tatei-II OCS
7th RP 42 Persephone DNF
