Class A MEXORC day 2 report from Andrews 70 Alchemy
By Chuck Skewes Ullman Sails
The wind was a little heavier today and the competition was tight in Class A. Two races today both Windward Leward races had very close racing and tight mark rounding.Rio just finished putting their bulb back on their keel early in the morning from running aground near the finish of the PV race was back in the water and on the start line. In the first race Patches the TP 52 got out to an early lead and extended giving them the victory with Alchemy the Andrews 70 taking second.
The second race of the day had Patches over early having to go back and Rio showing great down wind speed on the first down wind leg getting into first and holding on to win the second race followed again by Alchemy.
Class B MEXORC day 2 report from 1D-48 Trigarante
by Bruce Cooper Ullman Sails
Trying to build momentum from yesterday's excellent race, our Mexican Navy Team on Trigarante put the hammer down for the first race of the day. The Mexican Navy boat and crew had been last place in the last two MEXORC's, so with new sails from Ullman and lots of practice we were ready to see what we could do on the buoy courses. The wind was much more South than expected, but the wind came up strong with very little wind chop that made sailing tight upwind and very open downwind. Thre Trigarante paced well with the RP-50 Blue Blazes around the race track beating the allmost sistership by only 5 seconds on corrected time!
Trying to build momentum from yesterday's excellent race, our Mexican Navy Team on Trigarante put the hammer down for the first race of the day. The Mexican Navy boat and crew had been last place in the last two MEXORC's, so with new sails from Ullman and lots of practice we were ready to see what we could do on the buoy courses. The wind was much more South than expected, but the wind came up strong with very little wind chop that made sailing tight upwind and very open downwind. Thre Trigarante paced well with the RP-50 Blue Blazes around the race track beating the allmost sistership by only 5 seconds on corrected time!
The big news in our Class B was the other Mexican Navy boat (the NM-46 Insurgente) broke a lower lifeline and dumped 3 crew into the water on the first leg of the
race! With quick manuevering and good boat handling, the fallen and wet sailors were back onboard in less than 1.5 minutes. This is very good for a recovery, the sailors in the water stuck together and made it possible for only one pass by Insurgente to grab them! The lesson learned here is if you fall in the water, do it in warm water and don't panic. A great job by skipper Javier Velasquez and crew!
Between races, the wind continued to build, so many boats switched to smaller headsails. Trigarante, Blue Blazes and Insurgente changed to #2 genoas and the rest of the fleet changed to #3 jibs. We made the right choice after listening to wind readings from the race committee to the mark set boats. It was definitely windier at the start area near the beach in Puerto Nuevo than 2.5 miles out in the bay where the windward mark was set where it was only blowing 13 knots true wind speed. The results for this race showed the #2 headsail choice was correct. Blue Blazes sailed a great race and led from wire to wire with Insurgente taking 2nd place 17 seconds ahead of Trigarante in 3rd place.
The party tent "race headquarters" was going off with some mack daddy Mexican food and rum drinks. I think the sailors were 100% focused on not having the host not have any leftovers and consumed way too much food and drink, which explains why we only got 2 reports today! Maybe we will get a few more later and we will send them to you when they are sent in after the hangovers subside!
The Las Caletas race is Race #4. There is a big party and dinner in this remote area of Banderas Bay where the racers also enjoy an exotic ancient Mexican dance show and then use the outside amphitheater for the prize giving, very cool!
