Race/Cruise in the Zongo Yachting Cup While Sailing Down the California Coast
Are you headed down the West Coast, destination San Diego, for the start of the 30th Baja Ha-Ha? Are you looking to harbor-hop on your way down the coast and find cozy marinas with hot showers and cold cocktails? Are you hoping to find some of that magic camaraderie and community that happens when you drop anchor in a new port?
This year’s Zongo Yachting Cup might be your cup of tea.
“The Zongo Cup was my personal attempt at having as much fun as possible in a day — there are super-cool concerts and a destination race on the Central Coast,” said Paul Irving, the event’s founder and friend of Latitude 38. (Paul helped us out at this year’s Fall Crew Party, and he’s a key part of the Sausalito Boat Show, happening right now. Usually held in August, the 15th annual Zongo Yachting Cup has been moved to October with a very specific demographic in mind.
“I’m trying to expand the idea this year. It’s just been a little local race between Morro Bay Yacht Club and San Luis Yacht Club in Avila Beach, but we’re trying to attract the attention of all the cruisers headed south for the Baja Ha-Ha. By the time most people headed south get to Morro Bay, they’re usually pulling in for a hot shower and a cocktail.”
If your GPS has you pinned in Morro Bay on October 11, then you’re right on the starting line for the 15th annual Zongo Cup kickoff party. Racers can check in all day at Morro Bay Yacht Club, then catch the free concert on Friday night at Tidelands Park on Morro Bay’s waterfront. The Zongo All-Stars — an Afro-Latin dance band with a strong local following — will be playing from around 4 to 8 p.m. (Paul Irving plays trumpet in the band.)
On Saturday, October 12, the 20-mile race/cruise from Morro Bay to Avila Beach/Port San Luis starts at 11 a.m., concludes at 5 p.m., and finishes with the “really cool after-party,” according to Paul, at the Zongo Cup Reception Party at Point San Luis Lighthouse, which can only be accessed by boat. Drinks and live music will be on tap!
The Zongo Yachting Cup is actually a new iteration of a famed and famously difficult Morro Bay Yacht Club tradition. “Forever and ever and ever — in the late ’50s and early ’60s — MBYC had the Estero Cup, sailed in one shot from Morro Bay, all the way to San Simeon, down to Avila Beach and back to Morro Bay,” said Paul. “It was a long race and a grind. Boats limped back in at 4 a.m. As time marched on, participation was declining until there was nobody doing it. We wondered, ‘Do people just not like to sail anymore? Was it too grueling?’ So we just took the easiest leg of the Estero Cup.”
Paul put the cherry on top for this year’s specialized, catering-to-the-Ha-Ha-fleet Zongo Cup: “Come hang out with the good people of Morro Bay and have two rad parties.”
To register, go to www.bigbigslo.com/zongocup24.