Racing Through the Mexico Cruising Season
For most Californians, Mexico is a dream cruising destination. However, upon arrival in Banderas Bay you’ll find there’s a lively racing scene organized by the very active Vallarta Yacht Club. January kicks off the prime racing season, starting with the two-weekend Vallarta Cup. Charity Palmetier sent a few photos from the competition, where cruising boats join local racers in dodging whales and rounding marks.
Both the January 11/12 and 18/19 weekends produced the region’s mostly sunny, warm weather with steady afternoon breezes for the four days of racing. The Multihull class was won by the Hobie 16 Palidin. In the Multihull Division. First in the Cruising Division was Gregory Reaume’s J/37 Beep Beep followed by Great Fun, in second. took first over Lost Dragon in the Performance Division. Linda Sweet and crew took first in the Performance Division with her Variana 44 Olas Lindas.
Next on the Vallarta Yacht Club racing calendar is the WesMex International Small Boat Regatta on February 20-23, followed by the Banderas Bay Regatta on March 18-22. You can find more on each event here.
[Ed: This story has been updated with the correct results.]
Not sure where you got your results but they are all incorrect.
Dave – thanks for the heads up. We’re afraid we got ahold of the results from a different event so we hope they are now correct. We apologize to the winners.
So, with tRUMP’s tariff imposition on Mexico (although there’s been a month long abeyance), what impacts will it bring to cruisers – and ex-pats, too – in the coming months? Any speculation?
The only current impacts are the stealing of outboards at La Cruz anchorage…if nothing else, the value of the peso goes down vs US dollar and you can get cheaper avocados 🥑 and limes there