The 27th Annual Banderas Bay Regatta in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico was another huge success. This 4 day event with a great social scene is a regular event, not only for the Vallarta Yacht Club group, but also for transient sailors. Many of the transient sailors are getting ready to sail across the Pacific Ocean to Tahiti or the Marquises while others are cruising the Sea of Cortez and make this an annual stop to participate.

The boats range from sport boats, such as the J80s, to Gulf Stars with solar panels and a fleet of multihulls. There were 30 boats participating this year with crews from all over the world. Ullman Sails Puerto Vallarta sponsored the event for the 3rd year in a row.

One of the things that makes this event unique is that the day before racing starts there is a boat parade of participants. The parade heads out to the starting area and the race committee runs a series of practice starts so that inexperienced racers can get an idea of how the sequences work. This also gives everyone a great time and distance practice.

This year the first two days of racing were light for Banderas Bay with winds from 10 to 15 knots and 82-degree Fahrenheit temperatures. Saturday, the final day saw winds of 18-25 knots, more typical of this time of year in the bay. Each night was followed by a great social gathering and dinners at Vallarta Yacht Club, with the exception of a Grand Galla at Paradise Village on the beach for the award ceremony. The view, setting, and sunset were ideal.

A few boats dominated their classes, the Ullman Sails Powered Outremer 55 scored a 1,1,2 to take the multihull division, the Ullman Sails powered J-105 owned by Bart Smit took Class B with 1,1,1, and the Ullman Sails powered J80s from J World took all 3 positions in the J80 Class.

The rest of the results can be found here.

With all the fun and racing taking place, there was a near disaster when the owner and driver of Mermaid Magnet, the Jeanneau 54, was thrown overboard by a spinnaker sheet. This left the crew with the spinnaker up and a man overboard. Luckily for all involved, Pablo Fernandez from Marina Vallarta was out watching the racing in his RIB and came to the rescue of the owner and brought him safely back to the boat. It is things like this that make you thankful for good safety on the water.

Agave Azul not only dominated their class with a 1,1,1 they also won the best dressed for the parade and won the grand raffle prize of a new Grand Prix Spinnaker Bag from Ullman Sails. They may have won the party too, although the jury is still out as the J 105 Sinfonia Nautica gave them a run for that honor.

All in all, a fantastic, well-attended event where Ullman Sails shone. If you haven’t experienced this event yet, we hope to see you next time!

A big thank you to Chuck Skewes for this great coverage of the event.

Images courtesy of JL Digital Media