Light wind day so there was no rush to pull up the anchor. The rally plan was a 11:30am line up for a sail race. That gave Allison and me time to paddled into shore to bushwack through the cactus and brush, scraping and poking our way. Eventually we made it to the top of a hill with a cool breeze and pretty views of the Baja and sea. On the trip back to the beach we started doing extremely well avoiding the scratches and were going much faster. Then we started running into sheer cliffs and gullies which led us to back tracking, making long curving deviations but we persevered and survived. It was fun and I was stoked to have a hiking partner who embraced the challenge. Whew, good times.
Free Luff and Fly Aweigh started at the back of the pack as we kept our engines off and were late raising of our anchors. But sails came up and the race was on, it was clear that we were a fast boat. Playing around with different sail plans we picked up a knot or more over the other boats and were soon in passing mode. Free Luff blew out their reacher sail so they started with a spinnaker which required tacking way to the east, while we took the rhumb line. Sizzle (Seawind 1260) made a strategic move to follow Free Luff east and was hauling ass at 9+ knots while we were content with 7ish knots. Gato Loco had the best start and had a mile lead which we slowly chipped away. With about three miles remaining we were in the lead but greatly concerned with Free Luff who’s spinnaker kept their speed a knot higher than us was with the further east position made it look very close, maybe edge to them. Allan had the smart idea to match their tack which increased our speed and brought us the victory. Woohoo!
Sundowners were on Balam which great appetizers to share, wine and margaritas. Man is that a big boat (Samba 50), with multiple seating areas for interesting conversations and socializing. Cruisers midnight came quickly and it was time for heads to hit the pillow.
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