“We had a ball out there,” said Slade Ogletree from the Paradise Found Yacht Club in La Paz, Mexico. “Two guitars, an autoharp and harmonicas. Good food off the BBQ, great weather, friends, hell what more do you want?”
Paradise Found Yacht Club and members of the La Paz sailing community are pleased to report the good success of Summer Sailstice. Twelve boats participated in this year's event in Ballandra Bay, 10 miles north of La Paz. Pete of Edelweiss III and Tom of Seazure rafted together to provide the initial platform.
Next Burbuja joined the raft up with Rob, Josie, Marie, and Dalhia on board. The barbecue started about sunset with plenty of scrumptious food all around. Tom joined in with Travis of Mystery Tramp on the guitar while Emily worked her magic in the galley. Next La Otra's Mike with his autoharp treated the group to some Bluegrass favorites.
Aries' Rich and Donna, Runaway and Aristos were there to celebrate the longest day of the year too. Also present was Ted from the 62' Alden ketch Anna, that was launched in 1928. Passage sailed out for the fun, but they were loaded up with kids and grandkids and headed back to La Paz with the setting sun. Valdiva's Humberto and family were the sole representatives of the Mexican community in attendance.
Following dinner, the music continued, yarns were spun and new friendships were forged. About 10 o'clock the nightly "Corumel" southerly wind started up, gusting up to of 30 plus knots at times. Due to the local experience (or pure dumb luck) of the fleet, the wind posed no problems for anyone, other than a few splashy dingy rides for anchor checks. The evening's only casualty was when Rich lost his favorite fishing cap. As the crew continued into the wee hours, the tales got taller, fish, that had long been digested, grew, and the music surely sounded better. Sunday morning Rob and his crew of lovely mermaids left early (by our standards) for a bit of diving at a local favorite, La Reyna. The fleet slowly filtered out of the bay with new friendships and memories of Paradise Found Yacht Club and Summer Sailstice to take with them wherever their cruising takes them next.
Check out photos from Paradise (ParadiseFoundYachtClub.com)