The Sea of Cortez around La Paz is one of the world’s great cruising destinations. Remote but stunningly beautiful desert sailing it is blessed with warm weather, abundant sealife, protected anchorages and, no surprise, an active sailing community. Though he’s been part of Summer Sailstice for 7 years, Tom Zyber of Baja Insider and the Valeros de Baja, wrote to tell us their 2010 Summer Sailstice regatta was their first organized event which drew 120 people to sail and celebrate.
Tom continues, ‘yes, these will be BIG boat races last year the entries ranged from 28' Alden's to 149' custom steel schooners. (Beleive it or not was sailed by two senior citizens, husband and wife!)’
‘We rounded Roca Lobos as a mark and the wind went still. For several minutes it was a ballet of boats adrift without steerage. The lead boat and I managed to escape the clusterF**k and you can see the wind line just south of the rocks and we scooted out in front of the pack. Just outside the picture were 8 other boats in 'also ran' position.
‘Unfortunately, on the return to La Paz final leg we had typical summer winds in the Sea of Cortez…. None!’
‘As I said on the radio…”Apologies to those from Kansas who think we walked out of the garden, but the primordial soup along side the boat is evolving faster than we are moving!” We sat nearly stationary for about an hour in that tropic of cancer less than 1/2° off straight up (we are about 30 miles from the tropic of cancer) But we finished the race in a club record LONG time of 5 hrs to cover 7 miles.’
For 2011 Tom says, ‘We are still seeking an EXACT location in the Bay of La Paz (last year's restaurant host was NO help) but the event will certainly be the same fun. (the pig has already been purchsed on the hoof!) Last year we had nearly 120 people and 20 boats. We expect this year to be larger after the party's reputation spreads!’
'Last year we had our first Summer Soltice event, pig roast on the beach, games and two days of racing in the Sea of Cortez. It was the capper to our first club season.'
For information on the 2011 event go to: www.VelerosDeBaja.com
To see more about the 2010 event click here.
The pig roasted on the beach while sailors chased the wind offshore.
