REVIVED AND REDUCED — T
wenty-five years after founding the Sea of Cortez Sailing Week, which flourished for about seven years before going into a long decline and eventu-
Dave and Heather drive the Monterey-based 'Eupsychia' past Isla Ballena, which has to be the fly capital of the universe.
ally dying, Latitude revived the six-day event starting on April Fool's Day. Folks who participated assured us they had a helluva good time. We know that we sure did. Initially, there was some concern that there might be some friction with the Club Cruceros de La Paz, the local yacht club, which would be holding their more socially-oriented La Paz Bay Fest the following week. But there was no problem, as we quickly became friends with Commodore Rick Cromwell, owner of the beautiful Alamitos Bay-based CT -41 Karma, and other members of the club. Cromwell is yet another one of those people who had come to La Paz "for two weeks" with the intention of quickly continuing on toward the Caribbean or South Pacific — but is still there. The appeal of La Paz, the locals, and the Glenn, Brad, and Kevin, high above the anchorage at Caleta Partida. The topography and colors are typical of the scenery in the Sea.
cruising community is so strong that he and many others aren't sure when or if they will ever leave. There were two main differences between the original and the revised versions of Sailing Week. The first is that the revised Sailing Week was, by intent, a much smaller affair. Not wanting another fleet of 175 boats at Caleta Partida, we deliberately downplayed the event, targeting it toward folks who really love to sail. The result was an intimate 12-boat, 34-sailor event. And this was a case where smaller really did turn out to be better. Since there were only 34 participants, Profligate was able to accommodate the entire group for potlucks, sundowner parties — and even a sunset cruise! The fleet included everything from a Corsair 31 trimaran to a Santa Cruz 52. And with so few participants, it was a bit like Cheers, where after a couple of days everybody knew each other's name. It was so small, in fact, we have space to name all the boats and crew: Bill Lilly with the Newport Beachbased Lagoon 470 cat Moontide; Chuck and Elaine Vanderboom with the Lake Havasu-based Corsair 31 Boomerang; Tom Wur fl and Helen Downs with the San Diego-based Lagoon 42 cat Catatude; David Addleman and Heather Corsaro with the Monterey-based Cal 36 Eupsychia; Patsy Verhoeven with the Portland and La Paz-based Gulfstar 50 Talion, with Marv, Artie and Craig as crew; Wayne Hendryx and Carol Baggerly with the Brisbane-based Hughes 45 Capricorn Cat; Kevin and Marcy Millet, with their daughter Ayla and Paul Biery, who were delivering the Cantana 52 Legato back to California for the estate of Jim Forquer; Pat and Carole MacIntosh with the Sacramento-based Hunter 430 Espiritu; Brendan Busch and 'Baba', aka Sonnie & Cher, with the La Honda-based Santa Cruz 52 Isis; Glen Twitchell and Brad with the Newport Beach-based Lagoon 380 Beach Access; Sam and Susie Crabtree with the Antioch and La Paz-based Cal 39 Catch the Wind; and the Wanderer, Doña de Mallorca, and John and Gilly Foy with the Punta Mita-based Surfin' 63 catamaran Profligate.
T
he second difference from the original event is that Patsy Verhoeven of Talion came up with four relatively long races: 14 miles
from Roco Lobos to near the old volcano crater at Caleta Partida; 20 miles from Caleta Partida to Isla San Francisco; 20
Ayla of 'Legato', who will turn 16 on the Ha-Ha, got so much tough love from Wayne of 'Capricorn Cat' that her eyes nearly popped out.
miles from Isla San Francisco back to Caleta Partida; and 14 miles from Caleta Partida back to Rocos Lobos. As was to be expected in the Sea, there were some