FIESTA DE VELEROS — ALL PHOTOS LATITUDE / CHRIS EXCEPT AS NOTED
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later, we found ourselves flying into the tiny Manzanillo airport, headed for a week's adventure on Mexico's Costalegre. Following a drive on a two-lane road (some of it washed out from the summer's rains), we arrived at the Isla de Navidad resort, where a sprawling, 30-year-old grande dame of a hotel overlooks a tidy marina.
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DAVID KILMER / LIBERTÉ
n early January, we received an email from a sailing colleague, Pat McIntosh: "Chris, you need to come down here and see this firsthand. It is phenomenal what these cruisers are doing for the community!" We know Pat from collaborations working on the Delta Doo Dah. He and his wife Carole are co-authors of Cruising Notes, so we know that he knows his stuff. A whole slew of emails and a month
Above: Jason Hite's 'Volaré', a 1978 Hereshoff Caribbean 50, was among the boats out for a sunset sail and on-the-water concert on Monday, February 7. Passengers donated funds for the cause, helping the local schools in Barra de Navidad. Below, left: Wendy Laurier sang for the cruise-up concert on Monday evening. Right: The talented guitar player and singer Salvador performed aboard 'Baja Fog' for a special Thursday afternoon cruise.
he official activities for Cruise-In Week began on Sunday, February 6, with a boat-building crafts project in the resort's kids' club. Cruiser Sue Adams supervised the project. Sue works at the kids' club; she and her husband John and their 16-year-old son Hadrian had planned to circumnavigate with their Fountaine Pajot 41 Winston, but COVID had other plans. Sue's parents, who are from Canada, live in Barra de Navidad. The youngsters made their boat hulls from coconut seed-pod husks that Sue had collected from the beach. The kids would race their creations off the beach in front of the hotel on Monday. On Sunday evening, a crowd gathered for an outdoor kickoff party at the hotel. Each participant received a swag bag, and event organizers Elinore Craig and Linda Bello-Ruiz explained the week's logistics. The next day, Monday the 7th, featured the first big fundraising event, the sunset cruise. Boatowners volunteered to take paying passengers (mostly nonsailors) out for a sail and an on-the-water concert, ending with sunset-watching. The fees collected were donated to the cause: infrastructure improvements to local schools — the whole point of the week's activities. The sailing was perfect, with relatively flat water and a nice 7- to 9-knot breeze under warm, sunny skies. The concert was the most amazing thing. After dropping sails, boats gathered around and anchored or drifted about near a trawler that hosted local VIPs and an awesome singer, Canadian Wendy Laurier. Some of the boats collected tips for Wendy, but she donated them back to the fundraiser. The French Baker from Barra provided baked savory snacks to be served on each boat during the concert. We sailed aboard John Schulthess and Monique Boucher's Lagoon 440 Baja Fog, a nicely stable and comfortable platform for landlubbers and photographers. Of the 11 passengers aboard Baja Fog, about 10 were Canadians. The area is very popular with them, and they'd missed the previous winter due to the border