Midwinters West By Rick Buchanan
Dos Dias Magnificos in San Felipe |
6 MAY / JUN 2009 Two gorgeous days in San Felipe, Mexico is the best way to describe Midwinters West this year. With the regatta pushed back on the calendar Mother Nature gave us warm sunny days, gorgeous Sea of Cortez blue skies, and great racing. No chubasco this year! There has been an enormous amount of reluctance, fear and apprehension to travel south of the international border into Mexico. These feelings have been fueled by the numerous news reports from television, newspapers, forums, and the US State Department’s travel warnings. Our fears were put to rest as no one involved with the regatta experienced anything newsworthy. The only difficult situation this year (besides sailing the wrong course) was the wait at the border on the way home, courtesy of the US border agents and new road construction. Tom Manok, our principal race officer, managed to pick up a large nail or bolt in one of his tires as he pulled up to one of the local watering holes. Ruben de la Peña, the Manager of COTUCO (tourism office) arranged for a local “Taller” (mobile tire repair) to come to the El Cortez Hotel and take care of the repair for Tom — for $10, WOW! This wouldn’t happen in the United States (at least not for $10!). Most travelers to San Felipe head off to the Malecon (pier, or Main St.) for a lunch of fish tacos and an ice cold beer or margarita. They make the best fish tacos in the world! Have you ever had a Rubio’s restaurant fish taco and thought it was pretty good? Take a guess where Ralph Rubio got the idea. The original is even better! Besides their world renowned fish tacos, San Felipe has fantastic fresh shrimp cooked any way you want. This year we had 20 Hobies on the water competing in 5 classes. On Saturday with winds blowing around 6 – 8 knots we ran 5 races. As the sail numbers were radioed to me onshore, it was clear that the first 4 places were very competitive. The largest class was 16A with 13 boats. The 16B & C classes, although small, were fierce on the water with Carl & Judy Delfino holding off Scott Myers and Barb Perlmutter. Rich Sellers and Kim (the lone C class boat) duked it out with the Bs, and had a great time doing it. Denny and Susan Osburn took 1st place honors in 18A with a string of first place bullets. Watch out Stephen Cooley...Denny & Susan are training for HAVAMEGA with a passion! New to Hobie sailing (and in San Felipe just by chance) were Todd Bailey and Angel Drobnica, from Lummi Island, Wash- ington. Todd & Angel were on a two month touring vacation and in San Felipe when everyone started showing up with their Hobies. Not wanting to sit back,waiting to see what was happening they walked over to our registration table and started asking questions. The next thing we knew they were registered for the regatta and wearing event T-shirts. Welcome aboard Todd & Angel. With Denny Osburn and Chris Jernigan helping fine tune their 18 our new friends took first place in 18C. Grand Champions this year in 16A and their first win at Midwinters West are John and Linda Hauser of Huntington Beach, Calif. John and Linda gave up 4 of the 8 first place finishes with Rex Mitchell (Nevada) taking one of them, while Rex Miller (Calif.) was able to grab two, leaving Jeff Perlmutter (Arizona) to claim the fourth. With Saturday’s races finished for the day and logged in the computer scoring program, it was time for our traditional poolside fiesta dinner. This fiesta is made possible with funding from the HCA-NA Area Championship Grant. It is free for all competitors and Race Committee members to enjoy. For those competitors who are fortunate enough to bring family or friends to our regatta we do have extra dinner tickets available. The menu is, of course, traditional Mexican fair with tacos, rice, refried beans, chips, salsa, guacamole and drinks. This year’s fiesta dinner had the best food yet; even Bill Weidner from Fleet 207 in Maine would have enjoyed it! There is music and dancing for all to enjoy and of course the camaraderie of good friends. Sunday, with winds up to 11 knots, we ran another 3 races giving the competitors a chance to “double trap”. Roger Brown (16A) from Lake Forest, CA had this to say about the racing and courses “They were well laid out - pretty square lines and gates. I don’t think the RC had a sense of how fast Hobies go though”. Ken Donnelly (18C) from Vista, CA said “The food (seafood) was fantastic, inexpensive, and abundant. The locals were helpful, nice, and curious. I felt safe there regardless of the media. The weather was almost perfect, warm water, warm sunny breeze. Would have been better if Mother Nature had Sunday’s weather on Saturday to take advantage of the warm heavy winds. It was worth the drive and I’d do it again!” George Burchfiel from Corona, CA must have enjoyed the trip saying, “That was only my third MWW but I must say it was my favorite…A great weekend of sailing, eating, drinking, laughing, resting, and just plain fun”. Regarding my earlier reference to wrong courses, Rex Miller says it better than me, safe trip; great weather; great friends – if only I hadn’t left my brain on the beach, we might have won enough races to win the regatta. If it hadn’t been for Rex’s OCS and a DNF (what’s that about?) he certainly would have been in the money for one of our coolest trophies ever. Oh wait! We do give out an award each year for the “Oldest Hobie Regatta Shirt” worn at trophy presentation. Guess who received it this year! You guessed it... Rex. It’s something we do to “keep it fun”. Speaking of trophies, I created them by making castings off of the Carlton Tucker Award presented to me last October. They resemble a piece of whale bone with the boats carved into them. This whale bone carving was then mounted on a piece of Sapele wood from Africa. It’s my way of sharing this special award with those who made it possible in the first place. Without all of you and the Hobie Cat events we promote and attend, the award would not exist. Thank you all. We hope to see you next year in San Felipe for the 40th Anniversary of Midwinters West. Mark your 2010 calendars with our tentative dates of March 19, 20, & 21. ¡ Tenga un día de Hobie! © 1997-2009 IISFAC |
