The Seawind Rally starts, Loreto Fest

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By Lowell | May 1, 2011 | Category Baja 2011, Seawind Rally

Friday – With Bill & Carol on board after provisioning and visiting some of Steve’s Loreto friends, we headed south to Puerto Escondido. For the first time we’ve got wind on our nose and wave action coming from the channel between Isla Carmen and Danzante. Half way there and winds clock favorable for sailing and we shut engines down and surge toward Loreto Fest at 7kts..

Loreto Fest has been in full swing today and we hear on the radio that there might be as many as 170 boats in the Escondido harbor. We’ve made contact with Island Time earlier today so our Seawind friends were expecting us. The radio cracked “Gato Loco, Gato Loco” as we entered the harbor. If we hurry setting our anchor we can make it in time for the spaghetti dinner. Well, we missed the dinner and I forgot to take my camera ashore but we did have a nice dinner at the Tripui restaurant near by and then back to the Festival for some Friday night fun.

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Steve & Pam on Barramundi and Larry & Nancy on Island Time (some of our Seawind family) helped us work out those stiff boat mussels on the dance floor.

 

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It was a late night ride on the dinghy back to the boat and we would like to say a quiet night on anchor but NO… 3:30AM and our anchor is dragging. Two new anchor set attempts and finally we moved to a new area to get a good hook and able to sleep the rest of the night.

Saturday – Lot of activities going on everywhere. The biggest entertainment was the dildo dinghy races with the dinghy driver blindfolded finished with a doll stuffed in a bucket. Blindfolded driver are very entertaining. and the announcer on VHF was especially entertaining.

 

Back relaxing on the boat for a while before we head back in for the evening activities.

Crew working our way through the dinghy pile to get to shore. The plan tonight is to return to the Tripui Restaurant with more of our friends.

How many people can you pile in a pickup. We had probably 20 piled in with people on the running board and the back bumper. Can you believe it, the restaurant ran out of propane before our dinners were ready so we only got guacamole, ceviche and a yes a few margs. Another fun night

 

Sunday…. and the wind forecast is coming true,, it’s windier than snot. Gusts up to 40kts through the anchorage. Lots of anchorage drama today. Boats dragging, morning balls breaking free, dinghies running away. Most people hanging on their boats just in case.

 

Our favorite person in the anchorage is the water taxi driver. He’s a very busy and making mucho dinero.

 

Another drama, Bill’s silent auction bidding on a discount for his room at La Damiana. 12 bids later and he won. To complete the bidding he brought dinghy into shore. 4 counter bids and the anxiety of the bidding wore on him but he prevailed.  I volunteered to bring the dinghy back to the boat during the big winds. My mistake… Steve joined me and we face wave after wave with constant water in our faces. By the time we made it back to the boat we were totally soaked  and very happy to be on the mother ship Gato Loco.

 

Today’s activities, Over the line, Horseshoes, Bocci ball, card games and as you see to the right SPAM art. This serina (mermaid) is made from SPAM.  A special art in my opinion.

 

Below.. Lenard shows us is hand woven hat made of date palm frond.  We also attended radio communication seminars with lots of great information. The seminar was interrupted  a few times by the harbor drama unfolding.

  

The plan was to have a Seawind Rally happy hour this afternoon BUT weather cancelled our plans. Weather forecast for tomorrow is hopefully improving so we can get organized.  Here’s a list of boats

Seawind Rally boats …

Moon Drifter – Ralph & Helen
Island Time – Larry & Nancy
Stray Cat – Guy & Carol
Barramundi – Steve & Pam
Gato Loco – Lowell, Bill & Carol
Cat Can Do – Tina and family
Paradox – Carl & Claire 

Our weather delay plan is to head Bahia Salinas on Isla Carmen on Tuesday night, Isla Coronado on Wednesday  and the on to San Juanico for a big Cino De Mayo party on Thursday.

Until the next update.