The Melaque / Tenacatita Regatta

Part of The Underway Gourmet by Suzy O'Keefe

Early in the '92-'93 Mexico cruising season, my then partner, Tim, hatched the idea of having a fun race. Yea, I know the 2 words don't go together as a rule, but that is exactly why he wanted to do it.

Initial planning & scheming lead to a novel advertising approach... HAM Radio. It's extremely popular in Mexico and those of us who are less regimented than others tend toward the Sonrisa Net on frequency 3968 and the Chubasco Net on 7294. Tim checked in as usual "PXN" and waited for his turn to talk. "Anybody heard anything about that Melaque / Tenacatita Regatta?" "No, unh unh, you Joe?" "Nope not a thing, Brent?" "NO." Tim replied "Well, Okay, thanks, figured one of you folks might have some info" as he signed off.

Tim checked in on the Sonrisa Net a couple of days later with the same question. "Anybody heard anything about that Melaque / Tenacatita Regatta?" This time the answer was "Yea, heard something about it on the Chubasco Net the other day, but don't remember what it was. Looks like they're havin' it though". Success!!!

A few cruisers were enlisted to act as shills - asking questions on the nets and this time Tim was the one with all the answers. Before long, even Latitude 38 got into the game by printing a few lines about the upcoming regatta. Now it really was "official".

In the spirit of fun in which the race was conceived, we tagged it onto the week-long celebration of St. Patrick, patron saint of the tiny Mexican village of Melaque-San Patricio, which culminated on March 17th (when else?). Seven days of too much music, too much dancing, too much drinking, too many fireworks, too many colorful carnivals & parades, and the religious ceremonies so essential to the Mexican culture.

At the heart of cruiser-population-partying was "Los Pelicanos", owned & operated by American, Philamina (rumored to be the sister of an actress once married to Michael Douglas and heiress to a Seed Company fortune). The local Catholic Priest even performs a Blessing of the Fleet from her restaurant every year. So what better spot from which to start the regatta... literally.

By race day, we had 12 entries racing, a finish line and photo boat, and bus loads of other cruisers participating via land-yacht. The only rules thus far announced were:

• Le Mans start from the beach in front of Philaminas with drink in hand.
• You must sail off your anchor.
• The overall winner is not necessarily the first to cross the finish line.
• Creative Cheating scores big points.

Beyond that, the only other information given was that there was no entry fee and that free food & drink would happen on the beach at the finish.

We planned to have the regatta finish at Jose's El Porquillo Restaurante, 13 miles away in the Tenacatita Bay. By giving the entrants a full day to recover, we were also able to sail into Jose's birthday party on the 19th. and party all over again. Cruisers do like to party, you know!

The Skipper's Meeting occurred 30 minutes before the start and it was there that we announced a few other rules:

• You must construct/create a birthday present for Jose while underway and present it to him at the finish.
• Protests will be heard by the Race Committee (that's us) only after they are submitted in writing. Anyone complaining or otherwise whining will be required to sit in the Bad Sport's Corner & either buy the listener a beer or remove all articles of their clothing (choice is that of the listener... not the complainer).
• A written (fill in the blanks, plus) log of the passage must be submitted by each entrant immediately after the regatta.
• Winners will be announced and prizes awarded during breakfast at Jose's the following morning.

There were no categories announced... no divisions... no handicaps... we looked at it this way: "Every one of the participants will prove to be outstanding at something ... and by the end of the regatta, we'll know just what that is."

Jose has always been a friend to cruisers. He often gives cruiser whole stalks of bananas, huge papayas and bunches of coconuts grown on his plantation. Beer, tequila, and wonderful foods were provided to all who attended his birthday party. Besides the regatta participants and our "groupies", the other boats who just happened to be anchored in Tenacatita Bay joined the party... easily 70 of us all together.

Tim deserves a lot of credit for pulling this off!

Here are some of the winners:

• Bob & Sally aboard "Luana" - the Best Dinghy Entrance, Exit, and Re-entry which occurred about midnight after generous amounts of tequila. Bob (who awoke the next morning with no hangover, fresh bandages, and clean underwear) was later heard to say "What was that stuff?"
• Roger & Darian aboard "Aurora" - the Number ONE Award because Roger wanted it the most and acted as though this was a real race or something!
• Richard (single handler) aboard "Solent" - the Supreme Grand Winner because he was the only one who figured out that the finish line ran all the way across the bay and he crossed it precisely at 3:33 pm.
• Jim & his partner aboard "Sea Star" - the Most Creative Le Mans Start Award by hiring the local Banana Boat tourist attraction to transport them back to their boat for the start.

The Melaque / Tenacatita Regatta became an annual event... well at least for 3 years!