We were hitting speeds in the high sixes going upwind with 25 knots of wind and big seas and the ride was pretty bad. It would be nice to slow down but Wings, sailing to windward in a strong breeze, doesn’t know slow. Puttin up a small headsail and putting in a reef in the main makes no difference; still too fast. We flew off of wave after wave and landing was like hitting concrete. The noise was deafening. The bow tossed up ocean water like someone throwing buckets, only lots more. The wind then carried it back and it landed on the dock in rivers. The whole boat was continuously covered with salt water. Down below conditions were not so bad but after a day or so things started getting wet there too.
And the pounding continued.
Mp4 102 Rene Stands Watch on the Crossing (to see this video try clicking on the heading and then maybe click "replay")
I knew the boat was strong and over the years I’d been through this before but after a while you just wonder how the hull and rig can keep taking it. But what to do? We really had to go upwind; we were crossing the Sea of Cortez going to La Paz and the route was up wind. So we just kept going, hoping it would be over. Resting down below or on deck huddling behind the dodger we just sat there taking a beating. Rene was stoic and I was glad for her experience and calmness but I was anxious and jumpy.
We tolerated it for two days
Finally I said to Rene, “Let’s try heaving to.”
“OK”
Hove too we were basically stopped, there was no slamming and no noise.
Hove to the boat became quiet and calm. Don’t let anyone tell you a race boat can’t heave to. It can.
We began to relax: “This is nice!”
We resumed sailing the next day and the wind continued.
It was more of the same tough conditions. We hove too again the next night.
By the fifth day we had battled our way across the Sea of Cortez and we anchored in Baja at Los Frailies.
Well that was an quite an experience but it was over.
For the next month Rene and I explored Baja and it was much nicer. After Rene four other great crew members joined me, one by one, and helped me sail. It was fun. In the months after rough crossing there was some great cruising with weeks of sailing every day between the islands and many pleasant nights anchored in quiet harbors.
Mp4 108 Tacking San Jose Channel (to see this video try clicking on the heading and then maybe click "replay")
There were even some overnighters when Dulce and I found ourselves becalmed in the middle of the Sea of Cortez for hours on end but we kept sailing and kept the boat moving. Dulce became a pretty good light air sailor, she had to.
Three months later, on the trip home though, there was more tough sailing. Kelly and I found ourselves in a big squall which ripped the mainsail in half (more on this later) but we survived.
So, that’s sailing I guess.
Boat Work
There were also projects and repairs. Things like starters burning out and leaking water tanks which were wake up calls and needed immediate attention.
Small repairs kept us busy also.
The new dodger
And then there was the dodger. I’ve made dodgers for Wings a few times over the years and the one I made in in Trinidad in 2013 was looking pretty ragged. We were lucky the heavy weather on the way up the Sea didn’t blow it out. Making a new one seemed like a good project to do when I had a few days alone in La Paz after Rene left. I got out my roll of white acrylic cloth and started cutting and sewing. I sweated and worked and made an ungodly mess with cuttings and threads and tools all over the boat. I was glad there was no crew aboard to have to deal with the mess.
For much of the trip we had a big problem with the propellor shaft and had to sail everywhere. The engine was basically useless even though we worked on it every day. When I returned the boat to La Cruz it immediately went into the boat yard for major repairs.
Living in Close Quarters
“What? No door on the toilet? Really? Will you please go on deck for a while? I need some privacy. And maybe you could put on some music.”
I had five crew members on board on this trip. Four single women and one guy, Kelly, who is one of my best friends. They all came individually. The women who dared to venture into this unknown liveaboard sailing thing were all pretty brave individuals, and trusting I guess, because they were going to be alone with me on this small boat and three of them had never met me before. But it worked out. It’s not just the toilet. There are no private quarters and no doors anywhere. Living in close quarters like this on a stripped-out race boat with a total stranger takes some getting used to. We shared the main cabin, changed clothes behind a partition, and everybody got the privacy they needed. We all tolerated each other’s quirks, and if anybody got on anybody’s nerves they never let it show. In any case it all went pretty smoothly.
About the toilet: Well, I told them about that before they signed up but it was still pretty shocking I guess. For the people joining me for the first time to live on Wings for a few weeks it was quite an experience.
Me? I had no problem? I enjoyed it all including the domestic stuff like sharing cooking and cleaning and choosing a wine together to have with dinner, I need the company. In fact I like it so well and am so used to it I think they are still there sleeping on the bunk across the cabin even after they have left. I wake up in the mornings surprised to find nobody there.
After Kallie the next crew change was scheduled in Loretto on the 17 of June and Dulce stepped off the bus right on time as the fourth crew member this year.
Dulce and I also had a lot of fun sailing around the Sea of Cortez including a few nights homeward bound when lack of wind and a broken motor left us sitting for hours.
Finally Dulce flew home from Mazatlán and Kelly arrived, after a grueling bus trip.
Terry had the worst time of it I think. When strong winds kept us hunkered down for several nights we didn’t get to go very far. But we made the best of it: we got to Puerto Balandra and went to the beach during the day for sunbathing and swimming and got back to the boat and got it closed up every night for the strong Coramel winds. If you know the right places to anchor 31 knots all night at is not a problem.
But probably the best thing for my crew was the sailing. Rene and Kelly were old hands but the other three were pretty new to sailing so there was really a lot to learn. It was one long class. At anchor I demonstrated their jobs to them and then we practiced.
And we practiced.
Things like raising the anchor and setting the sails got to be mundane, as did getting the dingy up and down. Even anchoring, which takes some skill and coordination, became ordinary. Charts were studied and navigation was taught. I added nothing that we didn’t need to do on our cruise, but we covered everything, even repairs.
Sailing however, was the real fun.
Putting sails up I work the foredeck and crew tail the halyards and use the autopilot to keep us head to wind.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes”
“Ok, right 10 degrees, then hoist.”
Sometimes it’s hard work and I was glad for my time in the gym the last few months.
Tacking or jibing I am usually steering and handling the mainsail and helping with the running backstays. Sometimes we traded jobs but usually the crew did everything else, releasing, winching and including running forward to skirt the jib.
“OK, Ready to tack?”, I would call.
“Ready”
“Tacking”
Then winches spin and sails fly and three or four jobs have to be completed in quick succession. We did it all. And we did it well. Some days we did it over and over. There were no bad tacks.
MP4 424 Approaching Nopolo
(to see this video try clicking on the heading and then maybe click "replay")
We sailed into tight anchorages and dropped sails on deck then secured them to prevent them from going overboard. Choosing the spot and setting anchor was the next challenge. My crews learned how to judge the bottom with their toe on the chain, how to tell when the anchor was holding and how to decide we were swell set. On their signal I would cut the engine and we would have a cold drink before the task of folding sails.
“It is time to start dinner or do I have time for a swim?” I think I heard that every day.
The Squall
After Dulce left my friend Kelly came for the trip from Mazatlán to La Cruz. I needed the experience he brought. The engine was basically useless and we had to sail out of Mazatlán harbor and of course all the rest of the way home.
We had some good wind and exited the harbor under sail without a problem but the season had changed and there were southerlies, so it was upwind work again.
About 03:30 in the morning I was below and Kelly was sailing close hauled on starboard tack in about 10 knots, using the windvane. The genoa was close hauled and the main boom was prevented out to port to keep it stable in the sort of lumpy seas.
“Hey Fred, something is going on with the wind”. I heard the call from my sleep.
Yep, something was going on all right, 30 knots hit us from the south east and knocked us right down on our starboard side, both sails aback.
I got on the helm, but what to do? I swung the boat around but close hauled on starboard, aside from being way over canvassed, took us to the NE. The other tack was pretty much west and neither was going to be good for the sails which were straining. Reefing the main would require going upwind and the genoa wouldn’t tolerate that, so it had to come down, not easy in this breeze, besides, which of us could go forward to hand the sail? It was one moment when I wished for roller furling.
We left the sails up as they were and I turned downwind. Kelly handled the sheets and I worked the runners and main. It was completely the wrong way to go but the flogging sails settled down and the boat came back under control. I steered by the Windex light at the top of the mast keeping the wind right behind us. Wings took off at 8 plus knots heading pretty much due north. We were glad we had sea room.
That was when the main let go. I heard a tear, then the sail unzipped from the leech to the luff, right across the middle.
Kelly said, “That is not a good sound to hear.”
We were still going 8 knots and steering was a handful. I couldn’t leave the helm and there wasn’t much Kelly could do either, so we just sailed, with the main in tatters.
Finally the wind moderated and I managed to get the windvane on and it took over the steering. Kelly and I went to work, untangling the mess, and put a reef in the main, just above the rip. Then we turned upwind and resumed sail to the south.
March 23, 2025- Banderas Bay regatta and thoughts about the future
wingssail images-vicki westphal
We’ve just finished another Banderas Bay Regatta, the eleventh one we’ve done on Wings since 1997. Last night we went to the Banderas Bay Regatta awards ceremony. We had some good sailing in this regatta (and a lot of hard work) but for the first time in the eleven times we have sailed it, since 1997, Wings was not on the podium. In the past we have typically been 1st or 2nd. Now this year we were forth out of 4 in our class; last place. It is disappointing. But all good things pass into history.
The question was asked, “Can you get back on top?”
Well maybe. It's partially about crew and partially about boat types.
This crew is getting better; they are good. But it takes years of experience to make really great sailors. This bunch will be ok with more practice and experience but even though I have some superstars I need a few more if I want to win. It’s tough to find superstars, and even keeping these people will be hard, some will move on to other things and others will decide the commitment and hard work is too much and I will have to rebuild. It would take two or three years to put together a really great team; we are on the way but it takes time. I know, I've done it before a few times.
Boat types is another challenge. In all three monohull classes this year the winning boats were modern, light weight, faster boats or much bigger boats. All were ones that reach better than Wings. The courses used by Vallarta Yacht Club favor lighter, reaching boats. If I am racing against similar boats, with a great crew, I can get back in top. Tenacatita this year proved that, we were dominant. But that was a different fleet, excellent pick-up-crew, and a course which didn't require fast reaching speeds. We also have one regatta here in the bay which is like that, the Blast, which occurs in December. We always win that. Last December we dominated it, winning by 20 mins in the second race. Wow! What fun.
For the other races the rating system could be changed that might help us older, slower boats, but there is little incentive for the yacht club to change it.
On top of it all it is hard work to keep this boat in racing shape and manage the program by myself. Harder each year as both myself and the boat ages. And expensive. For 38 years it was Judy and I. We were a good team. This year and last I have had crew who came to Vallarta and lived on the boat and helped do the work (a lot of it requires two people). Last year Rhonda was here a lot, she was wonderful. This year it has been Renee and she has been super also. These two women and some others have been close friends, not GF but friends, who were happy to come here and help. Mark, a very loyal crew member, has been a big help too. I have been very fortunate.
Since I have owned this boat I have raced it over 600 times, mostly winning or placing well, in addition to sailing around the world. Now I feel like I need to reassess my life. I will still sail but maybe a full-on, 26 race per year, program needs to be reconsidered. Is it worth it to carry on until the boat's glory years, and mine, are just a fading memory?
Now I will get to work for a week to convert back to a cruising boat and then go into the Sea of Cortez and relax for a few months. Rene, a great sailor who is another really good friend, is going with me for part of it and that will be fun. Then I see what life brings and how I feel about everything. One thing I know: this year was hard, more than anything getting and working up a crew. The boat is hard to sail competitively and these guys from this year are really feeling exhausted right now. I'm not feeling exhausted, not physically or mentally. I feel fine but just not sure it is all doable or worth it going forward.
Or maybe I am just down at the moment after this regatta. We’ll see how I feel in a few weeks.
We’ve jibed over are heading east towards Tenacatita It’s rough and instruments are glaring out the story: we are still seeing over 27 knots of wind out of the north and 7.6 knots of boat speed. We are sailing with just a reefed main and no headsail and the windvane is steering, as it has been all night. Renee has been on deck as I worked on the broken bilge pumps but I finally finished , went on deck, and took over the watch. Renee is getting some rest. It’s about time.
Frankly, we’ve overstood and that’s on me. We should have jibed two hours ago.
Why is it that it aways seems to be stormy and problems happen when we start out on a passage? I can’t tell you how many times on the first night out of port I’ve been head down in the engine compartment trying to get something fixed or something sorted out while outside the wind is howling. Right now it is as dark as the inside of a cow and Wings is sailing fast through the black night. It is pretty scary for the crews I’d guess, they are often new to sailing, especially sailing at night, but they have always turn out to be tough. Renee is.
We don’t plan it that way. Usually we leave port during the day, often by lunch time, but even then things happen.
This time when it got rough we found water in the bilge and the pumps decided not to work. In the end the boat was not found to be leaking, it was just left over water I missed, and after I got the pumps all running we were fine.
We made it to Tenacatia at sunrise.
Tenacatia Bay is beautiful. We had a day of rest and then while Renee did her workout routine and went for a swim I went about lining up some crew for the race.
I keyed the mic on my VHF, “Hi, this is Fred on Wings, may I speak to Dave?”
“Speaking”
“You interested in racing?”
“Yeah, I think so, I’ll let you know.”
Bingo! I got the best guy in the bay. Others good sailors soon followed. By race day I had a full crew and a great one at that. Renee was navigator and everyone else just sort of fell into place. We practiced; it went well. We were ready.
Speeding across the bay in the dingy on race day with the flags for the Race Committee Renee and I must have been a spectacle. Anyhow the pre-race excitement around the fleet was tangible as crews were being ferried to the race boats and those already aboard were busy rigging.
In this race trash talk is encouraged and the teen and pre-teen girls were already into it.
“Hey you guys over there with Jim, look out, we are going to leave you in our wake”
“You just think so, beware we have secret weapons.” Then the water ballons broke out.
But we had none of that, we were serious (in a fun sort of way) and it paid off. While the kids played around with the radio and threw water ballons we sailed with intensity . Renee called the start perfectly, Dave called trim (he was the star) and we all worked as a team. We knew the weather leg in this bay, with its persistent right shift, was similar to the pattern we knew well from Banderas Bay, and it was the key to this race. We played it exactly the same as going to Punta Mita, rounded the top mark first and led the rest of the way around. A great day for Wings.
Next stop Barra. We weren’t so lucky. The race there, the Flamingo Cup, is a very well attended charity event and we were keen for a repeat but we missed the entry deadline and were not allowed to race. Dang!
But Renee and I were invited to sail on John and Donna’s Carmanah, a great custom C&C race boat from the late 70’s with an excellent record. John wanted to work the foredeck so he turned the helm over to me. We sailed hard and finished second, missing a possible first when the spinnaker tack line failed on the final leg. Congratulations to Baja Fog.
After the race we volunteered to pick up some of the inflatable marks. Renee had to fight to get them fully deflated for the ride back to the marina.
I may have cut it a bit fine at the start however and we may have been a second early. I didn’t think so and we were not called by the RC but anyhow a competitor notified the race committee after the race. He was sure we were that we were over early, and he complained, “They should be thrown out.”
The RC asked me, “Fred, were you guys over early?.”
“Could be, it was close”
“Did you go back”
“No, we didn’t hear any radio hail or see any recall flag., so we figured we were good”
That was true, but how could we have heard? The radio was filled with a shouting race announcer and the trash talk was in full force, and there were no flags. We heard nothing so we went on, and I acknowledged that.
It was a deciding moment. We could have been disqualified. But the complaining skipper allowed us to exonerate ourselves by buying him a drink at the bar, Whew!
So that was Tenacatita and Barra this year. All that was left was the sail home to La Cruz.
Renee and I had a good sail then, all night again, with the wind on the nose (wouldn’t you know it?) and a bit more breeze than we wanted but not too bad, and the rounding of Cabo Corrientes in the morning with flat water and a nice brisk cool wind, was glorious.
But it was a bit of a struggle to get out of here by then, we had only 5 days after the last race, the boat was still a race boat, race sails, no dodger, no dingy, no life raft, no solar panels, no wind vane, and no provisions
Plus we had major damage which resulted from the collision in the Banderas Bay Regatta. Wing’s bow was mangled and the pulpit lased together with ropes and duct tape.
But I don’t give up easily and my race crew and Rene all pitched in and somehow we got it done and sailed out of La Cruz on March 28.
wingssail images-rene canhamBrainwaves
From day one, when we hooked up with Jim and Deb on Brainwaves sailing to Pta Mita, this cruise has been a success (even though Brainwaves simply sailed away from us).
Over these three months we had a bit too much motoring but plenty of good sailing as well as tough, very tough, sailing. We’ve had breakdowns, repairs, but plenty of gorgeous days in those three months.
And crew. It took several weeks to recruit the crew I needed for this cruise. I didn’t want to sail Wings single handedly, the boat is not set-up for it, and I have never done it so I worked hard for find suitable and willing candidates.
But find them I did. First Rene, then Sarah, then Jennie, then finally Liz. Each of these amazing women help me sail Wings and made it their temporary home. At times they even sort of took over and made Wings their own. I loved it and mainly due to them the Cruise to the Sea of Cortez was a total success.
We sailed over 1560 nautical miles but didn’t that far away. Most of our sailing was done going around the beautiful southern Sea of Cortez, back and forth between La Paz and Loretto, visiting all of my favorite anchorages and ports and just chilling.
Now I am back in La Cruz and resuming life in port during the summer heat. I have the air conditioner running. I have the awnings up and rain collecting systems rigged. I am back at the gym and also enjoying the local music scene. And most of all I am engaged in a major boat work project. That work list is long and challenging. My friend Rhonda came and helped me on some of the harder tasks (and also went to gym and the local music bars where we danced, even in the summer heat).
Springtime sailing is usually good in Banderas Bay and this March and April we’ve had great winds and great competition.
And we’ve done well but it’s taken a bit of work getting ready for it all.
After returning from Tenacatita we had to get the boat set up for Banderas Bay Regatta and that meant getting racing sails on-board, all the cruising equipment off, the bottom cleaned, and the crew roster finalized. It was quite a bit of work in a short time frame, but we got it done.
Then we had some hard practices with a few mistakes and mishaps but generally we were pretty good at our jobs and we worked out the kinks and were ready for the BBR. This year, with the help of the practices like that, our crew has been our strength; we have a boatload of keen racers with lots of experience on board. In the BBR the boat handling was excellent and as well as good boat speed (credit attentive trimming), good starts, and excellent tactics. All in all, we sailed well in BBR. Second place in our class (class #2) was satisfying. Even more so when we compared our times with the boats from class #1, we would have beat most of them too and would have second there as well. We got our trophy at the big awards party and went home happy.
The next (and last) race of the season was a real stunner for the rest of the fleet. It was called a “Saturday Smack Down” intended to resolve a dispute between two bigger boats. The race wasn't about us,
they allowed us to enter just to fill out the ranks.
The race went to Punta Mita and back, non-stop. What a race we had. We blew out of the starting box to an immediate lead, and continued to grow our lead all the way. The big boats lacked the windward performance (and also the local knowledge needed to find the fastest way to Punta Mita). It was fun sailing and we covered the faster boats behind us aggressively. We even felt that we pushed them into tactical mistakes. It was fun. We rounded the windward mark at Punta Mita well ahead.
After rounding we set our biggest kite and beam reached in the strong breezes back to La Cruz. It was beautiful, fast sailing. In the end one boat got past us but only by seconds and we were first place on corrected time. The race “fee” was a bottle wine to be shared afterward and we all told stories and lies and we enjoyed the whole event including paying off the bets we all made against each other where the winners of the bets had to contribute to the Vallarta yacht Club youth sailing program. We paid happily.
After BBR we made a serious effort to convert Wings back to cruising mode, another four days of hard work, so we could be ready for our spring cruise but we were in waiting mode because of some pending doctor appointments and stayed tied to the dock. More on this later.
Other Sailing Action
Meanwhile Fred raced on Greg and Gloria’s Beep Beep with a boat load of good sailors and they won that race too!
Next a delivery from Barra de Navidad. Mike from Honu needed to get his boat back to La Cruz so three of us lucky amigos took a car ride to Barra and sailed Mike’s boat back. Good fun.
We did get Wings out of the marina and we began what was supposed to be our spring cruise by sailing to Punta Mita (again) and anchoring there.
That sail was pretty good but it got off to a chaotic start. The autopilot broke and Judy was left on deck steering while I fixed it and meanwhile the wind piped up over 20 and it was a real handful for her to manage alone. “Fred, get up here", she shouted.
Then the galley lockers opened up and with a loud crash spilled all their contents on the cabin sole. What a mess. So we were dealing with a broken autopilot, the wrong sail set up and a total mess down below. But we got it all squared away and all was good again. We sailed on to the anchorage, and actually managed another good elapsed time despite the chaos.
So now we had some peace and quiet.
Yelapa
But wait! There’s more! The following Saturday was “Spring Fling” to Yelapa, a part of Mike Danielson’s birthday celebrations. Several of our friends were going so we decided to join and we sailed to Yelapa. It’s not a race, but we’ll sailed like it was.
Yelapa was great fun with a good mooring and lots of fun ashore. Sunday’s race home, however, was disappointing. We got a late start, the winds were light, and our cruising sails just didn’t cut it. We were the slowest boat out there, barely nipping two other boats to the finish. Our friends on Beep Beep were first and they asked, “What happened to you guys?”. “Well,” I answered, "for two oldsters we did the best we could”.
Next: Medical Stuff Puts Our Spring Cruise on Hold
We’ve elected to have some medical procedures that are needed, which will delay our cruise this year, (end it, actually). We’re back at the dock in La Cruz and we will most likely be here all summer. We’ll write more later on this subject.
For more photos of Banderas Bay Sailing, Click here
jldigital mediaLeading
(Thank you John Pounder for the loan of your image, I'll buy it from you when we are back together.)
In our preparations for the Banderas Bay Regatta we practiced
hard and prepared hard. We pushed the boat, we pushed the crew, and now I was pushing
the yacht club, and they were pushing back. It was about the racing class we
wanted to be in and it was too much; they weren’t having it.
“Fred, would you just shut up!”
That was the yacht club commodore talking. He’d had enough.
I decided to chill out a bit. I agreed to stay in the class where they wanted us and that was that.
Then came the racing.
This year we had some crew issues. We were constantly trying
to recruit new crew to replace people who had boats of their own and wanted to
go cruising. To make it worse the other skippers who were planning to
compete in Banderas Bay Regatta were also scrambling for crew. It seemed like every
good sailor was taken.
We did manage to put together a crew, a good one, and we
practiced and practiced, including racing in the Beer Can Races. We also
managed to address all the boat issues we’d experienced on the lead up to BBR.By race day we were ready.
This year’s Banderas Bay Regatta was exceptional. There was
wind, plenty of it, and the races were long, longer than usual. We had
exhausting days on the water but we never let up on the boat or ourselves in
these long windy races.
That practice and preparation paid off. On day one we placed
second. It was our friends on Edwina who came in from behind and beat us by a
minute and 11 seconds. It was clear that they were going to be tough but we
were not giving up.
Then came the second race. I urged the crew, “OK folks, here we go. We
can win this one if we all, every one of us, really concentrate. And Shawn, my
man, it’s up to you to keep that genoa perfectly trimmed the whole way. That’s
what will win this race.”
They did it.We won
the second race.
Shawn was the star. A new guy on the boat, but a power
house. He stayed focused on the jib like no one I’ve seen. He never lost his
concentration. We beat Edwina by 18 seconds.
The fleet was having problems though. Two boats withdrew,
and then in the third race Edwina blew out a sail and they were struggling.We got another first.
On day three it was windy, over twenty knots. The race committee
decided to run two races. When they announced the second race I groaned, “Geez,
another one?” We were tired.
But we stuck with it. “OK folks, one more.”
Again, we pushed everything to the limit. When we got to the
top mark and the wind was howling we never hesitated to set the spinnaker. At
the bottom marks we sheeted the in sails rock hard. Sometimes it took two men
to winch in the jib. And we hiked hard. Stefan urged us, “All the way out, get
your cheeks over the side.”
On the last windward leg as we were pounding upwind, Richard
said to me, “This is a tough boat Fred, all this punishment and it’s still
taking it.”
“It’s a tough crew too, Richard.”
We were flying on the downwind leg. I looked down at Jim who
was grinding the spin sheet.He was
grinning like a kid.
We won again.
So, it was a great regatta; three first places and one
second place. We were jubilant.
Everybody contributed. On the foredeck Denny and Eddie were
fantastic always getting set up for the next rounding even as the boat tried to
throw them off. Rene grumbled about not having enough winches to do everything
at once, but she managed it. The trimmers and grinders, Shawn, Luis and Stefan,
put everything into it and never quit. Shawn, for his stellar jib trimming, was
awarded the MVP (Most Valuable Player), and got to keep the first-place trophy.
In the midst of all the chaos, Judy, Rena, Gloria and Dennis, at various times,
went below and packed wet spinnakers faster than I’ve seen.
Jim Brainard joined for this regatta and, in addition to
trimming and occasional grinding, was a great coach and tactical assistant.
Richard, as he always is, was a rock on main and tactics,
plus assistingGloria on runners. Richard said
later that that last day’s races were the best ever.
Gloria handled the running back stays, normally a two-person
job, and Judy, my wonderful Judy, was navigator par excellence. She kept our
starts perfectly timed, our laylines exact, and kept us pointed to the marks. She has taken real ownership of the on-deck
navigation computer and no one has come close to what she can do with that
machine. Plus Judy went forward to assist Rene, helped with the spinnaker
take-downs, and went below to repack them.
Even I did a good job; the whole crew kept me focused on my driving
by nagging continuously if I didn’t keep the steering perfect.
Oh, one more crew addition: Eddie brought his dog Charley.
Charlie stayed below while we were racing but he was part of the
team.
It was definitely a team effort, three days, four races, and
10 people with total concentration. I
love them all.
wingssail images john mangataCrew Work
“Four minutes to the layline”
It was Judy’s voice from the back of the boat. She was getting data from the “brick”, our navigation computer. She was telling us that in four minutes we could tack and sail directly to the windward mark which nobody on the boat had caught a glimpse of yet.
We were sailing off to the right of the course with our arch rivals off to leeward. We were ahead of them and nobody wanted to tack away and let them go to the new wind everyone expected from the right-hand side. But if Judy was correct then we had them; we could tack and if they continued off to the right they would overstand.
But if she was wrong and we tacked away they could get a bit more of the new wind and might catch up.
Where is that bloody mark?
We couldn’t see it yet.
The hell with it, I thought, Judy has been all over her new job as navigator, it’s time to trust her. “OK. Let’s tack” I called.
“Ready”, from the genoa crew.
“Tacking”.
We made our turn and then, as if by magic, the mark appeared right on our bow. I looked behind; our rivals had tacked right on our course. We had them.
That was the way it went for the Vallarta Cup this year: Judy did her job; everybody did their job. We had excellent all-around crew work and the results showed it: four races and three first places and one second place. We won the Vallarta Cup.
Actually, we probably had the best crew we’ve had for years. Foredeck was Terry and Dennis: hot shots on the bow. At the mast and feeding tactical information back to the afterguard was Jim Brainard, magician of the yacht Brainwaves. Rena held down the halyards with Cristine helping. John from Mangata and Russ from Jazz were trimming and Pat tailing made a solid center of the boat. In the back, Richard excellently trimming main and calling tactics, Sherri doing runner and all-around assistant, me steering and Judy navigating. Superstars all!
So the boat was hot, the crew was hot, and the racing was great. In the end when we had two wins under our belt and one second place it all came down to the last race. Our rivals had one win and two seconds. Whomever won that race would win the regatta.
We were right on their tail, meaning we were winning, as we charged towards the finish line of the last race.
Then the wind died. I mean completely died. They drifted across. We had about four minutes to finish to be able to beat them, but we were stopped.
We dropped off the heavy spinnaker guys and manually jibed for the line, barely moving.
I watched the clock and I watched the committee boat. What would come up first, the line or the time limit? There was not a sound on the boat nor a movement. We caught a slight puff and crossed the line. It was 22 seconds to go, just soon enough.
wingssail images fredrick roswoldHappy Crew
So it was a happy boat onboard Wings as we sailed back to our berth in La Cruz. The second big race of the year and our second first place. We’re doing well and it felt great.
wingssail images fredrick roswoldTrophy
Click here for more photos.
Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Cruz Mexico
Richard turned to me with a smile on his face, “It wasn’t much fun sitting there for an hour with no wind but it sure was nice when the wind filled in and we won!”
“Yep.”
We’d just come in first on the first day of the Banderas Bay Blast, the kick-off race of the season but it wasn’t easy.
Oh yeah, we got a good start but all the smaller or slower boats had already gone before our start was called. So we started behind.
But we were fast and we immediately started passing them. That was fun.
Then the wind died.
I mean zero wind.
Everyone stopped including the one boat still ahead of us, a Gulfstar 50, and several fast boats who were close behind. Whoever got the wind first would win.
We tried our lightest spinnaker. So did the Gulfstar. So did a couple of boats behind. Our the ancient ½ oz kite sort of filled. Same with the boats behind, their kites filled slightly, looking like deflated balloons, but nobody moved.
Boats started to withdraw. There was a parade of boat motoring past, headed for home.
“It often is flat calm like this for a while then the wind springs up all of a sudden.” I tried to cheer up the crew, and maybe I was reminding the wind gods that we were still out here.
But it worked!
The wind came in; we all got it at the same time and we were off.
It was a northerly and that meant it was a beat to the finish; our strong point.
We pulled out from the boats behind and closed in on the Gulfstar. They tried to cover us.
Finally, we broke out of their wind shadow and passed them from leeward, pointing on them and sailing faster. Soon they were directly behind us.
That was day one of a three day regatta, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
After Saturday’s race the following two days looked to be repeats. We would start behind all the boats (except a few which were deemed to be faster than us, but weren’t; they started behind.) and then try to pick them off one by one.
On Sunday we did just that. We sailed well and were first by a mile, literally. We’ve sailed that course before and this wasn’t a record but it was close. We finished in one hour and 41 minutes. The best we’ve done was 1 hour and 31 minutes. Comparing the tracks for that day in 2019 and this race we could see what cost us the extra 10 minutes. It was a little less wind and much less of a right hand shift. The Gulfstar was second.
On Monday the Gulfstar stayed ahead all the way to the finish but we won our class and won overall and that sewed up the regatta: First in class and first overall.
After that we’ve been racing Beer Can Races and doing well, so the season is off to a good start.
I give a lot of credit to the crew and a lot to Judy who has taken over the navigation role and she is doing great. Judy needed to move off of running backstays and while she didn’t want the navigator job it was the right move for her and she stepped up. It's more work for her because she still has to do her old role of being crew boss. She's a busy lady but she's handling it well.
Today we notified the racing crew that there will be no more races this season. The Corona virus concerns have resulted in the cancellation of the remaining races, including the Banderas Bay Regatta, the big one, the one we focus on all year. We also cancelled our crew party, and that hurts because it was our chance to personally thank each crew member for a great season, but now is not the time for an afternoon of hugs and sharing of food.
I love the racing here on Banderas Bay. The sailing and racing is so excellent that every day when I look out on the bay and see the perfect conditions I wish I was out there. But the thing to remember is that we have already had a wonderful life of sailing and racing. Even if we never sail again, we must be thankful for what we have already been given, our life on the sea.
And the sea is perpetual. These winds have been here for eons and I expect there will be many more days of great wind on this beautiful bay. Some day we will lay ourselves down and never sail again, but hopefully that will not be soon. I certainly want and expect a few more years worth for us too, God willing. So...there is always next year.
I wrote this note to our crew: (the last part is for Jasmine, our Mexican jib trimmer)
Dear Friends and Crew Members,
I am sitting here on Wings listening to the wind howl and a moment ago I watched as the Mexorc racing fleet sailed past. My heart aches that we are not out there, as it always does when a beautiful sailing day goes unused.
And with the cancellation of the regatta I know we’ll have to wait for the next racing season for another chance.
You have been a good crew and you all worked very hard training with the regatta in mind. Judy and I love you all as if you were our family. We’ll miss you for the next many months.
But the experiences we had and the skills we learned were not a waste. They cannot be taken from us. And the friendships we have made will last forever.
And we are lucky that we are not experiencing the more serious effects of the corona virus that many others have around the world.
And…
There is always next year.
The party scheduled for next Sunday is also canceled.
Here is a famous quotation from Jospeh Conrad, Ah, The Sea:
Ah! The good old time—the good old time. Youth and the sea. Glamour and the sea! The good, strong sea, the salt, bitter sea, that could whisper to you and roar at you and knock your breath out of you. ” He drank again. “By all that’s wonderful, it is the sea, I believe, the sea itself—or is it youth alone? Who can tell? But you here—you all had something out of life: money, love—whatever one gets on shore—and, tell me, wasn’t that the best time, that time when we were young at sea; young and had nothing, on the sea that gives nothing, except hard knocks—and sometimes a chance to feel your strength—that only—what you all regret?” And we all nodded at him: the man of finance, the man of accounts, the man of law, we all nodded at him over the polished table that like a still sheet of brown water reflected our faces, lined, wrinkled; our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking always, looking anxiously for something out of life, that while it is expected is already gone—has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash—together with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.
PS for Yas,
Estimados amigos y miembros de la tripulación:
Estoy sentado aquí en Wings escuchando el aullido del viento y hace un momento vi cómo pasaba la flota de carreras de Mexorc. Me duele el corazón de que no estamos ahí afuera, como siempre cuando un hermoso día de navegación no se usa.
Y con la cancelación de la regata, sé que tendremos que esperar la próxima temporada de carreras para tener otra oportunidad.
Han sido un buen equipo y todos trabajaron muy duro entrenando con la regata en mente. Judy y yo los amamos a todos como si fueran nuestra familia. Te extrañaremos durante los próximos meses.
Pero las experiencias que tuvimos y las habilidades que aprendimos no fueron un desperdicio. No pueden ser quitados de nosotros. Y las amistades que hemos hecho durarán para siempre.
Y tenemos la suerte de no experimentar los efectos más graves del virus corona que muchos otros tienen en todo el mundo.
Y…
Siempre hay el año que viene.
La fiesta programada para el próximo domingo también se cancela.
On the first race there was a moment, sudden realization, on the first part of the first beat, when I felt joy and satisfaction; when I realized we were fast. Definitely fast.
We had climbed out from underneath the Express 37 even before they were called back for being OCS and we had clear air and a lane. We had already started to put our bow out in front of the other boats and I felt it was time to make a move. The right looked to pay so I said, ‘I want to go to the right.’
Richard answered, ‘OK, we can tack when you want.’
‘I’m going…ready about.’
‘Ready.’
The crew scrambled and we tacked, and one by one the other boats followed.
The moment came after we tacked:
As we settled in on the long port tack, I got into a rhythm with the boat and the waves. I felt myself begin to rock back and forth with the motion of the boat as I worked the tiller. I glued my eyes to the tell-tales and I spoke to the crew,
‘Hike the boat.’
Twelve people moved farther out. The speedo showed 7 knots.
The water streamed past the hull and the wind was blowing through the rig, otherwise there was no sound. In the flawless blue sky the sunlight glared with a brilliance and the tell-tales on the jib danced, and the boat speed climbed to 7.47 knots. Very good.
Richard looked around.
‘We’ve got wheels on Bright Star.’ he said. The white boat was nearest and we all measured our speed against them. I took a glance. They were jogging along on our hip but I could see they were sagging down to our line and we were definitely faster. And Bright Star was faster than everyone else.
A year’s preparation had paid off. All the work and the pain, the successes along the way and the defeats, the setbacks…they were all worth it to feel the way I felt at that moment as we worked our way out in front. This was a good feeling, a very good feeling.
So Banderas Bay Regatta was underway and we were doing well.
Of course the faster boats eventually broke free but we held on and stayed close and finished close enough to win, a convincing win; minutes, not seconds.
I informed the crew. There was jubilation. Judy broke out champagne. A bit early I thought, after all it was only the first race, but it was OK. I let the crew enjoy the win.
I felt some confidence about the regatta; this was not a close race. If we could do this our prospects were good for the next two races.
Day two was tougher. Not the competition, the conditions. It blew like stink.
The course took us over to La Cruz, our old stomping ground, and the breeze was up: over 20 knots. We had the big carbon genoa on for the reach across and we stayed with it for the beat. Maybe the J-4 would have been better but the beat was short and we were ahead so I kept up the 1 not wanting to risk a change. The boat was on edge however, maybe over the edge. We were carrying too much sail. The main was flat and waving uselessly and still I needed it eased further to relieve the pressure on the helm. I called, ‘Traveler down’ and Richard pushed it down with his foot. The helm eased but the main flogged worse.
I told Richard, ‘Crank a little more runner on.’
It was already past the mark but he brought it in another inch and the main took on some shape and settled down. That was better.
The next leg was a tight, windy, reach back to Nuevo Vallarta and we set the A1 kite, like the boats ahead. The wind was too much and everyone was rounding up. The powerful sail we set began to round us up too, then it collapsed and refilled with a shocking bang. A few more times this happened then it blew with a bang louder than the rest and the boat suddenly stood up. I looked and the spinnaker was high in the sky off the side of the boat with no tack on it. That part was hanging in shreds on the bow.
‘Get the jib back up.’ It went up immediately as the blown kite was gathered in. We lost a little time, but not much.
After that we had a good run and a clean finish. We checked the times: it was closer, it had to be, but we had another win and we drank champagne again. We knew we were in good shape to win the regatta, we just had to hang in there.
The third race was more of the same. Lots of sun and wind. This time we only got a fair start, behind Bright Star but still ahead of the others, and good enough. We got clear of Bright Star who went left but as we felt the wind would go right we tacked and it paid off and we rounded the top mark first for the third time in a row.
The A1 had been hurriedly repaired overnight and we put it up. It blew again almost immediately.
Now we felt it was time to be conservative. With two wins we could ease off a bit. We had another kite but we held off and didn’t use it. We watched to see if Bright Star would make a move from behind but they didn’t threaten.
On the final run the Class A boats ahead had troubles with their spinnakers and we held off on ours. Maybe we were gun shy; maybe we just knew it didn’t matter.
This time Sirocco was ahead by enough time to beat us, though by only six seconds, but enough. So we were at least second. We watched Bright Star and all the others come in behind us, watching our clocks. We had our time on all of them so we had second place and that was enough to win the regatta.
It was a happy crew on board Wings as we sailed back to our marina.
So that was it. The race was in the bag. We’d won. We worked hard for this win, a year hard. There was money spent, plenty of it, and some long hours in boat prep, and, to be honest, maybe some hard feelings done, particularly about the ratings and class breaks on which I’d had more than a few blunt words with the race organizers and our competitors. And in crew selection. I’d made some changes, brought in some new people, changed some roles. But it all worked. And in the end, I have to say, it was worth it. Just that feeling on the first beat when I realized how fast we were made it all worth it.
I don’t know about next year, maybe we’ll never achieve this level again. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, but this year, we did it.
Great Crew:
Paul Bailey and Carol Dabub, fordeck, steady, competent, always ready.
Kelly Mantis, Mast man, a tower of strength.
Carol (Bling) Dand and Robin Hirsh, Halyards, and all those ropes in the pit all got let in and out as they were needed. Great job.
Rod Dand, Dennis Mazzie, and Jimmy Roser, sail trim and grinding. These guys were awesome, grinding in the huge carbon genoa over and over and they managed the spinnakers and the lines like pros. Jimmy did his job and somehow managed to be instantly on top of every problem in time to keep it from being a problem.
Richard Hodge, Main and tactics, and runners and hydraulics, quiet and solid and called the start and every layline.
John Ryan, Navigator, coped with an extraordinarily difficult tactical computer and managed to keep it all together, called the lines, timed the starts, knew the rules and this year we never went to a wrong mark. Thanks John.
Judy and Lynne Britton, Runners, but more than that, watched the whole boat like a pair of hawks and prevented countless errors. Lynne joined Robin and repacked the kites.
A special word to John Ryan for tireless fight with the navigation computer, for his contribution, the MVP award.
And to Jimmy, for being everywhere when we needed him.
Most of all Judy, our foundation, our watchdog, our mom.
I love all of you.
I am a sailor, born of a nautical tradition passed to me by my father and my Grandfather Alfred. I’ve spent most of life on my passion which is the sea and the vessels which go upon them. I have had many such vessels and now I live on and sail on the sloop WINGS.
which I acquired in 1986 with my wife Judy
who shared my passion. For ten years we lived on Wings in Seattle and sailed, including racing. Then we left the Pacific Northwest and voyaged across the world, across the seven seas, to faraway places, and made them our own.
For thirty-eight years I have lived and loved this life. I still live on Wings, in Mexico, and sail and race often. Judy passed away in June, 2023 and I miss her but you can still join us and sail the seas as we did for all those glorious years. Fred Roswold, SV Wings, Mexico
Heavy water hitting the dodger
The new dodger
And then there was the dodger. I’ve made dodgers for Wings a few times over the years and the one I made in in Trinidad in 2013 was looking pretty ragged. We were lucky the heavy weather on the way up the Sea didn’t blow it out. Making a new one seemed like a good project to do when I had a few days alone in La Paz after Rene left. I got out my roll of white acrylic cloth and started cutting and sewing. I sweated and worked and made an ungodly mess with cuttings and threads and tools all over the boat. I was glad there was no crew aboard to have to deal with the mess. 
Rene
Terry
Kelly
Night time Coremel winds
ITime for a bit of work
Fred & Rena
Brainwaves
Rene, Sarah, Jennie, Liz
La Paz
Anchored in Los Gatos
Agua Verde
Balandra Sand Dune
And can we dance!
Wings About to Round 
Wings Leads Olas Lindas 
Bonfire in La Cruz 
We left our wives at home, Judy, Gloria, Deb and Judy 
Navigation Brick
Yelapa
Five Guys
Leading
Awards
Crew Work
Happy Crew
Trophy
Fred & Judy
Hi Jinks on Wings
Going to windward with the new A-3
Happy Owners
Clear Ahead.jpg)
