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Thread: New Boat 4 Sled

  1. #601
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    199

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    Back to Yelapa and Bob's question....what are you doing there. (Inquiring minds want to know.)

    Lucie

  2. #602
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Capitola,CA
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    Though never a dull moment, helping manage a small resort in Yelapa http://yelapagardenretreat.com/ is not for the faint of heart or weak of back. Reminds a bit of running a charter boat.

    There is no road into Yelapa. Guests and supplies arrive by boat, sometimes at night and through the surf. The Village is about a 10 minute walk. Don't forget your flashlite and don't step in any donkey poop!

    The surf is just outside the front door, the jungle just outside the backdoor. There are 10 bungalows and palapas to keep clean and operational. Mexican plumbing and electrical is, as Howard S. is wont to say: "wondrous." Last evening as I was doing dishes, a small snake appeared in the dishwater. This is an "eco" resort after all.

    If you wonder what you are doing here, you have to look no further than the azure 83 degree water. Small manta rays regularly do backflips, pelicans cruise for snacks, iguanas chow down on red hibiscus flowers, and exotic butterflies fill the air.

    Puerto Vallarta is 15 miles, but a world away. Due to the lee shore and wave reflections, I wouldn't anchor my boat here. Better to arrive by $10 panga. And be greeted by the guy swinging the iguana by the tail.
    Last edited by sleddog; 11-26-2013 at 10:03 AM.

  3. #603
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    Sep 2007
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    Yelapa Bay is about the same size/shape as Waimea Bay, Clipper Cove, Avalon, or Catalina Isthmus, take your pick. With no road access, the ambiance is more about butterflies, pelicans, and manta rays than jet skis and helicopter tours. The tallest buildings in town are the palm trees on main beach.

    So it was a bit of a shock when the 164' mega-yacht INVADER http://www.pbase.com/misterp17/image/26786826, ignoring the wide open spaces of the rest of the bay, dropped anchor two boat lengths off our front porch, giving us a good view of her Cayman Islands Flag, but not much else. In fact, we no longer had a view of anything but her guests sipping drinks on the after deck.

    Normally I'm a live and let live sort. But this was out of order. They had plenty of anchor chain to lie anyplace else in the bay, where our view wasn't compromised by their shiny superstructure and big screen TV.

    I stood on the seawall, flapping my arms like a Thanksgiving turkey and hailing (would that be the polite word?) "Go Away!" "Go Away!"

    The white uniformed foredeck crew, wearing ties and shoulder boards, pointedly ignored my entreaties. The radars continued to rotate, the generators continued pumping exhaust, the drinks continued to be served by the waiters. And that crazy, half naked gringo kept flapping. And hailing, "Go Away!"

    I guess it was not their idea of Thanksgiving. But it was ours, when, with chain links grating and sparking on metal hull, the anchor slowly rose, and INVADER steamed into the sunset. http://www.pbase.com/misterp17/image/26786821
    Last edited by sleddog; 12-02-2013 at 07:42 AM.

  4. #604
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    3,688

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    It appears the linked photo was taken at Tinsley Island. This brought back an unpleasant memory but one that fits your experience with INVADER.

    StFYC used to run a week-long "Olympic sailing seminar" every Summer at Tinsley. I was the Aeolean Yacht Club's representative to attend in about 1974. Top-level coaches were brought in (in our case, Steve Jeppesen and John Bertrand) and we spent the week racing around the sloughs on Lasers, learning fleet, team and match racing rules and tactics. There were also the normal Summer camp activities like snipe hunting and launching of Lasers in the club's pool (late at night of course).

    They took us to the camp aboard one of the club member's yachts and this tainted the week for me. We exited the StFYC marina and the boat was immediately brought to a full-throttle plane. It was big and threw off a monstrous wake. The skipper cared not what was in his path - he was out to impress. Passing through Raccoon Strait we passed a small fishing boat close aboard, the fishermen shaking their fists - we nearly swamped them. It was the same all the way to Tinsley, no doubt adding a fair bit of age and stress to the levees.

    I'd been sailing long enough by then to know we were leaving chaos in our wake, but I was way too intimidated to say anything. It left a life-long impression of "yachting" mostly because there were several other yacht club members aboard that day and no one said anything.
    Last edited by BobJ; 11-29-2013 at 12:46 PM.

  5. #605
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Santa Cruz
    Posts
    108

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    It is a long held opinion of mine that;
    A sailor must be able to competently operate his boat, understand sea and air conditions, and use them to his best advantage.
    he only requirement to be a Yachtsman is the ability to write checks!

  6. #606
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Capitola,CA
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    Thanksgiving in a 3rd World Country. 40 aged hippies gathered outdoors at Passion Flower Restaurant. Women chain smoking at next table. Something from tree above dripping on head. Picked up table/chairs and moved . Waiter, cigarette in hand, took our order. "Turkey or vegetarian?"

    Dogfight erupted, emptying half the tables. Pele Ju Ju playing on stage. Dancing. Killed a scorpion. A stream of leafcutter ants dismantling medium sized bush nearby.

    Memories of other Thanksgivings offshore. Dinty Moore beef stew with cranberry sauce.

    Tide and surf building at Yelapa, washing path clean of donkey poop. Surf coming in front gate. No hatchboards at an "eco-resort."

    40 foot log, beached well above high tide line, floated free and disappeared around the point. Tern snatches butterfly mid-flight.

    Panga taxi loaded guests' luggage through 4' shore break. Panga skipper wisely retreated to town wharf to load passengers.

    Cruise ship northbound in distance. Its passengers having different sort of cruise.
    Last edited by sleddog; 12-01-2013 at 03:05 PM.

  7. #607
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    3,485

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    Quote Originally Posted by sleddog View Post
    Thanksgiving in a 3rd World Country. 40 or so gathered outdoors at Passion Flower Restaurant. Women chain smoking at next table. Something from tree above dripping on head. Picked up table/chairs and moved . Waiter, cigarette in hand, took our order. "Turkey or vegetarian?"

    Dogfight erupted, emptying half the tables. Pele Ju Ju playing on stage. Dancing. Killed a scorpion. A stream of leafcutter ants dismantling medium sized bush nearby.

    Memories of other Thanksgivings offshore. Dinty Moore beef stew with cranberry sauce.

    Tide and surf building at Yelapa, washing path clean of donkey poop. Surf coming in front gate. No hatchboards at an "eco-resort."

    40 foot log, beached well above high tide line, floated free and disappeared around the point. Tern snatches butterfly mid-flight.

    Panga taxi loaded guests' luggage through 4' shore break. Panga skipper wisely retreated to town wharf to load passengers.

    Cruise ship northbound in distance. Its passengers having different sort of cruise.
    OMG, Skip. You are such a gifted writer. This one made me laugh out loud. Happy holidays. I can't wait to drive down to Capitola to visit.

  8. #608
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Capitola,CA
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    Crew harmony a wonderus thing to observe. 42' cruising sloop WINDWALKER motors into Yelapa Bay. DOMINO's panga leads WINDWALKER to anchorage 3 lengths off our front porch.

    Apparently WINDWALKER's captain trusts local knowledge and does not perform reconnoiter. Girlfriend on the bow, manning anchor windlass.

    We can only hear one side of the conversation, coming from aft:

    "Let it go!" "What the fook are you doing?" "Let it all go!" "I can't hear you" "What the fook are you saying?" "I said let it all go!" "What the fook are you doing?!!!"

    The vertical anchor chain has now likely piled up on the CQR. WINDWALKER backs to set anchor. Anchor not holding. "What the fook are you doing?" seems extent of captain's anchoring vocabulary.

    Conference on foredeck. Anchor is weighed, clackety clack. WINDWALKER circles twice under power. Anchor redeployed. "I said let it all go!" WINDWALKER stern now two lengths from our veranda.

    Again, anchor raised. Girlfriend's tears palpable. WINDWALKER, anchor not yet clear of the water, motors away in direction of Punta Mita, 357 degrees, 26 miles.
    Last edited by sleddog; 12-01-2013 at 07:08 PM.

  9. #609
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Santa Cruz
    Posts
    108

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    It sounds to me that Windwalker's captain is an example of one of those "fooking Yachtsmen"

  10. #610
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    3,688

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    . . . and he's abusing the rarest commodity there is: A woman who likes to sail enough to want to be out there.

    Can you imagine the atmosphere on board during their 26 mile trip to Punta Mita?

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