For this post I'll need the Wayback Machine

We are back in Manzanillo after an epic, majestic, traumatic trip back up the Mexican coast. Without any further adieu let's step into the machine and go back one week to when I wrote this following post.  Using the machine is just easier than rewriting this post. I meant to post it but life got in the way.

Thursday February 6th

We have been here a week or so and are ready to go.  Ziwha has been great and we have had a ton of fun here.  Wednesday Jen and I hosted four people aboard for Zihuatanejo sailfest which is an auction charity for the underprivileged children here. Let me tell you there are plenty of underprivileged here.  Dave and Betty from San Fran were aboard along with Dave and Diana from Sidney BC. Dave and Diana have have sailed before and own an Ericson 35. Prior that they had a race boat. David from SF has owned a couple of sailboats and definitely has the racing spirit.

The panga dropped them off around 1000 and at 1100 was the start of the sailboat race.  16 boats entered and it was a pursuit race. That means the slowest boats start first and the fastest start last.  The boats give their weight and then sail area and plug it into a program that assigns each boat a number. The higher the number, the slower the boat. Appa was assigned a rating of 85. Patricia Belle has something like 500. Lion's Paw had a 215 rating. A catamaran raced and was assigned a rating of 20.  Lion's Paw is a CMS 41 possibly designed by Bob Perry who generally draws fast boats.  I say possibly because there is or was a lawsuit surrounding this boat about the design.  So anywho, this ensures that we all, theorictally finish at the same time.  Appa was one of the last to start.  

Above is the Patricia Belle, a 80 foot wood schooner, from Seattle was first to start. They had a 20 minute head start.  They started at 1100. We started at 1127. In past years there has been no wind. Or very light.  This year we had 18 knots.  Patricia Belle reportedly saw 9 knots while going downwind. No one caught them.  We came in 3rd. I let the two Daves drive and we did 3 laps on the race course. 

Appa is the 3rd boat in the photo above from the left.  Look at all the cruising crap these boats are carrying!  This photo is in the west coast rag Latitude 38. 

Today we did the parade and had an additional 4 people onboard. Great time also.  Saw humpbacks breaching and had dolphins surfing with the boat as we charged toward Ixtapa. 

Max left us about 2 hours ago and we anxiously await his return in two weeks.  We will head north and pick him up in Barre de Navidad.  

Sam and Ben had a knock down drag out fight about who can play in Max's old room.  

We tried the famous "Street hamburgers" in the town square yesterday. 

They were delicious. One patty with a slice of cheese and ham along with fresh cut veggies. So good.  You can get a hot dog also. Wrapped in bacon. 

Couple of shots of the market.

Playa la Ropa beach in Zihuatanejo bay. 

The only way to refill the diesel in Zihuatanejo when you have an 8 foot draft boat.  Panga ships 30 gallons out to you.  You siphon. Tastes bad.  

Ben and Easton on the beach. 

The church I went into just prior to the start of the Seahawks game. No kidding. 

Just prior to the church we were here.