Re: 1st Annual LaManzanilla Cup

Posted by Lois Lane on March 2, 2009, 6:21 pm, in reply to "1st Annual LaManzanilla Cup"
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The wind was stiff, the chop was spirited, and the race went to the swift at the the 1st Annual La Manzanilla Cup Regatta. Eight entries, ranging from Hobie Cats and Lasers to regulation sailboats, competed over the 20 kilometer course, from the starting gate sort of in front of Don Raul's restaurant, around the rock at Blue Bay, across the bay and around a rock at Tamarindo, and back through the gate. The rules were simple: follow the course and don't hit anyone else's boat. The coveted cup, an artfully decorated rusted tin can attached to a piece of wood created by Oso Amarillo, was awarded to the catamaran skippered by Lew Leibowitz, with Tim Edwards along for ballast. They cleared the finish line in 1 hour, 1 minute, and 15 seconds, with plenty of time to do victory laps in the bay waiting for the rest of the boats to come in. Strong contenders in Oso's and Tom Oberg's sailboat, with Kjell Dale crewing, were forced to drop out early. They claimed, with amazingly straight faces, that they were rammed by a submarine of undetermined origin (eye witnesses decided it must have been Pakistani), and were shipping too much water to continue. All contenders arrived safely back at Don Raul's for celebratory cervezas in the following order: 2nd -- Richard New (1 hour, 15 minutes), 3rd -- Ross Beckjord, 4th -- Ron Blett and John Elder, 5th -- Joe Hostetler and Sandy MacKay (these three boats arrived within minutes of each other, after about 1 hour, 20 minutes at sea), and 6th -- David Rutherford. Pino from Figaro's also sailed his catamaran, apparently just for the fun of it because he started late and didn't officially follow the course. Barb Hostetler and Allison Rimmer acted as overworked and underpaid officials. When the official air horn ran out of air after the initial 10-minute warning, they were forced to start the race by waving a red canvas bag and a red towel respectively. Fortunately, all sailors had synchronized their watches before setting sail, because the horn was audible only to those on shore and no one was paying attention to the red flags. When their clocks struck 2, the race was asea. Plans are already in the making for the 2nd Annual La Manzanilla Cup regatta to be held next year. While it's likely that La Manzanilla residents will again be able to compete for free, entry fees are being considered for all out of town competitors. Proceeds will be used to provide beer for the finishing sailors and the press table.

Be sure to visit www.lamanzanilla.info