events are for cruisers, and include three fun races, the annual opening of the Punta Mita Yacht & Surf Club (complete with the popular carbon fiber paddling initiation of new members), as well as the Annual Water Balloon Drop. It all takes place December 12-16th, and is sponsored by the Riviera Nayarit Tourism Department, Latitude 38, the Marina Riviera Nayarit, the Vallarta YC, and Paradise Marina. Catalina Liana of Marina Riviera Nayarit, who will be aboard Profligate for the Ha-Ha again this year, can answer all your questions either during that event or at pr@marinariviera.com. Since we're on a roll for cruiser events in Mexico this winter, we should mention that Latitude will again attempt to create a Tenacatita - Barra Sailing Festival just after the start of the new year. There would be a feeder cruise down from Banderas Bay, followed by sailing fun, socializing and other nonsense at Tenacatita Bay, followed by a fun 'race' down to the Grand Marina and/or the lagoon at Barra de Navidad. We're still working on details with the 'Mayor of Tenacatita
LATITUDE / RICHARD
CHANGES
The Isla de Navidad Marina in Barra would make a great place to end a fun Gold Coast cruiser rally/sailing festival. We'll try to make it happen.
Bay', Robert Gleser of the ex-Alamedabased Freeport 41 Harmony, and the folks at Grand Bay Hotel Marina in Barra. Stay tuned for news. Next on the Mexico calendar of activities is perhaps the greatest cruiser fundraising success in the world, the
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Zihua SailFest. Now in its 14th year, the six-day fundraising fiesta for the education of disadvantaged children in Zihua will be held February 2-8. It consists of cocktail parties, benefit concerts, live & silent auctions, sailboat and dinghy races, a kids' beach day, seminars, a chili cook-off, street fairs, regattas, school tours, work parties and more. Nearly $64,000 U.S. was raised last year — with generous help from grants from the Bellack Foundation, event volunteer Jane Fiala, cruiser/donor Pete Boyce of Northern California, and the Rotary Foundation. That was enough — along with donated labor and materials — to create 10 new classrooms and benefit more than 400 disadvantaged children in eight schools. When properly supervised, a little money goes farther in Mexico than in the United States. More on other cruisers' events in Mexico — the Vallarta YC's Banderas Bay Cruisers' Regatta, the La Paz Bay Fest and Loreto Fest — in upcoming issues. One of the most famous sea caves in
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