America’s Cup Boats Launch in Puerto Vallarta
The Australian America Cup’s boat, OneAustralia AUS-35, sank in less than two minutes in 20 knots of wind and 1.5 meter seas. She was racing 5 miles off of San Diego in 1995. After she sunk, her sister-ship, OneAustralia AUS-31, replaced her.
AUS-31 was built for the team before AUS-35 and weighed 300 kilos more, or should we say “stronger”? The newer boat had been built lighter for even better performance, but she had also hit a submerged object, perhaps a whale. That may have weakened her beyond the already sacrificed strength for speed.
After AUS-35 sank, OneAustralia AUS-31 was unable to win the cup. She continued to race in subsequent years and was also used for extensive training for other cups. Many believe the slightly faster AUS-35 would have won if she her hull wouldn’t have failed.
Also racing in the 1995 America’s Cup was a second Australian boat, Sydney-95 AUS-29. She raced later as well.
Now, Vallarta Adventures owner, Ricardo Farkas (Vallarta Adventures Blog), has brought BOTH of these famous carbon fiber boats from Australia to Puerto Vallarta. Apparently always with an eye for the adventures that will entice his customers, Farkas told BoatMexico.Com his simple reason for investing in America’s Cup boats:
“It looked like something that might work.”
And well it might, we’d concur. Puerto Vallarta is the mecca of boating in Mexico. The growth here is phenomenal. Everybody loves the water and most people want to experience it in all of its glory and varied aspects.
Last Saturday, Sept. 29th, Vallarta Adventures launched
AUS-31 and AUS-29 from Opequimar
Boat Yard after about a month of refurbishing. Farkas’s Australian consultant on this project, David Sampson, has arrived in PV to continue his assistance with the preparation.
Sampson knows these boats well. He was one of the original pit crew in 1995 and along with Puerto Vallartan Captain and surveyor Doug Danielson assisted Farkas immensely with the preliminary work in Sydney. Mike Danielson of North Sails-Puerto Vallarta is teamed with Captain Doug (as he is known in these parts) and Sampson to put these boats in top shape. The project is set for a mid-October opening to the public. Six Australian crew-members will arrive here shortly. They will split into two teams of three Aussies for each boat, each to be augmented by two Mexican crew members. Each team of five professional sailors will then invite up to 15 customers to experience the exhilaration of sailing one of these thoroughbreds.
As of the time of publication of this article, (Oct. 5th), these boats were statically tuned on O-Dock in Marina Vallarta.
Saturday, they will head into Banderas Bay for sea trials and tuning. When all the stays have been tensioned and the systems checked, crew training will commence. Routine and emergency procedures will be rehearsed so that the public will have not only a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, but a lifetime full of enviable memories. We at BoatMexico.Com hope to get a chance to do the same!
BoatMexico.Com thanks Vallarta Adventures, Mike Danielson of North Sails-Puerto Vallarta, and Captain Doug Danielson for their assistance in bringing you this story.
By the way, keep your eyes on Mike & Leah (Leah is a racer too.) Danielson’s son, Merrick.
He has the boating genes and was at the helm of AUS-31 when she left the yard for Marina Vallarta. Our camera caught him strategizing AUS-31’s next rounding.
CORRECTION: BoatMexico.Com previously printed an error on the ownership of “Canvas Connection”. Canvas Connection is owned by Karen Danielson.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
just came home from a vacation in PV where we sailed on AUS 31 on monday
april 21. was told that the weekend was booked solid. enjoyed the sail tremendously and would not hesitate to do it again.
please let me know how successful the venture has been for Vallarta Adventures and do they plan to keep it going for a year or two (until i can return)
would very much appreciate a short reply paul pauliukonis