Flathead sailing team to compete in Mexican championship regatta

Bound 4 Glory Racing of the Flathead Valley will compete with 60 teams from around the world for the Regatta Copa Mexico in the J24 sailboat class next week.

Mexico hosts their race for the second time on Banderas Bay in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The first race was in 2010, in which Kalispell resident Peter Sauer led his Bound 4 Glory team to 14th place out of 60.

The race is invitation only. Sauer’s team was invited once again to the Copa after winning the U.S. Pacific Northwest J24 Championships in Seattle during the summer of 2011.

Bill Corwin of Lakeside, Scott Galbraith of Somers, Ginjer Yachechak of Kalispell and Tim Sauer of Billings are also on Sauer’s team.

Ten races over the course of a week decides who takes the cup. Each race is about two hours long, with 60 boats competing to cross the finish line first at average speeds of around five miles an hour.

“Five miles an hour doesn’t sound really fast,” Sauer said. “But it is when there’s 50 boats next to you.”

Sauer’s team competes on Flathead Lake during the summer racing season, which is usually about 11 weeks long. When Montana’s season is over, Sauer takes them to races around the U.S.

He said one of the challenges of racing in Mexico is the ocean currents. It’s something they don’t have to take into consideration on Flathead Lake.

In 2010 Sauer’s team was in the top 10 of all but one race.

“We struggled in a day of light wind with heavy currents,” he said.

He was happy with how the team did though. He said he didn’t expect them to win, but he did expect them to be competitive.

“We’re sailing against the Tiger Woods of the sailing world,” Sauer said.

Bound 4 Glory is self-sponsored by Sail Montana, Sauer’s sailboat dealing business. The team is considered a part-time professional racing team, while the majority of the other competitors are full-time professionals.

The regatta runs from March 2-10. The first three days will be spent measuring and weighing the boats.

Each boat must be exactly the same as the next—the same kind of boat, the same length and width of sails, the same length of boat, the same weight, and the crew’s altogether weight must be under a certain maximum.

If people are interested in following Bound 4 Glory’s progress, the team can be followed on their blog, bound4gloryracing.blogspot.com.