SailFest 2006 - Regatta en el paraiso - Wrap-up In February 2006

102 sailboats slipped into beautiful Zihuatanejo bay and anchored. Many had sailed more than 5,000 kilometers to participate in what is becoming one of Mexico’s premier sailing events, Zihua SailFest.

SailFest is a five-day festival that combines fun and games, heart-felt volunteerism and outpouring of international friendship. Although the tone of the events was light-hearted, the cruisers’ goal was serious – to raise funds for the education of Zihuatanejo’s poorest children.

The four earlier SailFests had contributed a total more than one million pesos to these deserving kids. This year’s team of cruisers challenged themselves to set a new record, and they did. Pairs of volunteers, often accompanied by bilingual Mexican high school students, solicited goods and services from the local business community for the auctions and raffles. The merchants, restaurants and hotels responded generously, donating 440 gifts. Cash donations flowed in from as far away as Alberta, Canada. The sreet fair and chilli cook-off contest raised additional funds. The spectacular final-day sail parade hosted paying guests, and fifty-two school children, on a beautiful cruise around Zihuatanejo bay and up to Ixtapa Island. A dozen sixth-graders from Nueva Creación primary school crafted bracelets from donated beads and sold them during the final two events. They collected an astonishing $1,500, which they promptly donated to SailFest hoping that it would help pay for their school books next year.

The cruisers found time to form weekend work parties, joining with parents, teachers and local volunteers, to fix up two schools. The lunchroom at the Netzahualcoyotl Indigenous School received a long-needed coat of paint. At the Nueva Creación primary school, a classroom was remodeled, the pathway improved and a shaded area constructed.

There was also time for fun. On beach games day, the cruisers hosted 130 school children, many of whom had never been to the beach before. After an afternoon of tug-of-war, sand castle contests and a few hundred hotdogs, the exhausted, smiling kids were loaded back onto the donated buses, their pockets full of sand, sweets and prizes. Many cruisers commented that this day was their favorite memory of SailFest.

At the wrap-up barbeque, the weary, but elated, cruisers presented Por Los Niños de Zihuatanejo with a check in the amount of $27,750. Not to be outdone, the Bellack and Underwood Foundations, joined by new donor, Pete Boyce, added a matching grant check of an additional $27,750. The final tally of funds will increase the total to nearly $57,000, an increase of $16,000 over the record-setting efforts of SailFest 2005.

Por Los Niños de Zihuatanejo, AC, is the non-profit Mexican charity established to administer and distribute funds raised by SailFest and other related activities. A nine-member advisory committee, comprised of local expatriates and bilingual Mexican residents, works (often with the city of Zihuatanejo and other organizations) to identify and assist disadvantaged schools and their deserving children. Grants include construction materials, text books, uniforms, school supplies and academic scholarships.

Sail Fest has truly become a community event. SailFest chairman, Steve Tolle, observes, “SailFest was a great success due to the generosity of the local merchants, the support of the city government and of the community. The cruisers need to be thanked as well, as it was their vision and hard work that created SailFest. Our stay in Zihuatanejo has been a special and meaningful experience.”

Take a look at the Sailfest 2006 Photo Gallery

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