There was a video posted on the Youtube Channel of UK Sailmakers where it featured some of the participants of the 2014 Commodore’s Cup Regatta held in Subic Bay Freeport Zone doing a Mexican takedown maneuver. It was an action-packed regatta that year which even included a collision between two TP52s.
The best way to pass boats when rounding a leeward mark to port is to do a Mexican takedown. The Mexican allows you to carry the spinnaker right into the rounding while also preventing the sail from falling into the water. You’ll be the inside right-of-way boat, entitled to make room over boats doing leeward takedowns. Here’s how to do it:
Going into the turn, the spinnaker is over trimmed pulling the foot right up to the deck. As the driver does the smooth left turn, this well-choreographed sailing ballet results in the spinnaker inverting and now laying on the new windward side of the jib. Here are the “steps:”
The bow team grabs the foot of the spinnaker as it collapses onto the windward side of the jib
The pit person smokes the halyard,
As the sail slides down the jib onto the deck, the bow team gathers it in,
The pit person then blows the tack line, and
The sail gets stuffed down the forward hatch with at least three-quarters of the sail on the deck before going upwind.
We had a pretty nice line up composed of four (4) classes. Like in all our regattas, we produce videos so we can all re-live these wonderful moments. Here is our full video presentation for the Commodore's Cup Regatta 2014.
Entry List for Commodore's Cup Regatta 2014. Click here for the results.
Here is another sample video of a Mexican Takedown or a Kiwi Drop from the last Southeast Asian Games held in Subic Bay last December 2019.
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