By Darrell Sorensen
In November I received an email in broken English from Ecuador. After studying it for a while, I realized that it was in invitation to race in the 50th annual 80-mile marathon from Guayaquil to Vinces Ecuador March 26th. I knew that Craig Dewald had been to a race in Ecuador, so a call to him was made. After talking to him, I knew Ecuador was a must trip to make. The original plan was for our boats to be air freighted from Miami FL to Ecuador. This changed when the airfreight company wanted three times the amount of sponsorship the organizers from Ecuador had acquired to transport 2 boats and 3 motors. We did end up with 2 airline tickets from Los Angles, our rooms, meals and transportation paid for while in Ecuador. Four of us made the trip, Bob Williams, Ric Montoya, myself and my wife Linda. Bob and I raced boats that were in Ecuador, we were able to take a Yamato 302 and a set of boat hardware with us as part of our luggage.
Saturday, March 18th. Bob, Linda and myself arrived at the Guayaquil airport.
We wondered why so many people were waiting for us. The next thing, we were being interviewed on T.V. at the airport. Next we were taken to our accommodations in Guayaquil. It was at a sports complex that included arenas for soccer, basketball, bicycle velodrome and many other sports. This is where they hold their Olympic trials for Ecuador. We had real nice rooms above the soccer field; there were practice and games going on all week. From young kids, to adults.
During the week proceeding the race we worked on and tested the two boats provided to us by Dr. Rogers Moscoso. The testing and much of the work on the boats was done in Vinces a city of 24,000 population that is the hub of racing activity in Ecuador. Located in an agricultural area where the main crops are bananas and rice. No one has much money, but there is no food shortage. Here boat racers are looked to as sports heroes. Many want to race boats, but few have the resources to do so. Rogers has a crew from Vinces that helps him prepare his racing equipment. There was always plenty of help. When we ran the boats, it always brought a lot of spectators. Many of the boats in Ecuador are named after the driver’s wife. Bob was racing Rogers Moscoso’s “Monica”. My boat did not have a name so it was named “Linda”
Tuesday there was a press conference and more T.V. Ric Montoya arrived
just as the press conference was winding down. Wednesday we went on a boat ride
to tour the racecourse. This was on an Ecuador military riverboat powered by 2
Yamaha 150 hp outboards. It had Kevlar armor plating and machine gun mounts. The
Guayaquil to Vinces race is advertised as 80 miles, but the amount of fuel the
tanks in the race boats held and the race record time showed that it could not
be 80 miles. I took my GPS with me and it recorded a distance of 63 miles. The
water was at flood stage with a lot of debris coming down the river. This
didn’t bother any of the racers from Ecuador, as it is normal conditions for
them. The first third of the course is on the Guayas River, real wide and
“sticky smooth” with not a breath of wind blowing. From there we enter the
Vinces River, much narrower with a good amount of current, but still smooth and
not the kind of water small runabouts like. There are small homes along the
river on stilts, so flooding must be normal to this area. Then we were caught by
surprise when the riverboat took out a low hanging power line stretched across
the river. Fortunately when it broke our end was dead. As we continued there
were at least a dozen more lines that we had to avoid. It was obvious that the
way to navigate the Vince’s River was to run close to the shore in your race
boat. There is less current, less debris and the power lines are higher.
We were also able to do some touring and shopping in Guayaquil and a trip to Salinas beach. Friday and Saturday vendors were setting up all along the river in Vinces, truckloads of beer were arriving. Everyone was getting ready for the big race on Sunday.
The start of the race was at a waterfront park in Guayaquil. As we are lined up along a dock for the start, I am handed a sheet of paper to sign. They said it was to indicate that I have read the rules of the race, which were in Spanish of course. 26 boats were on hand for the start, equally divided between their Racing Class (Mercury 25XS & Yamato) and the Standard Class 25hp motors with standard gearshift units. They are very liberal on modifications that can be made and most of the motors have megaphones. Many of the boats in Ecuador are Austin copies, built by a local builder in Vinces. We were impressed with his workmanship.
As the rest of the field was given the flag with a pace boat start I was still struggling to get on plane. I was finally able to get going by locking the throttle and climbing clear out on the deck. By then the rest of the boats were long gone. The first five miles or so there is a lot of floating plant growth in the river that you have to work your way though. Finally I get to a place where I could stop to try to fix the problem with the motor. The kill switch connection was shorting out one cylinder. A quick fix and I am on my way and soon pass a couple of the slowest standard class boats. I did make a wrong turn up what I thought was the Vinces River, but I soon came to a town with no spectators so I knew I taken a wrong turn. As I did enter the Vinces River the motor started to run poorly again (dirt in the fuel from the auxiliary tanks). Then the dashboard holding the steering wheel broke. I could still steer, but not from any kind of good driving position. Then when I was in the area of the power lines I hit something in the water (no damage) but could not get the motor to restart because of dirt in the carburetor. Bob was doing much better, the radio broadcast even showed him leading at one point. But he hit something in the water and damaged his propeller about half way to the finish.
By the time the rescue boat (40’ x 4’ canoe with 40hp outboard) got us to the finish the party in Vinces was well underway with the waterfront area packed with spectators. Music, dancing and a lot of beer being consumed. Never had seen anything like it! To our surprise, Standard Class boats took 1st and 2nd place finishes. A Yamato 302 powered the third place boat.
We thank Dr. Rogers Moscoso and all the racers and crews from Ecuador for their great hospitality. They made our stay in Ecuador a wonderful experience. At dinner on our last day they announced that four of their drivers and other crewmembers would like to attend and race in the Top ‘O Michigan marathon in August. Now it is our turn to extend our hospitality to them.
Pictures of us and the race at: http://www.vincesnautico.freeservers.com/