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Feb. 2,
2007
A special entry in the race to Puerto Vallarta
 MARINA DEL REY,
Calif.---Hideshige Seki stands apart from other
participants in Del Rey Yacht Club's 19th biennial race to Puerto
Vallarta---or perhaps any ocean race ever---as he prepares to join them on
the starting line this month as part of his great adventure.
He has never
been in a sailboat race. He didnt even know about this race until a few weeks ago.
And he has no illusions about winning.
"My boat is too
heavy," he says, "especially downwind."
But it's OK for
sailing around the world. Seki will be one of the more experienced ocean
sailors in the race. Last year, singlehanded, he sailed his Tayana 52,
Polaire, across the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo to North
America. It took him 40 memorable days until reaching
Victoria, B.C. Then he harbor-hopped
down the West Coast, making friends along the way, until arriving in
Marina del Rey around the holidays.
That's where Del
Rey YC member Hiro Furaoku saw Seki sailing by, flying the Japanese
flag---an uncommon local sighting---and said to fellow member Janet
Michaelis, "I must go and see if this sailor needs anything."
Furaoku arranged
an end-tie for Seki near the club and Michaelis told him about the race.
Why not? Seki
thought, it fit right into his plan. He was heading in that general
direction, anyway.
"My plan is 10
years," he said---a decade he intends to spend sailing around the world.
From Puerto
Vallarta he'll sail to the South Pacific and
beyond. Way beyond.
Polaire---named
for the star---is one of 11 boats entered in the Salsa Division, which
will start Feb. 16 and have three layovers along the 1,125-nautical mile
voyage to the Mexican mainland. Although Seki has sailed solo so far, for
the race he'll have a Del Rey YC veteran crew of Norm Carabet as
navigator, along with Jim Cody, Joe Ebin and Rick Toomin.
Race chairman
David Ross said, "We are excited to have Polaire as an entry in our
race. His is an amazing story and it is wonderful that he has
adjusted his schedule to join us. We are honored to be a part of his
journey."
The Racing
Division, led by Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 and David Janes' Scout Spirit,
will have two starts on Feb. 21 and 23, going all out for Joss's
22-year-old record of 4 days 23 hours 4 seconds.
Seki, 56,
retired from the Japanese Navy two years ago with the rank of commander,
serving as a naval aircraft engineer.
"I started
thinking about this when I was 40 years old," he said. "This was my
friend's boat. We were going to do this together, but he had heart trouble
two years ago. In Japan
I sailed south to Okinawa, but this was
the first time I was away from land."
Polaire has
roller furling for its main sail and jib, but a few days out of Tokyo the
jib halyard shredded at the top of the mast and Seki had to haul himself
up to replace it, which was good practice for when it broke again before
reaching Victoria.
In between he
encountered 60-plus knots of wind but was unable to ease the main because
of another gear failure, so Polaire was knocked on its side for three
days. Prepared for the worst, Seki strapped on his EPIRB (emergency
position indicating radio beacon) device and rode out the storm.
Seki said, "I
have had 300 plans" before settling on one he has charted in dated detail
that will take him around the world and across the Pacific three times
before finishing in Toyko in March of 2016. Polaire has a comprehensive
navigation station with satellite access.
Seki doesn't
expect to be bored. To pass the time, he has 7,000 songs on his iPod and
100 DVDs to play on the TV.
During
the race FIS Tracking Services will provide satellite tracking of all
boats for automatic position reporting and the opportunity for
non-participants to follow the race on the Internet (see New for
PV07).
Corum, the lead sponsor, will
present the Admiral's Cup Trophy 41 watch to the winner of each class
within each division. The timepiece with a 41mm stainless steel case and
nautical pennants instead of numerals to indicate the hours was introduced
by Corum before the 2005 race.
Corum is an independent,
family owned company producing high-quality and prestigious Swiss watches
since 1955. The Admiral watch, along with the complete Corum line, may be
seen at www.corum.ch
More information
at www.pv07.com
GENERAL INFORMATION
Del
Rey Yacht Club
(310) 823-4664
www.dryc.org
RACE CHAIRMAN
David Ross
(310) 980-7829
pv07@dryc.org
PRESS OFFICER
Rich Roberts
(310)
835-2526
richsail@earthlink.net
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