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Feb. 16,
2007
Quiet getaway for
Salsa fleet in race to PV
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---The Salsa fleet's party two nights earlier
was noisier than their start in Del Rey Yacht Club's 19th biennial race to
Puerto
Vallarta Friday. The 11 boats sailed quietly away
in shorts and shirtsleeves under a clear sky with a summer-like
temperature in the high 70s (C.) and precious little wind---but no
problem.
The people on Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 will be
far more disappointed if conditions are similar next Friday when they
start their bid for Joss's 22-year-old record in the 1,125-nautical mile
race.
Maybe Joe Ebin,
a local crew member on Hideshige Seki's Japanese entry, Tayana 52 Polaire,
had the right attitude for the Salsa boats that will continue to party
together on three overnight stops en route to mainland Mexico,
motoring part of the way if they must.
"Most of us are
serious racers," Ebin said, "but we're looking at this as a party cruise.
If you focus on winning, you'll likely be disappointed. But if your focus
is on having a good time, your success is guaranteed."
Or, as Jim
Puckett, son of local legend Allen Puckett who is sailing his dad's Farr
55, Amazing Grace, said, This is the best kind of racing. We love it. A
race is a race and this is still racing.
So it was, even
as some of the boats struggled to reach the starting line and then sailed
into the mist toward the Palos Verdes Peninsula. There they would turn
left down the coast toward Mexico through the San Pedro Channel that
separates Santa Catalina Island from the
mainland.
Breeze for the
six spinnaker class Salsas was 4 to 5 knots from the southwest, allowing
them to sail hard on what little wind there was straight through the line
set square to the course. Ten minutes later the five non-spinnaker boats
found only 2 or 3 knots as they drifted out of sight.
Gil Maguire's
Tenacity, a J/133 from California Yacht Club, was the early leader,
crossing the line on a strong pace and soon pulling away from Amazing
Grace and the smaller Voice of Reason, an Ericson 32 sailed by co-owners
Jim McCone and Mike Verla from Redondo Beach.
Maguire, perhaps
more serious than some of his rivals, had his strategy worked out.
"It looks pretty
light, so we won't try to get too far from the coast," he said before
leaving the dock in a parade behind a fountain of spray from a Los Angeles
County fireboat.
"We'll stay in close while watching the [weather forecasts]. It looks like
there'll be wind offshore [Saturday]. The weather is so variable that it's
too risky to take any flyers."
The Salsa fleet
is being escorted by Del Rey YC member Larry Silver's Diver Gent, a power
cruiser equipped with radar, sonar, infrared cameras and other electronic
gear.
"I can see them
all at any time, even underwater," Silver said.
The five Racing
Division boats will start Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. following their
sendoff party Feb. 20.
Non-participants at home will
be able to follow both the Salsas and the Racers on the Internet.
Awards will be presented at
separate banquets in Puerto
Vallarta March 2 and 3. 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 race
information at www.pv07.com
Racing Division /
Starts Feb. 21 and 23
(with handicap
ratings in seconds per mile)
Magnitude 80
(Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long
Beach (-165)
Scout Spirit
(Reichel/Pugh 77), David Janes, Newport Beach (-123)
Raincloud (J/48),
Lorenzo Berho, San Diego (-25)
Sapphire
(Synergy1000), David Rasmussen, Novato, Calif. (27)
E.T. (Antrim 27),
Todd Hedin/Liz Baylis, San
Rafael, Calif.
(60)
Salsa Division /
Starts Feb. 16
Spinnaker
class
Barking Spider 3
(MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (-24)
Tenacity (J/133),
Gil Maguire, Marina del Rey (9)
Amazing Grace
(Farr 55), Jim Puckett, Pacific Palisades, Calif. (12)
Jungle Jim
(Jeanneau 49), Jim Maslon, Marina del Rey (69)
Classic Impulse
(Catalina 40), Sean Roll, Riverside, Calif. (102)
Voice of Reason
(Ericson 32), Jim McCone/Mike Verla, Lomita, Calif. (180)
Non-spinnaker
class
Vision (Tayana
48), Jean Rooryck, Woodland
Hills, Calif. (78)
Polaire (Tayana
52), Hideshige Seki, Tokyo, Japan (87)
Far Niente
(Catalina 42), Pat Hearne, Monarch Beach, Calif. (102)
Segue (Island
Packet), Peter Hirsch, Santa
Monica, Calif.
(114)
Aquarius
(Jeanneau 43), Hiro Funaoku, Marina del Rey (117)
GENERAL INFORMATION
Del Rey Yacht Club
(310) 823-4664
www.pv07.com
RACE CHAIRMAN
David Ross
(310) 980-7829
pv07@dryc.org
PRESS OFFICER
Rich Roberts
(310)
835-2526
richsail@earthlink.net
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