Del Rey Yacht Club

Feb. 17, 2007

Inside job pays off for early Salsa leaders

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---The first two days of Del Rey Yacht Club's 19th biennial race to Puerto Vallarta looks like an inside job. The early leaders in the two Salsa Division classes---Gil Maguire's Tenacity in spinnaker and Peter Hirsch's Segue in non-spinnaker---sailed closer inshore than their rivals to grab first place late Sunday afternoon, according to the Flagship tracking positions (www.pv07.com).

Tenacity, a J/133, was following Maguire's game plan that he outlined at the dock a couple of hours before the start, anticipating the warm offshore northeast Santa Ana desert winds that favored boats closest to the beach. He moved into the lead after Sunday's late morning roll call that showed him trailing Jim Puckett's Amazing Grace and David Kory's Barking Spider 3, the fastest-rated Salsa entry.

Segue, an Island Packet design, had a 14-nautical mile lead over next the non-spinnaker boat at roll call and appeared to be stretching out on the tracking chart.

But there will be a piper for the leaders to pay later. Because of the weak winds at the start, all 11 boats fired up their engines after three miles---the first opportunity under race rules---and Tenacity (12 hours) and Segue (13) motored longer than most, which will cost them time penalties later. Barking Spider 3 motored least of all, only seven hours.

Kory e-mailed a report that "after about 45 minutes the wind started filling in and we all started sailing again. [Then] the wind got weak again and Tenacity started motoring again, along with the others, but we kept sailing at just 4 knots. Then the wind was building and before long we were doing 11 knots in 15 knots of breeze. That lasted until about an hour before sunset when the wind died again."

Later, as the erratic wind pattern continued Sunday, Kory reported switching headsails from spinnaker to genoa to jib to staysail as the winds moved right to an onshore sea breeze angle

But, he said, "The sea is flat, so it's a sweet ride."

The race also suffered one dropout. Jim Maslon's Jungle Jim, a Jeanneau 49, was taking on water after developing a loose strut that damaged the propeller shaft. Jungle Jim was towed back to Marina del Rey for repairs but held out hope to rejoin the fleet on the first overnight stop in Turtle Bay on the Baja California peninsula.

The five Racing Division boats will start Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. following their sendoff party Feb. 20.

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 / Started Feb. 16

Spinnaker class

(Standings at Sunday roll call, subject to engine use penalties)

1. Amazing Grace (Farr 55), Jim Puckett, Pacific Palisades, Calif. (12), 237 miles to go to first layover).