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Feb. 21,
2007
Raincloud off
smartly, next are the rivals in the rain
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---First the rabbit out of the chute, now
come the hounds in Del Rey Yacht Club's 19th International Yacht Race to
Puerto
Vallarta, presented by
Corum.
Lorenzo
Berho's Raincloud, the only starter in Racing Division B, crossed the
line at full speed in 11 knots of western breeze Wednesday, setting a
pace for the record seekers---Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 and David
Janes's Scout Spirit---to follow Friday at 1 p.m. PST.
Magnitude 80,
an Andrews 80, owes Raincloud about 45 minutes and Scout Spirit, a
Reichel/Pugh 77, about 13 hours in handicap time for the 1,125-nautical
mile race. Can the faster boats catch Raincloud with its 48-hour head
start?
Berho, whose
home port is Puerto
Vallarta, was given the option of starting alone
Wednesday or with the other two Racing Division A boats Friday. He opted
for the former.
"I'd rather be
coming to the finish line with Magnitude 80 and Scout Spirit trying to
catch me than just following them all the way down to Puerto Vallarta,"
he said. "That will make it a much more interesting race."
Berho may have
made the right call. In Wednesday's surprisingly good conditions,
following the Salsa Division starts in excruciatingly light wind last
Friday, he has a chance not only to be the first boat to cross the
finish line in his hometown but to claim overall victory on corrected
handicap time, as well.
The only
wrinkle in Berho's gamble is that Magnitude 80 and Scout Spirit may find
even stronger breeze on the coattails of a serious rainstorm forecast to
blow through Southern California Thursday night---breeze that the bigger
boats hope will chase them past Joss's 22-year-old record (4 days 23
hours) and breeze that Raincloud (how ironic is that name?) also would
have had if it had started Friday.
The racing
crews received a lively sendoff party at Del Rey YC Tuesday night,
courtesy of the Mexico Tourism Board of the Western Region (www.visitmexico.com) , Jorge
Gamboa, director.
Meanwhile, the
10 Salsa Division boats had been in Mexico since early Monday, enjoying the
ambience of Turtle Bay and the village Bahia Tortuga.
They started their next leg to Cabo San Lucas Wednesday morning. Early
satellite tracking by Flagship indicated that David Kory's Barking
Spider 3 had an initial lead over Jim Puckett's Amazing Grace.
Although final
computations for the first leg involving engine use time and handicap
ratings were incomplete because of a computer problem, it appeared that
Barking Spider 3, the fastest-rated Salsa entry, had scored a sweep as
first to finish, first in Spinnaker A class and first overall on
corrected time.
"I guess we did OK for the
first leg," Kory said. "Of course, it's only the first of three legs,
but it still feels pretty good to us."
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
Position
reports, boat tracking and more race information at www.pv07.com
Racing Division
/ Starts Feb. 21 and 23
(Handicap
ratings in seconds per mile in parentheses)
Magnitude 80
(Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long
Beach (-165)
Scout Spirit
(Reichel/Pugh 77), David
Janes, Newport
Beach (-123)
Raincloud
(J/145), Lorenzo Berho, Puerto
Vallarta (-25)
Salsa Division
/ Started Feb. 16
Spinnaker class
(All boats
finished first leg; finish times unofficial)
1. Amazing
Grace (Farr 55), Jim Puckett, Pacific Palisades, Calif.
(12), 18:52:55 Sunday.
2.
Barking Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (-24), 18:56:02 Sunday.
3. Tenacity
(J/133), Gil Maguire, Marina del Rey (9), 20:27:12 Sunday.
4. Voice of
Reason (Ericson 32), Jim McCone/Mike Verla, Lomita, Calif .
(180), 07:52:59 Monday.
5. Classic
Impulse (Catalina 40), Sean Roll, Riverside, Calif. (102), 0:17:06
Monday.
RETIRED: Jungle
Jim (Jeanneau 49), Jim Maslon, Marina del Rey (69).
Non-spinnaker
class
1. Segue
(Island Packet 485), Peter Hirsch, Santa Monica, Calif. (114), 20:30:19 Sunday.
2. Polaire
(Tayana 52), Hideshige Seki, Tokyo, Japan (87), 04:40:25
Monday.
3. Vision
(Tayana 48), Jean Rooryck, Woodland Hills, Calif. (78), 03:27:50
Monday.
4. Far Niente
(Catalina 42), Pat Hearne, Monarch Beach, Calif. (102), 06:28:12
Monday.
5. Aquarius
(Jeanneau 43), Hiro Funaoku, Marina
del
Rey (117), 07:00:42 Monday.
NOTE: The above
finish times were recorded by the Flagship transponders. Official finish
times are those times recorded by the skippers on their Finish Report
forms. When those times are computed and available, they will replace
the times above.
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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