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Feb. 22,
2007
Magnitude 80,
Scout Spirit go for the record Friday
MARINA DEL REY, Calif.---The race for the record starts Friday
when Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 and David Janes's Scout Spirit hit the
start line at 1 p.m. PST in Del Rey Yacht Club's 19th International
Yacht Race to Puerto
Vallarta, presented by Corum.
It's a
1,125-nautical mile pursuit of one of the longest standing marks in
offshore racing---4 days 23 hours 4 seconds set by Dick and Camille
Daniels' MacGregor 65, Joss, in 1985---that has withstood huge advances
in technology in nine other races over the last 22 years.
Leading up the
start, the forecast had conditions looking ripe for the record finally
to fall: west to northwest winds ideal for reaching or spinnaker running
along the southeasterly course to Puerto Vallarta. That's what Joss had
in '85, and that's what Raincloud, Lorenzo Berho's smaller J/145, found
after starting Wednesday as the lone PHRF B class entry.
"It looks like
wind all the way," Baker said, cautiously. "But that's today. It could
change real quick."
Raincloud,
based in Puerto
Vallarta, had the option of starting Wednesday
alone or Friday with Magnitude 80, of
Long
Beach, and Scout
Spirit, of Newport
Beach. Baker said having a forerunner might help
in finding the best conditions, especially across the Gulf of California
past Baja California.
"It doesn't
hurt," he said. "They're a probe."
But even
Magnitude 80 and Scout Spirit may find separate ways. Their first
decision will be whether to go down the San Pedro Channel between
Santa Catalina Island and the mainland
or, if winds farther offshore are more favorable, outside the island, as
Joss did in '85 and a rule change now allows boats to do again.
"We're going
outside," said Pete Heck, Scout Spirit's watch captain.
Baker said
Thursday, "We'll just have to decide on the spot. Our boat's on its way
up there right now and the wind's out of the south, like 8 knots at 180,
and [the sea is] flat. We'll just have to wait and see."
Raincloud went
inside the island and reached its top speed of 9.7 knots in the channel,
but by mid-day Thursday it had slowed to 5.4 knots in lighter breeze off
Ensenada.
Heck said his
team is conceding little to Magnitude 80 despite the latter's basic
speed advantage.
"Anything can
happen," he said, noting how in the previous race in 2005 Magnitude 80
was first to finish and Scout Spirit was first overall on corrected
handicap time after two faster boats fell by the wayside. Roy E.
Disney's Pyewacket broke its topmast and Randall Pittman's Genuine Risk
withdrew before the start.
There's also
some family rivalry involved. Heck's twin brother Sam will be aboard
Magnitude 80. Scout Spirit's dozen crew members include the veteran
ocean racer Mike (Big Mike) Howard and Chris Branning, a member of the
Morning Light team of young men and women that will sail the
Transpacific Yacht Race this summer on a Transpac 52 as part of a
Disney film project.
The 10 Salsa
Division boats re-started Wednesday on their second of three legs---218
nautical miles to Cabo San Lazaro on the Baja
California peninsula---after their first layover at
Turtle
Bay. Boat for boat,
David Kory's Barking Spider, overall winner of the first leg of 375
miles, had a slight lead on Jim Puckett's Amazing Grace and Gil
Maguire's Tenacity, although engine use time and handicap ratings remain
to be computed at the end of the leg.
Jim Maslon's
Jungle Jim, which returned to port for repairs shortly after last
Friday's start, set out again Wednesday to rejoin the Salsa fleet.
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
(Handicap
ratings in seconds per mile in parentheses)
PHRF A (starts
Feb. 23)
Magnitude 80
(Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long
Beach (-165)
Scout Spirit
(Reichel/Pugh 77), David
Janes, Newport
Beach (-123)
PHRF B (started
Feb. 21)
1. Raincloud
(J/145), Lorenzo Berho, Puerto
Vallarta (-25), 1,005 miles to go.
Salsa Division
/ Started Feb. 16
Leg 2
(Standings boat
for boat; handicap ratings to be computed at finish)
Spinnaker A
1. Barking
Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (-24), 52 miles to end of
leg.
2. Amazing
Grace (Farr 55), Jim Puckett, Pacific Palisades, Calif. (12), 56.
3. Tenacity
(J/133), Gil Maguire, Marina del Rey (9), 56.
Spinnaker
B
1. Voice of
Reason (Ericson 32), Jim McCone/Mike Verla, Lomita, Calif .
(180), 94.
2. Classic
Impulse (Catalina 40), Sean Roll, Riverside, Calif. (102), 94.
RETIRED: Jungle
Jim (Jeanneau 49), Jim Maslon, Marina del Rey (69).
Non-spinnaker
1. Far Niente
(Catalina 42), Pat Hearne, Monarch Beach, Calif. (102), 88.
2.
Aquarius (Jeanneau 43), Hiro Funaoku, Marina del Rey (117), 101.
3. Polaire
(Tayana 52), Hideshige Seki, Tokyo, Japan (87), 111.
4. Vision
(Tayana 48), Jean Rooryck, Woodland Hills, Calif. (78), 117.
5. Segue (Island Packet 485), Peter
Hirsch, Santa
Monica, Calif.
(114), 118.
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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