2022 Puerto Vallarta Race at San Diego Yacht Club - Day 7
by San Diego Yacht Club 17 Mar 2022 18:52 NZDT
March 10-18, 2022
Like spectators peering over each other to get a glimpse of a racer approaching from far away, the Race Committee studied the YB tracker through the afternoon yesterday trying to anticipate when the first boat would cross the line. That honor went to Pyewacket 70! In fact, both Pyewacket 70 and Rio100 eclipsed the 2016 monohull course record (Rio100); Pyewacket 70 by an hour, Rio100 by 25 mins.
But, there was another race that evening - for the big boats that needed to med-tie at the PV Naval base for deep draft vessels. Pyewacket 70 finished with enough time to get to the harbor and tie up before the Carnival Panorama departed at 2200 local time. They won that race too. Rio100 waited briefly for the cruise ship to exit the harbor.
By press time, six out of seven Class 1 boats are finished (pending Artemis) with Fast Exit II holding on to their overall lead by 93 corrected time minutes. Both teams fought through the 'transition zone' of light winds that surrounded the finish area just 10 miles from the finish. Up to that point, there was enough breeze to defend a lead. But once in the zone, at night and unable to see the wind on the water, it is really a blind man's bluff game to connect the dots of breeze and get to the finish.
For the internationally diverse crew aboard Hollywood Down Under, Aussie crew Nick Davis was glad to be racing, but especially glad to be done because he's headed home to Western Australia for the first time in 2 years. Although he spent most of his lock down time in eastern Australia (Sydney) he couldn't travel even just to his home in western Australia (Perth) due to the AUS strict covid guidelines. After his reunion, he'll be headed right back to Ray Roberts TP52 racing program in Malaysia.
The fourth boat over the finish line was GoodEnergy. They finished 20 minutes corrected time behind BadPak. Remembering where they might have left 20 minutes on the race course... Doug recalled, "We struck a sunfish - a big prehistoric looking fish that just floats on the surface of the ocean warming themselves in the sun. We struck one, and it was pinned on the keel strut. We had to go head to wind, stop the boat and completely reverse direction drop the main."
Doug McLean, GoodEnergy, R/P 63:
"The race to Cabo was epic, 20-24 knots the whole way. We had kites up within 30 minutes after the start. Put the 2A up and never took it down. Boat speed virtually matches wind speed. And Pyewacket 70 is even exceeding wind speed. But, if it's blowing 20, we're doing 18-20. Trim, ease, trim, ease, non-stop. Some good swells, but these boats plane and don't need the big Hawaii swell. And they're wet. If you go forward you're under water. The immigration process was the easiest ever, 30 minutes and you're done. George Hershmann, the owner, was stoked. He had a dream last year to buy a boat and bring all his buddies and go to Hawaii. We did Hawaii, and this is the full big race #2. It's pretty cool."
Ty Reed, BadPak, Botin 56:
"Favorite freeze dried meal is mac and cheese because it's the hardest to mess up and most likely to taste like real thing (or 'least disappointing')."
Nathalie Criou, Envolee, Figaro 2:
"Doing 5.5 kts in 8 kts of wind. We have under 100 miles to go and can almost taste the tequila. Progress is slow. But we are not giving up yet. Not much has happened, but a crew member was attacked by a squid during the night, both are expected to survive but the squid may require counseling after the traumatic experience."
Lawrence Andrews, TooLoco, Riptide 35:
"Had a pair of Brown Footed Boobies hitch a ride on top of mast since yesterday afternoon and cause havoc with instruments."
Raymond Paul, Artemis, Botin 56:
"Had a great sunset last night with jumping dolphins on the horizon. This is a beautiful part of the race.. Looking forward to some tasty tacos and margaritas this afternoon. Thank you for all the hard work hosting this event, its always a blessing to be sailing down Baja."
Marchetta Furey, Mirage, Santa Cruz 70:
"Cruelty free face-off between bird and bow guy was a highlight of the early morning hours....just after an amazing pulled pork dinner."
Roger Gatewood, Katara, J/145:
"Comin' in like a herd of turtles!"
Full results available here.