MARINA DEL REY TO PUERTO VALLARTA
INTERNATIONAL YACHT RACE 2003
Del Rey Yacht Club / Feb. 7-14, 2003
www.dryc.org
Aug. 2, 2002 For Immediate Release
ROBUST RESPONSE FOR DEL REY'S 17TH PUERTO VALLARTA
RACE
MARINA
DEL REY, Calif.---Five months away, 18 boats are already planning
for Del Rey Yacht Club's 17th biennial Marina del Rey to Puerto
Vallarta International Yacht Race that will start Feb. 7-14,
2003.
The club initiated an early call for
entries not only to allow smoother handling of the international
logistics but to give competitors more time to prepare for
the 1,125-nautical mile contest---longest of the races from
Southern California to Mexico.
Initial indications are that several
crews intend to have as much fun ashore as they do at sea.
Those are members of the Salsa fleet, formerly known as the
cruising class but now enjoying a new identity as serious
sailors with a slightly different lifestyle.
"I hope we're not taking it TOO
seriously," says Allen Puckett, the 83-year-old skipper
of Amazing Grace, a Farr 55. "The whole point of the
class is to avoid a life-or-death serious approach to this
thing [and] to have some fun."
A more serious approach would apply
to legendary former winners such as Windward Passage, Ragtime,
Sirius, Sorcery and Pyewacket, as well as full-on racers lining
up for 2003, including Robert Saielli's Santa Cruz 70, Mongoose;
Jack Borkowski's Olson 40, Prime Time, and Kirk and Jocelyn
Wilson's S/C 50, Bay Wolf.
The race is open to all boats with a
Southern California PHRF off-wind course (OWC) rating or 150
or lower and a minimum deck length of 35 feet.
There will be three divisions: Racing,
Salsa Spinnaker and Salsa Non-Spinnaker. They'll go off in
staggered starts from Feb. 7 to 14. The final destination
will be Marina Vallarta, a modern full-service marina fronting
the popular mainland Mexico tourist port.
The racers won't touch land until the
finish, while the Salsa sailors have overnight stops scheduled
at Turtle Bay, Santa Maria and Cabo San Lucas on the Baja
California peninsula before turning the corner across the
Gulf of California.
The Salsa boats will take the first
start Feb. 7 and may use engine propulsion when the wind is
too light to make reasonable progress. A sophisticated scoring
system will adjust their final elapsed times to account for
their motoring times.
All the boats will be checked closely
for safety systems. Marina del Rey-Puerto Vallarta race regulations
were already stronger than most similar events even before
the recent rash of man-overboard incidents. When on deck between
dusk and dawn crew members are required to wear personal flotation
devices (PFDs) with auto-activated strobe lights, and the
Sailing Instructions recommend that each be fully tethered.
Puckett has not become complacent over
the years. He meets the above requirements, even when they
aren't mandated.
"We have the usual safety equipment,
including [a man-overboard throwable device] that's ready
to go," he said.
Puckett's successful racing record over
half a century balances his philosophy about fun. He figures
he has done more than 20 races to Mexico, not counting "about
40" Newport-to-Ensenada events, and his fondest memories
have nothing to do with trophies.
"One of the highlights was four
or five years ago seeing two green flashes on successive days,"
he said, referring to the sundown phenomenon seen occasionally
at moderate latitudes. "It just happened to be perfect
weather conditions down below Punta Lazaro.
"Another highlight was on one of
the first Puerto Vallarta cruising class races when we stopped
in Turtle Bay. That's one nice thing about the class---you
can go ashore and do a little sightseeing. I hadn't been there
for quite a while, and that used to be a very primitive little
village with good lobster fishing.
"What caught my eye walking down
the main street was that on every other house there was a
satellite receiver dish in the front yard. In my previous
life I was at Hughes Aircraft---chairman of the board, in
fact---and we were very much the leaders in building communication
satellites. When I saw all those dishes in that little Mexican
town I knew that the world had changed."
There will be three generations of Pucketts---the
skipper, youngest son Jim, son-in-law Jeff Grant and grandson-in-law
Mike Legge---on board Amazing Grace, which is equipped with
a deep freeze and other amenities.
"It was laid out as a cruising
boat," Puckett said, "but [the previous owner] did
a very nice job of creating a very comfortable cruising interior
with relatively high performance."
Notice of Race and other information
at www.dryc.org.
RACE CHAIRMAN
Ron Jacobs
(310) 274-7200
rj2sail@pacbell.net
ENTRY CHAIRMAN
Mike Guccione
(818) 956-1345
innov8@pacbell.net
PUBLICITY
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
richroberts@compuserve.com
