17TH
MARINA DEL REY TO PUERTO VALLARTA INTERNATIONAL
YACHT RACE
Del Rey Yacht Club
Feb. 14, 2003 For Immediate Release
PYEWACKET
GETS A SUNNY SENDOFF FROM MICKEY AND MINNIE
(Photos by Rich Roberts)
 |
| Roy
Disney (left) and sailing master Robbie Haines
were in a relaxed mood before heading out
to start. |
MARINA
DEL REY, Calif.---Fans in a small fleet of spectator
boats honked their horns and cheered as Roy Disney
drove Pyewacket across the starting line Friday
with clear sailing ahead in Del Rey Yacht Club's
17th biennial race to Puerto Vallarta.
After
stormy and gloomy starts for smaller boats the
previous two days, Santa Catalina Island was visible
in the distance in brilliant sunshine and 7 knots
of headwind---such a pretty day that it was a
shame that Pyewacket, the sole member of the PHRF-AA
class, was the only boat starting. The race committee
offered a special salute with a custom class flag:
Mickey and Minnie Mouse holding hands and wishing
everyone a happy Valentine's Day.
Disney
said before casting off, "I just hope we
aren't over [the line] early."
He
wasn't entirely joking. Pyewacket was still four
boat lengths below the line when the gun sounded.
The crew hoisted a monstrous Code 0 sail for a
few minutes before the start, but with a south
wind blowing they decided they wouldn't be able
to lay the tip of the Palos Verdes peninsula and
switched to a small jib for better pointing ability.
 |
| The race comittee greeted
Disney and Pyewacket with a custom "class"
flag. |
Pyewacket's
target is not only to overtake the boats that
started earlier but to run down the 18-year-old
record of just under five days set by Richard
and Camille Daniels' MacGregor 65 Joss in 1985.
Disney, vice chairman of the board of the Walt
Disney Co., was confident it could be done. Joss
enjoyed extraordinarily ideal conditions, but
Pyewacket is a more powerful boat.
"The
average speed for that record is 9.6 knots,"
Disney said. "This boat does that easily
in almost any kind of wind."
And
yet, not even the fastest boats can sail in no
wind at all, a nagging anomaly in races to Mexico,
as navigator Stan Honey cautioned. They'll know
more when they approach Cabo San Lucas for the
final charge across the Gulf of California.
"It
looks like it will be good at least until Monday
morning," Honey said. "Then it's possible
that it could get really light, but anything can
happen. There are a lot of land effects, and the
[weather] data isn't that good down there. But
we have a cloud of sail on this boat. We need
just consistent sailing weather so we don't stop
too long."
 |
| Race
committee and Pyewacket crew exchange waves
at the starting line. |
Since
setting records in the Newport-Bermuda and Chicago-Mac
races last year, Pyewacket has been "turbocharged"
for downwind performance. The mast is 10 feet
taller, the keel bulb is 4,000 pounds lighter
at 8,000 pounds and the new spinnaker pole is
43 feet to accommodate special oversize spinnakers
called "runners." The pole was only
27 feet when it set the Transpac record in 1999.
"We
ought to notice the difference," Honey said.
Also
encouraging was that the two Santa Cruz 50s that
started in the PHRF-AA fleet two days earlier---Bay
Wolf, under charter to Richard Parlette, and Jack
Taylor's Horizon---logged 196 and 202 miles, respectively,
in their latest 24-hour reports. Also, Locomotion,
an Andrews 45 starting Thursday, averaged 9.2
knots through the first night. Better yet, the
wind was from the northwest, made to order for
flying spinnakers.
 |
| Roy
Disney drives Pyewacket close-hauled minutes
after the start. |
Immediately
after the completion of the race, North Sails
and the Mexican Sailing Association are sponsoring
a new five-day regatta in Banderas Bay called
Vallarta Race Week. All Marina del Rey-Puerto
Vallarta participants were invited to take part.
More
information and photos: www.dryc.org.
RACING
DIVISION
(Boat/Type,
Sail Number, Skipper, Yacht Club)
PHRF
AA (started Feb. 14)
Pyewacket
(R/P 75), USA-4, Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles, rating
minus-53/time allowance minus-47:48:45.
PHRF
A (started Feb. 13)
1.
Locomotion (Andrews 45), Keith Kilpatrick, South
Shore, 180 miles since start/945 to go.
2.
Sorcery (Mull 82), US-1777, Jacob Wood, California,
175/949.
PHRF
B (started Feb. 12)
1.
Bay Wolf (S/C 50), Richard Parlette, Cabrillo
Beach YC, 196/834.
2. Ghost II (Farr 395), Al Berg, Santa Monica
Windjammers, 171/861.
3. Horizon (S/CD 50M), Jack Taylor, Dana Point
YC, 202/849.
4. Atalanta (Tripp 74 ketch), Richard Hedreen,
Corinthian YC, Seattle, 162/883.
5. Zamazaan (Farr 52C), Charles Weghorn, St. Francis
YC, 115/946.
6. Black Knight (Farr 39ML), Phillip Friedman,
Del Rey YC, retired.
SALSA DIVISION (started Feb. 7)
Order
of finish on corrected time, Leg 1 (includes handicaps
and engine time penalties)
SPINNAKER
1.
Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52.2), Ross Pearlman,
Santa Monica Windjammers YC.
2.
Gold Digger (N/M 50), David Fell, Seal Beach YC.
3.
Misty (Cal 39-2), Harold Alexander, Seal Beach
YC.
4.
Broadway Babe (C&C 110), Jim Maslon, Del Rey
YC.
5.
Amazing Grace (Farr 55), Allen Puckett, California
YC.
6.
Cheyenne (Whiting 49), Alan Blunt/David Fox, California/Santa
Cruz YCs.
NON-SPINNAKER
A
1.
Quamichan (Davidson 44), Sandy Clark, South Coast
Corinthian YC.
2.
Quest (Davidson 53), Scott/Jean Adam, Del Rey/California
YCs.
3.
Sunseeker (Tayana 55), Alfred Benaroya, Seattle
YC.
NON-SPINNAKER
B
1.
Principessa (Newport 41S), Gregory Daley, Del
Rey YC (retired).
2. Fly'n Bry'n (Catalina 42), Jerry Bryan, American
Legion YC.
3.
Firelight (Catalina 470T), Patrick Mickle, Dana
Point YC.
4.
Seaker II (Farr 33), Wes Stone, Cabrillo Beach
YC.
5.
Valerie K (Columbia 43), Ron Hoskin, Hawaii YC.
NOTE:
In Salsa Division, time allowance is computed
at end of each leg for distance sailed. Engine
use permitted with penalty applied. In Spinnaker
class, all boats race with PHRF off-wind course
(OWC) rating on all legs. In Non-Spinnaker class,
initial "cruising" ratings are adjusted
after each leg.
RACE
CHAIRMAN
Ron
Jacobs
(310)
274-7200
rj2sail@pacbell.net
ENTRY
CHAIRMAN
Mike
Guccione
(818)
731-1030
innov8@pacbell.net
PRESS
OFFICER
Rich
Roberts
(310)
835-2526
cell:
(310) 766-6547
richsail@earthlink.net
