Vic-Maui Yacht Race winners and 2014 dates announced

by Royal Vancouver Yacht Club on 1 Aug 2012 Double Take is the Big Winner of Vic-Maui 2012

Ably hosted by Dan O'Hanlon, the Event Chair for Lahaina Yacht Club, the Vic-Maui 2012 Awards Banquest was held Saturday evening at on the Jodo Mission grounds in Lahaina.

The big winner of Vic-Maui 2012 is Double Take. Tom Huseby's Seattle Yacht Club boat captured the big prizes of First Overall on corrected time and First to Finish on elapsed time. She also captured the Lahaina Yacht Club Past Commodore's Trophy for First in Class on corrected time, the Governor John Burns Trophy for First in Class on elapsed time. Other Double Take trophies went to winning navigator Brad Baker for his efforts on First To Finish corrected and First to Finish elapsed (which Brad has won numerous times); and showing that she outpaced the field from Start to Finish, Double Take also took home the Sea Q Trophy for Boat with the Best Start.

Kinetic, David Sutcliffe's Beneteau First 47.7 out of Royal Vancouver Yacht Club took home the Aloha Trophy for Second Overall (corrected), the Special Sloops Trophy First in Class B (corrected), City of Victoria Trophy for First in Class B (elapsed), First Canadian Boat to finish and First to Finish (corrected) sailing for RVYC.

Mark Ward's Radiance, sailing out of the William Seward Yacht Club from Anchorage, AK, won the new Beneteau Trophy for First to Finish (corrected) and the Joe Glass Memorial Trophy for First to Finish (elapsed) in Cruising Division.

Other winners were Bill Weinstein/Mark Brink's Terremoto for Second to Finish (elapsed), Third Overall (corrected) and Second in Class 1 (elapsed and overall), Gunnar Jonnson's Turicum for Second in Class 2 (corrected), David Ratner's Incantation for Third in Class 1 (corrected), John Gugins' Red Heather for Third in Class 2 (corrected), and Mike Cormack's Ballymack for Second in Cruising Division (corrected).

The Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the Lahaina Yacht Club are pleased to announce the 2014 Vic-Maui International Yacht Race.
The key dates for the 2014 Vic-Maui race are:
Starts – July 3-7, 2014
Finish time limit – July 24, 2014 at 2330 HST
Awards banquet – July 26, 2014

The 2014 Vic-Maui race, the twenty-fourth edition of this ocean racing classic, will start from Victoria, British Columbia. The race will finish near Lahaina, Maui, a great circle route distance of 2308 nautical miles. Vic-Maui, first contested in 1968 and run every second year since, is the pinnacle of Pacific Northwest ocean racing. The Vic-Maui race challenges sailors to demonstrate their skills by beating out of the Juan De Fuca Strait, reaching around the Pacific High Pressure zone and running the trades to Hawaii.

The 2012 Vic-Maui race enjoyed excellent wind conditions, with Double Take, skippered by Tom Huseby and sailing out of the Seattle Yacht Club, capturing line honors, the overall win, and the racing division class 1 win in an elapsed time of ten days and twelve hours. Kinetic, skippered by David Sutcliffe and sailing out of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, took the racing division class 2 win, and Radiance, skippered by Mark Ward and sailing out of the William H. Seward Yacht Club (Alaska) sailed to the inaugural cruising division title. Vic-Maui records, including the Grand Illusion elapsed time of nine days, two hours, eight minutes and twenty seven seconds, are waiting to be broken in 2014!

The Vic-Maui adventure begins during the long days of mid-summer and each day of the passage South towards the tropics brings warmer temperatures. The days pass quickly with the fleet surrounded by dolphins and albatross, spectacular sunrises, sunsets and brilliant starlit nights. Teamwork gets the boats to the finish line near Lahaina, where day or night each arriving boat is greeted with an outstanding Hawaiian welcoming party.

Family and friends see the racers off from Victoria and meet the racers in Lahaina to celebrate their arrival with hugs, leis and mai-tais. The whole fleet attends the awards banquet, another fantastic Hawaiian gathering. Many crew stay on to spend more time enjoying Maui with their families. Some boats continue on to the South Pacific while others return to their home ports.

Preparing a yacht and crew for a major ocean race is a significant undertaking. Vic-Maui fosters a spirit of cooperation among competitors, with past competitors acting as mentors to first time entrants. Many successful teams start their boat preparation and crew training a year or more in advance. They also establish an early relationship with a marine insurer who underwrites ocean racing.

Race after race, participants describe the Vic-Maui as their most memorable sailing experience and as the adventure of a lifetime. It is our sincere hope that you will be among the sailors who share in the challenge, adventure and teamwork of competing in this world-class event.

Vic Mauri website