Marina Del Rey to Puerto Vallarta Day 6

by Rich Roberts on 22 Feb 2007 First the rabbit out of the chute, now come the hounds in Del Rey Yacht Club's 19th International Yacht Race to Puerto Vallarta, presented by Corum.

Lorenzo Berho's Raincloud, the only starter in Racing Division B, crossed the line at full speed in 11 knots of western breeze Wednesday, setting a pace for the record seekers---Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 and David Janes's Scout Spirit---to follow Friday at 1 p.m. PST.

Magnitude 80, an Andrews 80, owes Raincloud about 45 minutes and Scout Spirit, a Reichel/Pugh 77, about 13 hours in handicap time for the 1,125-nautical mile race. Can the faster boats catch Raincloud with its 48-hour head start?

Berho, whose home port is Puerto Vallarta, was given the option of starting alone Wednesday or with the other two Racing Division A boats Friday. He opted for the former.

'I'd rather be coming to the finish line with Magnitude 80 and Scout Spirit trying to catch me than just following them all the way down to Puerto Vallarta,' he said. 'That will make it a much more interesting race.'

Berho may have made the right call. In Wednesday's surprisingly good conditions, following the Salsa Division starts in excruciatingly light wind last Friday, he has a chance not only to be the first boat to cross the finish line in his hometown but to claim overall victory on corrected handicap time, as well.

The only wrinkle in Berho's gamble is that Magnitude 80 and Scout Spirit may find even stronger breeze on the coattails of a serious rainstorm forecast to blow through Southern California Thursday night---breeze that the bigger boats hope will chase them past Joss's 22-year-old record (4 days 23 hours) and breeze that Raincloud (how ironic is that name?) also would have had if it had started Friday.

The racing crews received a lively sendoff party at Del Rey YC Tuesday night, courtesy of the Mexico Tourism Board of the Western Region (www.visitmexico.com) , Jorge Gamboa, director.

Meanwhile, the 10 Salsa Division boats had been in Mexico since early Monday, enjoying the ambience of Turtle Bay and the village Bahia Tortuga. They started their next leg to Cabo San Lucas Wednesday morning. Early satellite tracking by Flagship indicated that David Kory's Barking Spider 3 had an initial lead over Jim Puckett's Amazing Grace.

Although final computations for the first leg involving engine use time and handicap ratings were incomplete because of a computer problem, it appeared that Barking Spider 3, the fastest-rated Salsa entry, had scored a sweep as first to finish, first in Spinnaker A class and first overall on corrected time.

'I guess we did OK for the first leg,' Kory said. 'Of course, it's only the first of three legs, but it still feels pretty good to us.'

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 / Starts Feb. 21 and 23

Handicap ratings in seconds per mile in parentheses)
Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach (-165)
Scout Spirit (Reichel/Pugh 77), David Janes, Newport Beach (-123)
Raincloud (J/145), Lorenzo Berho, Puerto Vallarta (-25)
Salsa Division / Started Feb. 16

Spinnaker class
(All boats finished first leg; finish times unofficial)

1. Amazing Grace (Farr 55), Jim Puckett, Pacific Palisades, Calif. (12), 18:52:55 Sunday.
2. Barking Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (-24), 18:56:02 Sunday.
3. Tenacity (J/133), Gil Maguire, Marina del Rey (9), 20:27:12 Sunday.
4. Voice of Reason (Ericson 32), Jim McCone/Mike Verla, Lomita, Calif . (180), 07:52:59 Monday.
5. Classic Impulse (Catalina 40), Sean Roll, Riverside, Calif. (102), 0:17:06 Monday.

RETIRED: Jungle Jim (Jeanneau 49), Jim Maslon, Marina del Rey (69).

Non-spinnaker class

1. Segue (Island Packet 485), Peter Hirsch, Santa Monica, Calif. (114), 20:30:19 Sunday.
2. Polaire (Tayana 52), Hideshige Seki, Tokyo, Japan (87), 04:40:25 Monday.
3. Vision (Tayana 48), Jean Rooryck, Woodland Hills, Calif. (78), 03:27:50 Monday.
4. Far Niente (Catalina 42), Pat Hearne, Monarch Beach, Calif. (102), 06:28:12 Monday.
5. Aquarius (Jeanneau 43), Hiro Funaoku, Marina del Rey (117), 07:00:42 Monday.

NOTE: The above finish times were recorded by the Flagship transponders. Official finish times are those times recorded by the skippers on their Finish Report forms. When those times are computed and available, they will replace the times above.