Big boats start Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas Race

by Rick Roberts on 4 Nov 2007 Five Division II boats crossed the starting line in front of the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier Saturday and joined the Division I boat Ruahatu, which started the Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race a day earlier.

Favored to do well is Doug Baker's record-setting maxi-sled Magnitude 80 which earlier this year broke the 22-year-old record in the Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta International Yacht Race by more than 31 hours.

But weird weather has plagued this year's ocean races with light and fluky winds in the Newport to Ensenada race and one of the slowest recorded Transpacs to Hawaii ever.

Doug Baker and navigator Ernie Ruahatu talked about the possibilities before Saturday's start.

'Ernie told me we need to finish before 3 p.m. Tuesday to break the record,' Baker sail, smiling. 'But we'll see. If these Santa Anas come up we may get caught in the light air behind it.'

Saturday's start in haze and fog saw a typical steady breeze from the southwest at about 9 knots, with predictions of possible Santa Ana winds tonight or Sunday.

Ruahatu, Ricardo Brockmann's Concordia 47, started Friday and as of this morning's report was only making 1.5 knots en route to Cabo. not what Saturday's starters wanted to hear.

Peter Tong, owner and skipper of his Santa Cruz 70 turbo-sled OEX (short for Orient Express) was excited about the Cabo race starting again after a 12-year hiatus.

'We need a venue in the fall,' Tong said. 'I'm glad Long Beach Yacht Club is stepping up to do it. Some of the fastest Cabo races have been in November.'
As for the small but elite fleet starting this event, Tong said, 'This is kind of an old [70s] sled revival. I think we needed this.'

Certainly the top big boats on the West Coast are represented with, in addition to Magnitude 80 and OEX, Mike Campbell's and Dale Williams' Kernan 68, Peligroso; Brack Duker's Santa Cruz 68, Holua, and Bob Lane's Andrews 63, Medicine Man.

Baker said, 'These are the top boats in this race. The record is not a given. Anything can happen.'

According to the event's notice of race, all boats must finish by 2 p.m., Nov. 9. Their progress can be tracked via satellite transponders on each boat through iBoat Tracking. They are also in radio contact to race control with morning roll calls. Either through high-tech computer tracking, or old-fashioned VHF radios by Friday afternoon we should know what exactly did happen.

LBYC races to the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico date back to 1965 when then-Rear Commodore Bill Dalessi organized the first run to La Paz.

In 1977 the race destination was changed to Cabo San Lucas so competitors wouldn't have to make the long northward leg back up to La Paz. A change this year is the finish at Cabo Falso located at the western end of Cabo San Lucas, which sits at the southernmost tip of Baja. This will eliminate the dreaded light winds in the final run to the finish line.

Race information is available at: www.lbyc.org .

Daily satellite position reports are available at: www.iboattrack.com .