Corona del Mar to Cabo San Lucas Race countdown

by Rich Roberts on 27 Mar 2008
Look out, all you sailors in Balboa Yacht Club's biennial race from Corona del Mar to Cabo San Lucas starting this weekend---you’re on television.

Independent local station KDOC-TV will track the 37 boats’ last-minute preparations and sendoffs from the Thursday evening skippers meeting through the weekend’s starts. Highlights will be shown on KDOC-TV’s Daybreak OC weekday morning news show from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. starting Monday. Hosts are Pete Weitzner and Shally Zomorodi.

The 27 smaller, slower-rated boats will start the 800-nautical mile run to the tip of Baja California, Mexico on Friday, followed by the 10 larger chargers Saturday, both at noon. Besides TV, in another move to bring sailboat racing to the mainstream public the starts will be directly off the end of the Balboa Pier in front of the Original Ruby’s restaurant. Spectators are welcome at no charge.

Also, the 37 boats will be tracked continuously on the website iBoat, which has provided satellite positioning on the Internet for ocean races since 2005.

The finish line is off the beach in front of the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Hotel, a location also known as Cabo Falso, just before boats would turn the corner at the tip of the peninsula into Cabo San Lucas.

The fleet includes four-time America’s Cup winner Dennis Conner sailing his latest Stars & Stripes, a Farr 60, but the strongest boats loom to be the quartet in the Maxi Division: Doug Baker’s Magnitude 80, Jim Madden’s Stark Raving Mad III, Bob Lane’s Medicine Man and Mike Campbell and Dale Williams’ Peligroso.

Magnitude 80, an Andrews 80, has been on a roll over the past year, obliterating the 22-year-old record in last year’s Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta race by 31 hours and the 10-year-old record in last month’s San Diego to Vallarta race while finishing first in every other offshore event except last summer’s Transpacific Yacht Race. That time it ran second to Roy E. Disney’s Pyewacket but beat the larger boat on corrected handicap time to win Division 1 overall.

This time Mag 80 is trying to break its own record for the course off the Balboa peninsula to Cabo San Lucas set in 2005: 2 days 13 hours 26 minutes 58 seconds---an average speed of 13 knots (15 mph).

The downside is that Mag 80---powered by the latest technology with a canting keel system, forward dagger board and pivoting bow pole---usually owes handicap time to everyone else, offering an incentive to every other boat in the race, big or small, to 'beat Mag 80.'

Besides the usual Southern California standard PHRF and international ORR handicap systems, this race also will score the more prominent competitors on the evolving IRC method, including Madden’s Stark Raving Mad III, a late-model Reichel/Pugh 66.

Madden said, 'The recent PV race had 10 boats score under IRC, and we’re hoping to have at least that many score under IRC for Cabo. IRC is becoming more and more used for racing on the East Coast, where it made its U.S. debut; the Great Lakes and Northern California.

'Its advantages are that it’s an international measured rule, like ORR, but much simpler to use. Therefore, a boat’s IRC rating is the same anywhere in the world where IRC is used.

'IRC is not intended as a replacement to PHRF. Rather, it’s viewed as a complement–IRC is measured and international, so it is frequently used with larger boats and serious race programs. However, its use is growing into many other types of boats as well.'

Doug Campbell, the principal race officer, said, 'It is simple to work with from a [race committee] scoring standpoint. Second, it is a time-on-time system which I think is preferable to a time-on-distance handicap system. We’ll get a chance to compare in Cabo 2008. I do know that IRC has been hugely successful in Europe and has big ‘believers.’ They are evangelical about the system so I have to assume that it is either a very ‘fair’ system---or, it is very ‘fair’ to their boats when applied. We’ll see with time.'

All boats also will compete for overall handicap honors based on PHRF---among them Tom Garnier’s J/125, Reinrag2, the overall winner in the 2007 Transpac, and the Nauti Chicas all-woman team co-skippered by Sue Senescu and Terri Manok sailing Predator, a J/35, the second smallest boat in the fleet.

There are also three Santa Cruz 50s and four ultralight 70 types, all traditions of West Coast ocean racing.


KDOC-TV’s other sports features include the Stanley Cup defending champion Anaheim Ducks and other local teams, including Cal State Fullerton’s recent venture into the NCAA basketball tournament. The KDOC signal covers the Southern California area from Ventura to San Diego counties and is carried on all cable systems on channels 6, 12, 19 or 29. KDOC is also carried in the broadcast band on both DirecTV (channel 56) and Dish (channel 56).

A sendoff gala promising 'Mexican buffet, cheap drinks and good company' is scheduled Thursday evening at Balboa YC, following the skippers meeting. At Cabo San Lucas the Old Hacienda Hotel will host a poolside party late on the afternoon of Thursday, April 3, and trophies will be presented Friday, April, 4 at Tesoro Los Cabos.

Entries

Start Friday, March 28

CLASS B
Stealth Chicken (Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
Free Range Chicken (Perry 59), Bruce Anderson, Las Vegas
Bad Pak (J/145), Tom Holthus, San Diego
Mighty Tangaroa (Santa Cruz 50), Edward Ureno, Huntington Beach, Calif.
Fortaleza (Santa Cruz 50), Jim Morgan, Los Angeles
Horizon (Santa Cruz 50), Jack Taylor, Dana Point, Calif.
Reinrag2 (J/125), Thomas Garnier, Portland, Ore.
Rocket (Santa Cruz 50), Carl Fuller, Newport Beach
Bien Roulee (Andrews 39), Glenn Highland, Corona del Mar
Valkyrie (DK 46), Andy Rasdal, Pasadena.


CLASS C
Ho’okolohe (Farr 55), Alyson & Cecil Rossi, Novato, Calif.
Paddy Wagon (Ross 40), Richard Mainland, Los Angeles
Tango (J/133), Roy Jones, Corona del Mar
Magic (Beneteau 47.7), John Johnson, Sandy, Utah
Entropy (Tripp 41), Chris Hemans, Newport Beach
Adios (J/120), Peter Bretschger, Newport Beach
Resolute (J/122), Tim Fuller, Dana Point, Calif.
Katrina (Swan 53), Damon Guizot, Seward, Alaska
Aeolos (Beneteau 44.7), George Minardos, Santa Monica
Muneca (Beneteau 47.7), Paul Casanova, Corona del Mar


CLASS D
Reliance (Nelson/Marek 41), Bill McKeever, Grand Terrace, Calif.
Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52.2), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey, Calif.
Predator (J/35), Terri Manok/Sue Senescu, Oceanside, Calif.
Problem Child (B32), Dan Rossen, Newport Beach
Sabrina (Cal kens 50), Chris Calkins, San Diego
Wind Dancer (Catalina 42), Vance & P.K. Edwards, Ventura, Calif.
Tai Pan (Beneteau 50), Dale Dodge, Marina del Rey, Calif.

Start Saturday, March 29

MAXI CLASS
Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach
Stark Raving Mad (Reichel/Pugh 60), Jim Madden, Oyster Bay, N.Y.
Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Pico Rivera, Calif.
Peligroso (Dencho/Kernan 68), Mike Campbell/Dale Williams, Long Beach

CLASS A
Westerly (Santa Cruz 70), Tom Hogan, Newport Beach
Holua (Santa Cruz 70), Brack Duker, Pasadena
Stars & Stripes (Farr 60), Dennis Conner, San Diego
It’s OK (Andrews 50), Tres Gordos Sailing LLC, Covina, Calif.
Grand Illusion (Santa Cruz 70), Patrick O’Brien, Venice, Calif.
Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Long Beach

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