PV09 Series - Barking Spider bites Rose of Sharon

by Rich Roberts on 10 Feb 2009 Three minutes, 22 seconds---that's how much David Kory's Barking Spider, a Catalina 36 MK2, corrected out on Byron Chamberlain's Rose of Sharon, a 50-foot, 79-year-old wooden schooner, to win Race 3 of Del Rey Yacht Club's PV09 International Race Series to Puerto Vallarta, presented by Corum Swiss Timepieces.

For the first time in the series the computations did not involve motoring time. Although the rules allow a boat to use its engine and pay a penalty when wind is so light that its sailing speed drops below its assigned 'Cross-Over' speed, none of that applied to this next-to-last leg. The wind was so good on the 172-nautical mile off-wind run from Magdalena Bay to Puerto Los Cabos that nobody powered up.

So the unique scoring system developed for the series seems to work in retaining the integrity of a sailing contest. Barking Spider also won the first two races on overall corrected handicap time when everybody motored part of the time, although the Spider far less than anyone.

'I think everybody else is starting to learn,' Kory said. '[A skipper] came to me before Race 3 and said, 'Hey, what's the secret? What are you doing?' And I said, 'Well, we're just sailing.' It's real easy to get lazy when you're just motoring. You won't check every 15 minutes to see if there's wind yet. We'll throttle back and check for wind about every half-hour.'

None of that was necessary for Race 3.

'We had a heck of a ride last night,' Kory said. 'The 20-to-30-knot winds they predicted showed up. We spent more than two hours [at a speed of] over 8 knots on a Catalina 36 … some sustained surfing at 10 to 11. We set a speed record for the boat … 11.2 [knots]. We hit it four times. We had some squalls go through, kind of like a Transpac. Just unbelievable.'

But would anyone expect Rose of Sharon to be his closest rival and perhaps the greatest threat to a four-race sweep of the series when the 14 boats start Race 4 Tuesday, 286 n.m. across the Gulf of California to Puerto Vallarta on the mainland?

'Rose of Sharon is a fast boat,' Kory said. 'They were keeping up with Jungle Jim.'

Boat for boat, the Rose was the fourth fastest of all boats and beat the Spider by about a half-hour, but the latter nipped him on the numbers. The seldom-raced schooner was assigned its first PHRF rating for this event. Who would have thought a boat that old could be so fast?

'[Chamberlain] knows he has a great rating,' Kory said, laughing. 'On some points of sail, like dead downwind, we’re faster than they are, but they can fly five sails at a time.'

The Non-Spinnaker A and B boats did not race this leg, instead devoting their efforts to a fishing tournament en route.

CORUM is an independent, family owned company producing high-quality and prestigious Swiss watches since 1955. The Admiral’s Cup collection, along with the complete CORUM line, may be seen at www.CORUM.ch

Race 3 results
(172 n.m. to Puerto Los Cabos; final numbers for motor hours / elapsed time in hours / corrected time in hours )

Spinnaker-A
1. Carmagnole (Beneteau First 45), Dan Howard, DRYC, MH 0.00 / ET 23.7253 / CT 22.5786.
2, Amazing Grace (Farr 55), James Puckett, Del Rey YC, 0.00 MH / ET 23.4150 / CT 22.8417.
3. Dare (Beck 60), Bob Kettenhofen, Balboa YC, MH 0.00 / ET 21.9953 / CT 23.2853.
4. Felícita (J/120), Perry Peters, Arizona YC, Phoenix, MH 0.00 / ET 27.7167 / CT 25.9967.

Spinnaker-B
1. Barking Spider (Catalina 36 MK2), David Kory, Point Richmond, Calif., MH 0.00 / ET 25.0367 / CT 18.1567.
2. Rose of Sharon (Burgess 59), Byron K. Chamberlain, Newport Harbor YC, MH 0.00 / ET 24.5194 / CT 18.2128.
3. Jungle Jim (Jeanneau 49), Jim Maslon, DRYC, MH 0.00 / ET 25.2447 / CT 21.9481.
4. Tranquility (Beneteau First 40.7, Max Lynn, Santa Barbara YC, (withdrawn).

Non-Spinnaker A and B classes fishing, not racing

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