2022 Puerto Vallarta Race at San Diego Yacht Club - Day 3: All boats on the course
by San Diego Yacht Club 12 Mar 2022 16:16 PST
March 10-18, 2022
2022 Puerto Vallarta Race © Mark Albertazzi
If Friday's summary word-of-the race was "angles," Saturday's words are "VMC" or "Velocity Made on Course." Watching the Thursday Class 6 boats beat their way out of San Diego Bay in a southerly wind was a tough way to start a distance race. At 0800 Roll Call Saturday, they were generally passing San Carlos/Turtle Bay.
By contrast, the Friday Class 5, 4, and 3 boats got a nice westerly breeze that built through the evening and allowed them to fast reach directly toward the finish 1050nm away. Their 0800 boat positions are less than 100nm astern, about parallel to Guadalupe Island. Watching the YB Tracker, you can see the dramatic difference in course choices. By 0400 or 0500, the Friday boats started to gybe back toward the Baja coast and stay closer to the rhumbline, the most direct course to the finish.
All these weather factors and course choices are now showing up in the overall standings with the Friday classes populating the top of the list. The "slowest" rated boat in the Friday starters (Class 5 - Olson 40 Akaw!) is currently the projected leader after their first 20 hours on course. They are keeping up with the faster rated boats like Class 3's Rogers 46 Lucky Duck, who is projected 3rd overall. All the Friday class boats are within 30 miles of one another, making use of lots of passing lanes.
Saturday 0800 Standings Report available here.
The 0800 reports from the competitors shared a similarly fantastic night of sailing.
Ivan Batanov, Zero Gravity, Soto 40, Class 3:
"The first night was one of the best night-time sailing we've ever done. Fantastic downwind run in 16-18kn breeze with the boat fully powered up and under control. Everyone loved it so much that we did not have any time for old sailing stories. We had a close encounter with a 900ft cargo vessel which was moving at 1.5kn across our bow."
Roger Gatewood, Katara, J/145, Class 4:
"Champagne sailing! The kind of stuff they put on magazine covers!"
Wayne Zittel, J World's Hula Girl, Santa Cruz 52, Class 4:
"Wonderful conditions for the first day! One of our veterans of many Hawaii races has discovered the sweetness of the pleasant exit. I've withheld from him the fact that they are not all like this, but wow it's nice when they are!"
Nathalie Criou, Envolee, Beneteau Figaro 2, Class 6:
"Had a great night with 20 knot winds and dolphins playing around the boat. We almost had a really close crossing with another sailing vessel around 0400 until the incoming crew pointed out that it was a star. This made it much easier to avoid."
Saturday features the launch of the Class 1 and 2 boats with veteran Class 1 ocean racers like Roy P. Disney's modified Volvo 70 Pyewacket 70, Manouch Moshayedi's Bakewell White design Rio100 (monohull course record-holder), and Doug Baker's Dencho/Kernan 68 Peligroso. 2022 stands as Peligroso's 9th consecutive PV Race dating back to 2006, and includes 3x 1st in Class and 2x 1st Overall. Class 2 is composed of classics like the Santa Cruz 70s including Marchetta / Furey's Mirage and Jack Jennings' Pied Piper.
Follow the race tracker showing boat positions at 1-hour intervals with a 4-hour competitive delay at yb.tl/sdpv2022.