Latest News
February 25, 2008 UPDATE:
Mark Rudiger's Audiocast is up for Monday. See how Holua is doing with the solid wind approaching Cabo.
Hola from Puerto Vallarta and Vallarta Yacht Club!
Looking at the Race Tracker and the Roll Call sheets, there are some sea stories being generated out off Baja California. Looking at the Roll Call sheets, Magnitude generated a 361 nm 24 hours run. That is a 15 kt average over 24 hours. Even the Columbia 30 Uncontrollable Urge put up a 200 nm 24 hour day. There are some rumors of round downs, blown kites and who knows what else.
So what do all the numbers mean –
If you click on “Results” from the top of the page you will see two sheets. The “Roll Call” sheets are from the Coley D, which is the escort boat. This sheet shows most importantly the Lat/Lon for each boat. Secondly, it shows the “Dst2Go” or Distance to Go. The leaders are just under half way down the 1000 mile course.
The other POS report is the sheet that we use to generate the results…at the end of the race. Since this event is being scored “Time on Time”, it is important to keep two things in mind – 1. There is no ‘distance’ factor in the corrected time. 2. The results cannot be truly figured until we have everyone ‘in the club house’. IMPORTANT NOTE: The “PSN (POSTION) – CL (CLASS) & FL (FLEET) in the roll call sheet is entirely incorrect. These results are based on PHRF numbers that were generated to simply make the program and fleet order appear correctly.
The other interesting info on the Roll Call sheet is the weather info at the bottom.
So the story here is, if Magnitude can keep the pace up while she sails across the Sea of Cortez, has a real shot at the Elapsed Time record for this race. We hope she does. Her tracking device is not working properly, and SRM is hot on her heels. If you do see Magnitude’s position plotted on the FIS tracker, it’s because the good people at FIS are plotting the 0800 reports.
February 24, 2008 UPDATE:
Listen to Mark Rudiger's Audiocast, aboard Holua as they remain within sight of OEX.
The Division 3 boats are the last boats to transit a band of westerly breeze that splits as it hits the Baja coast. Up to now, they have been beating into a stream of southerly or southwesterly wind that bends northward. But within the next 6 to 12 hours they will be moving into a flow that makes westerly or northwesterly wind. Whatever great sailing they experience between now and the finish, they will surely have earned. The Division 2 and 1 boats will probably be overtaking the Division 4 boats sometime during Sunday night. Everyone seems to be making excellent boat speed as of their 2/24/08 1630 FIS Race Tracker update.
We have reports from FIS that Magnitude 80, and occasionally Valkyrie, experienced trouble with their trackers, appearing to have some electronic device switched on that is interfering with the GPS transmissions. The devices can be recognized by the satellites, but cannot be properly read. We are working on a solution. In the mean time, all boats have been meeting their 0800 Roll Call obligation. Their Lat/Long can be found on the Results link. This position is updated once a day between 9 and 11 am.
NOTE: The SDYC race office will be in transit itself tomorrow flying from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta. Race updates will be delayed in getting posted. Please visit the FIS Race Tracker site for the most up to date information. Jeff and Jared will be available all week by email.
February 23, 2008 UPDATE:
SATURDAY START PHOTOS
So you’ve read about the party Friday night – rumored to have been ‘one of the best in the last 35 years at the club’. It was great – and darn if the Saturday start didn’t turn out to be just as much fun.
While it looked a little grim at 11 am with the wind barely lifting tell-tales from the south, like the crowd that grew on Shelter Island to watch, as 1200 approached everything seemed to fall into place. The wind kicked in to a really nice 10 – 12 kt southwesterly so the boats could fetch the open ocean, the Police boat “Pt. Loma” was in place to send the fleet off with a hail of water, the mariachi band was cranking out the ‘rancheras’, …and off they went.
The seven Division 3 boats left exactly at 1200. The America’s Cup replica yacht “America” was flying her huge American flag, and downtown San Diego with the mountains nicely visible in the background highlighting America’s finest city. There was some early jockeying and tacking to get sorted out on the channel runway to the ocean.
The four Division 2 boats went off next at 1210. The breeze was holding nicely and with a little more room to maneuver, they all were able to crack off just a little on their way to sea.
And last, but often foremost – the Division 1 boats hit the line at 1220. Just keeping up with them in the power boat doing 12 and 13 kts is exciting. They knife through the water with such little fuss. Point Loma looming in the background, sun glinting off the water – it was beautiful. You should check out the photos from the start, then click on the FIS Race Tracker to see how they’re all keeping up.
Saturday night will likely be a very different story. The southwesterly is likely to break down tonight as the front arrives and the rain returns. The breeze will back to the south, and pick up, as will the precipitation. So while you snuggle under the covers tonight and listen to the rain starting to pelt the windows and see the trees swaying in the breeze, think about these guys coming on watch, clipping in to the safety harnesses and driving their boat through the bounding seas…and dream.
February 22, 2008 UPDATE:
FRIDAY NIGHT PHOTOS
Who is Finley?
Friday began with high winds and what San Diego calls "a torential downpour" (meaning it was drizzling, and mostly lightly). So the crews made their final preparations and stocking of boat equipment in the wet weather. But by the afternoon the rain had passed and Friday evening turned out to be calm and clear.
SDYC hosted an epic party Friday night for the boat crews, friends, family and club members. Finley was the donkey who made his way into the clubhouse for a few hours to party with SDYC. The party also featured Federales at the gate and club entrance, a Mariachi band playing throughout the night, tortillas made from scratch, a wide spread of all sorts of San Diego's famous Mexican food, lots of Tequila and Margaritas, and a great time for all.
The report back Friday morning from Coley D, the Communications vessel was that they had a rocky night on the rolling seas on their way to Ensenada where they stopped for fuel and to complete their immigration paperwork. Coley D is not a small powerboat, so we wish the best of luck to the 4 sailboats that were out there Friday, especially Uncontrollable Urge, the Columbia 30 with just about no place to hide. But the UU crew is experienced as they completed Transpac just last year.
Division 1, 2, and 3 boats are prepared to start the race at noon Saturday (12:00 = Div 2, 12:10 = Div 2, 12:20 = Div 1), with spectators on Shelter Island (near Buoy 17) sending them off once again.
February 21, 2008 UPDATE:
PV Rating Sheet now available.
And they’re off…
The first four boats in the 2008 San Diego to Puerto Vallarta International ‘Vallarta Race’ set off for Puerto Vallarta today. Starting in a moderate (8-10 kts) east/southeast breeze and on a strong ebb tide, three ORR Division 4 boats and a single ‘Performance Cruiser’ hit the line at 1200 sharp.
Ernie Doizaki’s 78’ Dashew blue-water design ‘Beowulf’ was a little slow out of the blocks, but after clearing Point Loma, she was reported on the FIS Tracker doing 7 – 8 kts and heading offshore, where no doubt, she is most comfortable . As the lone ‘Performance Cruiser’, the pressure is off within his class, but Doizaki will still be watching the progress of the Div 4 race boats fully half his length.
In that department, there is likely to be some close sailing. Condor, a Columbia 50 owned by Chicago’s Lindy Thomas and sailed by a mostly ‘Chi-town’ crew took the start right at the pin on starboard. Ducking his transom were the other two Div 4 competitors Super Gnat and Uncontrollable Urge. Super Gnat, a Beneteau 40.7, is owned by SDYC’s Cliff Thompson and is being sailed by Cliff, his daughter MaryAnn Hopper, her husband ‘AnJohn’ and several of their neighbors from Dallas Texas where they are from. They were a spirited group at the Kick-Off party the night before. Urge, a Columbia 30 is the ‘short ship’ of the fleet, and owned by James and Chris Gilmore from Silvergate YC in San Diego. They are not new to distance sailing and freely admitted to finishing ‘last’ in last year’s Transpac race. Regardless, they have some solid ocean miles under their keel, and will likely be putting that experience to good use here this week. They weren’t more than two boat lengths apart from Super Gnat at the start, and watching the FIS Tracker, after six hours, appear to still be nearly on top of each other.
For the fans back home, you can follow the boats on the FIS Tracking webpage. New this year, the site includes several new features including wind direction and barometric isobars which will highlight conditions the boats are experiencing and maybe help explain some of reasoning behind their tracks down the coast. Their positions are reported every three hours with no delay.
Saturday will mark the start for the rest of the 19 boat fleet as the Division 3, 2 and 1 boats get underway. Their start area will also be off Shelter Island. Division 3 will start at 1200, Division 2 at 1210 and Division 1 at 1220.
February 20, 2008 UPDATE:
SDYC Sends Off the First 4 in Style
Wednesday night was the beginning of the festivities, as SDYC hosted the first four boats who will begin the race at noon on Thursday. Beowulf, Condor, Super Gnat and Uncontrollable Urge gathered around some drinks and new friends during a full moon lunar eclipse, just over 12 hours before their start.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT PHOTOS
