Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Rippin to PV


Photo posted by Nicole Means
Day 3 of the PV race on Alchemy. Top boatspeed 31 kts.

EARLY WEDNESDAY UPDATE
It's 3:30 in the morning and Akela's crew is at the bar at Vallarta Yacht Club after their record breaking race down to PV. Margaritas & cervezas tide them over as they discuss the 30 kt speeds they sailed and waves they plowed through, awaiting the arrival of their main competition of Div 1, Peligroso, who will arrive at Paradise Village early Wednesday AM.

With a few days to recooperate from the Vallarta Race and prepare for MEXORC, the crew is looking forward to a day of leisure mixed in with boat clean up and prep.

Pete Heck praised the course run by Navigator Ernie Richau. Looking back to 2008, Ernie guided Magnitude 80 to the previous fastest time down the 1000 nm course only to break it this year with Akela. Akela's early decision to break out west after Division 1 boats had passed Ensenada proved to be a strong move as other boats caught one of the few flat points of the race.

TUESDAY UPDATE
The big news on Tuesday was the withdrawal from the race by Pendragon VI due to a boat issue (undisclosed at this time). The crew is safe in Cabo. It is undecided if they will make the trip under motor to PV to join the festivities. Escort Vessel Coley D spent the night in Cabo as well, and will be looking at a Thursday arrival in PV.

Back to the racers, the wind has been strong and consistent through the night and has allowed all boats to maintain speed near or above 10 kts at every ping by the Race Tracker. Some boats have hit readings of 17+ kts and likely went higher during the race. The possibility of a record breaking race by Akela or Peligroso is still in play. While we can't see their progress via the tracker, they are approx 150 nm from the finish. http://www.sdyc.org/pv/