On Board Report

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Down Mexico Way

Our good friend Billy Bob is on the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta race, and here are a couple of reports. Bte, the race has pretty cool tracking graphics you might want to check out.

The other race happening now off shore is the Puerta Vallarta Yacht Race. I am happy to be reporting from the yacht Peligroso, a 70' Tim Kernan designed Dencho built carbon sled. To be part of a crew on a boat like this is quite an honor that not many people have ever experienced or ever will.

The race started with some wind and has now fizzled to almost nothing. We are now into day two and are running neck and neck with Scout Spirit as we all felt they were going to be our nearest competition. At the moment we are crossing jibes off of the Cedros Islands in 8 kts of breeze. Magnitude 80 has launched and the rest are in check. We are looking for a Tuesday finish but most likely it will be Wednesday for us. I constantantly get shit for reporting to Sailing Anarchy because it's a "liberal" rag but then so am I!

We are sailing with some of the best guys in the business and are having a great race. I don't want to say how many of these Mexican races I have done but I never get tired of sailing down the Baja peninsula with a well prepped boat with the best professionals in the world. We are all looking forward to getting there and putting our egos on the go cart track and stuffing each other into the tires. Oh well, if I get another opportunity to mail you something closer to the finish I will but I got to go work on the golden blanket award.

Day 2
Day two the wind has gone super lite. Still cold last night but warmed up today. Sea temp about 64. Seas are flat, and I mean flat, but the wind has averaged between 6 and 10 kts. Absolute perfect conditions for delivering the boat home but for setting a record.... maybe next time? In our fleet Magnitude 80 has launched and has about a 60 mile lead on us today but we have everyone else in check. We are currently protecting the outside offshore route and are hoping for the best. We will see tomorrow at role call. I can tell you one thing for certain; if we had a contest for best prepared food we would be winning by miles as our cooks slave in the galley up to 10 hours a day pushing out fine culinary delights.

Last night and today we have been treated to two of the most beautiful sunrises and sets along with large kelp patties with more fish than Sea World. There have also been several good sized turtles swimming about the patties. It's not very often that you have perfectly clear skies with no cloud,s but last night when a star would rise or fall on the horizon we would have to do a double check that it wasn't a stern light of our competition (wierd). All for now, maybe tomorrow!

Cheers Out.

02/27/06 Top

The Life

Billy Bob goes to Puerto Vallarta. Slowly.

Another light day. Having a great tactical battle with Scout Spirit, swapping the lead back and forth for best of the rest (or second in other words to Magnitude 80). Every day at role call they are just a mile or two in front of us with us gaining an advantage soon after every day. Every jibe has been up to the point of cross no cross jibe away before someone in ahead or behind. Both boats are being sailed extremely well but there is going to be a finish and someone is going to lose. As we feel it's going to be them I am sure they feel it's going to be us. Wait, I have to have another bite of my root beer float (mmm that was good). Love this yacht racing!

We are closely approaching Cabo for what is considered one treacherous corner of the race rot with the danger of sitting in a hole while the competition sails off into the sunset. There has not been one cloud in the sky for the entire race which is quite unusual but it has been cool temperatures with beautiful green flashes at sun rise and sun sets (the guys were saying it must be a acid flashback until this morning when yes they all saw it). Who says we are not all mutants enjoying another light cocktail? We always seem to be full throttle. While writing this shot message we have done two spinnaker changes and one root beer float Whew.

Earlier today we were treated to a lovely conversation between DC and the Coast Guard on channel 16. God we were on the floor laughing our asses off. Must have some good adult beverages on that boat Mongoose. We also tip our tip our pennant to you DC Americas Cup skipper!

I got to get back to the rhythm of the race so out for now

Cheers,
Billy Bob

02/28/06 Top

Across the Gulf and to the Whip,
a Close Finish

The lee of Baja peninsula is vast and to negotiate it, tricky. A mind field of holes and changing wind directions;usually the most difficult part of the race to call. This year's race was no exception. As Magnitude, the biggest fastest boat in our class, is 130 miles ahead at this time it's critically important that we get it right. Poking into the lee and watching the wind drop is nerve wracking. After 18hrs we came out unscathed and holding our own against the competition, setting ourselves up for a finishing angle that would only become a winning angle in the last miles of a 1,000+ mile race.

With all the jangling, the back and forth swaps of the lead between Scout Spirit and ourselves (Peligroso), it came down to the last three miles. Twenty miles out it was still very much in doubt. For us a boat for boat beating of them would have been a small victory but as we owed them a quarter of an hour on corrected to beat them on time would be the ultimate. For us it came down to be positioned to leeward with a building pressure filling from our side first and a clocking wind favoring our position. In those last miles we had all the cards and it would have taken a pretty big bluff from Scout Spirit for them to put us down. We bet the farm and the cows wanted to stay at home. As the wind agonizingly turned our way after a short glass off Scout Spirit was in trouble. Peligroso had gone from slightly behind to even and with every raising of the puck further ahead. At five miles to go we had to negotiate some small islands/rocks that at best are sketchy on Mexican charts. There were a few nail biting moments as we sailed between them with a man up the rig looking for shallower water. When we passed relief and victory were closer for us to achieve. The pressure rising and shifting our way even further we could smell a boat for boat victory. With two miles to go they still had us handily on corrected time as we owed them a quarter of an hour but for some unexplained reason the wind dropped from 11 to 8 kts just after we crossed the line. The victory was ours! As we watched their finish our elation went from a job well done for just beating them b for b to a corrected time victory not only against them but the rest of our class as well. Big smiles and happy hugs; the world was our for this brief moment.

As in a lot of races there are other classes but I don't really feel it's fair to them or us at the fastest level to honestly say we were racing them. The starts on different days, the light winds and the professional level at which we sail separate us enough. I know they may have every right to say they may have beat the big boys but to me it's just not that important. We won our class in the same size boats that all started together and to be truthful I haven't been to race headquarters to see any results and don't intend to. I am sure you can all look it up on the SDYC web site.

I would like to say good sailing to all the finishers of all the classes and a special shout out to Magnitude for being the biggest boat by far and holding on to finish first. We saw Ragtime dropped out. Sad to see Rags being such a back marker as I have many fond memories of being first on that boat.

Cheers,

Billy Bob

03/06/06 Top