Today’s Photos of the Day come from last
Saturday’s Master Mariners Regatta on San Francisco Bay. Managing
Editor John Riise, who was out photographing the event, summarized
it this way: “It was a lovely day for the Master Mariners,
but it rarely blew even 15 knots. On the other hand, the wind
was even warm for a change. 62 participating boats was a little
off from previous years, but it was still a terrific event.”
The sixth annual Spinnaker Cup, co-hosted
by Monterey Peninsula YC and San Francisco YC on Friday, May
28, was easily the best one ever – perfect weather, a record
number of entries (58, compared to 49 last year), and a new course
record. Mark Jones’ Andrews-designed TP-52 Flash hit a
top speed of 22.7 knots while sailing the 88-mile course in 7
hours, 53 minutes – knocking 4 minutes, 32 seconds off Pegasus
77‘s 1999 record. Most of the fleet pulled into Monterey
between 10 pm and 2 am, and MPYC’s hospitable little clubhouse
rocked into the wee hours.
Roller Coaster, Big Boat Class Winner
Equity Kicker and Surfer Girl (2nd in Big Boat
Class)
The inside route was the way to go this
year, with winds up to 30 knots reported off Año Nuevo
and Davenport versus just 15-20 knots five miles further out.
Class winners were Roller Coaster (SC 50, Jack Gordon), Scorpio (Wylie 42, John Siegel), Shaman (Cal 40,
Steve Waterloo), Desperado (Express 27, Mike Bruzzone)
and Sleeping Dragon (Hobie 33, Mark Halman). The latter
boat, which sailed doublehanded, was also the overall winner.
See www.mpyc.org
for full results.
Equity Kicker
Emily Carr
Onboard Morpheus
Photos Latitude/Rob
Tom Kulinski Killed in Car Accident
June 2 – Bay Area
“Tom Kulinski died in a car accident last Wednesday night,
two days before the Spinnaker Cup in which he was the backbone
of the team on the Beneteau 40.7 White Fang,” reports
Patty Lin. “The skipper and crew decided to continue the
race as that is what Tom would have wanted. Tom’s death left
a hole in the team, as he was core talent, inspiration, planner,
crew and boat manager for the boat. Tom was very much looking
forward to participating in next month’s West Marine Pacific
Cup to Hawaii. Tom raced on many other boats in the Bay Area,
including the Melges 24 Light Brigade, the Wylie Wabbit Dust Bunny, and Lightnings. A service was held
for Tom in Dixon on June 1.”
Cruising Alaska Instead of Winning
the Pacific Cup
June 2 – Northern British Columbia
This year’s West Marine Pacific Cup – the
first boats start on June 28 – is going to be a fine one. It’s
almost a given that the 140-ft Mari-Cha IV will set an
elapsed-time record. Nonetheless, the number of entries is down
to 56 boats, and the following letter – written from Prince Rupert,
British Columbia, on May 31, is a partial explanation of why
that’s the case. It was written by Skip Allan, owner of the Capitola-based
Wylie 28 Wildflower, which won class and fleet honors
in the last Pacific Cup.
Skip Allan of Wildflower on the left
“Wildflower and I are in northern
British Columbia, about to cross into Alaskan waters. I crossed
tracks with SAM, Tom and Sharon Alexander’s Garica 49
that took second in class in fifth overall in the last Pacific
Cup. Sharon delivered SAM up the coast. But I put Wildflower
onto a trailer to Anacortes, and came up I-5 in 48 hours. I’ll
sail her home to Santa Cruz later this summer. Cruising Alaska
has always been on my “to do list.” So we are doing
it. Sailboats are in the minority up here, as 9 out of 10 are
powerboats. I will keep my eyes and ears open for a story, but
the guy who did Alaska in the Montgomery 18, as reported on in
the last two issues, would be really hard to top.”
In other words, sailors go in cycles, from wanting to race, to
wanting to cruise.
Wildflower‘s interior
SAM heading out the Gate
Photos Courtesy Wildflower
Profligate‘s
Regress Complete
June 2 – San Francisco Bay
Finishing up extremely strong, Profligate was back on
the Bay in time to sail on Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day
Weekend. It was great to be back sailing in such a spectacularly
beautiful urban environment – especially since it was so warm
on those two days. Here’s a recap of her return trip from Antigua
to San Francisco:
Antigua to Panama: 1,150 miles in 5.5 days. It mostly blew 18
to 22 knots, always from aft, with lumpy seas. The surfing opportunities
were endless, and during this leg the cat hit her highest speed
ever of 25.3 knots. (The Wanderer got off in Panama, at which
point Doña de Mallorca was co-captain with Bruce Ladd
to Puerto Vallarta, and co-captain with Roberto Sutherland the
rest of the way to San Francisco. Other crew on the Pacific side
included John Pettitt, Wayne Bingham, Ian MacLean, and Jim Milski.
Everyone got along extremely well.)
Atlantic side of Canal to Pacific side of Canal – six hours.
Rapid transit!
Panama to Nicaragua: 698 miles in 3.5 days. Five-hour pit stop.
Nicaragua to Acapulco: 780 miles in 4 days. 12-hour pit stop.
Acapulco to P.V.: 436 miles in 2.5 days. 12-hour pit stop.
P.V. to Cabo: 320-miles in 36 hours. 26-hour pit stop.
Cabo to San Diego (with four hours in Turtle Bay):
730-miles in five days. Four-hour pit stop.
San Diego to San Francisco – 451 miles in 48 hours.
At one-month-to-the-day from Antigua to San Francisco, it was
clearly an extremely fast trip. Some of the reasons were consistent
following winds down to the Canal, then flat seas and light headwinds
from Panama to San Francisco. Doña de Mallorca reports
the strongest winds on the way up from Panama were 25 knots –
right under the Golden Gate Bridge! It was calm all the way from
Panama to Puerto Vallarta. From P.V. to Cabo, and from Cabo to
San Diego, it blew 20 knots at the most, but was usually much
lighter. The biggest seas were 6 to 10 feet along the Baja Coast,
but only for a relatively short time. From Panama to San Francisco,
the idea was to motor all the time to beat the June 1 start of
the Eastern Pacific hurricane season. As it was, Tropical Storm Agatha kicked up two weeks before the start of the season
and chased Profligate shortly after she left Puerto Vallarta.
Commander’s Weather played a significant role in the rapid delivery.
Specifically, when Agatha, which was to blow as high as
55 knots, began to form, Commander’s gave the okay to leave Cabo
for San Diego. Commander’s was also critical in the fast trip
from San Diego to San Francisco. We planned to spend some time
in Southern California having fun and waiting for a weather window,
but when Commander’s reported there was a 2.5-day window along
the Central California coast, the decision was made to jam north.
Having rounded Conception and Sur in flat seas and no wind, Profligate
made it inside the Gate just as 25-knot winds were starting to
blow and the seas were starting to build. Had she not made it
into the Bay then, it would have been days before there was an
even marginal opportunity to come north. So much of the fast
trip can be attributed to luck and the fact that the weather
routers were there to identify the windows.
For the record, Profligate is powered by two 56-hp Yanmar
diesels which, because speed was more critical than fuel economy,
were both run at the same time. They burned 1.5 gallons of fuel
per hour. What lessons can be drawn from this trip? 1) Unless
you have a very fast boat with a relentless delivery crew, it’s
crazy to think you could leave California at the end of the Mexican
hurricane season and make it to the Eastern Caribbean before
the reinforced trades start for the winter. It’s a two-season
deal – although you could make it to the Western Caribbean by
late in that first season. 2) If you’re going from the Eastern
Caribbean to California, you should leave the Caribbean for the
Canal by April 1. 3) Weather routing services can be extremely
helpful, as is the means of commuicating with the service. 4)
For maximum sailing pleasure and the best weather, don’t have
any time contraints.
In the larger world of sailing, the big
news is that the Transat Singlehanded Race the ‘wrong way’ across
the Atlantic started from England over the weekend headed for
a finish at Boston. There are 37 entries, with most of the attention
on the 60-ft trimarans and the Open 60 monohulls. Despite the
fact that the course is over 4,000 miles, many of the boats were
over the starting line early.
