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Photos of the DayJune 20 - San Diego  (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) Pyewacket's 'plastic surgery' gave her a new silhouette. © 2007 Scott Easom Today's Photos of the Day are of Roy Disney's 'new' Volvo 100-ish Pyewacket, all primed to crush the monohull elapsed-time record in next month's TransPacific Yacht Race. You might remember that she started life as a MaxZ86 and, after the last TransPac, was donated to the School of Sailing and Seamanship at Orange Coast College. Disney's next venture was the Morning Light project, in which a group of young sailors will be racing a TP52 in this year's TransPac for a feature film he's doing on the subject. He was so inspired by the kids that he decided to do another TransPac himself, with a much modified Pyewacket. It's not as if the boat wasn't fast before. We were lucky enough to race on her last summer in the Long Point Series from Newport to Catalina and back. Even then, she'd sail upwind at 11 knots in just six knots of wind, and would close reach at 17-18 knots in just 16 knots of true wind. It was amazing. But think what she'll do now that: 1) The front half of the boat was cut off and replaced, increasing her hull length from 86 feet to 96 feet; 2) Her new rig is 145 feet tall; 3) A closely monitored diet resulted in her shedding 7,000 pounds; 4) She's sprouted 8-ft wide deck-level wings; and 5) Her forward rudder has been replaced by two asymmetrical dagger boards amidships, and her full-length 18.5-ft keel foil has been put back on. Sailing team member Scott Easom, who did all of the running rigging for the 'new' and 'old' versions of the boat, and will be part of the TransPac crew, describes the new Pyewacket as being like a Volvo 100. Pyewacket went out sailing for the first time last weekend, and reports are that the results are right on target, as the boat was doing about 14 knots in 8 to 12 knots of wind. Even if the weather conditions for next month's TransPac aren't ideal, it's hard to see her not smashing the elapsed-time record for monohulls.  A
maxi with wings.© 2007 Scott Easom Some people are griping about Disney making a mess out of the TransPac by engaging in an arms race. We're not buying it. It's been a long time since well-to-do owners have been willing to agree on a top limit on boats, so what he's doing isn't anything new, it's just to a greater degree. As Disney has been one of the great guys in sailing, and in the TransPac in particular, we think everybody should stop whining - and after this year's TransPac, try to get everybody to agree to an upper limit. - latitude / rs |
Summer Sailstice Is This WeekendJune 20 - Clipper Cove Summer Sailstice returns to Clipper Cove
this weekend with the Treasure Island Sailing Center hosting
the largest Summer Sailstice event in the region. The event is a fund-raiser for TISC's community sailing programs giving, among many activities, introductory sailing lessons to more than 600 kids every year! For complete information on all the activities, ticket pricing and silent auction information, visit www.tisailing.org. Registering your plans for this global celebration of sailing will automatically enter you in a contest to win one of hundreds of great prizes, including a free one-week BVI charter with The Moorings, a Hobie Odyssey Kayak, an Achilles inflatable tender, a sail at one of Sailtime's 30 bases and lots more! For more info or to register, go to www.summersailstice.com. - latitude / ja |
Help Wanted Ad: West Marine VP MarketingJune 20 - Watsonville West Marine is looking for a creative and innovative CRM savvy VP of Marketing/Chief Marketing Officer to be a member of the Executive Committee of West Marine, which is responsible for the strategy and execution of initiatives that drive long and short term growth. This person will work closely with our dynamic team of senior leaders to develop and implement marketing strategies aligning the company's brand, products, and multi-channel business with key segments of boating. Significant boating and marketing experience is essential. If you want to work in a fun and challenging environment and align your love of boating with your vocation, or know someone who fits the bill, please email Becky Stein. |
Not an American to Be Found? Better Look CloserJune 20 - Palma de Mallorca, Spain Reader Chris Tucker just returned from a "glorious week of chartering" in Mallorca, the largest of Spain's Balearic Islands. "There was not an American to be found anywhere, which was certainly a breath of fresh air," he said. "Coming back to Palma, we found out that it was the maxi racing weekend, which made for quite a show, including these two boats tied up at the dock. The one on the left is Maltese Falcon, the one on the right is Limitless."  The
football-field-length Maltese Falcon snuggles up to 315-ft
Limitless in Palma.© 2007 Chris Tucker You're right about the boats being Falcon and Limitless. Latitude readers know that Falcon is owned by Belvedere's Tom Perkins, that it's 289 feet long and has the unique DynaRig. Not as many may know that the 315-ft Limitless was built by Leslie Wexner of Columbus, Ohio, in '97, and is generally considered to be the yacht that started the megayacht trend. For several years it was the largest private yacht in the world.  Just
how big is Falcon? Compare her to the other 130-ft boats
racing against her in the Superyacht Cup race in Palma.© 2007 Kos Photography For those of you who love to hate the rich, consider that both Perkins and Wexner started with nothing. In fact, when Perkins started out with Hewlett-Packard, he had a special arrangement with them that allowed him to work nights at his own company based on University Avenue in Berkeley. While he worked on developing lasers, he shared a loft with a guy who made life-size psychedelic colored gorillas out of papier-mache and Augustus Owsley Stanley III, who back then was known for making the best LSD in the world. This info comes from Mine's Bigger, David A. Kaplan's soon-to-be released terrific book on Perkins, Falcon, and the other super sailing yachts of recent years. As for Wexner, he started out with $5,000 to open a small clothing store in Ohio. He grew his company and, lately, one of the biggest profit centers has been Victoria's Secret. Who knew you could make so much money getting into young women's knickers?  The
center boat is NorCal-based Janice of Wyoming whose owner
prefers to remain anonymous.© 2007 Kos Photography It turns out there were a number of Americans in Palma when Tucker was there, because it was the Superyacht Cup Palma 2007. In fact, if you thought the really big sailing event in Europe this summer was the America's Cup in Valencia, you were mistaken. The really big event was actually the Superyacht Cup, as a total 52 sailboats, all but a couple over 100 feet - the biggest being Falcon - went at it in a series of three fun races and lots of high-end social activities. Northern California boats that participated were Falcon and the 128-ft Dubois designed Janice of Wyoming, whose owner prefers not to be identified. There was tremendous variety in the fleet, as it included two J Class Yachts, including the American-owned Ranger, classics such as Elenora, various Wallys, two boats named Kokomo, and Hasso Plattner's Baltic 145 Visione. Now that the fun regatta is over, all the boats can head back to Valencia for the start of the America's Cup action. - latitude / rs |
Hey, Buddy. Wanna Buy an Island?June 20 - San Francisco Bay Bay Area sailors know Red Rock as a major landmark in the North Bay and now, if you're so inclined, you can buy it. Owned since 1964 by former San Francisco resident David Glickman - who bought it for $49,500 with the hopes of whacking off the top and building a casino - Red Rock is the only privately owned island in the Bay.  The
Bay's only privately owned island can be had for a measly $10
mil.Photo Latitude / JR © 2007 Latitude 38 Publishing, Inc. Glickman, who now lives in Bangkok, is getting on in years and would like to leave his family a comfortable inhertance. To that end, Glickman is asking a mere $10 million for the six-acre hunk of manganese - a bargain for prime San Francisco waterfront real estate. Unfortunately, Red Rock is the intersecting point for three counties and two cities, so any developments would likely take years and miles of red tape to get approval. - latitude / ld |
Women's Circuit Takes It on the RoadJune 20 - Northern California Starting this weekend, a quartet of out-of-SF Bay races occupy the unofficial Women's Circuit for the remainder of June and July. They begin with this Saturday's Lady and the Tramp Regatta on Folsom Lake, next Sunday's Ladies Day Regatta on Monterey Bay, July 15's Jack & Jill Race on the San Joaquin River, and July 22's Women's Regatta on Lake Tahoe. These are 'counters' for Latitude 38's 2007 Women's Challenge. So put some miles under your keel - or borrow someone else's - and get out there! June 23: Lady & the Tramp Regatta,
FLYC, Mark Eldrich, (916) 685-4869, www.flyc.org For details on the just-for-fun Women's Challenge, contact Christine Weaver. - latitude / cw |
