It looks as though Latitude’s great friend Jack van Ommen of the Gig Harbor, Washington-based Naja 30 Fleetwood will not make it “around the world in 80 years” as he had hoped. For in order to do that, he’d have to make it from the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal to an imaginary line between Trinidad and Cuba in about 10 days. Given how tough it is to sail upwind east from Panama during February — it’s blowing 22-27 knots in much of the area today — it wouldn’t be easy.

But with van Ommen having already cruised to nearly 60 countries on a 30-ft boat on a modest Social Security budget, who cares if he is a week or two late finishing his goal?

Having once thrived — and then floundered — in the timber business, van Ommen knows all about trees. While passing through Lake Gatun in the Canal, he spotted a familiar Guayacan tree.

“They bloom in January/February,” says van Ommen, “and produce the lignum vitae that has a natural lubricant. My grandfather, like a lot of other sailors, used it for the sheaves in wooden rigging blocks. And when I worked for a hardwood importer in California, we sold it to White Brothers in San Francisco, and they used it to make billy clubs for the San Francisco Police Department."

Ever since her first race, the February 2015 Caribbean 600, with new owner Lloyd Thornburg and new skipper Brian Thompson, the MOD70 trimaran Phaedo3 has been kicking ass. Like a bull in a china shop, she’s smashed one course record after another, in the Caribbean, back and forth across the Atlantic, in England, and in Europe.

If any boat/owner/skipper has set more significant course and race records in such a short time, or even in a career, we have no idea who that would be. While it’s true Phaedo3 often didn’t have significant competition, sometimes she did and she still did well. For example, she led start to finish to take a close victory in last year’s Caribbean 600 against a sistership. And in last year’s Transatlantic Race, she bested sailing legend Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati, a sistership with foils.

Given Thornburg’s passion for setting records, one of Phaedo3’s biggest challenges this spring will be just getting to the multihull start of the Newport to Cabo Race on March 12. The deal is that the Caribbean 600 doesn’t start until February 20. After way more than 600 hard-ass tradewind racing miles, Phaedo3 will have to be rushed 1,200 miles down to the Panama Canal, through the Canal, and about 2,600 miles north — including a Baja Bash — to Newport. She’s surely going to have to cover more than 4,000 miles in something like 17 days to get to the starting line.

After the Cabo race, Thornburg and Thompson will be doing the Transpac and going after the course record. In that event she’ll have to beat Soldini and his MOD70 with foils. It’s going to be great racing.

Naturally Thornburg, who has a villa in St. Barth, won’t be missing Les Voiles de St. Barth in April. He’s entered a Carkeek 40.

We’ve known Thornburg, who is still in his 30s, since before he got serious about racing. We’re pleased to note that he’s still the same friendly, unpretentious guy. It doesn’t hurt that he’s paired with Brian Thompson, one of the nicest and most relaxed racers we’ve ever met. Paul Allen of Santa Cruz is a regular crewmember.

Even if Phaedo3 doesn’t make it to the starting line, the Newport Harbor YC’s 800-mile race is shaping up as an excellent one. This year monohulls will start on March 10 and 11, while the multihulls will start on March 12.

Of the 22 boats entered, seven are 70-ft sleds designed by either Bill Lee or Alan Andrews. But the first monohull to finish will almost certainly be Manouch Moshayedi’s Bakewell-White Rio100. She had the fastest time in the last Cabo race, crossing the finish after 2 days, 14 hours, an average of 12.9 knots. Both the monohull and multihull records are in jeopardy this year.