Photo of the Day
Racer Perishes in Monterey Sunset Series
On Wednesday night shortly before 11 p.m., Sharron Frey, commodore of the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club, sent out the following message via email: “Tonight, during the Wednesday evening race, on his Moore 24, Morpheus, Rick Srigley and crew encountered heavy weather. Rick was washed overboard off the transom. His crew attempted to recover him while calling the Coast Guard. They brought him to the boat, but were unable to get him out, at which time the Coast Guard took charge, and took Rick by ambulance to the hospital.
“We are so very sorry to tell you that Rick Srigley has passed away. His wife, Sandie, is with him now at the hospital. We are contacting family members. His crew is also at the hospital with us. We will share information as it becomes available. Please hold Rick, Sandie, their children, and Rick’s crew in your hearts and prayers.”
Rick was a 77-year-old resident of Pebble Beach who regularly sailed his Moore 24 in MPYC’s weekly Sunset Series. The race on March 13 was the first of the 2019 season. A contact at MPYC who wished to remain anonymous told us: “I heard it was pretty windy and rough. I am certain he was wearing a PFD, as they are required by MPYC for racing. He also usually wore a helmet because he had been hit in the head with the boom (in the past). Morpheus does not have lifelines. I do not believe they were flying a spinnaker — only white sails were visible on TV. This story was on our local news at 11 p.m., on KSBW.”
The Coast Guard, California State Parks and the Monterey Fire Department all responded, and Rick was transported to the Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula. Our sincerest condolences to Rick’s family, friends, crew and fellow fleet members.
Classy Classifieds Deadline
Jeanne Socrates Is Halfway Around
Jeanne Socrates is 160 days into her attempt to become the oldest person to sail nonstop and alone around the world. As it turns out, 160 days is the halfway point.
“I had a celebratory halfway breakfast of a few delicious stem-ginger biscuits I found by my bunk,” Socrates said on her blog. “These were a very nice surprise and went well with some orange juice as I settled down to rest.”
Socrates is also roughly halfway between South Africa and Australia. Once she rounds the South Cape on New Zealand, she’ll hang a left and start climbing north in her long Pacific journey back to Victoria, British Columbia.
As we reported about a month ago, Socrates has been having trouble with her mainsail, and has been using a jury rig. “Lots of different jobs needing to be done by way of preparation before I can actually get to sewing the tabling onto the mainsail,” she wrote a few days ago. “Looking at organizing tying of mainsail to enable releasing the top section to work on while seas are relatively calm.”
Meanwhile . . .
After checking in with us recently, Randall Reeves is about 10 days from Cape Horn. But it appears that he’s waiting out a nasty-looking low hugging the west coast of South America.
Off to Cabo (or San Diego)
Run Past the Border
Starts in Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Newport Beach to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race began yesterday. They continue through Sunday, concluding with the two-boat Multihull Division. The plan is thus for all boats to finish in Cabo by Thursday, March 21, when awards will be handed out. Check out who’s racing and when they start(ed) here.
The fastest boats on the course should be Manouch Moshayedi’s Rio100 monohull and Giovanni Soldini’s Multi 70 Maserati. Remarkable among the boats in the first start is the Long Beach YC-based 67-ft 1939 Sparkman & Stephens yawl Chubasco, skippered by LBYC’s Will Durant. In this offshore reach/run, part of the lead-up to this summer’s massive 50th Transpac, 28 boats signed up. As of this morning, Seth Hall’s J/124 Marisol was leading the five-boat ORR 5 division, with Chubasco only 7 miles behind.
To follow the Yellowbrick road, click here.
NOOD in San Diego
Meanwhile, San Diego YC and Coronado YC are co-hosting the Helly Hansen NOOD Regatta starting today on South San Diego Bay and the Coronado Roads. Coronado YC will host tonight’s party, and SDYC will host parties on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s post-race event will include a presentation by Tucker Thompson about the America’s Cup. Saturday’s sailing includes the North Sails Rally, which welcomes monohulls and multihulls that don’t fit into a one-design category. The multihulls in the rally are all Farrier or Corsair trimarans, and the monohulls include such diverse designs as a Left Coast Dart and the 6-Meter Sprig. Etchells, Beneteau First 36.7s and 40.7s, J/105s, J/120s, J/70s, Flying Tiger 10s, Viper 640s, I-14s and 29er skiffs, F-18 beach cats, and a new design, the RS 21, all have one-design divisions.
The smaller designs are racing on South San Diego Bay. In all, 126 boats registered. Competitors hail from as far away as British Columbia, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Florida and Jalisco, Mexico. See www.sailingworld.com/tags/helly-hansen-nood-regatta-in-san-diego to learn more.