International 110 Nationals Sail Tomales Bay
Inverness Yacht Club on West Marin’s Tomales Bay hosted the International 110 Nationals on July 29-August 2. We received an abundance of good images to go with a report, written by Martha Blanchfield, for September’s Racing Sheet in Latitude 38. Rather than leave most of those fine photos scattered about like fallen autumn leaves on the cutting room floor, we’re posting them here.
The International 110 Class calls the 1939 C. Raymond Hunt design “the first sportboat.”
Check out the results of the 18-boat regatta here.
Look for Martha’s report and more photos in our September issue, hitting the docks in time for Labor Day Weekend, on Friday, August 30.
Doug Peterson Among 2019 National Sailing Hall of Fame Class
Yacht designer Doug Peterson is among the class of inductees nominated to the 2019 National Sailing Hall of Fame. Hailing from San Diego, Peterson — a revolutionary yacht designer whose credentials extended into multiple winning America’s Cup campaigns, offshore racers and iconic West Coast cruising boats — passed away in 2017 at the age of 71.
Gary Jobson wrote a remembrance about Peterson on the National Sailing Hall of Fame’s (NSHOF) website: “The year is 1979 as yacht designer Doug Peterson rides on the transom of a Six Meter on Puget Sound. He is staring intently at the water flowing off the stern. When asked what he was doing, Peterson explained, ‘The wave back here is too big. I am trying to think of ways to reduce the size of the wave so the next design will have less drag.’ The moment spoke volumes about the pragmatic approach Doug Peterson had toward designing fast sailboats.”
The America’s Cup is no doubt the most prestigious bullet on Peterson’s résumé. He was part of Bill Koch’s America3 design team; the boat successfully defended the Cup in 1992. “Recognizing his talent, Team New Zealand hired Peterson for the next Cup in 1995, and they successfully challenged,” Jobson wrote. “His next two America’s Cup commissions were for the Prada Challenge Luna Rossa. The team made the America’s Cup final in 2000, but lost to the home town team from New Zealand. Dozens of yacht construction companies commissioned Peterson to draw the lines for their yachts.”
Peterson was also known for designing cruising boats, including the famed Kelly Peterson, a fleet of which are still sailing the globe today. “Owners have nothing but praise for the performance achieved by this moderate-displacement bluewater design; 180-mile days are not uncommon,” Cruising World wrote.
The other inductees into the 2019 Hall of Fame class are: Sailmaker Robbie Doyle of Marblehead, Massachusetts, who won the America’s Cup as the mainsail trimmer for Ted Turner aboard Courageous in 1977; Captain John Bonds of Annapolis, a leader in creating safety protocols. Olympic Gold Medalist Buddy Friedrichs of New Orleans, who sailed in the Dragon class; Olympic Gold Medalist Allison Jolly of St. Petersburg, Florida, who sailed 470s, and was the “sport’s first-ever Women’s Olympic Gold Medalist,” according to Scuttlebutt.
Also inducted were master ship designer and builder Donald McKay, who hailed from Nova Scotia and immigrated to Boston, and was “at the forefront of the clipper ship era establishing speed records that have stood for well over 100 years,” according to the NSHOF; Everett A. Pearson, from Warren, Rhode Island, who was the first builder of fiberglass production cruising sailboats; and Herbert Lawrence Stone, from Charleston, South Carolina, who “had a robust career at the forefront of sailing as the long-time editor of Yachting Magazine,” according to NSHOF.
The 2019 class will be formally inducted on November 9 at Seattle Yacht Club.
Westwind Boat Detailing
Caption Contest(!)
Here’s your August Caption Contest(!)
We have changed our Caption Contest(!) winning swag from a Latitude T-shirt to a hat. Be sure to check the September issue’s Loose Lips for the winner.
Tahiti Transpac Attracts 10 Entries So Far
Back in April, Dorade owners and St. Francis Yacht Club members Matt Brooks and Pam Levy submitted the first entry to the upcoming 2020 Tahiti Race. Since then, the entry list has continued to grow and now numbers 10 boats.
Ninety years after her launch, Dorade will compete in the 3,570-mile race from Los Angeles to Tahiti beginning on May 28, 2020. Organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club, the Transpac Tahiti Race was last staged in 2012.
Matt has had his eye on this race for years. “The Tahiti race has always been on my bucket list. It’s a very significant race, and I love long, substantial, challenging bluewater races.”
Matt acknowledges that the competition will be significant. “If we complete the 3,570-mile race in good order, we’ll have accomplished something.”
Sailing with Matt in the race will be many of Dorade’s regular roster, including Matt Wachowicz, Kevin Miller, Eric Chowanski, John Hayes and Mike Giles. Steve Branaugh will be joining the crew, several of whom were aboard when Dorade won the 2013 Transpac between Los Angeles and Honolulu.
Archipelagoes, which promotes “nautical tourism and the maritime economy in French Polynesia, New Caledonia and the South Pacific” organizes the finish for the race, in Papeete, Tahiti. Completing the race in one of several South Pacific island groups fits with Matt and Pam’s vision for Dorade. “One of our goals,” says Pam, “is to do races in places where people may never have seen Dorade — different audiences to see the boat is competitive after all these years.”
The current entry list includes:
- Angelique, Columbia 57, Andy Kurtz
- Cabrón, Botin 80, Steve Meheen, San Diego YC
- Dad’s Dream, Morgan 38.2, Bill Boyd, Hawaii YC
- Dorade, S&S 52, Matt Brooks, NYYC
- Espiritu, Atlantic 57, Santi Santiago Becerra, Transpacific YC
- Medicine Man, Andrews 63, Bob Lane, Long Beach YC
- Nacira, Class 40, Benoît, Parnaudeau YC de Tahiti
- Pyewacket 70, Modified Volvo 70, Roy Disney, SDYC
- Tritium, ORMA trimaran, John Sangmeister, NYYC/LBYC
- Zephyrus, R/P 77, Damon Guizot, Los Angeles YC
There’s still time to join the list and follow in the wake of so many other racers and adventurers who’ve sailed off to the tropical peaks of Tahiti. Given that the race was last held in 2012 and has been sailed only 15 times since 1925, the next opportunity may not come for a while.