PV Race Wraps-Up, MEXORC Kicks Off

On hearing that Bill Turpin’s Northern California-based R/P 77 Akela broke Magnitude 80‘s Vallarta Race record, we knew that it had to have been a fast race. But it wasn’t until we arrived in PV that we began to fully grasp just how fast it was. Akela navigator Ernie Richau — who navigated Mag 80 two years ago when it set the previous record — told us that if Magnitude had sailed this year, they would have broken the record by about 18 hours, in what’s essentially a 3.5-day race. Richau said that other than a 1.5-hour stretch the first night when the speedo was reading goose eggs, they never saw a parking lot the whole race.

In the end, four boats beat the ’08 reference time, and at least that many set boat records for top speeds. But while Akela may have won elapsed-time honors, it was Lorenzo Berho’s Kernan 68 Peligroso that won the race overall. Berho, who previously campaigned his J/145 Raincloud up and down the West Coast of the Americas — including at the Rolex Big Boat Series — pulled off quite a feat. Berho became the first Mexican entry to win the PV race, in what was only his fourth race with the boat since buying her in November from the Bay’s Dale Williams and the Mike Campbell’s widow Victoria. Inspired by the late Roy Disney’s Morning Light project, the Mexico City-based developer — who’s a member of both Vallarta and San Diego YCs — bought the boat with the intention of providing an entrée into the world of maxi boats for a select group of promising young Mexican sailors and Olympic hopefuls. Berho told us that after announcing his intentions, Morning Light Sailing Team Manager Robbie Haines called and offered his experience, ultimately bringing along ML co-navigator Piet Van Os, who performed the same role in this race along with Raul Velarde.

Per Peterson’s San Diego-based Andrews 70 Alchemy — still in sled trim — won Class 2, While Tom Akin’s Bay Area-based TP 52 Flash was second in the two-boat division after a hole at the finish allowed the larger boat to catch up. Jack Taylor’s Dana Point-based SC 50 Horizon won Division 3 — looking like a completely different boat than when Taylor sailed her to a class win in last year’s TransPac — after a major refit at Dencho Marine in Long Beach. We’ll have a more complete report on the Vallarta Race in the April issue of Latitude 38.

Of course a Vallarta Race means that MEXORC is just around the corner! We came down to check out the action after hearing what a large production this year’s event was going to be. Part of this year’s large Regatta Copa México, it’s part of a larger Extravaganza Naútica to celebrate Mexico’s bicentennial. With substantial government support — the Mexican Navy took on the finishing boat duties for the Vallarta race, for example — the event is a pretty big deal, and the shoreside entertainment has been amazing. Mexican President Felipe Calderon fired the first gun for the start of the first race today and welcomed the racers on the VHF — yeah, it’s that big of a deal! The regatta’s home base at Marina Riviera Nayarit in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle has been transformed in the last couple weeks, with a large hospitality "tent" that looks more like a Christo art project met a super spendy cocktail lounge.

Yesterday was the first day of racing for the ‘Oceanic’ class — the big boats — which sail through the week. St. Francis YC Racing Manager John Craig is here to run the kiting event that starts Tuesday and will feature Bay Area kiters, including Chip Wasson and Johnny Heineken and some of the world’s top kiteboard course racing talent. When these two events wrap up, there will be a large — about 55 boat — J/24 regatta concurrent with an 85-boat Opti regatta. There’ll also be a boatshow, and well, you get the picture — it’s a big deal.

We were conscripted to sail on Flash, under charter this week to Bay Area sailor Mark Howe, who’s co-skippering the boat with owner Mark Jones (who chartered it to Akin for the Vallarta race and, yeah, it’s just confusing). But anyway, so far, so good, as tonight’s provisional results had us finishing second in Class 1 in today’s bay-traversing windward/leeward race won by Akela. We say provisional because the ORR ratings are being used for the regatta, and as most boats’ ORR certificates are for offshore racing — where the system is predominately used in the U.S. — the boats’ ratings for the event were ammended for the additional crew they’re taking around the buoys. US Sailing’s Dan Nolan is on hand to get everything figured out for the racers. We tried having our camera with us while racing, but it turned out to be a bit of a hassle and we almost gave it a ‘Wanderer’s camera washing’ in the flying water generated by the 14- to 18-knot breeze and 14- to 18-knot boatspeeds we were seeing onboard. Provided the tropical weather doesn’t make us too langorous, we’ll check back in on Wednesday, hopefully with some more photos!