Record Falls in Vic-Maui
It wasn’t a record year for the Singlehanded TransPac, which started a week or more earlier than the Pac Cup and the Vic-Maui, but it sure was for the latter two Hawaii races. Keeping the pedal to the metal all the way to the finish, the TP52 Valkyrie, sailing for the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and skippered by Jason Rhodes and Gavin Brackett, smashed the Vic-Maui record, which had stood for 16 years. They finished at 5:17 p.m. HST yesterday, July 21, for an unofficial new record of 8 days, 9 hours, 17 minutes and 56 seconds. The tired crew described the race as a "people smasher," but they proceeded to party until their nearest competitor arrived.
Fellow Royal Van member David Sutcliffe and crew aboard the other TP52, Kinetic, finished at 10:16 p.m. local time, also beating the old mark of 9 days and 2 hours set by James McDowell on the Waikiki YC-flagged Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion in 2000. Stuart Dahlgren’s SC70 Westerly out of Royal Victoria YC completed the trio of record-breakers, finishing in the middle of the night about five hours ahead of Grand Illusion’s time.
The Vic-Maui starts in Victoria, BC, in even years. The boats’ tracks this year show a wide swoop to the south around the Pacific High before turning west toward the rhumbline then jibing to dip south again. Check out the tracker here.
Not all of the 22 entries that started this 50th-anniversary edition will make it to Maui. The J/109 Mountain, racing doublehanded, retired and sailed into San Francisco Bay after problems with the rudder bearing. The R/P 55 Crossfire sailed to Seattle after two major gear failures.
The boats still on the course are keeping a watchful eye on Tropical Storm Darby, after Blas and Celia the third storm to impact racers to Hawaii this month. The leading boats appear to be pushing hard to get into Maui prior to the arrival of Darby sometime this weekend. A middle group have adjusted course to the south, working to pass behind Darby. The third group is holding course, counting on being far enough back for the storm to pass in front.
See www.vicmaui.org for much more.