‘Soozal’ Wins IRC B in Pineapple Cup

Dan Woolery’s Pt. Richmond-based, brand-spankin’-new Soozal arrived in Montego Bay just before midnight Tuesday, taking IRC B in what sounded like a generally breezy 2009 Pineapple Cup. The Mark Mills-designed King 40 took a little under 3d, 22h to sail the 811-mile course that starts off Ft. Lauderdale.  Former Northern Californian Roger Sturgeon and the crew of his Farr-designed STP 65 Rosebud took line honors, just over an hour longer than the race record of 2d, 10h, 24m, set by Tom Hill’s R/P 75 Titan XII in 2005.

For Woolery, the win follows a division win at last month’s Acura Key West Race Week where he sailed the pretty blue boat with the teak-clad cockpit well enough to earn Boat of the Day honors at one point. Project manager Scott Easom will join Woolery and his wife in sailing Soozal home on an island-hopping cruise back to Florida — essentially flexing the dual-purpose spirit of the IRC rule. Then the boat will come west to the Bay, and make the Northern California IRC fleet one strong-program deeper in the process.