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Pyewacket Sails to a Win in the Puerto Vallarta Race

Roy Pat Disney’s San Diego-based Andrews 68 Pyewacket is on a roll. The sled won San Diego Yacht Club’s Islands Race (Point Fermin to San Diego) overall on February 9-10. Now they’ve won the Puerto Vallarta International Yacht Race overall too.

Race starts began on Thursday, February 22, and the early-starting boats enjoyed a fresh westerly. The fastest boats, starting on Saturday the 24th, drew the short (windless) straw. “We knew no records would be broken,” reports Scott Easom, headsail trimmer and rigger aboard Pyewacket. “We spent a lot of time with the drifter up.” He told us that the weather pattern was “really strange,” making for a very tactical race.

Pyewacket recorded an average wind speed of 9+ knots, very light even for Mexico. “It wasn’t exhilarating, but it was great for sleeping,” commented Scott.

In the slow going, Scott worried about a personal deadline. He needed to be back in the San Francisco Bay Area in time to skipper his Sabre Spirit 36 Serenade to an overall trophy win in Golden Gate Yacht Club’s Seaweed Soup midwinter series on Saturday, March 2. He stayed in touch with his crew via Starlink, making contingency plans. Thanks to a good breeze later on in the race, Pyewacket finished on Thursday. Scott flew home on Friday, and Serenade won the Seaweed Soup trophy on Saturday.

Pyewacket dueled with Vitesse, Thomas Furlong’s San Francisco YC-based RP 52. Pyewacket won the duel by cutting inside at Cabo, a maneuver that shaved 20 miles off the course.

Pyewacket’s 10-man crew had more than 150 Mexico races among them, and included Olympic medalists, America’s Cup winners and Volvo Race winners. Joining Roy Disney and Scott Easom were Brazil’s legendary Torben Grael, whom Scott called a great driver; navigator and meteorologist Peter Isler; Tony Mutter, Kiwi sailing master of the Rolex Sydney Hobart line honors-winning Juan K 100 LawConnect; Brad Jackson, who also sailed aboard LawConnect; Robbie Kane; Ben Mitchell; Daryl Wislang; and Gary Weisman. Scott called them “an amazing group of offshore sailors.”

We asked Scott about Disney’s other Pyewacket, the Volvo 70. That boat is on her way from Gibraltar to Florida. After some repair work, she’ll prep for the Bermuda Race.

With his singlehanded win in January’s Three Bridge Fiasco on his J/100 Eight Ball, the Islands Race win and PV Race win on Pyewacket, and GGYC’s overall trophy, Scott Easom has been on a roll in 2024!

We’ll have more on SDYC’s PV Race and GGYC’s Seaweed Soup series in the April issue of Latitude 38 .

GO Scott !!!!!

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THE BOATING REPORT

THE BOATING REPORT; A Disney Builds a Yacht for Transpacific Race

By Barbara Lloyd

• June 27, 1999

It would seem that Roy E. Disney, a yachtsman as well as Walt Disney Company executive, would have more in-house choices than Pinocchio had shoes to figure out what to call his racing boats. But the 69-year-old Disney ended up choosing Pyewacket, a name belonging to the fanciful Siamese cat in the 1958 movie ''Bell, Book and Candle,'' which wasn't a Disney film.

''It was the 1958 movie where Kim Novak played a witch,'' Disney said in a recent telephone interview. ''I saw the play on Broadway too, because my father traveled to New York all the time and took me with him. The name Pyewacket was just one of those things in the back of my brain.'' Disney is the nephew of the late Walt Disney, and a son of Walt's brother, Roy O. Disney.

His second of three yachts named Pyewacket, a 70-foot sloop designed by Bill Lee of Santa Cruz, Calif., broke a 20-year-old record in the 1997 Transpacific Yacht Race. The 1999 rendition of the biennial Pacific crossing, its 40th, is scheduled to begin Tuesday in a series of staggered starts. Disney has built a new boat for the competition, a 73-foot version of Pyewacket, which is scheduled to set sail Saturday from Los Angeles.

But duplicating his last boat's performance -- 7 days 15 hours 24 minutes -- might require as much wishful thinking as hard sailing. Any one of the five big boats in Division I could win, according to Lee, who created the regatta's most famous sailboat, the 67-foot Merlin. Built in 1977 in an old chicken coop in Santa Cruz, the sailboat held the Pacific record for two decades.

In the 1977 race, crew members were still using sextants for navigation instead of satellite-based positioning devices. A noon position report was each race boat's only link to shore. Lee, who was sailing on Merlin, said his boat was in a close match with Drifter, a similar design, for first to finish. Merlin won by 17 minutes after a 2,225-mile crossing to Honolulu.

''We never really knew if we were in the lead,'' Lee said. ''On the last day, a Coast Guard plane circled us. We could see clouds over the island of Hawaii. Then the plane turned abaft of our beam to go and find the other boat. That's the first we knew we had won.''

A change in the rules in the 1989 race allowed for taller masts -- from about 73 feet before to 85 feet -- and for deeper keels, from about 9 before to 11 feet now. The change made for faster boats in a competition that is sailed mostly downwind.

Unlike trans-Atlantic races, where upwind conditions, rough seas and squalls are common, the Transpacific Yacht Race tends to offer a pleasant fusion of sunshine, rolling seas and warmth.

''It's a fact that when you start off California, the conditions can be rough and windy,'' said Robbie Haines, a 1984 Olympic sailing gold medalist who is Disney's project manager. ''But as you cross the Pacific, the air gets warmer and warmer, the wind comes up, and you're sailing in perfect weather.''

The largest race boats are known as sleds, turbo-sleds, or maxi-sleds, depending on their vintage. Their wide, flat bottoms surf easily downwind, usually under huge spinnakers.

In a departure from most big Pacific contenders, Pyewacket was built at Eric Goetz Custom Sailboats, a yard in Bristol, R.I., known for its America's Cup contenders. Like Zephyrus, also 73 feet, Pyewacket was developed by Reichel-Pugh, a design firm in San Diego.

Disney is concerned about Zephyrus, a two-year-old boat. The old Pyewacket was about 30 miles behind Zephyrus in 1997 when the leader broke its mast. Pyewacket went on to break the record as Zephyrus fell back. Disney had not been on board Pyewacket that year because of a broken leg from a car accident. But his son, Roy P. Disney, accepted line honors for him.

The decision to build a new boat for 1999 came after seeing the way Zephyrus performed before its dismasting. ''It scared us all witless,'' Disney said. ''I looked at that thing two years ago, and said, 'I think I see the future.' ''

The three other big-boat competitors, Magnitude, Pegasus and Front Runner, are all designed by Alan Andrews of Long Beach, Calif. They are lighter and smaller by a few feet than Pyewacket and Zephyrus. But any one of them can beat their larger siblings if the wind stays light.

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Monohull course record roy p. disney’s pyewacket 70 sets new record.

Like spectators peering over each other to get a glimpse of a racer approaching from far away, the Race Committee studied the YB tracker through the afternoon yesterday trying to anticipate when the first boat would cross the line. That honor went to Pyewacket 70! In fact, both Pyewacket 70 and Rio100 eclipsed the 2016 monohull course record (Rio100); Pyewacket 70 by an hour, Rio100 by 25 mins. 

But, there was another race that evening - for the big boats that needed to med-tie at the PV Naval base for deep draft vessels. Pyewacket 70 finished with enough time to get to the harbor and tie up before the Carnival Panorama departed at 2200 local time. They won that race too. Rio100 waited briefly for the cruise ship to exit the harbor. 

By press time, six out of seven Class 1 boats are finished (pending Artemis) with Fast Exit II holding on to their Overall lead by 93 corrected time minutes. Both teams fought through the ‘transition zone’ of light winds that surrounded the finish area just 10 miles from the finish. Up to that point, there was enough breeze to defend a lead. But once in the zone, at night and unable to see the wind on the water, it is really a blind man’s bluff game to connect the dots of breeze and get to the finish.

For the internationally diverse crew aboard Hollywood Down Under, Aussie crew Nick Davis was glad to be racing, but especially glad to be done because he’s headed home to Western Australia for the first time in 2 years. Although he spent most of his lock down time in eastern Australia (Sydney) he couldn’t travel even just to his home in western Australia (Perth) due to the AUS strict covid guidelines. After his reunion, he’ll be headed right back to Ray Roberts TP52 racing program in Malaysia.

The fourth boat over the finish line was Good Energy. They finished 20 minutes corrected time behind BadPack. Remembering where they might have left 20 minutes on the race course…Doug recalled, ”We struck a sunfish - a big prehistoric looking fish that just floats on the surface of the ocean warming themselves in the sun. We struck one, and it was pinned on the keel strut. We had to go head to wind, stop the boat and completely reverse direction drop the main.”

Doug McLean, GoodEnergy “The race to Cabo was epic, 20-24 knots the whole way. We had kites up within 30 minutes after the start. Put the 2A up and never took it down. Boat speed virtually matches wind speed. And Pyewacket 70 is even exceeding wind speed. But, if it’s blowing 20, we’re doing 18-20. Trim, ease, trim, ease, non-stop. Some good swells, but these boats plane and don’t need the big Hawaii swell. And they’re wet. If you go forward you’re under water. The immigration process was the easiest ever, 30 minutes and you’re done. George Hershmann, the owner, was stoked. He had a dream last year to buy a boat and bring all his buddies and go to Hawaii. We did Hawaii, and this is the full big race #2. It’s pretty cool.”

Ty Reed, BadPak “Favorite freeze dried meal is mac and cheese because it’s the hardest to mess up and most likely to taste like real thing (or ‘least disappointing’).”

Envolee “Doing 5.5 kts in 8 kts of wind. We have under 100 miles to go and can almost taste the tequila. Progress is slow. But we are not giving up yet. Not much has happened, but a crew member was attacked by a squid during the night, both are expected to survive but the squid may require counseling after the traumatic experience.”

TooLoco: “Had a pair of Brown Footed Boobies hitch a ride on top of mast since yesterday afternoon and cause havoc with instruments.”

Artemis: “Had a great sunset last night with jumping dolphins on the horizon. This is a beautiful part of the race.. Looking forward to some tasty tacos and margaritas this afternoon. Thank you for all the hard work hosting this event, its always a blessing to be sailing down Baja.”

Mirage: “Cruelty free face-off between bird and bow guy was a highlight of the early morning hours....just after an amazing pulled pork dinner.”

Katara: “Comin' in like a herd of turtles!”

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Roy Disney’s Winning Sailboat Given to School

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Orange Coast College’s sailing school has set a course for the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

The nationally renowned School of Sailing and Seamanship, which already boasts its own island off Vancouver, British Columbia, has landed Roy E. Disney’s cutting-edge $7-million sailboat, Pyewacket.

The 86-foot championship boat comes with a grant underwritten by the former Walt Disney Co. board member to help pay for a full-time racing sailor and cover other operational costs.

“Unless you are a professional sailor or a multimillionaire or billionaire, you’d never have the chance to sail on a boat like this,” said Brad Avery, the school’s director.

Disney, a competitive sailor for about 30 years who has won some of the world’s best-known races, retired from the sport last month.

“I had this ... crucial birthday, No. 75,” said Disney, whose uncle was Walt Disney. “And I decided to quit this yacht racing game.”

Disney said he didn’t seriously consider selling the boat because Orange Coast College could put it to good use.

“It’s an exciting boat to sail,” Disney said. “It’s astonishing. It just goes through the water so fast. You don’t even know how fast you’re going until you look at the [knot meter]. A couple times, I’ve been thinking, ‘Oh boy. There’s no wind.’ And I look down and we’re doing 21 knots. It’s an amazing machine.’ ”

Pyewacket, launched in 2004, is a MaxZ86 class custom-built, carbon fiber racing yacht with a mast towering 120 feet and a revolutionary canting keel, which moves from one side of the boat to the other for greater speed.

When Pyewacket was built, it was the largest boat to feature a canting keel. It remains one of only a half-dozen like it in the world, Avery said.

It was named after a witch’s cat in “Bell, Book and Candle.”

“These boats are something special -- going into that new evolutionary class,” said Rich Roberts, sailing columnist for the Log, a boating and fishing newspaper. “They can sail faster than the wind in very light wind or moderate wind.... It requires a little bit more sailing skill. You can’t just put a bunch of weekend sailors on this boat and expect to do much.”

Avery said his sailing students are excited by the prospect of testing their skills on the big boat after training.

He’s already fielding calls from students clamoring for a spot on the yet-to-be-formed sailing team.

It will have 40 members in all, with a crew of 24.

The college’s School of Sailing and Seamanship attracts about 4,000 students annually and is funded by class fees and private donations. About 75% are working adults who take classes at night and on weekends.

The school, which unlike most community college programs operates independently of state funds, has about three dozen boats -- six of them larger than 50 feet. Pyewacket is the newest, largest, fastest and most advanced, Avery said.

The school’s fleet was already well-known. In May, commercial real estate magnate Jim Kilroy donated his 80-foot racing sloop Kialoa III, one of the most famous racing yachts in the United States. The boat, Avery said, is the Pyewacket of the 1970s. The school also owns Alaska Eagle, a past winner of the Whitbread Round the World Race.

Some students in the program were resigned that the boat was, for now, out of their league. “I’m probably not quite ready for Pyewacket,” said Gabi Schwaiger, 39, an information technology director from Newport Beach who has been in the sailing program for two years. “I would love to crew on that boat.”

Andy McVay, 44, who has been sailing on and off since he was 18, said the addition of Pyewacket elevated the sailing program to the next level.

“While there are a lot of boats and opportunities to crew with people, there really aren’t opportunities to crew on this type of boat because they generally have a professional crew,” said McVay, a financial consultant who lives in Orange.

“I’m hoping that my experience thus far will at least give me an opportunity to put my name in the hat, but I think there will be a lot of people that will be very interested.”

The boat will arrive in Newport Beach in the fall, after its keel is reduced from 18 to 12 feet. Right now, it’s too big for Newport Harbor.

Kimi Yoshino is the former manager editor of the Los Angeles Times. She oversaw California, Business and lifestyle coverage, as well as photo, design, the News Desk, Audience Engagement, the Data and Graphics departments and Los Angeles Times en Español. She left The Times in November 2021.

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Puerto Vallarta Race – Roy P. Disney’s PYEWACKET 70 Sets New Record

As the competitors in the 2022 Puerto Vallarta Race continue south in what is being reported as “great sailing conditions,” it is worth taking a moment to look at how this game has played out in the past.

To start, Rio100 owns the elapsed time record set in 2016 at 3 ds, 5 hrs, 42 min, 43 sec. Both Rio100 and Pyewacket 70 have been rolling through the fleet like they’re in a car chase. The trackers are currently projecting both of them to finish ahead of the record, with Pyewacket 70 edging out Rio100 by about an hour, and knocking a little more than 4 hours off the Elapsed Time Record. In fact, there could be as many as five Class 1 boats and even Fast Exit in Class 2 breaking the tape in record time. Race Time 18:02:42 on Tuesday is the time to beat to be on that podium.

Describing the basic PV race track at the competitors weather and safety brief each morning, Pyewacket 70’s renowned Navigator/Author/Marine University Educator Peter Isler framed it this way: Three legs (310nm, 440nm, and 270nm respectively) separated by three roughly 15 degree left turns. The first leg is about getting clear of any coastal eddy and into the offshore winds from the W/NW. The Pleasant Depart. The second leg is about VMC – getting down the course and balancing temptation to go offshore for more wind vs turning left to follow those gentle 15 degree turns to the finish and winding up stuck in a light wind bay along the coast. And finally, leg three, known as ‘the restart,’ which begins at Cabo San Lucas and runs to the finish line at Punta Mita. The infamous “wind shadow” cast by the landmass of the Baja Peninsula lingers there and can detain the leaders as the back of the fleet roars up to their transom. The “shadow” could be a light patch just a few miles from shore, or it could be a glass off across the entrance to the Sea of Cortez. Sailors can get stuck there for precious hours or even a day or more trying to poke through. Risk averse sailors plan to just end around, and sail cautious extra miles around the shadow but that could take similar amounts of time. It is a race from here to the finish for sure.

By Tim Queeney

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

Pyewacket 70 and Zoulou take line honours in Caribbean 600

• Toby Heppell
• February 23, 2023

Zoulou won the multihull line honours by just 11 seconds in the RORC Caribbean 600 while Pyewacket 70 took the monohull spoils

Roy P. Disney’s Pyewacket 70 (USA) has taken Monohull Line Honours in the 2023 RORC Caribbean 600 in an elapsed time of 42 hours 45 mins 06 secs. Two generations of the Disney family have raced boats under the Pyewacket name. The latest Pyewacket 70 , is a turbo-charged Volvo 70 with a taller mast, lighter hull and deeper keel than the original box-rule. Pyewacket 70 is the fastest of Disney dynasty and the first to take Monohull Line Honours in the RORC Caribbean 600.

The next monohull to finish the RORC Caribbean 600 was Volvo 70 I Love Poland (POL), skippered by Grzegorz Baranowski. Pyewacket 70 has set the bar for the overall win under IRC for the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy. The vast majority of the fleet are expected to finish the race over the next two days.

“RP [Roy Pat Disney] thank you for letting us take your toy and racing the Caribbean 600 in a successful manner. We are so disappointed you are not with us to enjoy this spectacular victory,” commented Ben Mitchell the stand-in skipper for Roy Pat Disney who was not on board due to knee surgery. “The real wow factor is that Pyewacket 70 was here for the RORC 600 and this team is so good.

Pyewacket 70 took the monhull line honours. Photo: Arthur Daniel/RORC

“We had a great mix of crew that know this course very well, and crew like me who experienced this wonderful race for the first time. Each leg is like a race in itself, which keeps everybody going, but on a boat like Pyewacket 70 those legs become very short. Getting any sleep is a challenge as the whole crew is up for every manoeuvre.”

“The name of the game for the navigator is to study the weather and the nuances in this race are so different. When you get out there all your expectations can be blown,” commented crew member Peter Isler. “I had pre-conceptions of what the tactics are at different points in the race and I will say at least half the time I was wrong!

“In this race you have to keep your eyes open and understand the fundamentals of weather and be ready to adjust to the changes. A great example was going through the lee of Guadeloupe; it is the big X-Factor in this race and a total nightmare for navigators. It seems so random as to where you go to get through that wind-hole and this year was unlike any other experience I have had going through the lee.”

It was a tight battle for the multihulls Zoulou and Maserati. Photo: James Tomlinson

Tight battle for multihull line honours

Earlier a titanic battle for Multihull line honours had seen MOD70 Zoulou sailed by Erik Maris (FRA) triumph by 11 Seconds over Giovanni Soldini’s Maserati Multi70 (ITA). After 30 hours of racing at speeds approaching 40 knots, it will have been a tough loss for the Maserati team who were also second last year by just two minutes from Jason Carroll’s record-breaking MOD 70 Argo .

“That was an incredible race with such a close finish,” commented Zoulou ’s Erik Maris. “We were ahead until midnight on the first day but we lost Maserati when they were very fast on their foils going down to Guadeloupe.

“Maserati sailed really well on the second day but on the penultimate leg (Barbuda to Redonda), they lost themselves under a cloud, just as Zoulou had done in the RORC Transatlantic Race. We came back together and the lead changed many times on the leg to Redonda. The last leg was really tough as the wind speed and direction was very unstable, but we managed to pass them on the one that counts.

“It was as close as it gets; an incredible finish and great fun. I decided to get into the MOD70 Class to do all the RORC races, that was the plan and we intend to do the Rolex Fastnet Race later this year.”

You can follow the rest of the fleet via the Caribbean 600 fleet tracker .

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Pyewacket Sets New Newport to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race Record

NEWPORT BEACH— It was a record-breaking year for the Newport to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race. Roy Disney’s Volvo 70,  Pyewacket , sailed the course in record time, beating the previous monohull record by 15 hours. Pyewacket had an elapsed time of 1 day, 21 hours, 22 minutes, and 53 seconds. The previous monohull record of 2 days, 13 hours, 25 minutes, and 58 seconds was set in 2005 by Doug Baker’s Magnitude 80. Raymond Paul’s Botin 65 Artemis also beat the previous course record set by Magnitude 80, coming in this year with an elapsed time of 2 days, 13 hours, 3 minutes, and 52 seconds.

The Mighty Merloe is the only multihull verified to have completed the course faster than Pyewacket. In 2015 Mighty Merloe finished the course in 1 day, 16 hours, 14 minutes, and 14 seconds.

The Newport to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race, hosted by Newport Harbor Yacht Club (NHYC) since 1971, is an 800-mile yacht race from Newport Beach down the Baja Coastline to Cabo San Lucas. The race this year took place March 19 through the 25.

On March 22 the race chair reported the top nine boats were finishing under three days total elapsed time, the first time that has happened in the Cabo Race.

“We are combing prior years for their previous best, but this seems to be the race that all the boats will find hard to beat their times in future editions,” wrote John Curci, the 2021 Cabo Race Chair, on a March 22 post on the Cabo Race blog.

The Pyewacket crew also provided updates throughout the race on the blog .

“ As you know, we have 85 miles to go… back in 20 knots running with the A3 but went through a soft patch that challenged our patience… it got down to 12 knots…. worried there may be some more land based light spots to navigate – so though the layline times say we finish at 10 a.m., I think that could easily be 11 a.m. (PDT),” wrote the Pyewacket crew on the morning of March 22.

Pyewacket swept the 2021 race taking first overall, first in Division 1, and first to finish. Pyewacket averaged greater than 20 knots over the course and had a corrected time of 2 days, 20 hours, 50 minutes, and 21 seconds.

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Winners of 2021 Transpac race named after days of sailing the Pacific

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - After days of sailing the open sea, the first boat in the 2021 Transpacific Yacht Race arrived in Honolulu early Friday morning.

Officials named the crew aboard the Pyewacket as winners of the 51st Transpac competition.

The yacht crossed the finish line at Diamond Head just before 3 a.m. and docked at Aloha Tower.

It took the crew about five days and 17 hours to traverse the Pacific Ocean, having started their journey in California. The Pyewacket clocked in the second fastest monohull time in Transpac history.

For the boat’s owner and skipper, Roy Disney — the great nephew of the iconic Walt Disney — it was his 25th time crossing the pacific for the race. It was also his 4th time winning the Barn Door Trophy.

“I’m fortunate that I’m able to sail with a group very close friends, who are family to me,” said Disney.

“You’ll be surprised when push goes to shove, you find out who people are...well I want to be with these people. And so it’s an extra joy, to do it well and to do it with these group of friends.”

Boaters in the 51st Transpacific Yacht Race set sail to Hawaii

Hawaii boat, Hookolohe, arrived about seven hours after the Pyewacket — winning its division.

The boat led by skipper, Cecil Rossi, spent nine days, 22 hours and 39 minutes racing across the Pacific.

“It was a pretty good feeling, it was great seeing home,” said Travis Foster, a crew member on the Hookolohe. “I’ve seen it coming in on a plane but its a very different experience coming in after nine days on the ocean and not seeing anything.”

This was Foster’s first time competing in Transpac, sailing alongside his father and brother.

He said he’ll compete again next year as long as he can be on a boat as nice as the Hookolohe.

To celebrate the big win, they had steak and lobster for dinner on their last night.

Copyright 2021 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

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Pyewacket 70 first to finish 2022 Islands Race

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Pyewacket Breaks Bermuda Race Record

• By Stuart Streuli
• Updated: June 17, 2002

It hasn’t been an easy run for the 182 boats that entered this year’s Newport Bermuda Race. “This is one of toughest ones I’ve tried,” said Sailing World associate editor Tony Bessinger, a veteran ocean racer who’s navigating for George David’s IMS 50 Idler. “It’s a really tight reach and it’s blowing hard. I’d say there’s a lot of people in this fleet who’ve never been seasick who are sea sick.”

Bessigner was about 45 miles from the finish line when he checked in at just before 8:30 a.m. Monday. According to the race website (www.bermudarace.com) Roy Disney’s Pyewacket was the first boat to finish, crossing the line Sunday evening just before 8 p.m. for a total elapsed time of 53h:39m:22s, nearly four hours better than the previous record. George Coumantaros’ Boomerang, which held the former record, also finished inside its former time, coming in 20 minutes or so after Pyewacket.

As might be expected with record breaking conditions, some boats have struggled in the strong southwesterly breeze. No fewer than seven boats have had to drop out. Fred Detwiler’s Trader, an Andrews 70, had its mast break in three different places Sunday night when it fell off the backside of a wave. Two boats have reportedly lost crew members over the side, but both were recovered.

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Published on February 26th, 2022 | by Editor

Pyewacket 70 sweeps Islands Race

Published on February 26th, 2022 by Editor -->

The 2022 Islands Race, co-hosted by San Diego Yacht Club and Newport Harbor Yacht Club, has been a known for a decade as the start to the California offshore sailing season. The 142 nautical mile race around Catalina and San Clemente Islands featured 42 boats this year — the biggest turn out in its 13 year history.

With the start off San Pedro on February 25, one boat in particular, Pyewacket 70, showed up ready to prove their preparation for the race is on point, and the set the pace for their offshore season.

Owned and skippered by Roy Disney, Pyewacket 70 is no stranger to success and doesn’t plan on surrendering anytime soon. Right from the start of the race, Pyewacket 70 gained a solid lead on the rest of the fleet.

In fact, the team finished in San Diego three hours before the next boat, with an elapsed time of 12 hours, 27 minutes, and 32 seconds. In 2021, the team finished almost two hours quicker. However, we all know one thing about the sport of sailing — we can’t always predict the wind.

Even with their overall and ORR-A win, Pyewacket 70’s race wasn’t without its own challenges. At the start of the race, the team was presented with a loud “bang.” The big winch that controls the running backstay had failed,” explained Tactician Ben Mitchell.

“With the wind straight out of the west, it looked like an easy fetch to the west end of Catalina Island for the first turn of the course. The goal was to sail close to the mark but to error in the fast mode…which worked well.

“The wind headed as the fleet approached the Island and our chosen course paid nice dividends. We finally caught up with all the boats that started ahead of us just as we approached the west end.”

“Sailing a 70-footer with really big sails is always a challenge to execute maneuvers quickly and efficiently, but we have a really good and experienced crew. Other than the broken winch at the start, all changes went smoothly.” Following Pyewacket 70 on elapsed time in second place was George Hershman and Mark Comings’ R/P 63 Good Energy, completing the course in 15 hours, 25 minutes, and 37 seconds. Crossing the finish line in third place was Tom Holthus’ Botin 56 BadPak with 16 hours, 45 minutes, and 32 seconds.

Conditions on the race were slow to build, beginning with 7-9 knots and eventually picking up to an average of 15 knots. Holthus reported sailing a fair 10 knots right around sunset during the evening

Almost half the fleet for the Islands Race will be returning to the starting line in two weeks for SDYC’s Puerto Vallarta Race that extends down the Mexican coast.

One boat solely focused on the Islands Race, with no other planned races on the calendar, was Jack Jorgensen’s J/111 Picosa which won the ORR-E class.

“We’ve done this race for the past couple of years, so we have some experience which is pretty huge,” said Jorgensen. “The race is three legs, Catalina, Catalina to San Clemente, and then the hardest, San Clemente to San Diego.

“I’ll need to look at the tracker to confirm, but we took a wide approach around San Clemente Island. After we got through the lead we sailed straight to the course, nothing radical. It’s a fun race we do every year, so it was great to get back out there.”

Rounding San Clemente and heading down to San Diego is known as the most challenging leg of the race. When rounding San Clemente, boats have to respect two virtual waypoints. The Islands Race was one of the first races on the West Coast to rely on virtual waypoints for mark roundings.

“Mark #1, Catalina, doesn’t present as much of an issue,” noted SDYC Waterfront Director Jeff Johnson. “San Clemente Island is a military training ground, thus the reason for the restricted zones and virtual marks of the course to keep the fleet well away from the action.

“It is important for navigators to accurately plot these virtual waypoints and effectively keep the helmsman sailing the fastest course while honoring the virtual marks. There is absolutely no indication if you are sailing into a restricted area, except your YB tracker showing up on the website every fifteen minutes.”

Race details – Results – Tracker

Source: SDYC

Tags: Islands Race

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