John Raymont’s Quick Exit II wins the 2022 Puerto Vallarta Race
by San Diego Yacht Membership 19 Mar 01:55 UTC
March 10-18, 2022
Distance ocean races are available all completely different styles and sizes. There is a level the place it goes from an occasion you may grit your enamel and battle by, to a size of time on the boat the place it’s essential set up a stream for the on/off watch durations and cycle of racing day and night time. The typical time on the course on this 12 months’s Puerto Vallarta Race was 5 days, 2 hours, which wants that stream to succeed.
Stan Fleming, J/125 Nereid, shared why the race to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico wants a distinct mentality than shorter races.
“What you are attempting to do is get to an equilibrium…a stability between efficiency and self care. When you get into that equilibrium, you may sail so long as you need. On this race, at San Cedros on in regards to the third day, for the night then night time watches, I bought to do precisely the identical factor regardless, and I misplaced that standard imaginative and prescient of time. That is sort of an excellent feeling when offshore. The Cabo Race is barely sufficient time to get in that stream. However this race was actually an extended distance race…you need to get into that equilibrium. That is the place expertise is essential, with the ability to handle your self.”
Along with the time on the water and the competitors between boats, the carrot on the finish of the stick is the attractive vacation spot of Puerto Vallarta. Sunny climate within the 80s and the instant alternative for these sticking round to pivot from distance racing to buoy racing in Banderas Bay for MEXORC is a draw for a lot of. Some groups are within the marina cleansing up for a supply, whereas others are altering modes to start out buoy racing for MEXORC on Saturday. The partnership between the PV Race and MEXORC provides worth to each occasions and provides the groups one more reason to sail to Mexico.
Congratulations to the 2022 Puerto Vallarta Race Total and Class 2 winners John Raymont and the crew of the Ker-51 Quick Exit II. John’s group has been working exhausting over the previous few years to enhance the boat and lift their aggressive degree crusing in lots of west coast ocean races. Quick Exit II was the stand out from Class 2, besting 2nd in Class, Mark Surber’s TP52 Bribon by 11.5 hours whereas the remainder of Class 2 landed mid-fleet for total honors. Learn the winner’s article right here.
Pyewacket 70’s first 24 hours set the stage for his or her report breaking elapsed time and on the first 0800 examine in on Sunday, in addition they had been estimated as total chief in corrected time. However by Monday, Quick Exit II had pushed forward and at every subsequent 0800 roll name, they maintained a 3-4 hour lead over closest competitors – BadPak and Peligroso. When BadPak completed at dawn on Tuesday and noticed the breeze shutting off for the method to the end, they held onto hope that Quick Exit II would lose their grip on total chief. The 4-hour lead for Quick Exit II slowly ebbed as they fought by the sunshine air towards the end, however in the end claimed total honors by barely greater than 90 minutes.
Class 2 Quick Exit II was capable of sail boat for boat with many of the Class 1 entries by the Cabo lee passing 40-70 miles off the coast. However that did not final lengthy, and the small window to get by with out dropping time closed rapidly. People who made it made huge features on the fleet behind. Quick Exit II’s 30-mile lead over Bribon changed into 90 miles.
As mentioned beforehand, the monohull course report was set this 12 months, with the earlier 2016 report eclipsed by each Pyewacket 70 and Rio100.
With the sturdy westerly at their Saturday begin, the Class 1 boats had the wind to generate substantial horsepower and tore down the course. BadPak and Peligroso specifically had been properly matched over a lot of the course. Going into the end, BadPak maintained a 15-mile lead on Peligroso and it regarded like if Peligroso may preserve BadPack shut they might win the category and probably the Total Honors as properly. The wind inside 10 miles of the end (coast line) actually died down round 0300. BadPak was inside 3 miles at that time and solely wanted 1 hour to sail to the end for Class 1 honors and 2nd Total. Peligroso was 7 miles behind and took 3 hours to complete, which pushed them to fifth in Class and sixth Total.
BadPak’s Navigator Arite Means had three huge takeaways from their 1st in Class, 2nd Total race.
“We deliberate to maintain the boat gentle, as we knew the Cabo to PV part was beneath 10 knots. Minimizing the sail checklist was crucial. We solely had one jib! Working with Chris Bedford within the planning for the race, our major focus was surviving Cabo, the entire race may be gained or misplaced there. Thanks, Chris! We additionally made positive to reduce threat. Large shifts, not getting caught in a nook out of section was crucial.”
In West Coast ocean races, the J/125s are sometimes seen as formidable opponents having quite a lot of success in current races. Whereas not probably the most snug expertise, the boats are gentle and switch small tweaks into instant features. Class 3 was gained by Stan Fleming’s J/125 Nereid, by 5 corrected time hours.
Fleming shared a few of his evaluation of the 2022 PV Race.
“Good breeze as much as Cedros. We had a very nice sail and this 12 months’s gulf crossing was above common. Again house [in San Diego] if you get a flat spot (breeze die-off) inside, it is like hitting the wall, and everybody behind simply sails as much as you and stops. However right here, the wind simply give up popping out of the gulf and so it froze all people in place, which favored us out entrance.
We had been watching the wind shadow off Cabo, there was a shadow and a slender spot to sail proper by that was transferring in direction of us, which closed proper up after we bought by, generally you simply get it proper.
Along with some returning staples on the Nereid roster like Jeremy Davidson and Damen Craig, when compiling his group, Stan likes to incorporate a rookie. For the 2021 Transpac, it was Calvin Schmid. On this 12 months’s PV Race, it was Casey Gignac, captain of the San Diego State College crusing group (which has made a giant leap of their program efficiency this 12 months).
“I prefer to have a rookie on board. The fellows actually like having a child on board. They’re at all times explaining what they’re doing, what makes the boat work. They get an opportunity to consider what they’re doing when explaining it.”
Damian Craig, Nereid Navigator:
“We tried to be very disciplined in our crusing. We did quite a lot of work since 2021 Transpac on our polars and sail crossovers together with working with Peter Isler to undergo all our race log recordsdata. We labored very exhausting to maintain the best sails up crusing the proper angles for the course and wind we had been in at any given second. That meant by no means crusing with the unsuitable sail up or steering an angle the sail wasn’t meant for thus the crew labored very exhausting.
We additionally did quite a lot of work on the boat, refining programs and controlling the issues we will management. Jeremy Davidson did a tremendous job making ready the boat for this occasion and it confirmed within the lack of drugs failures we had coming down. We additionally did some score work with our spin sizes decreasing our A2’s and a backside job to maintain the boat gliding by the water. Stan Fleming, the proprietor, has actually stepped up and ensured the boat is as ready and quick because it might be. We would not be right here with this outcome with out his dedication to the Nereid program and doing all of the little issues that add up.
My focus navigating was on ensuring we had the newest climate GRIBs downloaded so I used to be capable of work with the perfect info. We believed moving into that the GFS was greatest modeling the climate so I actually targeted on getting these recordsdata proper after they had been up to date together with HRRRX at crucial factors. We used an IridiumGO with SailMail and had no broadband of any type for information. This meant limiting the scale of our file request so downloading a number of smaller space GRIBs and mixing them collectively and choosing and selecting when to get the excessive decision recordsdata. We used the tracker at sure key sections of the race to see what different boats had completed and the way our strains in comparison with them. I like having the tracker delayed 4 hours as you may see what others did however you may’t use that to make your selections as the data is just too previous. We tried to remain within the breeze and place ourselves for the shifts that had been coming. The GFS was surprisingly correct on wind route with the strain typically being a couple of knots extra. We felt we did properly on the crucial factors of the race in stepping in and utilizing the land options and diurnal shifts to our benefit down Baja. We actually did an incredible job getting round Cabo with boats inside and out of doors of us not having the nice rounding we did.
It’s a properly earned outcome for this program. Could not do it with out the crew from entrance to again Rick Graef, Casey Gignac, Charlie Jenkins, Jeremy Davidson, Proprietor Stan Fleming and myself Damian Craig.”
The Santa Cruz 50/52s have additionally been staples of the West Coast ocean racing scene, this 12 months with three competing in Class 4 with a J/145 and DK46. Tom Camp’s Santa Cruz 50 was the middle-rated boat within the class, and got here out with the category win by 45 minutes over 2nd place J/145 Katara.
Bother’s Navigator Mike Maloney gave his tackle their expertise.
“The PV Race is without doubt one of the nice West Coast occasions and this one was magical.
Along with nice boat prep, Tom Camp put collectively a stellar crew that rapidly gelled, enabling us to vary gears as wanted to maintain the boat transferring and hit the shifts successfully. We knew we confronted robust competitors towards intently rated boats, so sustaining boat velocity was paramount.
The important thing to this race is entering into place to get previous the Cabo wind shadow. We calculated our course to go as shut (roughly 35 miles) as situations would enable. A little bit of luck right here goes a good distance, and we had our share getting by earlier than the door closed.
The ultimate leg supplied incredible crusing situations with Katara holding a extra southerly line that favored them, so we had been motivated to maintain the pedal all the way down to the end.”
Michael Ewens Olson 40 Akaw! was the ultimate finisher within the race this 12 months. In some years, the final boat to reach is late to the Friday night time awards on the Westin. However this 12 months, Akaw! completed earlier than sundown on Thursday and likewise ranked as much as 2nd in Class 5 and sailed the shortest course (1093) of the entire fleet.
For the primary two thirds of this 12 months’s race, Paul Grossman’s Class 6 White Cloud sailed forward of the whole fleet, reaching Cabo Tuesday afternoon, simply as Pyewacket 70 made up the 48-hour head begin given to the Thursday race starters and handed them. White Cloud was eleventh to complete, and was first place in Class 6. The competitors in Class 6 was small however was made up of two boats from Washington and one from San Francisco, whose groups had been desperate to not solely compete however duck the chilly house climates and begin the summer time early with the tropical climate in PV. Proprietor Paul Grossman sailed with an all Corinthian crew out of San Diego.
Steve Wright supplied, “We needed to think about racing with a shorthanded crew of 4. Gybes and sail change technique included conserving vitality, decreasing mid-watch all arms maneuvers. We knew we would have liked to remain in watch and relaxation to achieve success.”
“This was a tremendous race for White Cloud. A number of very completely different situations to deal with and tactical selections to be made. For us, sticking with our technique within the face of uncertainty, holding the boat transferring in gentle air and 24/7 focus and depth is what made the distinction. All of us had a good time and actually respect the efforts of the organizers to efficiently placed on such a fancy occasion.”
There are a lot of challenges in bringing the various varieties of racing boats to Puerto Vallarta, and this race would not be the superb occasion it’s with out the help from the Marina Vallarta Harbormaster Pablo Fernandez and his group within the marina. Working with the Navy and the Port Captain, understanding the wants of the racers, his efforts are greater than essential and at all times appreciated. The immigration and customs processing upon arrival in PV is nothing to be enthusiastic about after crusing 1000 miles, however the partnership with Juan Arias and the brokers who’re keen to work in any respect hours to course of the lots of of sailors arriving in PV makes a troublesome scenario manageable and seamless. And the beneficiant help of the Mexican Navy makes it doable to berth the large deep draft boats comparable to Pyewacket 70, Rio100, Hollywood Down Underneath and GoodEnergy on the seawall simply outdoors the shallow inside PV harbor and as shut as doable to the occasion venue.
Subsequent up for a lot of of those groups are Ensenada Races, CA Offshore Race Week and Pacific Cup this summer time. San Diego Yacht Membership is proud to host the biennial PV Race as a staple occasion within the ocean racing schedule and look ahead to one other nice occasion in 2024.
Full outcomes accessible right here.
