The tables are set for the awards presentation and unfortunately, there are still a couple of ORR Class 6 competitors on the course. For those privileged few that are taking full ownership of their commitment to sail the course with no time limit - Congratulations.

Thursday started with a chase with Cabron pursuing Pyewacket 70, erasing what was once a 40 mile lead to come side by side with their Class 1 rival. Just after 0100 PST Thursday, with both teams within boat lengths of each other, they dueled for the line, actually missing the port end on the first pass and both boats scrambling to reverse course and re-round the port end of the virtual finish line. One can only imagine the match race tactics, flying lines and crew work needed to keep these ocean titans moving, in the dark, with close quarter maneuvering. In the end Cabron is the line honors winner of the 2020 PV Race, while Pyewacket 70 wins Class 1 on corrected time including a 1 hour corrected time penalty assessed to Pyewacket as a result of the match race at the finish. After over a 1,000 miles, the first to finish honors came down to a dial up at the finish and some string theory.

Daily commentary from Roger Gatewood's J/145 Katara as they compete from Class 5 in the 2020 PV Race.

Hey Race fans. It has all been a bit on for the last two days. Which seems a bit contradictory, given the overall light air and upwind or reaching nature of the race so far. Many have questioned the reasoning for bringing spinnakers. Several have wondered why Mexico is downwind of the US. But, we’re sailing upwind and other have suggested that maybe flying to Puerto Vallarta would have been a lot more sensible. We got rid of that last group though, so now there is plenty of freeze dried food for the rest of us.

The standings start to come into focus once the boats turn the corner and begin the final leg of the race from Cabo to the finish. There are different ways to look at handicap rated standings on a course like PV. The formula for Distance to Finish (DTF) can be a straight line to finish which may be a straight line over Baja Peninsula, or use a curved DTF that more accurately accounts for the racers path on course. But once the boats are clear of the end of Baja, the math should be the same. It is also important to know if the predictions are using “recent” boat speed or “average 'velocity made good' (VMG)” for the whole race. See the standings reports via a spreadsheet set up by SDYC's Greg Stewart to provide the daily morning standings linked on the PV Race home page (Wednesday's Standings).

In years past, PV Race Committee has typically been coordinating customs clearances and interviewing the first few finishers by Tuesday evening in the race timeline. The 2020 race is going to be one of those years... not so much.

On the race course, boats are running their polars with the latest grib files to assess their ETA. While each boat makes the most of the conditions they find themselves in, they will be having ‘that discussion’. Balancing a competitive and corinthian effort against room nights and airline departures is a tough equation to balance. There is no time limit for this race, so that’s not a consideration. The OA feels if someone commits the effort to the race, they should be allowed to finish. The awards banquet will proceed as planned, and awards that are mathematically secure will be handed out. It’s not ideal, but these logistics are all but changeable.

Brigadoon:
Wind 059 @ 6.4 kts, Sea 0'-1', Cloud cover 96.5%, bar steady @ 1025 mb
Wet, dewy, moist night.  Light breeze with crazy decisions followed by moments of brilliance.  Meatballs with penne pasta (mostly meatballs) in marinara sauce and a Caesar Salad provided by Romeo Villareal at Baja Sessions Catering - wow! great meal. Loud wake-up call this morning to a boisterous version of "Rock Star" by N.E.R.D.

From the Captain and under the heading "You Can't Make This Shtuff Up" we awoke for the midnight watch to find the display on our Nav Station computer was UPSIDE DOWN!   At first we thought we had gone so far south we had crossed the equator. Rob V gets the McGuyver Award for fixing it. We're back in the Northern Hemisphere now heading for PV.

Read more boat commentary >>

In any handicap race, time is the measure of performance. An hour is a huge chunk of performance. So keeping track of ‘race time’ is important. One unique challenge for the 2020 PV Race is the time change that occurred in the US Sunday morning. All boats started the race in Pacific Standard Time (PST) which is measured 8 hours behind “coordinated universal time (UTC -8), the US changed to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) 7 hours behind UTC (UTC-7), and PV is on UTC-6 time. Making sure the tracker stays on PST time communicating with the racers in PST time, estimating when boats will arrive at the marina in PV time, and chatting with families back home in US time is a whirlwind. So when looking at estimates of finish times, consider the source and check to make sure you understand what time zone is being referenced. 

Daily commentary from John Shulze' Santa Cruz 50 Horizon as they compete from Class 4 in the 2020 PV Race.

We had a near perfect Kodak moment start of the 2020 PV race thanks to Gary Weisman. 12 knots of wind straight up the bay made for a 12 to 14knot fetch out to sea.
That wind did not stop for the first 24 hours of the race. By 11am we were nearly abeam of Cedros Island. Amazing! Then, it turned in to a more typical Mexican race and we drifted for the next 10 hours. Finally we are moving again under mostly cloudy skies and cold weather about 100 miles offshore abeam Punta Lazarro.

Boat life has been good. Gary Weisman and Ben Mitchell bought a bunch of bricks of Parmesan Cheese but turns out we have no grater so the guys have been breaking off chunks of cheese ever since. Expecting some more tricky weather in the next few hours. We are hoping  to come out of it ok and head to PV.

On Day 3 of San Diego Yacht Club’s 2020 Puerto Vallarta Race, 21 of 29 boats had spent at least one night on the course. As of 0600 Saturday, Class 6 boats from the Thursday start had come to the vicinity of Cedros Island which is 275 miles down the course. The leader the first group has been Bill Hardesty’s Hobie 33 Sizzle since the opening moments of the race, and their lead had extended to 15 miles over the nearest boat 1D35 Such Fast, and as much as 55 miles over Cal 40 Nalu V. Sizzle appears to have maintained a consistent 6-8kts of speed throughout the night.

Looking back up the course at the 3 Classes of Friday starters there is a second grouping of 16 boats. As might be expected by the wide variety of boats in the class, Class 5 split up with many different paths, while the Santa Cruz 50/52 class hung tight together. Horizon and Triumph were the 0600 leaders in Class 4 in site of each other no doubt within a mile or two much of the way. Rogers 46 Bretwalda3 made the most distance down the course from the Friday starting group. Multiple reports of shifty overnight conditions made for busy crews keeping up with the sail changes.

Day 2 of San Diego Yacht Club’s 35^th Puerto Vallarta Race started with a review of the race tracker to check on the progress of the Class 6 boats who started on Thursday. Over the first 18 hours of the race, Bill Hardesty’s Hobie 33 Sizzle led the pack, cutting over 150 miles off the course with an average of 8.5kts boat speed over course.

Aboard the Cal 40 Nalu V, the crew loved the start delivered to them on Thursday. “Great start to the race! Much windier than expected – only one roundup! Excellent ‘skippers lasagna’ for dinner. Champagne sailing all the way.”

Sailonline is again partnering with San Diego Yacht Club (SDYC) for the 2020 running of the Puerto Vallarta Race. SDYC has been racing to the Mexican Mainland since 1953, and in 2016, was the first USA West Coast yacht club to bring virtual sailing navigation to its members and the west coast sailing community. The Puerto Vallarta Race is 1,020 mile race down the baja coast, across to the mainland and the entrance to Banderas Bay. Three days of starts, Thursday - Saturday March 5-7, 2020.

Sailonline will be going head to head with the real fleet – it is intended to bring the tracks of the real racers on-screen – and as we are racing our Volvo 70 polar, similar to the Pyewacket entry.

REGISTER ONLINE TO RACE

San Diego Yacht Club has been hosting the Puerto Vallarta Race to the Mexican mainland since 1953, making this year the 35th running of this west coast classic. Twenty-nine boats are competing in 6 classes in this edition of the PV Race with starts on Thursday, March 5 (Class 6), Friday, March 6 (Classes 3, 4, 5) and Saturday, March 7, 2020 (Classes 1 and 2). The destination is 1012 nm away in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

From the 14th to the 18th of March, Puerto Vallarta will host the well known Mexican Ocean Racing Circuit  -  MEXORC 2020. Participants are mainly expected from México, USA, Canada, Holland, Germany and France, among others.

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, México, Feb 6th, 2020. Puerto Vallarta is honored to host the 44th aniversary of the MEXICAN OCEAN RACING CIRCUIT – MEXORC 2020 from the 14th to the 18th of March.

This edition is expecting to receive 30 boats, with an average of 12 crew members each, mainly from the United States, Canada and Mexico, but we are also expecting the presence of competitors coming from Germany, Holland, France, and South America.

MEXORC is an international event, contributing to the efforts to attract tourists from the Northern Continents to Puerto Vallarta. This event is important to our tourism industry for the economic benefits that come with the event, and it showcases our coasts and our destination as the best place to practice the sport of sailing.

2020 PV Race Helly Hansen tech shirts, Wide Brim hats, and Trucker hats are available for order online. Pick up your gear at the skippers meetings prior to race starts on March 5-7, or request an alternative pickup or shipping method. Shirts will be available for purchase at SDYC and in Puerto Vallarta while supplies last. Pre-order to make sure you get the sizes you'd like.

ORDER FORM

Registration is open for MEXORC 2020 which follows immediately after SDYC's PV Race.