2022 PV Race: Game On

After three days of really nice conditions at the start of the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race, all boats are on the course! It has been called the “pleasant depart” - a reference to boats sailing to Mexico starting the race with spinnakers as opposed to the edgier initial course for boats sailing to Hawaii which typically involves some upwind sailing for the first day or two. So while it wouldn’t be fair to say we saved the best for last, it would be accurate to say the last got the best… start conditions. As a whole, the middle of the Saturday Class 1 and 2 fleet have already sprinted 270 miles down the course in the first 20 hours. 

Wayne Zittel, J World’s Hula Girl, Santa Cruz 52:
“A little more sporty last night, but we are loving it... some good surfing. Knowing it won't last *sigh*, but all grins for now!”

John Raymont, Fast Exit II, Ker 51:
“Good night, no issues. holding our own. good race between father and son with Bribon (Scott and Pike Harris). And yes, surfboards can be wet in 20kts! “

Lawrence Andrews, TooLoco, Riptide 35
“Cracking night of sailing. 19.7 knots top speed peeling to the A-5 at 0300. Bowman not happy. Boat fell over a couple of times. No one happy. Trouble downloading gribs. Da Nav not happy. Otherwise all good on the TooLoco luxury cruise.”

However, there was one not-so-champagne moment on the course yesterday evening - Scott Grealish’s J/121 BlueFlash had a crew member fall into the cockpit during a gybe. They suffered a badly bruised torso and suspected broken ribs, but are otherwise stable and resting. The boat crew had medical advice on board, through contact with USCG flight surgeon, as well as crew relatives on shore, so there was no shortage of oversight of injury. BlueFlash diverted to Turtle Bay and offloaded the injured crew member and will be returning to San Diego.

Meanwhile, Class 6 White Cloud continues to be point boat down the course setting up for an inside position at Cabo, still 200 miles away. Also in Class 6 - Such Fast is almost 50 nm further out than White Cloud and starting to show their choice of tactics for passing Cabo San Lucas.

Saturday Classes 5, 4 and 3 are spread over a 50nm area with Lucky Duck leading the way past San Carlos, and boat speeds averaging 9-11 kts across the fleet. Sunday Class 2 boats are also closing on San Carlos with fleet speeds in the mid-teens. The Class 1 boats are in another gear averaging high teens down the course with Pyewacket 70 posting almost 16 kt average from the start.

The Race Committee will be in transit today, relocating to Marina Vallarta to prepare to receive racers. 

Follow the race tracker showing boat positions at 1-hour intervals with a 4-hour competitive delay at https://yb.tl/sdpv2022.

Thank you to the sponsors of the 2022 Puerto Vallarta Race: North Sails, Ocean Navigator, Twin Rivers Marine Insurance, Bay City Brewing, Rosaluna Mezcal, and Marina Vallarta. 

About SDYC

The San Diego Yacht Club encourages and fosters an environment that helps and continues to produce the best in the world of boating-related activities. Founded in 1886, SDYC has become a world renown sailing community recognized for its success in bay sailing, ocean racing, cruising, angling, and its world class youth sailing program. SDYC is consistently ranked among the top 5 yacht clubs in the U.S. and is recognized by the Club Leadership Forum as one of the finest facilities of its kind in the world.