Doug Baker, Long Beach, skippered the Reichel/Pugh 78 Akela to first-to-finish honors Tuesday and was first in Division 1 on corrected ORR handicap time in Long Beach Yacht Club’s biennial 2010 Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race. Bob Lane’s Andrews 63 Medicine Man, also from Long Beach, finished first in Division 1 on corrected PHRF time.
Finishing the 804 nautical-mile race within about three hours of each other the two skippers fell short of breaking fellow LBYC member Peter Tong’s Santa Cruz 70 OEX record set in 2008 of 2 days 22 hours 50 minutes 9 seconds. Unlike in 2008 where there was consistent wind of 20 plus knots for the entire race, this year’s breezes fluctuated just enough to put the race record out of reach.
The closest battle during the race was between Brack Duker’s Santa Cruz 70 Holua from Marina del Rey and Per Peterson’s Andrews 69 Alchemy from Oceanside YC with Perterson finishing just 4 minutes, 23 seconds ahead of Duker. Alchemy finished second on ORR corrected time and third on PHRF corrected time while Holua finished third on ORR time and fourth on PHRF time. Both boats were in close proximity to each other throughout the race. So close at times that there was a near miss late Sunday night between them under a moonless cloudy sky in a very dark ocean. Alchemy executed a crash-jibe and avoided what could have been an unfortunate encounter for both boats.
Ricardo Brockmann’s Reichel/Pugh 52 Vincitore from Acapulco rounded out the order with a fourth place finish on ORR corrected time and fifth on PHRF time. OEX’s record is safe for another two years until these racing sleds will once again attempt to break it in the Fall of 2012.
Chuck Skewes of Alchemy commented on the race, “Of all the distance races I have done this has been one of the best with close racing and boat to boat tactics. These old 70-foot sleds are such a great boat for these races and truly amazing at the speeds we average.”
E-mail from the boats
Alchemy
Tuesday, 2:12 PM PST
Wind was good all night but we had a rough night. We hit a kelp island and increased the kelp on the rudder and sail drive. We fixed the kelp pole but could not get the kelp off. We then did the crazy ivan to remove kelp (semi controlled round down and round up to slide the boat on its side)
The first two removed some kelp but also removed the instrument pod off of the starboard steering pedestal with the main sheet (bad ivan). We eventually were successful and got going full speed.
The unfortunate part is that Holua passed us last night and we are on layline to the finish with the A4 up doing 14 knots with little time or opportunity to pass back. They are about 1.5 miles ahead right now. We are scheduled to finish tonight so a lot can change but we have our work cut out for us.
There have been a lot of squid on the deck in the morning but luckily the flying fish have not landed on us yet.
Will [Stout] has a little girl like reaction to squid, when Artie [Means] said there was one in the pit area (talking about Will) you should have seen him dance around.
The darker yellow dinner last night was actually good. Someone said it was lasagna. We have hot dogs for lunch today. I hope that is enough motivation to get past the blue boat again. —Chuck Skewes
Final Standings
Div 1, ORR
1. Akela (Reichel/Pugh 78), Doug Baker, Long Beach, Calif., Elapsed Time; 73hrs:55 min: 13 sec
2. Alchemy (Andrews 63), Per Peterson, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Elapsed Time; 85:29:02
3. Holua (Santa Cruz 70), Brack Duker, Marina del Rey, Calif., Elapsed Time; 85:33:25
4. Vincitore (Reichel/Pugh 52), Ricardo Brockmann, Acapulco, Mexico, Elapsed Time; 82:27:24
5. Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, Long Beach, Calif., Elapsed Time; 77:17:19
Div 1, PHRF
1. Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, Long Beach, Calif., Elapsed Time; 77:17:19
2. Akela (Reichel/Pugh 78), Doug Baker, Long Beach, Calif., Elapsed Time; 73hrs:55 min: 13 sec
3. Alchemy (Andrews 63), Per Peterson, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Elapsed Time; 85:29:02
4. Holua (Santa Cruz 70), Brack Duker, Marina del Rey, Calif., Elapsed Time; 85:33:25
5. Vincitore (Reichel/Pugh 52), Ricardo Brockmann, Acapulco, Mexico, Elapsed Time; 82:27:24
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