Magnitude 80 Smashes Puerto Vallarta Record
 Bill Center - San Diego Union-Tribune
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| | Doug Baker's maxi sled Magnitude 80, seen here at the start of 2007 TransPac. (Rick Roberts/underthesunphotos.com) | | |
Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 smashed the elapsed-time record, and the largest Division I boats dominated the handicap standings of San Diego Yacht Club's biennial San Diego-to-Puerto Vallarta race.
Baker's 80-foot turbo sled completed the distance in three days, 15 hours, 47 minutes and 35 seconds – knocking six hours and eight minutes off the previous record set by Roy Disney's Pyewacket in 1998.
Pushed by 30-knot winds, Magnitude 80 covered a single-day race-record 361 miles last Monday, a 15-knot average for 24 hours. The next day, Baker's crew sailed 269 miles.
But those runs weren't enough to give Magnitude 80 the corrected-time victory.
That went to another Long Beach Yacht Club entry, the Kernan 68 Peligroso co-skippered by Mike Campbell and Dale Williams. On corrected time, Peligroso finished 20 minutes ahead of Magnitude 80.
“We were fortunate,” Campbell said. “Our boat speed was really good and (watch captain) Kevin Miller did a great job positioning the boat as we rounded the cape (Cabo San Lucas). That's when we made our move.”
“You never know in this kind of race where you are until everyone has finished,” said Baker, whose crew lost the overall handicap title by 20 minutes. “We had different weather conditions all the time.”
The Reichel-Pugh 77 Akela, co-skippered by Bahia Corinthian YC's Bill Turpin and David Janes, finished third overall in a Division I sweep of the top spots.
The 30th biennial SDYC international race featured a wide variety of conditions, from Monday's storm-whipped winds to a near-total absence of winds after the biggest boats reached the finish.
The top local finisher was Jim Madden's RP-66 Stark Raving Mad III, in fifth. Dennis Conner's Farr 60 Stars & Stripes, also from the host club, was sixth overall. Dennis Pennell's Blue Blazes, the defending overall champion, finished 11th.
The results:
Overall: 1. Peligroso, 86.39 hours; 2. Magnitude 80, 86.65; 3. Akela, 88.55; 4. Holua (Brack Duker, California YC, Santa Cruz 70), 92.95; 5. Stark Raving Mad III, 93.56.
6. Stars & Stripes, 96.15; 7. OEX (Peter Tong, LBYC, SC-70), 98.00; 8. Pendragon IV (John MacLaurin, CalYC, Davidson 52), 99.09; 9. Super Gnat (Cliff Thompson, SDYC, Beneteau 40.7), 100.81; 10. Valkyrie (Andy Rasdal, SDYC, DK-46), 101.74.
11. Blue Blazes (Dennis Pennell, SDYC, RP-50), 103.55; 12. Morpheus (Jim Gregory, Richmond YC, Schumacher 50), 104.27; 13. Velos (Kjeld Hestehave, SDYC, 66-foot sloop), 104.74; 14. Bad Pak (Tom Holthus, SDYC, J-145), 104.79; 15. Innocent Merriment (Myron Lyon, SDYC, J-160), 106.48.
16. Rain Cloud (Lorenzo Berho-Corona, SDYC, J-145), 111.08; 17. Uncontrollable Urge (James-Chris Gilmore, Silver Gate YC, Columbia 30), 115.89. Did-not-Finish: Condor (Lindy Thomas, Chicago YC, Columbia 50). Unrated (Cruising Fleet): Beowulf (Ernie Dolzaki, CalYC, Dashew 78).
Division I: Peligroso, Magnitude 80, 3. Akela, 4. Stark Raving Mad.
Division II: 1. Holua, 2. Stars & Stripes, 3. OEX, 4. Pendragon.
Division III: 1. Valkyrie, 2. Blue Blazes, 3. Morpheus, 4. Velos, 5. Bad OPak, 6. Innocent Merriment, 7. Rain Cloud.
Division IV: 1. Super Gnat, 2. Uncontrollable Urge, DNF: Condor. |
Vallarta Weddings
Travel & Outdoors | March 2008 
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