Greetings from Puerto Vallarta! Yesterday the race concluded at 5:30 in the afternoon when Paul Scripps guided Miramar across the line in spectacular reaching conditions with wind in the mid-teens. The old gal looked spectacular and it was great seeing this iconic SDYC boat completing the race in the style made famous by Paul and his crew of iconic old men!
We had one unfortunate incident early Thursday morning when Rio, a TP-52, arrived to Banderas Bay in the dark. When they reported their one-mile approach to the finish, Jeff Johnson on the finish boat could not see them and asked for their bearing to the mark. When they replied, Jeff quickly determined that their 1- mile report was "as the crow flies"....across the Four Seasons resort on Punta Mita... they were on the wrong side of the point. When they were aware of their position they quickly reversed course. Unfortunately the 12' bulb on their keel struck a rock and was knocked off the keel. The good news is that there were no serious injuries and miraculously no other damage to the boat. Rio motored safely to harbor and are working to retrieve the bulb and have cleaned up the keel. With a little luck they may be able to retrieve it today and reattach in time to race MEXORC, which starts on Sunday.
Congratulations to Dennis Pennell and his crew aboard Blue Blazes, who made a clean sweep of it, being the first monohull to finish and claiming first in class and first overall! Final results are here. There are lots of thank-yous to all the racers for participating, Race Chair Steve Malowney for chairing and his team of Director John Laun, Tracy Miller and Karen Busch as well as Jeff Johnson and Jared Wohlgemuth, who have been "on-call" around the clock for the last three days. Woody Hunt and his crew aboard Coley D did a great job escorting the fleet along the route all the way to PV. We also were fortunate to have Lois and Marshall Harrington of Harrington Design helping as sponsors along with Brad Crowe, who brought Cuervo Tequila in and the Mexican Tourism Board. Saturday night is the prize-giving dinner and Sunday is the start of MEXORC and six more days of racing! I trust that V/C Chuck Hope and R/C Chuck Sinks have everything in order back in San Diego and I look forward to returning after the conclusion of MEXORC.