Sea of Cortez sprint to Puerto Vallarta

The 2022 San Diego to Vallarta International Yacht Race divided the 30 entrants among three start dates on March 10-12 for the 1050 nm course. Here’s the update from March 15, 2022:

As the sun came up today on the 2022 Puerto Vallarta race track, the YB tracker reveals some great stuff. If the Windy.com weather overlay is to be believed, a little river of green with white lines is flowing south out of the Sea of Cortez. That is money! First, the more ‘northerly’ direction the wind, the better for sailors reaching to the east on a port gybe. Second, the green-ish tint indicates wind strength of 10-ish knots.

The wind strength key is across the bottom of the screen, and while it is not a vibrant green (high teens), it is not covered in the dreaded ‘blue bayou’ that indicates wind of 5 kts or less. While the morning 0800 roll calls are reporting a few lulls in the ‘green’ winds, expectations are for the daily thermals to develop and help the fleet stay compressed and on a fast track to the finish.

The second great thing the YB tracker is revealing is the fleet. The majority of the fleet is compressed within 100 miles of one another moving at 5 to 10 knots straight towards the finish line, and passing 40 to 90 miles south of Cabo, at 0800 race time. This generates a lot of competitive energy and optimism on the race course. They have the next 18-24 hrs in that “green means go” wind to cover the final 150-250 miles to the finish. If this model holds up, it will likely be a very busy night and ‘tomorrow’ at the marina for hospitality and Customs processing.

It is great to see the early starting Class 6 boats White Cloud, Envolee, and Such Fast still mixed in with the day two starting Classes (3, 4, and 5) for predicted finish times. They are no doubt trimming, plotting and working hard for class and even overall podium finishes.

Class 5 Akaw! and Class 2 Good Call are going to demonstrate the high risk/low miles “inside” pass within 10 miles from the Cabo beach. Their 0800 speed and direction look good so fingers crossed for them. And committed “outside” strategist Class 2 Pied Piper is going for the payoff of a “130 mile south of Cabo” transit. If the dreaded “blue bayou” materializes inshore, and swallows all the happiness and optimism of that group, Pied Piper will revel in the payoff and be tactical heroes!

To close today, a few words about time as the fleet races to ‘stop the clock’. Race Time is Pacific Standard Time which was in effect at the start and the racers are still operating on that time frame. Puerto Vallarta is on Mountain Standard Time (they don’t do Daylight Savings in Mexico).

So Race Committee started the race on Pacific Standard time, ignored the switch to Daylight Savings Time on March 13, changed to Mountain Time when they relocated to the destination harbor, but ignored Daylight Savings Time switch again, and don’t acknowledge that the finish line is actually in Central Standard Time zone.

Or… as the finish times on the race tracker reveal, think of race time as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) minus 8 hours. Simple!

Competitor Quotes:

Fast Exit II:
“Great day of ocean racing! Having the 4 hour delay on tracker really causes consternation, as the leaderboard is screwy compared to the real world, but it does send off alarms. Long straight drag race ahead which favors waterline – damn. But we will make a race of it for sure.”

Pyewacket 70:
“Lots of sea life, mother and baby gray whale, sea turtles and packs of seabirds picking off flying fish that we scare up. Looking forward to PV and life’s treasures on shore. Pleasant evening on the Pyewacket 70.”

Bribon:
“Don’t you just love hanging out in the lee? What happened to the wind, and how do we make it come back!”

Vela (yesterday evening):
“Vela here. Beautiful day of sailing. Finally getting into shorts and T-shirts. Saw whales breaching within a 1/4 mile of our position. We had a little halfway celebration today. Lots of fun.”

Hula Girl:
“East of Cabo! Beautiful sunset, night, and morning. Not really in the Sea I guess, a bit too far south, but it feels like it. The Zen sailing phase begins!”

Mirage:
“What a great race so far. Had artichoke crab toasts for happy hour followed by fresh grilled ribeyes for dinner last evening. Happy boat with 12 souls sailing along!”

Spin Doctor:
“Wind just shut off to 1.5 kts from 220ish. Final leg to PV. Seas calm no clouds. Just enjoyed coffee and quiche.”

Ho’okolohe:
“Went big last night trying to strategically lighten up the yacht for the passage through the Cabo lee. Waygu beef steaks on the grill with artichokes and back potatoes. Tried to call Gary and Ben on Pyewacket for wine pairing suggestions but no luck so went with Duckhorn cab, and Roembauer chardonnay for the non-red drinkers and ice cream for dessert.”

Amazing Grace:
“Close encounter last night. We were sailing at 7 knots when we saw a whale slap his fin on the surface about a boat length dead ahead. Veered hard to port and missed him by less than 20 feet. Looked like a juvenile grey, maybe 25-30′ in length. We need a bigger boat.”

Event information – Race details – Entry list – Tracking – March 15 roll call – Photos

Note: The tracking has a 4-hour delay.

Monohull Record: Bakewell White 100 Rio 100 set in 2016 at 03:05:42:43. Finishing by 18:02:42 on March 15 breaks the record.

Start schedule for 30 entrants:
March 10 – Division 6
March 11 – Division 3, 4, 5
March 12 – Division 1, 2

Source: SDYC