Coconut Grove

The 93rd Bacardi Cup got underway today with 65 Stars, from 15 countries, racing under classic Biscayne Bay conditions of 12-15 knots from the Southeast. The wind was very steady with only small oscillations.

I am sailing with Pedro Trouche, a very good young Brazilian sailor. Pedro and I got off to a very good start at the left end of the line and after 5 minutes were able to tack and cross the fleet. Our goal for Day 1 was to have a good race without taking big risks. Thus crossing when we could and getting in the middle of the race course. We lost a couple of boats on both edges and rounded the first mark 6th. We fought with Negri/Kleene(ITA/GER), Peter and Robert O’Leary (IRL) , Kusznierewicz/Prada(POL/BRA) and Schönherr/Koy (DEN/GER) most of the day. In the end, we finished a strong third with O”Leary brothers winning over Kusznierewicz/Prada in second.

Nassau

Day 4 of the 2019 SSL Finals saw the qualifying series come to a close. Due to light winds, 2 races were run today making it a 10 race qualifying series.

Phil and I ran the gauntlet and made it! There was nothing easy about it. Today saw very light and still shifty winds. Phil and I retuned our mast last night and felt very fast today.

Drawing its inspiration from tennis and its annual Masters, the SSL Board has launched in 2013 the SSL Finals which will be organised at the end of every year. This regatta has exceptional media coverage and brings together the 10 best sailors of the Ranking and about 15 VIP guest sailors.

Two young teams did well today, Lorenzo Chiavarini(GBR)/Kilian Kilian Weise(GER) and Jimeen Ha(KOR)/Mark Strube. It’s great to see these two young Laser sailors mixing it up with seasoned keel boat sailors and doing well!

The forecast for tomorrow is more of the same light winds. The quarter final starts at 11:00 EST with 8 teams, qualifiers 3-10, racing. The top 5 from the quarter final move on to the semi final along with the #2 from the qualification series. The top 3 will move onto the Final along with the number #1 qualifier. The winner of the Final is the SSL Finals winner and takes a Gold Medal and a $40,000 prize. There is $200,000 total prize money on the line at this event.

Watch the live broadcast of the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals, and Finals tomorrow on StarSailors.com
You can also watch it on my FB site.
@starsailorsleague St. Francis Yacht Club – Racing #SSLFinals #SSLFinals2019 #StarSailorsLeague #watchthefinals #watchthelive #Bow01 #USA
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Photos by Star Sailors League / Gilles Morelle @gilles.morelle.photography and Marc Rouiller @lightstormphotographieay 4 brought to a close the qualifying round of the 2019 SSL Finals. The leaderboard photo has all the results.

Coconut Grove

Three races were held today, in a 15 knot northeaster for the Star fleet on Biscayne Bay. 

16 teams were happy to get out for the Winter Series opener after racing was cancelled yesterday with gusts up to 40 knots.

In race one, the windiest of the day, Augie Diaz and Bruno Prada took the win. Phil and I passed Eric Doyle right before the finish to take second. 

In race two, Doyle was on fire and led wire to wire with Augie and Bruno in second and Phil and I third. There were some good sized shifts coming off Key Biacayne and I did not get us in phase.

It was pretty much a who beats who in the final race. Doyle was over early and had to restart and Phil and I had a nice clean start and led wire to wire to take the Schoonmaker Cup.  We were both fast and in phase finally.

This was the last opportunity to train before the SSL Finals which start in about three weeks in Nassau.

Phil and I had decent speed but need a bit more time in the boat together to smooth out the corners.

Back to SFO tonight.

For complete results go to www.yachtscoring.com

Paul

TransPac 2019-Pyewacket

While the 2019 Trans Pacific Yacht Race was the 23rd consecutive for Pyewacket owner Roy P. Disney, this was a special race. It was the 50th anniversary of the iconic race, with 92 yachts competing. On July 13th , we left the dock in Long Beach with aspirations to win. As fate would have it, our mission this year, would be of a higher calling.

After a slow first day, fighting the light southeasterly winds of a Catalina Eddy, we finally got the northwesterly gradient winds around 15:00 on Sunday the 15th and started hitting speeds of 12 knots on a heading of 220.

As night fell and a full moon rose on the cloudless sky, the wind increased to 18-20 knots and the boat speed rose to 15 knots. We were sailing with a reefed Mainsail, Genoa staysail and Blast Reacher as we passed into the early hours of Monday.

At 01:55PDT, Monday July 15, a distress call was made to the US Coast Guard by the yacht OEX, on channel 16. Onboard Pyewacket, Ben Mitchell, who was getting dressed for his watch, heard the call and asked out navigator Tom Addis to check on the location of OEX. We soon found out that the sinking yacht was just 3 miles and almost directly ahead of us.

In an instant, and without hesitation, our mindset shifted from full race to full rescue. At 15 knots of boat speed, the target would be just 12 minutes ahead. It was dark and fairly windy. There was a lot to do.

A flare went off and we could see the strobes from life rafts containing our fellow competitors.

A crew of veteran ocean racers, we slowed our boat, dropped, flaked and lashed down all three sails, We made sure all lines were out of the water before starting the engine. Doing any of the above tasks incorrectly could have rendered us useless as a rescue vessel.

As we pulled up alongside and to leeward of the two rafts, we immediately asked if all of the crew were accounted for. They were. We proceeded to board the 9 sailors. We then recovered and stowed their two life rafts. The speed with which we executed the rescue made it seem benign. 

Just 100 meters away, with it decks now awash, the sinking yacht, with its mainsail haplessly flapping in the darkness, looked like a ghost ship.

10 minutes after arriving on the scene and with all onboard, we asked if any of the crew were injured or hypothermic. While all 9 were in good condition, some had been waist deep in water trying to plug the giant hole in the hull where the rudder had parted company with the yacht. We got them down below and offered some dry clothes and hot drinks. 

The crew of Pyewacket maintained its watch system to operate the yacht in a professional an orderly manner, albeit toward a new destination.

The Coast Guard asked Pyewacket if we were capable of getting our entire charge back to Los Angeles safely to which we responded in the affirmative. Approximately 24 hours later Pyewacket docked at Windward shipyard in Marina Del Rey with 19 souls onboard. Several of the OEX spouses were there to greet their men and all were very appreciative of Pyewacket’s efforts.

In Summary

Fundamental Rule #1.1 of Sailing states: A boat or competitor shall give all possible help to any person or vessel in danger. 

The very experience that we on Pyewacket were planning to put to use to win a race got put to use for a much higher purpose. 

Rather than sharing a trophy we, the crew of Pyewacket 2019, share a strong sense of camaraderie, honor and pride in rendering assistance to fellow competitors in peril. There is no greater calling as a sportsman!

Pyewacket crew:
Roy P. Disney
Gary Weisman
Ben Mitchell
Tom Addis
Scott Easom
Brad Jackson
Mark Callahan
Mark Towill 
Robbie Kane
Paul Cayard