October 2014 Acapulco Race Repotr | The "Airport Race"

Racers showed up to Club de Yates Acapulco October Regatta for the traditional Airport Race on Saturday and the La Rocheta style Race on Sunday.

All the 52’s showed up and were on the start line together. I would describe Class A as a sandwich, with the big boat Peligroso as a slice of bread and Kayue & Ruahatu holding together the other end! The Farr 40s raced in Class B to “represent” their class. The Farr 40s missed French kiss whom was the only boat missing in the class lineup. Piet Hein and Knitissima were the only boats on the Class C start line.
Only a couple of the cruising boats made the start this month. Several boats were out of the race, due to repairs, but this class still shows lots of potential. We hope to see them ready to go for next month’s Zihuatanejo-Acapulco race!
The Airport Race is pre-handicapped with relative ratings determining the start times for each boat. The slowest-rated boats start first and the fastest-rated boat starts last (Peligroso). All the other boats start at different intervals after Piet Hein and ahead of Peligroso. The format is easy to determine the winner after the start; first boat back in each class is the winner!
Light southwest winds got the fleet off the yacht club start line with spinnakers as each boat started heading for El Presidente buoy. The Farr 40’s looked very tight off the start line as they jockeyed for the first jibe toward the beach with Iemanja taking the early lead to the left. On Destroyer, our spinnaker didn’t open cleanly, making me, the tactician, and Keith Magnussen, the strategist; ponder what kind of race this was going to be! Once the spinnaker was slightly lowered, allowing the spinnaker to open completely, the skipper and crew focused on accelerating the boat speed as the spinnaker went back into full hoist and trim. Seeing several boats ahead on the course, it was easy to see where the wind was strongest and where we wanted to set our jibe points down the bay.
At El Presidente, the jib went up smoothly and the spinnaker slid down the front hatch with a tackline take down, giving us good speed around the buoy. As Destroyer came up on the wind, our strategy was to minimize low speed maneuvers, keep the foot on the “gas pedal” at each turn and get the boat at about .5 knots above targets during the open legs between buoys. The boat kicked into gear thanks to Eduardo steering the boat perfectly at 23 degrees and the apparent wind in the smooth water. Looking up the race course we saw the optimum wind and tack to the ocean buoy was to the right middle side of the bottom half of the bay and then the right side at the top half of the bay passing La Roqueta. Destroyer put time on all the other TP-52’s on this leg and really opened the lead that would be hard to give up. There was simply more wind and shift with the course Destroyer took to the ocean buoy.
Spinnakers were set for the run to the airport. Piet Hein was still the lead boat with the rest of the fleet in hot pursuit. The wind built as the boats passed Puerto Marquez and raced past the beachfront at the mega hotels. I’m not sure if the best wind was against the beach or offshore, or perhaps even on each side. Destroyer was sailing easily with the code 1.5A spinnaker and spinnaker staysail hitting speeds in the 11’s & 12’s at times. The boat was sailing very efficiently and on target for the wind speed and angle down to the airport buoy. With one jibe back in toward the buoy and beach, we could see Piet Hein, Kayue, Velocity and most of the Farr 40’s start the upwind leg with perfect wind and heel. We changed to the medium jib and made a clean rounding to start our upwind leg. Destroyer tacked to port, parallel to the beach, as Vincitore and the other 52’s approached the buoy.
Our game plan for this segment of the race was simple; go fast, don’t sail in any bad wind, pass boats and don’t get passed. We sailed close to 8.7 to 9.0 knots most of the upwind legs to the 2nd rounding of the ocean buoy. When the wind was around 13 knots of true wind speed, the crew moved from hiking foreword near the mast and shrouds to 3-4 bodies back toward the stern. Some crew repositioned behind the skipper and used the rail and aft beam of the boat to balance the boat flatter and smoother motion through the waves. This is a gear change we use for upwind and downwind sailing when the wind builds higher and the motion of the boat changes to needing the crew weight aft and all the way hiked out on the high side. Destroyer reacted very well with ease of steering which made for very fast speed and pointing, the boat was sailing “on autopilot” with very little trim and steering by the crew and skipper!
Destroyer approached the ocean buoy for the starboard rounding with only one boat ahead of her. Piet Hein had led every buoy to this point, now it was Destroyer’s turn as each boat launched their spinnakers! During the spinnaker reach to the final buoy at El Presidente, Vincitore crept up on Destroyer, but right at the last moment an extra puff of wind hit Destroyer’s sails. At the last buoy, Destroyer had a comfortable 90 second lead on Vincitore and about 240 seconds on Peligroso.
The wind was definitely west in the lower part of the bay and showing even more right shift up toward the upper part of the bay. The large Mexican Flag is a great wind tell tale to show racers what the wind is doing in Acapulco Bay. It was flapping parallel down the beach. On Destroyer we took this as stay to the right and don’t let Vincitore sail the beach and inside on us. The crew trimming the sails with every puff of wind and hiking hard, kept Destroyer ahead and to the right of Vincitore. The boat steered upwind very fast and with super pointing all day like we had not seen in a long time (Answer might be take away #3, see below). We were very happy with our performance on the upwind leg(s), which kept Vincitore, Bandido 52 and the other 52’s behind us.
Destroyer crossed the finish line 1st in Class A and 1st in Fleet! What a race! The boat was easy to sail all day and went fast at or above targets (thanks to good B&G instruments) with some steady trimming and helming. The boat did great; we were more than happy with the results. With the boat put away and walking back to the apartment, our long day was not over. To our surprise, Becky Saenz planned and organized a full dinner by the pool party with tables, place settings, food and (lots of) drinks (alcohol of course) to help the Destroyer crew celebrate a big day of racing in Acapulco!
October Airport Take aways:
1. Observe other boats racing for clues to what the wind is doing. Seeing a boat heeling more upwind on the far right of the course versus the other boats sailing in the middle of the course will indicate the far right boat has potentially more wind! Also check other wind indicators like the big flag on the beach in the bay…it is a huge wind indicator telling you what direction and how much wind is blowing along the beach!
2.  If you and your crew did not practice on Friday afternoon, leave the dock 45 to 60 minutes early and practice some tacks, set the spinnaker and do some jibes finished with a racing style take down.
             i.      Getting the crew and skipper in rhythm before the first race will make speed and pointing better upwind and having the spinnaker up once will definitely make the first buoy a smoother & faster rounding. On Destroyer at the start of Sunday’s race, we had the windward spinnaker sheet trapped in the bow of the boat when we hoisted the spinnaker, major problem when we jibed moments later…if we hoisted the spinnaker once before the start, we would of discovered this mistake BEFORE the start, not at a critical time 2-3 minutes into the race!
3.   Race J70’s or J24’s in Valle to keep your helm and crewing levels fresh. There is no substitute for time at the helm, trimming, starting, mark rounding’s and tactics to keep and build your racing and sailing skills.

**RESULTS**

Saturday Airport Race

Farr 40 Airport Race Report





By Pablo Fernandez
As the Farr 40 class continues to grow in Acapulco the last two days of racing were great.
The Iemanja Farr 40 crew is improving a lot and now is another boat to look for at the front of the fleet.
Racing during the airport race had the fleet compressed together most of the way, led by Iemanja Farr 40 and closely followed by Flojito y Cooperando.
Nitemare was closing in until it had the topping lift on the spin pole break. Quick repairs were made while on the go allowing Velasquez’s Nitemare stay in a competitive position while only loosing a little time to the lead boats.
On the last stretch of the race FyC made its move and passed Iemanja Farr 40 to win the Saturday race.

Gracias por VELEAR con Ullman Sails,

Tomas Span - Mexico U/S Dealer, Erik Brockmann - Mexico U/S Dealer, Bruce Cooper
Contact U/S for info on the Worlds fastest growing one design J70 and scheduling Friday afternoon crew practices!

Photo Credit to: Bruce Cooper / CYA / Keith Magnussen

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Acapulco March 2013 Regatta Preview Report

by Bruce Cooper

Welcome to the inaugural Copa Club de Yates Corum at Acapulco, Mexico. This year’s ocean regatta is new with 4 days of racing and many social events planned, this is a great format to have local racing on opposite years from the famous MEXORC held in Banderas Bay every other year.

Saturday’s first race is from Papanoa to Acapulco, which is a testing 71 miles if the winds are light, but if there is good afternoon wind that s during the evening hours, the fleet should be in before the crack of dawn. We’ll just wait and see what the wind gods have in store for us.

The race format for the Papanoa race is weighted for the finish positions counting as double weight. The skippers will want to score up in the front of the fleet and keep the low scores to build momentum for the next 3 days of racing. Also modified for this race is the semi-pursuit start sequence. The slowest boats will start ahead of the fastest boats by only half their corrected time allowance for the entire 71 mile race. Theoretically, all boats should be even at the midrace point 35.5 miles toward Acapulco! Great idea to keep the majority of the boats sailing in similar wind conditions and seeing each other close the midpoint of the race.

Early favorites are the big boats in Class A with Vincitore and Kayue 52 leading the way, but the pesky Farr 40’s will be lurking a little further back. In Class B the fast downwind Veloce II will be a force to be reckoned with while being chased by the Piet Hein and Iemanja and the other hot boats from that class.

Stay tuned for more report and photos from Acapulco.

February Race Report    December Race Video   November Race Video

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Acapulco January 2013 Regatta Report

by Bruce Cooper

The 2013 race season started strong with 25 boats participating in the January race hosted by Club de Yates Acapulco. Captains and crews had time off during the holidays to rest and prepare for the new race season. They needed that rest to be ready for lots of sailing. The coming season look very promising with a newly formatted schedule loaded with a new “Race Week” in March and the usual terrific short and medium distance races. More on the Race Week in the next race report.

Class A&B looks solid with 21+ boats, but I think the Class C can be the surprise fleet this year. With only four boats at this regatta, I bet the potential is to double that number of boats or more this year! The ocean fleet needs to make a push and campaign to get 30 or more boats at the regattas this year. Let’s do it!

Starting the year off with a good first race on Saturday was the Farr 46 Wasabi. Wasabi was the winner of the last race of 2012, the Champagne Race, was showing the same great light air speed finishing 2^nd right behind the awesome blue RP-52 Vincitore. Close behind in Class A was the Farr 40 gang led by Nitemare, then French Kiss who crossed the line just ahead of the speedy Flojito y Cooperando. Right behind the front Farr 40’s on correct time was the TP-52 Patches who placed 6^th just ahead of 7^th place Farr 40 Hurakan II.

Class B started first with the CM-1200Velocity tacking away from the start line toward the ocean (good tactic) while the rest of the boats stayed on starboard toward the outside point at Puerto Marquez (not so good tactic). Halfway to the first buoy Velocity was sailing in more wind and looked like they had a commanding lead. For competitors in class A, this was a good clue on tactics for their first leg to the windward buoy. By the end of the race Velocity had lost their favorable wind and fell back into the fold of the fleet correcting to 2^nd place behind the J-133 Veloce II. The Frers 43 Bandido sailed well placing 3^rd just ahead of the Peterson 40 Piet Hein.

Because the favorable wind was out to sea and was slowly fading to whispers of wind as the day shortened, the boats in class C had trouble finishing their “marathon” 5.7 mile race that finished back in Acapulco Bay in front of the yacht club. The Catalina 38 Tarhitsi proved to have the right stuff and had speed to be the only boat from class C to reach the finish line before the wind completely died!

Race 2 on Saturday was looking like a “driftathon” with the wind dropping below 4 knots. The Race Committee wisely hoisted the abandon race flag and sent the racers in early to prepare for the grand opening of the newly constructed Olympic Plaza located at the entrance of the yacht club.

On Sunday’s in Acapulco there are four things you know will happen. First, church happens at 9:30at the yacht club patio. Second (maybe first), hung over sailors wake up for coffee and food. Third, the day will be sunny and hot. Fourth, the race course will the yacht club start to the El Presidente buoy and then up the Boca Chica channel and either back down the channel around La Roqueta and finally back to the El President buoy with a yacht club finish. Yes, yes, yes and yes…we are a “go” for Sunday!

With a little more wind than Saturday’s race, at the sound of the starting horn crews hoisted spinnakers and quickly crossed the downwind start line and jibed to the beach to pick up some more wind and better current. The NM40 Iemanja did a jibe set at the pine and quickly set course toward the beach, opening a brief lead against the class B boats. Class A was tight and crowded at this race #2 start. As so many times on Sunday’s downwind start, Vincitore set their spinnaker and jibed ahead of the class A boats and took off toward the beach leading class A just minutes into the race!

Maybe that is the fifth thing that always happens on Sunday’s in Acapulco? Good job Vincitore!

The TP-52 Kayue 52 was next in the lineup of boats racing to El President with Patches further behind stuck in all the traffic of other smaller class A boats. To place well in Sunday’s race, a good to super leg tacking up the Boca Chica channel is a must! Well, I am going to tell you the Farr 40’sthrive in this part of the race and sail that channel as good or better than the whole fleet 9 out of 10 times. Flojito y Cooperando dominated the channel and rounded the buoy with a big lead on the other Farr 40’s. The wind held nicely all day pushing the boats into the bay for the final turn at El Presidente before heading back up the bay to the yacht club finish. Vincitore had a commanding lead, but finished 2^nd to Flojito y Cooperando. Nitemare sailed consistently to take another 3^rd followed by the NM-46Insurgente followed by Hurakan II and Wasabi respectively.

Class B had a downwind showdown with Veloce II and Velocity that opened the door for the other class B boats. While the “V” boats jousted with each other trying to pass each other,Bandido, Piet Hein, Iemanja and Ole slid in ahead on corrected time. Sometimes winning the race with in the race is not so important when trying to win the regatta. Veloce and Velocity sailed themselves right out of contention for the class overall top spot with their strategy to pass each other on the last downwind leg. Oh well, you win some and lose some!

At the end of the day, class A overall was easily won by Vincitore (3pts) followed by Flojito y Cooperando and Nitemare (6,6), Wasabi (8), and Hurakan II (12). Class B overall was won by Bandido (4pts) followed by Veloce II and Piet Hein (6,6). Class C overall was a clean sweep by Tarhitsi (2pts) followed by Sunshine, Marenostrum and Oceana.

Gracias por VELEAR con Ullman Sails,

Tomas Span - Mexico U/S Dealer

Erik Brockmann

Bruce Cooper

*photo credit CYA / Viridiana S*

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Acapulco May Regatta

The May Regatta in Acapulco hosted by Club de Yates Acapulco was great wind and great action. Two years ago the May Regatta was very windy and the RP-42 yacht "Pershephone" lost their mast, this year the NM-40 "Iemanja" lost their mast in a strange collision with "Piet Hein" at the conclusion of the second race on Saturday. We are happy to report no one was injured, just some bruised egos!

Most of the fleet struggled with torn sails, broken rigging or some complication from the high wind and large waves.The class B Farr 40 yacht "Flojito y Cooperando" excelled in these conditions and ran away with the top finishes this weekend. Team Flojito exhibited good boat and sail handling to stay in front of the fleet much of the races. Good job!

There will be many regatta's during the month of June to receive reports from, stay tuned!

-Saturday Video-

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2010 MEXORC

Riveria Nayarit, Mexico

The 2010 MEXORC surpassed the 2008 regatta in every way. First, the President of Mexico started the boats on the first and last day of racing. Second, the racing was extremely close in all classes and fleet overall. Third, the all inclusive "Marival" hotel where the racers stayed was too good. Fourth and final, the parties were first class with smiles, fun and free food and drinks!
Ullman Sails customer came to take home some serious trophies and MEXORC memories. Mission Accomplished.
Boats from California, Texas and Mexico competed for six days with 8 races.
In the end, Ullman Sails boats claimed 2nd "Alchemy" & 3rd "Horizon" overall in fleet and 1st in class "A" (Alchemy), 2nd (Horizon) & 3rd "Ruahatu" in class "B" and 2nd "Iorana" in class "D"!
Check the daily videos and interviews by Bruce Cooper of USNB

Practice Day video

Day 1 video

Day 2 video

Day 3 video

Day 4 report only - layday-

Day 5 video

Day 6 video

Day 7 video

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January 2010 Acapulco Regatta

Acapulco, Mexico

Acapulco racers hoped that the January Regatta would be a good practice for the upcoming MEXORC race in Puerto Vallarta, but not much practice got accomplished with only 2 races finished due to light winds. Each race was challenging with a big wind shift each race(about 200-240 degrees change each race) which made boat speed being the only tactic some boats could count on. The R/P 42 "Quintessence" sailed with a new U/S carbon GPL L/M#1 genoa that was really fast and finished across the line with speed to burn!
The new ORR ratings from US Sailing have not been issued, so all the results are provisional until??
Best of luck to skippers and crew who are going to MEXORC / Copa de Mexico. Ullman Sails will be reporting from Puerto Vallarta during the MEXORC, please stay tuned and check the Ullman Sails website for more racing and sailing action and updates!

Day 1 racing pictures -click here-
Day 2 racing pictures -click here-

-more Ullman Sails NB website-

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2009 Champagne Race in Acapulco

post #82
Acapulco, Mexico

The Acapulco Yacht Club end of the year race is known as the Champagne Race. The race is very popular for the serious racers and the casual racers. It is a perfect blend of racing with a big fiesta at the end when the boats finish in Puerto Marquez.


This year I raced with CYA Commodore Jorge Ripstein on his beautiful dark blue Farr 46 “Wasabi”. -read more-

-Video Champagne Race-

-Click Here- for December pictures

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-wrap up- September Acapulco Regatta

post#75
Acapulco, Mexico

The wind gods smiled on the Acapulco fleet for Sunday's third race at the Club de Yates Acapulco September Regatta.

Medium south-easterly winds greeted the fleet for a traditional 13.26 mile race. The start is by the yacht club that went to El Presidente (beat) with a tight reach to the Boca Chica. After rounding an ocean buoy, the boats came back through the Boca Chica and tight headsail reached back to El Presidente where the boats jibe set the spinnaker and finished back in front of the yacht club.

In Class "A", the Brockmann's Concordia 47 "Ruahatu" finished first, but had to battle the N/M 46 "China Cloud" and the Peterson 50 "Kayue" the whole way! "Ruahatu", sailing with U/S Carbon GPL upwind sails and AirX spinnakers finished with 3 first for the weekend to claim first overall in the Class "A". Jorge Ripstein's Farr 46 "Wasabi" has been greatly missed and will soon be back after the transPac adventures!

Class "B" winner and fleet overall winner was Bernardo Farr 40 "Flojito y Coperando" who sailed flawlessly and won all 3 races as well. They are definitely a boat to beat!

Class "C" had a three way tie going into the Sunday's race! The RP-42 "Quintessence" was tied with "Iemanja" and "Bandido", all with four points! The start on Sunday determined the outcome of the final race and results. "Iemanja" started close to the committee boat and held a upwind course near the peninsula with a great lift, whereas, "Quintessence" started 50 meters down the line and took a wind shift toward the beach and lost position against "Iemanja" and "Bandido". The racing after El Presidente was very close boat to boat, with "Quintessence" breaking from the fleet at the ocean buoy and stretched to a good lead, but not enough to beat "Iemanja". In the end, "Iemanja" finished first overall, "Quintessence" second and "Bandido" third overall.

Class "D" was won by the Vulling's "Piet Hein" with taking three first. Sunday's race had a great showing from Luis Altolaguirre's J-120 "Tate-i" that led the Class "C" and "D" boats down the Boca Chica and all the way back to the finish, correcting to 2nd in Class! The sad story in Class "D" was Choco Brockman's J-105 "Hurakan" that was ahead of all the "C &D" boats at the ocean buoy when their asymmetric spinnaker got away from them and went 100% in the water. needless to say they had camarones for lunch! "Hurakan" placed 2nd on both races on Saturday and finished 2nd overall using a new U/S Carbon GPL #1 genoa!

With MEXORC coming soon, the Ullman Sails dealer in Acapulco and Valle de Bravo (Servicios Maritimos) would like to help get you prepared.

We know how important and competitive MEXORC will be this year, get the best quality sails and service from Ullman Sails.

Contact Tomas Span or Ricky Brockmann for a promotional special price for MEXORC racers!

Ullman Sails and Servicios Maritimos look forward to servicing your sail needs every month, please give us a call or email and let us know what your sailing plans and needs are

-2009 September Acapulco Regatta photos & pictures-

Thank you for sailing with Ullman Sails,

Tomas Span

Ricky Brockmann

Bruce Cooper

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Acapulco Regatta - July and August

post#70
Acapulco, Mexico
The last two regattas at Club de Yates Acapuclo have had some great wind to battle back the hot summer temperatures! The July race was sunny conditions...

-click here-
for more race summary and photos!

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May Acapulco Regatta

post #55
Acapulco, Mexico
The May regatta in Acapulco was greeted with 14-20 knots of wind on Saturday and perfect 10-12 knots of wind on Sunday. Racers were surprised to have the wind come up so nicely which included lots of waves and chop! Many racers choose to head back to Club de Yates Acapulco for the second race on Saturday with sick crew, torn sails, broken rigging/halyards, fatigued crew or all of the above! Only 10 boats made the second race, but competition was tough.
Flojito y Coperando took command of A&B class with Ruahatu and Wasabi in SoCal preparing for the upcoming TransPac Race to Hawaii. They were first to finish both races!

Sunday's race was an inverted start/pursuit style where all the handicap time is given at the start when the highest handicap (slowest boat) starts the race. Piet Hein was first to start and China Cloud was last. But, in the end with many boats approaching the CYA finishline together, it was Iemanja who crossed first for the first overall place on Sunday!

I can not say it enought but, racing in Acapulco is an absolute treat with great people, fun boats, terrific yacht club (best food and drinks)! Look for another report in June or July from Acapulco!

-CLICK HERE for pictures-

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April Acapulco Regatta

post #52
Acapulco, Mexico
The April Acapulco regatta had great wind and some serious competition! I raced on The Brockmann’s Concordia 47 “Ruahatu” and John Bennett of Ullman Sails raced on Jorge Ripstein’s Farr 46 “Wasabi”. After this regatta, both boats will be preparing to race in the TransPac Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii. Look for many post and reports here for progress of “Ruahatu” and “Wasabi” as they prepare for this legendary race across the Pacific Ocean.

Saturday’s 1^st race was the normal ocean W-L. CYA Commodore and his crew added lots of excitement when “Wasabi” ... -click here- for more Acapulco report.

just posted -Ixtapa /Acapulco photo gallery- February, 2009

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February 2009 Acapulco Regatta

post #45
Acapulco, Mexico
Spring time in Acapulco brings good wind and great racing. The February Ocean Regatta hosted by Club de Yates Acapulco was run with an extended ocean windward-leeward 22 mile course. Last year’s extended ocean course was held in 12-20 knots of wind, I was pleasantly surprised how fast the race was and would be very surprised if this year’s race could live up to last years great conditions. The race committee starts classes C&D together and then gets A&B on the course 20 minutes later. By the time A&B started, the wind was increasing to over 12 knots and this year’s race would deliver a very fast race.

-click here- for more report of February 2009 Acapulco Regatta

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January 2009 Acapulco Regatta

Post# 42
Acapulco, Mexico

Ricardo Brockmann's speedy Concordia 47 "Ruahatu"

Warm weather and a warm 7-11 knot breeze met the racers at Acapulco Yacht Club’s first regatta of 2009. Some boats like Emilio Garcia Plascencia’s Farr 50 “CARAT” were making their debut and the rest were seasoned veterans ready for action. The fleet was anxious for the new season to get under way. In the Class “A” and “B” combined start there were 3 boats over early in the first start on Saturday’s first windward-leeward race. “Kayue”, “Flojito y Coperando” and “Wasabi” were over and restarted. The over early boats sailed to the right on the 2 mile beat and stayed out of the down coast current the boats that started on time sailed into off the line by sailing a little to the left side of the course. The combined Class “C” and “D” start was clean with no over early’s called on the radio.

more January 2009 Acapulco Regatta
-click here-

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Acapulco Racers Prefer Champagne!

Post#36

Acapulco, MexicoThe last race of the season for the competitors at Acapulco Yacht Club is the "Champagne Race” to Puerto Marquez bay. This year’s race had a showdown with the leaders in each class trying to wrap up their class victories and the overall fleet victory. The overall fleet scoring is new this year and has really added a prestigious claim to victory when won. Going into the Champagne race, the Farr 40 “Flojito y Coperando” held a slight lead over the N/M 46 “China Cloud”, the Concordia 47 “Ruahatu” and the classic Peterson 40 “Piet Hiem”.

Acapulco Yacht Club’s race committee ran this year’s race with a “pursuit” format where the handicapped times for each boat is issued at the start. The slowest handicapped boat starts first with all the faster boats starting at their time intervals after the first boat is already on the race course! The J-105 “Hurakan” started first and the speedy “Wasabi” started last. The race overall winner is the first boat across the finish line in Puerto Marquez!

Farr 40 "Flojito y Coperando"

I raced on the Altolaguirre Family’s J-120 “Tate-i”. We had made a good showing at the October Regatta and had a great crew practice on Friday before the Champagne race; we had high hopes for finishing well in the Champagne Race. The wind was at about 8 knots from the southwest at the start. The racers all crossed the start time on queue without much trouble, the race was on! Leading at the first ocean windward bouy was “Hurakan” followed closely by the N/M 40 “Iemanja” and the Beneteau 42s7 “Iorana” and then “Tate-i”. The second leg was to a leeward ocean bouy with “Hurakan” just ahead of “Tate-i”. Closing fast where the bigger boats from Class A and B. Leading the pack of big boats were the Peterson/Custom 50 “Kayue” and “Flojito y Coperando”. The third leg was upwind on basically one tack to the top entrance of the Boca Chica Channel where you hoisted spinnakers again and headed down the channel and over to Puerto Marquez. “Kayue” had taken the lead with “Tate-i”, “Hurakan”, “Iemanja”, “Bandido” and “Velocity” all getting to the top of the channel with in 30 seconds of each other. It was very tight racing!

Gybing down the channel is very tactical and a lot can be gained and lost if gybing too late or too soon for the best wind and/or current. “Tate-i” sailed a perfect course down the channel and held off “China Cloud” and “Velocity” who were making a charge, but they made an extra gybe or two to round black rock at the bottom of the channel.

Tate-i's new Ullman Sails code 2A RUN spinnaker

The beam reach over to Puerto Marquez is where the big fast boats poured it on! “Kayue” stretched their lead to about 4 minutes and “China Cloud”, “Wasabi”, “Flojito y Coperando” and “Ruahatu” all were compressing into the finish line with “Tate-i” right in the middle of them! The season fleet overall championship hinged on “Flojito y Coperando” not placing more than one boat/place behind “China Cloud” if “China Cloud” crossed ahead of “Flojito y Coperando”. Finishing all within about 1 minute span was “China Cloud”, “Wasabi”, “Flojito y Coperando”, Tate-i” and “Ruahatu”. It was very close racing! “Flojito y Coperando” won the overall fleet first place with a tie on points with China Cloud, but moved ahead with more first place finishes as the tie-breaker. Congratulations to “Flojito y Coperando” for sailing a great 2008!

What makes the Champagne Race truly a great race is the after race fiesta and celebration boat raft up just off Pinchilingi beach in Puerto Marquez bay. The yacht club sends down support boats to hand out champagne and food while the races swim, talk and party. On the raft up, it is lot of fun to visit all the boats and crews to talk about sailing, family and life. Congratulations to the whole Acapulco fleet on a wonderful year with terrific racing and good friendship and camaraderie.

written by Bruce Cooper / Ullman Sails Newport Beach

-click here- Champagne Regatta Photos

Servicing Acapulco for Ullman Sails is:

Bruce Cooper (owner) – Ullman Sails Newport Beach

John Bennett – Ullman Sails Newport Beach

Chuck Skewes – Ullman Sails San Diego

Tomas Span – Ullman Sails Acapulco – Servicios Maritimos

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Smooth sailing for boats in Acapulco Race

post #32
Acapulco, Mexico

Acapulco Yacht Club hosted their annual Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo to Acapulco Race this last weekend. The traditional 105 mile light-air race lived up to its billing with boats sailing into Acapulco as late as Monday evening. The Farr 40 "Flojito y Coperando" crossed the line first at 8:53 Monday morning taking line honors and Class "B". The Concordia 47"Ruahatu" drfited in next and crossed the finish line at 10:04am taking first in Class "A".The sailing saw a lot of light-air reaching with both "Flojito" and "Ruahatu" using code 1A spinnakers for the majority of the race! The night racing was light-air, but a moon lit night and very smooth water made it very enjoyable and memorable! I raced on Ruahatu as a practice for the upcoming 2009 Transpac, we were very happy with the boat and crew, but hopefully we will have more wind!

-Click Here-
to see Ruahatu's photo album

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Acapulco - San Diego Yacht Club Challenge

post #30
San Diego, California

THE MEXICANS CAME FOR BATTLE

11/5/2008

Last weekend, San Diego played host to the longstanding tradition of the Acapulco Challenge, an annual regatta where Club de Yachtes de Acapulco and San Diego Yacht Club each provide four teams to compete in a two-day battle.

The eight teams competed on four Beneteau 40.7s and four J/120s in an uncharacteristically shifty breeze ranging from 6-16 knots. The first day of racing was held outside of the harbor, while the second day was held inside. The venue for the event alternates each year between Acapulco and San Diego.

The American team on Beneteau 40.7 “Drumshanbo” took top honors in the international fleet, claiming first overall with an 8-point cushion ahead of second place. “Drumshanbo” was powered by 100% Ullman Sails inventory, showing superior speed across the wind range. "Drumshanbo," owned by Ullman Sails San Diego loft owners Kirk and Kathy O'Brien, sailed with GPL Carbon mainsail, a Technora FiberPath Light #1, a GPL Carbon Hvy #1 and an Airx 600 spinnaker.

Bruce Cooper from Ullman Sails Newport Beach, crewed as a guest on the top boat from Acapulco YC, sailing on the on the J/120 "Dr. NO" with Eduardo Saenz and crew. "Dr. NO" sailed with 100% Ullman Sails inventory.

Whether you race or sail in San Diego, Southern California or Acapulco and Mexico, Call Ullman Sails for your sail needs today!

San Diego Yacht Club's report -here

Full Results -here-

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