(Cabo San Lucas, Mexico)- Cabo Race veterans dream of the idyllic
offshore sailing conditions made famous in record-setting years.
Imagine taking off in sunshine, mid-70s temperature, just t-shirts and
shorts and a light to moderate seabreeze building as the afternoon goes
on. Switch from Code Zero’s over to A3s overnight, then take off in
trade-wind type conditions launched to Cabo San Lucas just 800nm away.
Much to the delight of this year’s 37-odd boat fleet, that’s how Neptune
answered their prayers. The sailors relished the solid northerlies
blowing down the coast in big oscillations, surfing down the enormous
Pacific Ocean swells, enjoying the moonlit nights filled with stars and
watching long trails of phosphorescence in their stern wakes, watching
in amazement as pods or schools of dolphins frolicked around their
boats.While the start was a bit of the usual light winds blowing onshore, it didn’t take long for the fleet to experience nice breeze offshore on the way down Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. The ORR fleet saw the big boats whistling along at 17+ kt boatspeeds and the smaller boats simply peeling the miles away on their speedos in the 9 to 12+ kts range. There were several lead changes throughout the night in the class; it was amazing that boats can be this close after sailing so many miles.
By Sunday, the J/125 TIMESHAVER had taken the lead in ORR 3 Class. For them it was a drag race all day Sunday with few changes in position, and even into the night some of the boats were bundled together likely in sight of each other as they pass close by Isla Cedros. It was going to be a close race both across the line and corrected.
By the time they finished on Tuesday, the fleet continued to enjoy good winds and, generally, those who stood offshore of boats that kept gybing too far inshore kept making incremental gains. In the end, it’s not too surprising that one of the top west coast offshore J/125 teams, Viggo Torbensen’s TIMESHAVER from Dana Point Yacht Club, pulled off a stellar performance to take second in ORR 3 Class and eighth overall! It was an amazing ride for the TIMESHAVER gang; they averaged 9.1 kts boatspeed for the 810nm course, finished 3rd boat-for-boat against four SC 50s and beat their nemesis HORIZON by over 45 minutes corrected ORR time (they crossed the line only 26 minutes behind them, in sight after 810nm!!). Congratulations to Viggo and the crew! For more Cabo Race sailing information.
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