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Pyewacket Sails to a Win in the Puerto Vallarta Race

Roy Pat Disney’s San Diego-based Andrews 68 Pyewacket is on a roll. The sled won San Diego Yacht Club’s Islands Race (Point Fermin to San Diego) overall on February 9-10. Now they’ve won the Puerto Vallarta International Yacht Race overall too.

Race starts began on Thursday, February 22, and the early-starting boats enjoyed a fresh westerly. The fastest boats, starting on Saturday the 24th, drew the short (windless) straw. “We knew no records would be broken,” reports Scott Easom, headsail trimmer and rigger aboard Pyewacket. “We spent a lot of time with the drifter up.” He told us that the weather pattern was “really strange,” making for a very tactical race.

Pyewacket recorded an average wind speed of 9+ knots, very light even for Mexico. “It wasn’t exhilarating, but it was great for sleeping,” commented Scott.

In the slow going, Scott worried about a personal deadline. He needed to be back in the San Francisco Bay Area in time to skipper his Sabre Spirit 36 Serenade to an overall trophy win in Golden Gate Yacht Club’s Seaweed Soup midwinter series on Saturday, March 2. He stayed in touch with his crew via Starlink, making contingency plans. Thanks to a good breeze later on in the race, Pyewacket finished on Thursday. Scott flew home on Friday, and Serenade won the Seaweed Soup trophy on Saturday.

Pyewacket dueled with Vitesse, Thomas Furlong’s San Francisco YC-based RP 52. Pyewacket won the duel by cutting inside at Cabo, a maneuver that shaved 20 miles off the course.

Pyewacket’s 10-man crew had more than 150 Mexico races among them, and included Olympic medalists, America’s Cup winners and Volvo Race winners. Joining Roy Disney and Scott Easom were Brazil’s legendary Torben Grael, whom Scott called a great driver; navigator and meteorologist Peter Isler; Tony Mutter, Kiwi sailing master of the Rolex Sydney Hobart line honors-winning Juan K 100 LawConnect; Brad Jackson, who also sailed aboard LawConnect; Robbie Kane; Ben Mitchell; Daryl Wislang; and Gary Weisman. Scott called them “an amazing group of offshore sailors.”

We asked Scott about Disney’s other Pyewacket, the Volvo 70. That boat is on her way from Gibraltar to Florida. After some repair work, she’ll prep for the Bermuda Race.

With his singlehanded win in January’s Three Bridge Fiasco on his J/100 Eight Ball, the Islands Race win and PV Race win on Pyewacket, and GGYC’s overall trophy, Scott Easom has been on a roll in 2024!

We’ll have more on SDYC’s PV Race and GGYC’s Seaweed Soup series in the April issue of Latitude 38 .

GO Scott !!!!!

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Pyewacket’s Barn Door Burner

• By Peter Isler
• Updated: November 2, 2021

Close your eyes and imagine a 2,200-mile ocean race where you start out going upwind in light air. Not very exciting—yet. But within a few hours, you transition to a few hundred miles of brisk and sometimes rough close reaching across a chilly ocean under gray skies. Not fun—yet. Then, over the course of half a day, you go through the boat’s entire reaching sail arsenal until the wind is aft and you are surfing downwind in 18-knot trade winds for days. Now it’s getting good.

But wait—it gets better.

The wind builds into the mid-20s, and the swells stack up neatly. You’re shredding toward the finish as a full moon reveals dramatic volcanic peaks of an island chain, which is your final destination. You open your eyes to behold the iconic shape of Diamond Head crater on Oahu that marks the end of the race. That’s your Transpacific Yacht Race, the best point-to-point sailing adventure on the planet.

My first Transpac was 30 years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday. I was just out of college and into an Olympic Soling campaign when I accepted Dave Ullman’s invitation to navigate a West Coast “sled.” This particular Santa Cruz 50 was one of seven Santa Cruz-built and Bill Lee-designed ULDBs entered that year. Thirty miles from the finish, we were side by side with a sistership, surfing huge swells in 25 knots while vying to be first to finish in our unofficial subclass of Santa Cruz 50s.

With a full moon providing just enough illumination to see dolphins playing off each side of our bow, and the Allman Brothers’ “Mountain Jam” cranking through the on-deck speakers, we slid forward wave by wave in 20-knot bursts to a two-minute margin at Diamond Head. Our elapsed time in that windy year was nine days and 15 hours, a respectable run considering the reigning record holder (the 67-foot ULDB Merlin ) narrowly missed the course record by a minute with an eight-day, 11-hour passage.

Fast-forward to 2021. I’ve done my fair share of Transpacs, and even navigated a record-setter (Hasso Plattner’s 86-footer Morning Glory at six days and 16 hours), but I still got that tingle of excitement when Robbie Haines and Roy Pat Disney invited me to navigate Disney’s turbocharged Volvo 70, Pyewacket 70 (­ex‑ Telefonica and Black Jack ), in this year’s race. (Pyewacket is the name of a magical cat in a 1950s movie that was a favorite of Disney’s late father.) The Pyewacket 70 team is the preeminent West Coast ­offshore racing program, and it’s an honor to get the chance to wear the logo of the cat. The entire Pyewacket season in a Transpac year focuses on the July race, and we got off to a great start in March by setting the record in the Newport to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race, which gave those of us who had not been around the planet lately a taste of what a turbocharged Volvo 70 was like on a VMG run in 20-plus-knot winds. Let me tell you, it’s fast, averaging over 20 knots, and very wet because the bow incessantly throws huge shards of spray over the deck as it catches up to the wave ahead.

After Cabo, a lot of preparation focused on getting the bow up (weight aft) and sealing all the little leaks that don’t seem little when there’s inches of water constantly running over the deck and into the cockpit. As the race date approached, it became clear that the coveted Barn Door Trophy for the first elapsed time was ours for the taking. The 100-footer Rio had withdrawn, so we had the fastest rating of the fleet—by a lot. Our closest rival was the Maxi 72 Lucky (ex- Bella Mente ).

To get the fleet to finish in close proximity, the slowest boats started three days before the race’s big hardware, and a ­middle-speed fleet started the day before us. Unfortunately for them, an eddy spinning off Point Conception made for a painfully slow exit from the coast. The situation had normalized by the time we started, so we had an easier time getting to the synoptic northwesterly, which took us only a few hours to reach. As our meteorologist, Chris Bedford, noted on the morning of the start, race conditions looked to be “typical.” Transpac organizers handicap the fleet based on an average matrix of wind angles and wind speeds, and the models were looking just like the matrix. However, as Disney’s father used to say, “The devil is in the details.”

As we close-reached away from the City of Angels with an easygoing 15-knot breeze, the challenge was to shift gears in frequent lulls and puffs. This sort of unstable and shifty situation continued for almost two days, until we finally made it through the ridge and got our VMG gear ready to deploy. No one ever remembers the first, cold-reaching part of the race. Surfing downwind in the trades is what makes the price of admission a real steal.

Pyewacket 70 had its ­grinding pedestals replaced in favor of a super-powerful hydraulic ­system a few years ago when it raced Down Under as Black Jack . Push-button sailing makes a Volvo 70 a much different ride, with halyards and sheets adjustable by fingertip. It’s easy on the body, but it requires the engine to run during all major adjustments. The engine, therefore, runs nearly 24/7 when the wind is unstable, as it was during the reach, revving with every button push.

Inside the carbon-fiber drum of a hull, it’s incredibly loud, requiring ear protection to sleep or navigate. The mainsheet winch can operate under battery power, and when you are running VMG on Pyewacket 70 , that’s the only sail that needs constant trimming. Pyewacket 70 sails downwind in 18 to 20 knots with a triple-head rig. Our big A3 gets the first look at the apparent wind. It’s set off the tip of the bowsprit, but it’s not like any other downwind sail used by the Transpac fleet. Pyewacket 70 is so fast that the apparent wind is always well ahead of the beam, so our downwind inventory looks more like a fast ­multihull’s quiver. The A3 looks and trims like a jib, and inside of it, the J4 (our heavy-air upwind jib) and a small staysail add area and deflect the flow around the mainsail.

With this setup, steering the boat downwind is really a game of apparent-wind management. All those big takeoff ramps provided by ocean swells look tempting to turn down into and go for a big surf, but this boat wants to keep the wind flowing across the sails. As a result, all three front sails are normally cleated, except when adjusting to a windspeed (apparent wind) change.

Unlike every other boat I’ve sailed to Hawaii, where a trimmer and grinder play the curl of the spinnaker, on Pyewacket 70 , the helmsman just keeps it ripping, and the main trimmer provides the balance and the pumps when appropriate.

The main trimmer has a wireless remote control close at hand to do all the grinding. So, for a boat with a six-person on watch, only two sailors are actively sailing the boat downwind, and the rest stand around behind the wheel, keeping their weight aft (since the weather rail is stacked high with all sails, as permitted by the race rules). From the back of the boat, you have to stand on your toes to see the horizon over the stack. Sitting down on the cockpit floor is OK in some conditions, but if it’s windy enough, the deck is so awash, it’s like sitting in a bubbling stream—even on the high side.

All this standing around comes to an end when it’s time to jibe. Everyone but the helmsman and main trimmer turns into a glorified moving-van crew, lugging the extremely heavy sail package (even our medium air jib weighs more than 200 pounds) from the windward side to the leeward (soon-to-be windward) side. One by one, the sails are moved with the help of gravity. By the end of the race, we had the system refined and could be ready to jibe in 12 minutes.

Steering the boat downwind is really a game of apparent-wind management. This boat wants to keep the wind flowing across the sails.

A couple of days out from the finish, it looked as if the right corner (looking downwind) was the way to go, which gave us an opportunity to go for Transpac’s coveted 24-hour record, which had been set by the 100-foot supermaxi Comanche , navigated by longtime Pyewacket navigator Stan Honey (my ­college roommate).

We discussed the pros and cons of committing to the record attempt within a race. It looked as if it would not affect our corrected-time position much, if at all, but it would mean that we would have to close our eyes when sailing through squalls and big lifts. Luckily, the wind stayed on forecast for the most part, and we had an epic port jibe for about 27 hours. It was long enough to shred Comanche ’s 482-mile record by 23 miles. In a 24-hour period, we averaged 21 knots in 20- to 22-knot winds. All 13 of the crew made sure they had a bit of skin in the game by driving for at least one fun session.

We pushed the record run as far as we could until we were in danger of not laying the east end of Molokai when we jibed, and then went back to work shuffling sails. Once on starboard, we decided it was “two and in” to Diamond Head, so we watched Pyewacket regular Capt. Gary Weisman revive a tradition that the Pyewacket 70 crew celebrates on Disney’s much-tamer 68-foot sled, also named Pyewacket . A couple of bottles of nice red wine appeared on deck behind the helm, and soon we were all enjoying a toast together. It didn’t matter that the wine had a hint of sea-salt spray in the nose. It did the trick.

Of course, none of us will remember the first part—just our final sprint with the full moon illuminating Oahu as we ripped into the finish in the biggest puffs of the race, a bit overstood on the layline (blame the wine, not the navigator). We saw 29 knots for a couple of seconds in Molokai Channel, which was also our top speed for the race. The workhorse A3 in its triple-head configuration with one reef in the mainsail saw us into the finish line with an elapsed time of five days, 16 hours and 53 minutes.

Because we finished at night, Disney was kind enough to accede to photographer Sharon Green’s request to take the boat out and do it again in daylight. So, two days later, after a bit of a rest, the Pyewacket team headed upwind into the Molokai Channel with a double reef and a number-four jib to set up for another victory lap past Diamond Head. This time we had a helicopter ready to get the money shot. When we finally turned and burned, we all remembered why we love this race so much. Downwind is the delight.

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Pyewacket breaks record

• June 17, 2002

Pyewacket, Roy Disney's 75ft Reichel-Pugh maxi yacht has shattered the Newport Bermuda Race record

Pyewacket, Roy Disney’s 75ft Reichel-Pugh maxi yacht, has shattered the Newport Bermuda Race record. She finished the 635-mile classic ocean race at 19:54:22 EDT with an unofficial elapse time of 53hrs 39min 22sec cutting 3hrs 52min 28sec off the previous record 57hr:31min:50sec set in 1996 by George Coumantaros’ maxi Boomerang.

Pyewacket, revelled in 20-30 knot south-westerly winds, power reaching at 14 knots directly for Bermuda’s St David’s Lighthouse on Sunday morning. Light winds slowed her progress but the record still fell.

Boomerang crossed the line a close second at 20:17:44, breaking her own record as well.

Pyewacket 70 Wins 2022 Islands Race

The 2022 Islands Race, co-hosted by San Diego Yacht Club and Newport Harbor Yacht Club, has been a known for a decade as the start to the offshore sailing season. The 142 nautical mile race around Catalina and San Clemente Islands featured 42 boats this year — the biggest turn out in its 13 year history. One boat in particular, Pyewacket 70, showed up ready to prove their preparation for the race is on point, and the set the pace for their offshore season.

Owned and skippered by Roy Disney, Pyewacket 70 is no stranger to success and doesn’t plan on surrendering anytime soon. Right from the start of the race, Pyewacket 70 gained a solid lead on the rest of the fleet. In fact, the team finished three hours before the next boat, with an elapsed time of 12 hours, 27 minutes, and 32 seconds. In 2021, the team finished almost two hours quicker. However, we all know one thing about the sport of sailing — we can’t always predict the wind.

Even with their win, Pyewacket 70's race wasn’t without its own challenges. At the start of the race, the team was presented with a loud “bang.” The big winch that controls the running backstay had failed,” explained Tactician Ben Mitchell.

“With the wind straight out of the west, it looked like an easy fetch to the west end of Catalina Island for the first turn of the course. The goal was to sail close to the mark but to error in the fast mode… which worked well. The wind headed as the fleet approached the Island and our chosen course paid nice dividends. We finally caught up with all the boats that started ahead of us just as we approached the west end."

"Sailing a 70-footer with really big sails is always a challenge to execute maneuvers quickly and efficiently, but we have a really good and experienced crew. Other than the broken winch at the start, all changes went smoothly,” finished Mitchell.

Second to finish behind Pyewacket 70 was George Hershman and Mark Comings’ GoodEnergy. GoodEnergy finished with an elapsed time of 15 hours, 25 minutes, and 37 seconds. Third to Finish was Tom Holthus’ BadPak with 16 hours, 45 minutes, and 32 seconds.

RESULTS | RACE TRACKER

Corrected Time Overall Winners:

1st Place: Roy Disney, Pyewacket 70, Volvo 70 modified 2nd Place: David Clark, Grand Illusion, Santa Cruz 70 3rd Place: George Hershman / Mark Comings, GoodEnergy, R/P 63

Class Winners: Class A: Roy Disney, Pyewacket 70, Volvo 70 modified Class B: David Clark, Grand Illusion, Santa Cruz 70 Class C: Dave MacEwen, Lucky Duck, Rogers 46 Class D: Steve Sellinger, Triumph, Santa Cruz 52 Class E: Doug Jorgensen, Picosa, J/111 Class F: Dan Merino, Juno, Express 37 Class M: John Gallagher, Chim Chim, Gunboat 62 Class EZ: Chuck Bowers, Rhumb Runner, J/29

Conditions on the race were mostly great. Sunny days, a clear cool night and relatively smooth seas were appreciated by the sailors. But the overall wind velocity was slow to build. The beginning of the race only saw about 7-9 knots eventually picking up to an average of 15 knots. Holthus reported sailing a fair 10 knots right around sunset on Friday evening.

The Islands Race is commonly used as a warm-up race for the rest of the offshore season, including SDYC’s Puerto Vallarta Race every other year. Almost half the fleet for the Islands Race will be returning to the starting line in two weeks for the race down the Mexican coast. 

One boat solely focused on the Islands Race was Jack Jorgensen's J/111 Picosa. Picosa was the winner of the ORR-E class. “We’ve done this race for the past couple of years, so we have some experience which is pretty huge. The race is three legs, to Catalina, Catalina to San Clemente, and then the hardest, San Clemente to San Diego. I’ll need to look at the tracker to confirm, but we took a wide approach around San Clemente Island. After we got through the lead we sailed straight to the course, nothing radical. It’s a fun race we do every year, so it was great to get back out there,” he commented.

Rounding San Clemente and heading down to San Diego is known as the most challenging leg of the race. When rounding San Clemente, boats have to respect two virtual waypoints. The Islands Race was one of the first races on the West Coast to rely on virtual waypoints for mark roundings.

SDYC Waterfront Director Jeff Johnson explained, "Mark #1, Catalina, doesn’t present as much of an issue. San Clemente Island is a military training ground, thus the reason for the restricted zones and virtual marks of the course to keep the fleet well away from the action. It is important for navigators to accurately plot these virtual waypoints and effectively keep the helmsman sailing the fastest course while honoring the virtual marks. There is absolutely no indication if you are sailing into a restricted area, except your YB tracker showing up on the website every fifteen minutes."

Sailors congregated on the Spinnaker Deck at San Diego Yacht Club for an awards presentation celebrating top 3 finishers in Class, and top 3 overall.

Pyewacket 70 announced Overall Winner of the 2023 RORC Caribbean 600

23 February, Antigua: The Royal Ocean Racing Club announce that the overall winner of the 14th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 is Roy P. Disney’s Pyewacket 70 (USA). None of the teams still racing under IRC has any realistic chance of beating Pyewacket 70 after time correction. The Pyewacket 70 team will be presented with the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy at the Prize Giving on Friday 24th February.

Pyewacket 70 Crew: Ben Mitchell, Peter Isler, Tony Mutter, Brad Jackson, Brian Janney, Daryl Wislang, David Tank, Jan Majer, Mark Callahan, Matt Mialik, Robbie Kane, Rodney Daniel, Tristan Louwrens.

“We are super-excited about winning overall,” commented skipper Ben Mitchell. “With Pyewacket 70 we don’t go into these races necessarily thinking that a corrected time win is our goal, we go for Line Honours and potentially to set a new record. So, when a handicap win comes that is fantastic and we are excited that we were able to achieve that.

“The Caribbean has been a popular destination for American sailors for a long time, but the hard core Southern Californian racers do not come here that often,” continued Ben Mitchell. “When you come here you realise how beautiful this course is, with fabulous wind conditions combined with warm water and weather. It’s a fantastic race area. As we saw with Wizard and now with Pyewacket 70, the Volvo 70s are well heeled for this course, which has plenty of windy reaching conditions.”

“For me personally, I feel very fortunate,” continued Ben Mitchell. “I am very lucky to be put in the position by Roy (Pat Disney) with the support of Robbie Haines. This win is right up there with the biggest victories and Pyewacket has had a lot of success with the programme. In recent years the RORC Caribbean 600 victory is right up there with our record in the Cabo Race. This is a great course, but it is also very tricky. In Southern California we are more use to point-to-point distance races. The course designers were definitely using their imagination when they came up with the RORC Caribbean 600.”

Pyewacket 70 joins an impressive list of overall winners from the United States; Warrior Won, Wizard, Rambler 88, Bella Mente, Shockwave, Privateer, and Rambler 100.

To follow the race with satellite tracking and regular updates from the competitors and media team go to: www.caribbean600.rorc.org

#Caribbean600 @rorcracing

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Pyewacket Sets New Newport to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race Record

NEWPORT BEACH— It was a record-breaking year for the Newport to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race. Roy Disney’s Volvo 70,  Pyewacket , sailed the course in record time, beating the previous monohull record by 15 hours. Pyewacket had an elapsed time of 1 day, 21 hours, 22 minutes, and 53 seconds. The previous monohull record of 2 days, 13 hours, 25 minutes, and 58 seconds was set in 2005 by Doug Baker’s Magnitude 80. Raymond Paul’s Botin 65 Artemis also beat the previous course record set by Magnitude 80, coming in this year with an elapsed time of 2 days, 13 hours, 3 minutes, and 52 seconds.

The Mighty Merloe is the only multihull verified to have completed the course faster than Pyewacket. In 2015 Mighty Merloe finished the course in 1 day, 16 hours, 14 minutes, and 14 seconds.

The Newport to Cabo San Lucas Yacht Race, hosted by Newport Harbor Yacht Club (NHYC) since 1971, is an 800-mile yacht race from Newport Beach down the Baja Coastline to Cabo San Lucas. The race this year took place March 19 through the 25.

On March 22 the race chair reported the top nine boats were finishing under three days total elapsed time, the first time that has happened in the Cabo Race.

“We are combing prior years for their previous best, but this seems to be the race that all the boats will find hard to beat their times in future editions,” wrote John Curci, the 2021 Cabo Race Chair, on a March 22 post on the Cabo Race blog.

The Pyewacket crew also provided updates throughout the race on the blog .

“ As you know, we have 85 miles to go… back in 20 knots running with the A3 but went through a soft patch that challenged our patience… it got down to 12 knots…. worried there may be some more land based light spots to navigate – so though the layline times say we finish at 10 a.m., I think that could easily be 11 a.m. (PDT),” wrote the Pyewacket crew on the morning of March 22.

Pyewacket swept the 2021 race taking first overall, first in Division 1, and first to finish. Pyewacket averaged greater than 20 knots over the course and had a corrected time of 2 days, 20 hours, 50 minutes, and 21 seconds.

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Published on February 26th, 2022 | by Editor

Pyewacket 70 sweeps Islands Race

Published on February 26th, 2022 by Editor -->

The 2022 Islands Race, co-hosted by San Diego Yacht Club and Newport Harbor Yacht Club, has been a known for a decade as the start to the California offshore sailing season. The 142 nautical mile race around Catalina and San Clemente Islands featured 42 boats this year — the biggest turn out in its 13 year history.

With the start off San Pedro on February 25, one boat in particular, Pyewacket 70, showed up ready to prove their preparation for the race is on point, and the set the pace for their offshore season.

Owned and skippered by Roy Disney, Pyewacket 70 is no stranger to success and doesn’t plan on surrendering anytime soon. Right from the start of the race, Pyewacket 70 gained a solid lead on the rest of the fleet.

In fact, the team finished in San Diego three hours before the next boat, with an elapsed time of 12 hours, 27 minutes, and 32 seconds. In 2021, the team finished almost two hours quicker. However, we all know one thing about the sport of sailing — we can’t always predict the wind.

Even with their overall and ORR-A win, Pyewacket 70’s race wasn’t without its own challenges. At the start of the race, the team was presented with a loud “bang.” The big winch that controls the running backstay had failed,” explained Tactician Ben Mitchell.

“With the wind straight out of the west, it looked like an easy fetch to the west end of Catalina Island for the first turn of the course. The goal was to sail close to the mark but to error in the fast mode…which worked well.

“The wind headed as the fleet approached the Island and our chosen course paid nice dividends. We finally caught up with all the boats that started ahead of us just as we approached the west end.”

“Sailing a 70-footer with really big sails is always a challenge to execute maneuvers quickly and efficiently, but we have a really good and experienced crew. Other than the broken winch at the start, all changes went smoothly.” Following Pyewacket 70 on elapsed time in second place was George Hershman and Mark Comings’ R/P 63 Good Energy, completing the course in 15 hours, 25 minutes, and 37 seconds. Crossing the finish line in third place was Tom Holthus’ Botin 56 BadPak with 16 hours, 45 minutes, and 32 seconds.

Conditions on the race were slow to build, beginning with 7-9 knots and eventually picking up to an average of 15 knots. Holthus reported sailing a fair 10 knots right around sunset during the evening

Almost half the fleet for the Islands Race will be returning to the starting line in two weeks for SDYC’s Puerto Vallarta Race that extends down the Mexican coast.

One boat solely focused on the Islands Race, with no other planned races on the calendar, was Jack Jorgensen’s J/111 Picosa which won the ORR-E class.

“We’ve done this race for the past couple of years, so we have some experience which is pretty huge,” said Jorgensen. “The race is three legs, Catalina, Catalina to San Clemente, and then the hardest, San Clemente to San Diego.

“I’ll need to look at the tracker to confirm, but we took a wide approach around San Clemente Island. After we got through the lead we sailed straight to the course, nothing radical. It’s a fun race we do every year, so it was great to get back out there.”

Rounding San Clemente and heading down to San Diego is known as the most challenging leg of the race. When rounding San Clemente, boats have to respect two virtual waypoints. The Islands Race was one of the first races on the West Coast to rely on virtual waypoints for mark roundings.

“Mark #1, Catalina, doesn’t present as much of an issue,” noted SDYC Waterfront Director Jeff Johnson. “San Clemente Island is a military training ground, thus the reason for the restricted zones and virtual marks of the course to keep the fleet well away from the action.

“It is important for navigators to accurately plot these virtual waypoints and effectively keep the helmsman sailing the fastest course while honoring the virtual marks. There is absolutely no indication if you are sailing into a restricted area, except your YB tracker showing up on the website every fifteen minutes.”

Race details – Results – Tracker

Source: SDYC

Tags: Islands Race

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THE BOATING REPORT

THE BOATING REPORT; A Disney Builds a Yacht for Transpacific Race

By Barbara Lloyd

• June 27, 1999

It would seem that Roy E. Disney, a yachtsman as well as Walt Disney Company executive, would have more in-house choices than Pinocchio had shoes to figure out what to call his racing boats. But the 69-year-old Disney ended up choosing Pyewacket, a name belonging to the fanciful Siamese cat in the 1958 movie ''Bell, Book and Candle,'' which wasn't a Disney film.

''It was the 1958 movie where Kim Novak played a witch,'' Disney said in a recent telephone interview. ''I saw the play on Broadway too, because my father traveled to New York all the time and took me with him. The name Pyewacket was just one of those things in the back of my brain.'' Disney is the nephew of the late Walt Disney, and a son of Walt's brother, Roy O. Disney.

His second of three yachts named Pyewacket, a 70-foot sloop designed by Bill Lee of Santa Cruz, Calif., broke a 20-year-old record in the 1997 Transpacific Yacht Race. The 1999 rendition of the biennial Pacific crossing, its 40th, is scheduled to begin Tuesday in a series of staggered starts. Disney has built a new boat for the competition, a 73-foot version of Pyewacket, which is scheduled to set sail Saturday from Los Angeles.

But duplicating his last boat's performance -- 7 days 15 hours 24 minutes -- might require as much wishful thinking as hard sailing. Any one of the five big boats in Division I could win, according to Lee, who created the regatta's most famous sailboat, the 67-foot Merlin. Built in 1977 in an old chicken coop in Santa Cruz, the sailboat held the Pacific record for two decades.

In the 1977 race, crew members were still using sextants for navigation instead of satellite-based positioning devices. A noon position report was each race boat's only link to shore. Lee, who was sailing on Merlin, said his boat was in a close match with Drifter, a similar design, for first to finish. Merlin won by 17 minutes after a 2,225-mile crossing to Honolulu.

''We never really knew if we were in the lead,'' Lee said. ''On the last day, a Coast Guard plane circled us. We could see clouds over the island of Hawaii. Then the plane turned abaft of our beam to go and find the other boat. That's the first we knew we had won.''

A change in the rules in the 1989 race allowed for taller masts -- from about 73 feet before to 85 feet -- and for deeper keels, from about 9 before to 11 feet now. The change made for faster boats in a competition that is sailed mostly downwind.

Unlike trans-Atlantic races, where upwind conditions, rough seas and squalls are common, the Transpacific Yacht Race tends to offer a pleasant fusion of sunshine, rolling seas and warmth.

''It's a fact that when you start off California, the conditions can be rough and windy,'' said Robbie Haines, a 1984 Olympic sailing gold medalist who is Disney's project manager. ''But as you cross the Pacific, the air gets warmer and warmer, the wind comes up, and you're sailing in perfect weather.''

The largest race boats are known as sleds, turbo-sleds, or maxi-sleds, depending on their vintage. Their wide, flat bottoms surf easily downwind, usually under huge spinnakers.

In a departure from most big Pacific contenders, Pyewacket was built at Eric Goetz Custom Sailboats, a yard in Bristol, R.I., known for its America's Cup contenders. Like Zephyrus, also 73 feet, Pyewacket was developed by Reichel-Pugh, a design firm in San Diego.

Disney is concerned about Zephyrus, a two-year-old boat. The old Pyewacket was about 30 miles behind Zephyrus in 1997 when the leader broke its mast. Pyewacket went on to break the record as Zephyrus fell back. Disney had not been on board Pyewacket that year because of a broken leg from a car accident. But his son, Roy P. Disney, accepted line honors for him.

The decision to build a new boat for 1999 came after seeing the way Zephyrus performed before its dismasting. ''It scared us all witless,'' Disney said. ''I looked at that thing two years ago, and said, 'I think I see the future.' ''

The three other big-boat competitors, Magnitude, Pegasus and Front Runner, are all designed by Alan Andrews of Long Beach, Calif. They are lighter and smaller by a few feet than Pyewacket and Zephyrus. But any one of them can beat their larger siblings if the wind stays light.

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Well, according to early race results you can't lose. The first race for Pyewacket was the Ô99 Miami-Montego Bay Classic in which Pyewacket placed first in class and first overall on IMS corrected time. It averaged 10.5 knots over the entire course, missing the record by only two hours. In the Newport-to-Ensenada race last month Pyewacket was first to finish and first in the sled division. Second place in that class was one of my own designs Stealth Chicken. (Yeah Bob!) Clearly Pyewacket will be the boat to beat for some time to come on the West Coast.

While in San Diego I got to have a good look at her, up close, and this is probably the most spectacularly good-looking race boat I have ever seen. It's perfect in every way. To begin with, it's beautiful. The hull lines are sensuous and svelte. The entry is long and hollow. The forefoot knuckle is well out of the water with about 24 inches of overhang showing below the knuckle. The sheerline is dead straight. But blended with the hull lines, it still looks great.

Note how far aft max beam is on this design and how fine the deck line is forward. The half angle at the deck is only 11.25 degrees. This boat is a needle. The D/L of this design is 48.54. Pyewacket's hull lines are a product of exhaustive performance simulation computer analysis combined with tank testing. L/B is minimal at 4.71.

On deck this boat is very clean. Crew weight is kept well forward in the long cockpit. There are two coffee grinders, one oriented fore and aft and one oriented athwartships. I presume the fore and aft grinder is used for trimming the headsails and the athwartships grinder trims the mainsail. The deck is totally Òeroded" aft of the twin wheels to reduce weight. Sheeting angles for the small jibs are 8 degrees and 10.5 degrees for the genoas.

The SA/D is 36.94. Spreaders are in line. The spar is carbon fiber by Hall Spars. There is modest mainsail overlap on the backstay.

The interior is all business. The big nav station is aft of the companionway, under the low bridge deck and faces aft. The galley is adequate and uses the engine box for the sink counter. There is an enclosed head forward. That's one head for at least 20 crewmembers. ÒTake a number please." There are dedicated crew bins to port of the companionway where the crew can stow their personal items like Chap Stick and crash helmets. The forward third of the hull is all sail stowage.

Pyewacket is primarily designed as a Transpac record beater. This race is near and dear to Roy Disney. In his old Santa Cruz 70 Pyewacket, Mr. Disney broke the 20-year-old course record. If all goes according to plan the new Pyewacket will make short work of the new course record.

This is an amazing project. I doubt we will see another race boat effort soon that will match the intensity and thoroughness of this project. Congrats to all involved.

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PYEWACKET is a 24.57 m Motor Yacht, built in the United States of America by Broward Marine and delivered in 1977.

Her top speed is 16.0 kn and her cruising speed is 14.0 kn and her power comes from two General Motors diesel engines. She can accommodate up to 6 guests, with 3 crew members waiting on their every need. She has a gross tonnage of 112.0 GT and a 5.58 m beam.

She was designed by Broward Marine , who also completed the naval architecture. Broward Marine has designed 144 yachts and created the naval architecture for 147 yachts for yachts above 24 metres.

PYEWACKET is one of 5740 motor yachts in the 24-30m size range.

PYEWACKET is currently sailing under the United States of America flag, the most popular flag state for superyachts with a total of 1618 yachts registered. She is known to be an active superyacht and has most recently been spotted cruising near United States of America. For more information regarding PYEWACKET's movements, find out more about BOAT Pro AIS .

Specifications

• Name: PYEWACKET
• Previous Names: GRINDSTONE
• Yacht Type: Motor Yacht
• Yacht Subtype: Semi-displacement
• Builder: Broward Marine
• Naval Architect: Broward Marine
• Exterior Designer: Broward Marine
• Refits: 1993-01-01

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Pyewacket IV

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PYEWACKET IV yacht NOT for charter*

26.21m  /  86' | cookson | 2004.

• Previous Yacht

The 26.21m/86' sail yacht 'Pyewacket IV' was built by Cookson . This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of Reichel-Pugh.

Range & Performance

Pyewacket IV is built with a GRP hull and GRP superstructure, with gpr decks. Her low draft of makes her primed for accessing shallow areas and cruising close to the shorelines.

*Charter Pyewacket IV Sail Yacht

Sail yacht Pyewacket IV is currently not believed to be available for private Charter. To view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting a luxury charter yacht.

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Cruising the Moskva River: A short guide to boat trips in Russia’s capital

There’s hardly a better way to absorb Moscow’s atmosphere than on a ship sailing up and down the Moskva River. While complicated ticketing, loud music and chilling winds might dampen the anticipated fun, this checklist will help you to enjoy the scenic views and not fall into common tourist traps.

How to find the right boat?

There are plenty of boats and selecting the right one might be challenging. The size of the boat should be your main criteria.

Plenty of small boats cruise the Moskva River, and the most vivid one is this yellow Lay’s-branded boat. Everyone who has ever visited Moscow probably has seen it.

This option might leave a passenger disembarking partially deaf as the merciless Russian pop music blasts onboard. A free spirit, however, will find partying on such a vessel to be an unforgettable and authentic experience that’s almost a metaphor for life in modern Russia: too loud, and sometimes too welcoming. Tickets start at $13 (800 rubles) per person.

Bigger boats offer smoother sailing and tend to attract foreign visitors because of their distinct Soviet aura. Indeed, many of the older vessels must have seen better days. They are still afloat, however, and getting aboard is a unique ‘cultural’ experience. Sometimes the crew might offer lunch or dinner to passengers, but this option must be purchased with the ticket. Here is one such  option  offering dinner for $24 (1,490 rubles).

If you want to travel in style, consider Flotilla Radisson. These large, modern vessels are quite posh, with a cozy restaurant and an attentive crew at your service. Even though the selection of wines and food is modest, these vessels are still much better than other boats.

Surprisingly, the luxurious boats are priced rather modestly, and a single ticket goes for $17-$32 (1,100-2,000 rubles); also expect a reasonable restaurant bill on top.

How to buy tickets?

Women holding photos of ships promise huge discounts to “the young and beautiful,” and give personal invitations for river tours. They sound and look nice, but there’s a small catch: their ticket prices are usually more than those purchased online.

“We bought tickets from street hawkers for 900 rubles each, only to later discover that the other passengers bought their tickets twice as cheap!”  wrote  (in Russian) a disappointed Rostislav on a travel company website.

Nevertheless, buying from street hawkers has one considerable advantage: they personally escort you to the vessel so that you don’t waste time looking for the boat on your own.

Prices start at $13 (800 rubles) for one ride, and for an additional $6.5 (400 rubles) you can purchase an unlimited number of tours on the same boat on any given day.

Flotilla Radisson has official ticket offices at Gorky Park and Hotel Ukraine, but they’re often sold out.

Buying online is an option that might save some cash. Websites such as  this   offer considerable discounts for tickets sold online. On a busy Friday night an online purchase might be the only chance to get a ticket on a Flotilla Radisson boat.

This  website  (in Russian) offers multiple options for short river cruises in and around the city center, including offbeat options such as ‘disco cruises’ and ‘children cruises.’ This other  website  sells tickets online, but doesn’t have an English version. The interface is intuitive, however.

Buying tickets online has its bad points, however. The most common is confusing which pier you should go to and missing your river tour.

“I once bought tickets online to save with the discount that the website offered,” said Igor Shvarkin from Moscow. “The pier was initially marked as ‘Park Kultury,’ but when I arrived it wasn’t easy to find my boat because there were too many there. My guests had to walk a considerable distance before I finally found the vessel that accepted my tickets purchased online,” said the man.

There are two main boarding piers in the city center:  Hotel Ukraine  and  Park Kultury . Always take note of your particular berth when buying tickets online.

Where to sit onboard?

Even on a warm day, the headwind might be chilly for passengers on deck. Make sure you have warm clothes, or that the crew has blankets ready upon request.

The glass-encased hold makes the tour much more comfortable, but not at the expense of having an enjoyable experience.

Getting off the boat requires preparation as well. Ideally, you should be able to disembark on any pier along the way. In reality, passengers never know where the boat’s captain will make the next stop. Street hawkers often tell passengers in advance where they’ll be able to disembark. If you buy tickets online then you’ll have to research it yourself.

There’s a chance that the captain won’t make any stops at all and will take you back to where the tour began, which is the case with Flotilla Radisson. The safest option is to automatically expect that you’ll return to the pier where you started.

If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.

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