June 12, 2009: The start of the third biennial Invitational Regatta for the Hoag Cup loomed as a gray and lazy day with overcast skies and breeze so fluky to frustrate the best of sailors.
But, as often occurs, that didn't prevent high-class talent from creating some classic competition---notably, the boat-for-boat battle between Pyewacket III, driven by Roy Pat Disney, son of Roy E., and Stark Raving Mad, with North Sails president Gary Weisman at the helm.
In south winds wallowing between 4 and, briefly, 8 knots, Stark Raving Mad, an upgraded TP52, beat Pyewacket III, an elderly Santa Cruz 70, to the finish line in both races, once by only 5 seconds. But the latter was close enough behind to score victories based on its ORR handicap rating by which the other dark blue boat owed it about two minutes in each race.
Thus, at day's end Pyewacket III topped the eight-boat fleet with a pair of bullets, while SRM shared third place with the other TP52, Andy and Camille Rasdal's Valkyrie.
Too bad the owners couldn't have been there to enjoy it. Roy E. Disney, although a lifelong racer and the honorary chairman, of the event, is recuperating from recent surgery, while SRM's Jim Madden, one of the founders of the event, also was sidelined. His absence put Weisman, usually the tactician, at the helm.
Three races remain---two Saturday and one Sunday, starting at 1 p.m. daily---on a course set near Newport Pier.
Unfortunately, it wasn't near enough for spectators Friday. Principal race officer Kevin Hawkins set windward-leeward courses of 1.6 and 1.4 nautical miles, twice around, but the persistent southerly forced him to move the action about a mile west of the pier because a proper upwind course from the pier would call for the windward mark to be dropped in the middle of the notorious 800-foot-deep trench that marks one end of the Newport-Inglewood fault. No way.
What the pier people missed was an interesting duel that saw Pye III consistently faster upwind, while SRM glided away like the familiar brown pelicans downwind.
"We configured this boat to perform downwind, and that seems to have worked out OK," Weisman said. "But of all these old sleds, [Pyewacket] looks more powered up than all of them. I'd like a little more breeze."
The rival Disney noted that "we were designed in 1983 and they were designed two years ago. We carried a lot of crew for stability, but we paid for that on the downwind legs."
That was most apparent on the last leg of the last race. SRM crossed Pye on port tack near the windward mark but tacked back for the mark too low to hold the layline against the current. Pye sailed happily by as SRM had to fall off to a 360-degree turn to take another shot at it, falling to fourth place.
The two sailed off in opposite directions downwind, but when they converged near the finish SRM had made up the deficit and nosed out Pye in a bang-bang finish.
Sitting in an inconspicuous second place---again, it's the handicaps---after two races was Ed McDowell's Grand Illusion, a Santa Cruz 70 driven by Patrick O'Brien that won the previous Hoag Cup two years ago in an SC70 blitz, also scored by the numbers.
The regatta benefits Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute and is organized and hosted by Hoag Hospital and the Balboa Yacht Club and Newport Harbor Yacht Club.
Overall standings (corrected handicap time; 2 of 5 races):
1. Pyewacket III (Santa Cruz 70), Roy Pat Disney, Los Angeles, 1-1, 2 points.
2. Grand Illusion (SC 70), Ed McDowell/Patrick O'Brien, Redondo Beach, 3-2, 5.
3. Stark Raving Mad (TP52), Jim Madden/Gary Weisman, Newport Beach, 2-6, 8.
4. Valkyrie (TP52), Andy & Camille Rasdal, San Diego, 5-3, 8.
5. It's OK (Andrews 50), Tom Purcell/Tres Gordos Sailing LLC, Balboa, Calif., 7-4, 11.
6. Westerly (SC 70), Tim & Tom Hogan, Newport Beach, 4-7, 11.
7. Chayah (1D48), Oscar Krinsky/Chris Redman, Long Beach, 6-5, 11.
8. Vicki (Andrews 70), Chris Welsh, Newport Beach, 8-8, 16.
Hoag Hospital Foundation is the event's overall manager and also its beneficiary. Newport Harbor Yacht Club (NHYC) and Balboa Yacht Club (BYC) are combining resources to manage the races and on-the-water activities. Proceeds from the three- day event will benefit Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute and will be added to the more than $700,000 raised during the Regattas in 2005 and 2007. The $400,000 generated in 2007 is believed to be the largest amount ever raised by a single charitable sailing event.
Event sponsors
Gold: Alphastaff, Edwards Lifesciences and the Los Angeles Times and Daily Pilot.
Silver: Deloitte Consulting LLP, Jeff, Carol & Becky Burch, Warmington Homes, Young's Market Company.
Commodore: Corum USA, Hornblower Cruises & Events, Macquarie Group, Joel & Ann Moskowitz, North Sails, PredictWind.com, Reichert's Signs, Inc, Toshiba, Traditional Jewelers, Sysco Los Angeles, Inc., West Marine.
About Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is a 498-bed, not-for-profit, acute care hospital located in Newport Beach, Calif. Fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and designated as a Magnet hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), Hoag offers a comprehensive mix of health care services, including Centers of Excellence in cancer, heart and vascular, neurosciences, orthopedics and women’s health. National Research Corporation has endorsed Hoag as Orange County’s most preferred hospital for the past 13 consecutive years. And for an unprecedented 13 years, residents of Orange County have chosen Hoag as the county’s best hospital in a local newspaper survey.
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