THE RACING California Offshore Race Week encompassed the too-light Coastal Cup, the too-windy SoCal 300 and the just-right Spinnaker Cup. The I-14 Nationals tested skiff sailors with high winds and the new Lipton Cup was refreshing indeed, but the Delta Ditch Run was a slow broil. To round out this month's travels, we visit Cat Harbor with 39 crews, Lake Yosemite with trailer-sailers, and Lake Tahoe with keelboats. California Offshore Race Week California Offshore Race Week is a new format now in its third year. It embraces three classic California offshore races in a long, one-week period. The first leg, the Spinnaker Cup, started on May 26 from San Francisco to Monterey, and was followed by the Coastal Cup, which traditionally started in S.F. and blasted downwind to SoCal. It now starts the day after the Spinn Cup in Monterey, and finishes in Santa Barbara. The last course, the SoCal 300, is in 'SoCal lightair weather', starts off the Santa Barbara YC race deck, and finishes in San Diego. This new condensed format of the three races together has enabled owners and racers to partake of the various legs and has given new life to offshore racing on the California coast. This year's race had everything from a Gunboat 62 and Santa Cruz 70s to a Moore 24, but the largest fleet was the six-boat division of Santa Cruz 50/52s. I joined the crew of the Santa Cruz 50 Hana Ho as bowman. Hana Ho is owned by Mark Dowdy and navigated by Mike Maloney. Having sailed on Hana Ho in the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race in March, and seeing what the SC50 was capable of, I wanted more — and more is what I got. The CORW delivered, but
MIKE REED
Among the 'Hana Ho' crew in CORW were (left to right) Dan Shine, Craig Page, Richard 'Chewy' Parlette (driving) and Mike Hanna.
in a completely opposite way. Starting on Saturday, near Angel Island, the Spinnaker Cup was a classic out-the-Gate, left turn, and kite-up in 15-21 knots race. Getting Hana Ho up on a plane and watching the bow plow through the waves was a reminder of what was to come during the Coastal Cup leg of the race. Past Coastal Cup memories of unbelievable boat speeds and 'life moments' that made me ask myself "Why do I do this?" filled my head. Seeing the first-place results in the SC50/52 division, of Dave MacEwen's Lucky Duck in just under 9 hours, convinced me that we would be in for a classic heavy-air, tether-in and hold-on Coastal Cup race. But the Coastal Cup leg was just the opposite. It was a complete light-air dud, with the most exciting part being the start, when the six SC50/52s all lined up and raced out of Monterey Bay in hopes of big wind. Sadly, that big wind never arrived, and 44 hours and 204 miles later, all six SC50/52s converged on the finish line in heavy fog and drizzle. Amazingly, four of the boats finished within 13 minutes of one another. John Shulze's Horizon pulled off the division win for this leg. The next leg was from Santa Barbra to San Diego, and from the weather report it looked to be just the opposite of the Coastal Cup. The forecast was for 35 knots from the west-northwest, with seas building to 14 feet, but what the forecast had not called for was two major injuries requiring USCG air evacuation from two different boats. Starting in light, warm air off Santa Barbara YC, the boats headed west for 1.5 miles, rounded the first mark to port, and
headed southwest toward the Santa Rosa/Santa Cruz islands channel. The conditions quickly changed, and on Hana Ho the crew went to work. We immediately switched from our light #1 to our #3 with an outboard lead. Beam reaching in 18-22 knots with gusts to 25 felt great as we blasted along through the water at 10-12 knots. Cold Pacific Ocean waves rolled over the foredeck crew, to everyone else's delight. As we entered the mid-island channel, the seas calmed; we were in the lee of the islands, and we started to prepare for a kite. Once we had our course to the next mark, the Cortes Bank some 100 miles away, and being downwind enough, we set the kite and the afterburners were on. We were quickly hitting 14, 16 and 18 knots of boatspeed, It was all smiles! The farther away we got from the Channel Islands, the more exposed we became to the open ocean and the large seas. Driving quickly became incredibly challenging. Blasting downwind and having 10- to 14-ft waves attack from the starboard beam was sure to make for carnage. The wind was now a consistent 25 knots with gusts to 28, and the sun was getting low. As we started to talk about a kite change, the boat in front of us wiped out, rounded up, and stayed on her side for longer than what looked normal. With their kite now flying as a flag, high from the top of the mast, and the wind now gusting into the 30s, it was time for our 'kite down'. It was at this time that we heard on the radio from the boat that had wiped out that they had a serious injury. During the round-up, a line got wrapped around a crewmember's leg, leaving it with no pulse. After consulting with a duty flight surgeon, a USCG MU-65 Dolphin helicopter was dispatched to airlift the crew, along with a 45-ft Response Boat for support (see 'Lectronic Latitude on June 4 for details). Hearing this on the radio, and dealing with the short 12- to 14-ft seas and building winds, we followed the actions of other boats around us and took our kite down and went to white sails. Hana Ho settled in and was making 13-16 knots through the water. Our top wind gust was 38, and post-race we heard of other boats seeing top gusts of 44. Sometime after midnight I had just gotten off watch and was crawling into my berth, when I heard the dreaded "mayday" call on the radio. The voice on
