New Pyewacket Is Enjoying Smooth Sledding
New boat, new sails and Robbie Haines on board have been an unbeatable combination for the new Pyewacket, Roy Disney’s Santa Cruz 70 that has won three of four points events in the ULDB 70 Assn. this year.
Going into this weekend’s 29th Cal Cup at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, Pyewacket--winning the Puerto Vallarta, Skylark and Ensenada races--had 62 points, followed by Peter Tong’s Blondie with 45.5 and John DeLaura’s Silver Bullet with 44.25.
Pyewacket also leads the Cal Cup after placing second and first in Friday’s two races--winning the latter in a photo finish with Evolution, the defending champion boat. Grand Illusion won the first race handily. There will be two races today and one Sunday.
ULDB means Ultra Light Displacement Boat. They are more commonly known as “70s,” or “sleds,” because they are built primarily for downwind performance to Mexico and, in odd-numbered years, to Hawaii in the Transpac race. Some owners have modified them for upwind speed in buoy races at the risk of sacrificing downwind speed.
Once changed, a boat is committed for the season. This year most lean toward downwind modes for the Transpac from San Pedro to Honolulu, starting June 29.
When the wind blows hard, they are at a disadvantage upwind to stiffer boats, but Pyewacket has seemed fast for all types of racing.
Pyewacket is the 17th and latest of Bill Lee’s SC 70s, with a carbon fiber hull and titanium gear. Launched in January, it is more than 3,500 pounds lighter than the early SC 70s.
“I don’t think it’s a breakthrough boat,” said Haines, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist and ’90 Congressional Cup runner-up. “But certainly, Bill Lee’s designs are progressive and innovative. Some of the other boats are equally fast. It seems we always reach the windward mark at the same time.”
Rather, Haines said, Pyewacket’s success has been due to “a combination of the boat being well constructed, the first-rate crew we’ve assembled, the management--Roy and Greg Hedrick, the skipper, do a great job of managing it--and, of course, the North sails.”
Haines manages North’s loft in Huntington Beach.
The owner, Roy E. Disney, is the son of Roy O. Disney, brother of the late Walt Disney. The previous Pyewacket was a Nelson/Marek design renamed Starship I by the new owner, Mike Holleran of Coronado. Disney was tired of finishing back in the pack.
“Roy has sailed in a lot of Transpacs,” Haines said. “This is the big one for him.”
Haines serves as alternate helmsman and tactician. In the Cal Cup, he’s steering upwind, Disney downwind. Disney’s son, Roy Pat, also steers and serves on the crew, which includes navigator George Alexander, Ben Mitchell, Gary Weisman, Doug Rastello, Dan Crowley and Dick Loewy. Those 10 will sail in the Transpac. There is a crew of 17 in the Cal Cup for busier sail handling and body ballast.
The Cal Cup, run strictly for the sleds the past eight years, is the most important of four buoy races on their nine-race championship schedule. The heaviest-weighted race is the Transpac.
Others competing in the Cal Cup are Blondie, Silver Bullet, Starship I, Hal Ward’s Cheval, Brack Duker’s Evolution, Ed McDowell’s Grand Illusion, Davis Pillsbury’s Holua, Fred Kirschner’s Kathmandu, Antonio Elias’ Ole and Taxi Dancer, without owner Mitchell Rouse. Because Rouse is away dealing with business concerns, the crew is sailing with Buzz Boetcher as skipper.
Les Crouch’s Maverick also was entered but had a problem returning last Monday from a children’s cancer charity race off Long Beach. Motoring in clear weather on auto-pilot, it ran into the Venice Pier at 8 1/2 knots, tearing a large hole in the port side.
Sailing Notes
OLYMPICS--The Olympic Yachting Committee’s 1991 U.S. sailing team is composed of the top five in each class, based on performance in qualifying events. Members receive financial assistance for their campaigns. Heading the rankings are Finn, Brian Ledbetter, San Diego; Flying Dutchman, Paul Foerster, Forney, Tex., and crew Steve Bourdow, New Orleans; Tornado, Pease Glaser and crew (and husband) Jay Glaser, Long Beach; Europe dinghy, Courtenay Becker, Rye, N.Y.; Soling, Kevin Mahaney, Bangor, Me., and crew Jim Brady, Annapolis, Md., and Doug Kern, Austin, Tex.; Star, Mark Reynolds, San Diego, and crew Hal Haenel, Los Angeles; 470 men, Kerry Poe and crew Christian Bittner, Portland, Ore.; 470 women, J.J. Isler, La Jolla, and crew Pam Healy, Pt. Richmond, Calif.; men’s sailboard, Mike Gebhardt, Ft. Walton, Fla., and women’s sailboard, Lanee Butler, San Juan Capistrano.
COLLEGE--UC Irvine, ranked No. 3 nationally, won its sixth consecutive Pacific Coast championship recently, with 15th-ranked USC finishing second. Both will go to New Orleans for the nationals June 1-4. The UC Irvine women’s team also qualified and will compete Wednesday through Friday.
OCEAN RACING--Tom and Harriet Linskey of Marina del Rey finished the Melbourne-to-Osaka race in their 28-foot Freelance in 35th place--but finishing was an achievement. Tom was hospitalized with burns for six days at the start of the last leg, and they were chased into Osaka by an approaching storm with 150-knot winds and 36-foot seas. But they said the most dangerous part was dodging the shipping traffic the last 30 miles.