Vic - Maui Yacht Race - Oriole is trucking
by Alan Hannam 1 Jul 2000 08:46 BST
The fleet is taking advantage of the highly-favourable weather, which promises a fast race this year. If you have been watching the High, the trough over the Californian coast, the pressure gradients, the Great Circle route and the courses taken by the leading yachts, you can see what is happening. If these conditions continue, records may fall. Yesterday, the leaders were already ahead of previous Vic-maui record-breaking runs by MERLIN and PYEWACKET, and all today's distance averages remained good.
The boat of the hour is undoubtedly HMCS ORIOLE, which has climbed steadily through the fleet. Yesterday she put in 190 miles, averaging 8 knots. Today, she covered 220 miles at an average speed of 9.2 knots. Not only is she leading Class D, but now she is first in the fleet on corrected time. And she is making it look easy. Sailing conditions are reported to be comfortable onboard (there is only one minor case of seasickness) and her crew just celebrated the first of some planned "Theme Days". Today was Mexican Day.
In Class A, Dan Sinclair's RENEGADE is now making up ground fast. She logged the best daily mileage (272) at an average speed of 11.3 knots. GRAND ILLUSION covered about 20 miles less, but still leads the class. JOIA is having a good race in Class B. She made 227 miles, sailing 1-1.5 knots faster than her immediate rivals FARR-ARI and PURSUIT. FARR-ARI remains the leader though, and is third overall. In Class C, TURICUM clocked the day's best (190 miles). Bill Moore's GREY HOUND and Doug Fryer's NIGHT RUNNER also posted good runs. NIGHT RUNNER leads her class. In Class D, PRAIRIE VOYAGER put in 152 miles, and is now lying second to ORIOLE. FASTRACK continues to observe sea-life, including pilot whales and albatrosses. Maybe all the whales, dolphins and albatrosses are following FASTRACK. Either that, or the other boats are sharing the view, but not reporting it!
Our Website address is www.vicmaui.org. Daily Race Reports can be found in its News Center/Daily Reports Section, and there is a Discussion Group in the News Centre/Discussion Group. Local television coverage will be on CHEKtv in Victoria and VTV in Vancouver during their evening news programs.