
San Diego, CA (March 11, 2022) – The second wave of starters for the 2022 San Diego to Vallarta International Yacht Race launched Divisions 3, 4, and 5 in westerly wind of 5-8 knots that allowed reaching angles for the start of their 1000 nm course.
Among the starters was Ivan Batanov’s Soto 40 Zero Gravity who anticipates a challenging race due to somewhat unpredictable weather conditions. “Some years it can be very light, others can get a bit sporty,” noted Batanov. “The rounding of Cabo is critical and can make or break the race. Depending on the local conditions and the time of day, many boats have lost hours and days in the light airs ‘hole of Cabo’. For us, the 1000 mile course requires careful planning to keep the boat light and fast.”

For the three boats that started yesterday, their email check-in this morning had the Division 6 boats 120-135 nm down the track. White Cloud and Envolee were within a half mile of each other having morning coffee (or their equivalent). Such Fast stands only a few miles behind the other two in terms of distance to finish, but in a more offshore position. Clearly different pages from the Mexico Race play book.
Nathalie Criou Envolee, Skipper, Division 6:
“Awesome sailing last night – 17 to 20 knots of breeze which has turned into s**t about a hundred miles from Cedros. Battling it out with White Cloud, but we’ve lost track of Such Fast. Team morale is good and we are all rested as the weather tests our patience.”
Day one starters launched in a moderate south wind, prompting tighter upwind angles. But through the night, the breeze swung to a more southwesterly direction and increased, allowing the three competitors to set some downwind sails and extend down the course. However, with 24 hours of change on the weather map, gains from inshore thermal, or offshore gradient winds near San Carlos will reveal winners and losers by tomorrow.
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SATURDAY RECAP
If Friday’s summary word-of-the race was “angles”, Saturday’s words are “VMC or Velocity Made on
Course.” Watching the Thursday Class 6 boats beat their way out of San Diego Bay in a southerly
wind was a tough way to start a distance race. At 0800 Roll Call Saturday, they were generally
passing San Carlos/Turtle Bay. By contrast, the Friday Class 5, 4, and 3 boats got a nice westerly
breeze that built through the evening and allowed them to fast reach directly toward the finish
1050nm away. Their 0800 boat positions are less than 100nm astern, about parallel to Guadalupe
Island. Watching the YB Tracker, you can see the dramatic difference in course choices. By 0400 or
0500, the Friday boats started to gybe back toward the Baja coast and stay closer to the rhumbline,
the most direct course to the finish.


All these weather factors and course choices are now showing up in the overall standings with the
Friday classes populating the top of the list. The “slowest” rated boat in the Friday starters (Class 5 -
Olson 40 Akaw!) is currently the projected leader after their first 20 hours on course. They are
keeping up with the faster rated boats like Class 3’s Rogers 46 Lucky Duck, who is projected 3rd
overall. All the Friday class boats are within 30 miles of one another, making use of lots of passing
lanes.
Saturday 0800 Daily Standings Report (link: https://pvrace.com/documents/standings031222.pdf)
The 0800 reports from the competitors shared a similarly fantastic night of sailing.
Ivan Batanov, Zero Gravity, Soto 40, Class 3:
The first night was one of the best night-time sailing we've ever done. Fantastic downwind run in
16-18kn breeze with the boat fully powered up and under control. Everyone loved it so much that we
did not have any time for old sailing stories. We had a close encounter with a 900ft cargo vessel
which was moving at 1.5kn across our bow.

Roger Gatewood, Katara, J/145, Class 4:
Champagne sailing! The kind of stuff they put on magazine covers!

Wayne Zittel, J World’s Hula Girl, Santa Cruz 52, Class 4:
Wonderful conditions for the first day! One of our veterans of many Hawaii races has discovered the
sweetness of the pleasant exit. I've withheld from him the fact that they are not all like this, but wow
it's nice when they are!

Nathalie Criou, Envolee, Beneteau Figaro 2, Class 6:
Had a great night with 20 kt winds and dolphins playing around the boat. We almost had a really
close crossing with another sailing vessel around 0400 until the incoming crew pointed out that it
was a star. This made it much easier to avoid.

Saturday features the launch of the Class 1 and 2 boats with veteran Class 1 ocean racers like Roy
P. Disney’s modified Volvo 70 Pyewacket 70, Manouch Moshayedi’s Bakewell White design Rio100
(monohull course record-holder), and Doug Baker’s Dencho/Kernan 68 Peligroso. 2022 stands as
Peligroso’s 9th consecutive PV Race dating back to 2006, and includes 3x 1st in Class and 2x 1st
Overall. Class 2 is composed of classics like the Santa Cruz 70s including Marchetta / Furey’s
Mirage and Jack Jennings’ Pied Piper.

Follow the race tracker showing boat positions at 1-hour intervals with a 4-hour competitive
delay at https://yb.tl/sdpv2022.
https://pvrace.com/news
Thank you to the sponsors of the 2022 Puerto Vallarta Race: North Sails, Ocean Navigator, Twin
Rivers Marine Insurance, Bay City Brewing, Rosaluna Mezcal, and Marina Vallarta.
About SDYC
The San Diego Yacht Club encourages and fosters an environment that helps and continues to
produce the best in the world of boating-related activities. Founded in 1886, SDYC has become a
world renown sailing community recognized for its success in bay sailing, ocean racing, cruising,
angling, and its world class youth sailing program. SDYC is consistently ranked among the top 5
yacht clubs in the U.S. and is recognized by the Club Leadership Forum as one of the finest facilities
of its kind in the world.
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