Newport to Ensenada: Roy Disney's PYEWACKET wins overall; Lew Beery's IT'S OK! crush the
QUOTE-UNQUOTE: "'It was tricky, very tricky,' said Ben Mitchell while signing for the big three trophies won by Roy P. Disney’s Andrews 70 and the rest of the Pyewacket crew. Although not caught in the great lull off San Diego, he said the race challenged them with unusual conditions. It was not as windy as forecasted, he said. Mitchell praised all Pyewacket’s competitors including Holua, Catapult and Grand Illusion with whom they exchanged the lead along the way. Mitchell collected the President of Mexico Trophy for Best Corrected Maxi, the Tommy Bahama Trophy, for Best Corrected Overall, and the President of USA Trophy for Best Corrected, All PHRF. 'Roy enjoys the race; he started sailing with his Dad at just 13 years old,' said Mitchell. About the 70th anniversary win, being back on the podium 'feels real good,' he said. Pyewacket and the Disney family have a long and winning history racing N2E.
"Andy Rose of It’s OK, an Andrews 50, described this year’s race as the most fascinating N2E they’ve done. Lots of choices; it becomes tactical, he said. 'This is the reason we do this, for races like this.' At one point they hit 20 knots, but also reported dropping to zero. The familiarity of a regular crew helped, but they were joined this year by 15-year-old Jeffrey Petersen. 'I have shirts older than you,' said one of the crew while waiting to pick up the Secretary of State USA Trophy. Peterson worked a couple positions on the boat on this his first N2E and learned a lot about sail changes as the crew did about 20 of them. 'He’s a future (sailing) rock star,' said Rose. –From NOSA's wrap-up press release.
[Full disclosure: SAILING ILLUSTRATED's Editor/Publisher Tom Ehman races
regularly with the Balboa YC-based team IT'S OK! on which he serves as navigator/strategist. He said by phone from Ensenada, we assume between Margaritas, "The race was challenging to say the least. We had 17 headsail changes and used every headsail on the boat except the J3, and we probably should have used that in the final three miles into the finish line." As to Jeffrey "Cricket" Petersen, this was actually his second N2E as he was aboard Peter Bretschger's class-winner ADIOS last year. –Meg]
Full results here.
