California Condor Glides into Oahu with a Broken Wing

July 22, 2010

California Condor, a brand new, just out of the box Antrim Class 40, started the Pacific Cup on July 8, in Division D. They enjoyed a favorable weather window and reported 16 knots of boatspeed on July 10, followed by a record speed of 20.2 knots on July 12 in 22 knots of wind.

California Condor has twin rudders, one of which you can see as they depart SF Bay on July 8. ©2010 Erik Simonson/www.pressure-drop.us

Then on July 14, both of their rudders failed, and they rigged drogues to steer with. The next day, while limping along at five knots, they came up with a plan to fix the rudders. On July 16, their transponder went out. But later they celebrated Liz Baylis's birthday, even baking a cake onboard. They crossed the halfway point July 18, and the next day they were able to fix the port rudder, finally finishing last night at 21:36:09 HST.

Their boat blog is worth a read; check it out at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/cacondor/?show=contents
for details on the rudder failure, see Jim Antrim's log entry on July 14.

Who ordered the anchovies? ©2010 Rich Hudnut, Jr.

California Condor has plenty of talent aboard, including her architect, Jim Antrim, plus Buzz Blackett and his son David, Tom Paulling, Liz Baylis and Todd Hedin.

Thanks to Rich Hudnut, Jr., of the Schumacher 52 Cinnabar, for the nighttime photos sent from his iPhone. Cinnabar finished on July 18. In this photo from the start, Rich is on the far right. ©2010Erik Simonson/www.pressure-drop.us

All finishers are in and all results tallied. Horizon, the Santa Cruz 50 sailed by Jack Taylor, took the trifecta of first to finish, first overall and first in division. Division A had the most exciting battle for first place, with Pat Broderick's Wyliecat 30 Nancy finishing just 45 minutes ahead of Shawn Ivie's J/30 Friction Loss. The Awards Gala will be held tomorrow night, then it's all over until 2012. See http://pacificcup.org.