2007 Spinnaker Cup

This year's Spinnaker Cup was another of several great rides down the coast.  This year Jonathan (Bird) Livingston of Punk Dolphin and Pete McCormick of North Sails joined us and Bren Meyer brought on friends Steve Wonner and Jeff McCord.  Although Pete had sailed with us several years ago, the other three had never been on Scorpio.  With four new crew joining veterans Toby Cooper, Larry Peterson and John Siegel, we set off for Monterey under partly sunny skies and and moderate winds. 

We continue to enjoy great success in this ocean race, having finished 2, 1, 2, 3, 2 since 2003.  Last year's new A-Kyte sprung into action off Pillar Point and served us well past Pigeon Point.  At that point, we had held off all our competition, including eventual winner Stewball.  As the wind freshened near Ano Nuevo, we peeled to a symmetrical kite and basically sailed rhumb line to Monterey.  While our gybe to the coast near Ano has always served us well, this year we gybe in above the lighthouse at Pescadero and gained significantly on the persistent coastal header.  As the wind built to 25+, Stewball (the Melges 32) took off and left us and the rest of the fleet in the dust.

We enjoyed a hot lasagna dinner as we transited the Monterey Bay and arrived at the MPYC finish line at 2312, correcting over an hour after Stewball, eight minutes ahead of Heartbeat, and well ahead of of the rest of the fleet.  It was a most pleasant trip in all respects.  After the requisite time at the bar telling war stories, five of the crew drove back to SF.  Larry, Jeff and John crashed on the boat and set off for the four hour cruise to Santa Cruz the next day.  Later that night, Larry and diver Paul Hickey delivered Scorpio back to San Francisco where they arrived on Sunday morning.

Scorpio was then taken back to KKMI and haul for two month rest on her cradle.

Race Results