About Scorpio

Scorpio is a custom 42 foot racing sailboat designed by Naval Architect Tom Wylie in 1991 and build by Jim Betts in Tahoe City in 1992.  The boat was designed and built for Lon Price Sr. of Point Richmond, a long-time Bay and Ocean Racer who wanted a fast, easy-to-sail, modern design that he could race fully crewed or short-handed.

      courtesy of Daniel Forster/Rolex   

Scorpio Planes Away from the Competition in 2005 Rolex Big Boat Series
 

Scorpio emerged as an early IMS design and was, at that time, unique in many respects:  elliptical foils, powerful masthead rig with wide spreaders and a non-overlapping sailplan.  The hull was constructed from high-grade aluminum and the deck was fabricated using Kevlar over a Divinycell core.  Lon Price campaigned the boat out of Richmond, doing coastal and Bay races.

John and Joy Siegel, then owners of Nighthawk, a Wylie-designed Hawkfarm, met Lon's son (Lon Jr.) on a beercan race in Santa Cruz in 1994.  They had heard of Scorpio and gladly accepted an invitation to crew on her in a couple of Bay races that year.  In the meantime, Lon Sr. had developed health problems and in 1995 called John Siegel and offered to sell Scorpio to him.  Though interested, Siegel was unable to financially make the deal and declined the offer.  Shortly thereafter, Siegel's financial situation improved and he called Lon in an attempt to secure Scorpio.  Always the "curmudgeon," Lon respond that Siegel was too f#@&ing late and that the boat had been donated to Stanford University.  Siegel was able to charter the boat for a season or two from Stanford and ultimately purchased the boat in 1997.

In the ensuing years, Siegel has upgraded Scorpio, learned to sail her, and put together an outstanding crew.  The results have been impressive.  Except for the hull, keel, deck and interior, the boat has been completely restored.  During the winter of 1999-2000, the boat underwent an exterior overhaul and was repainted.  She now has a new mast and boom, new rudder with a carbon post, upgraded electronics including a SSB and Pactor modem, laptop interface with Nobeltec and Deckman software, three new winches, new hydraulic system, new running and standing rigging, new headfoil, motor upgrades, new emergency rudder system, and a substantial sail inventory.

During the winter of 2006, Scorpio was trucked to the Jim Betts facility in Anacortes, Washington where she underwent some re-welding to resolve some corrosion problems beneath the fore-aft stringers.  She returned in May and now lives on a cradle at the KKMI boatyard in Point Richmond.

Scorpio's successful race record can be attributed to a number of factors not the least of which is crew skill and synergy.  Despite occasional visits from professionals, Scorpio's regular crew is entirely amateur.  Crew members have considerable racing experience in dinghies, keelboats and big boats, but they all manage to leave their egos on land.  The result is a true team approach with mutual respect and delegation of responsibilities being the order of the day.  Her outstanding race record is also the result of being obsessive:  obsessive about boat preparation, obsessive about crew selection and performance, obsessive about practice, obsessive about maintaining focus, and recognizing that "we can always do better."  We think of this as the Scorpio Program! 

The February 1992 edition of Latitude 38 welcomed Scorpio to the Bay.  See L38_0292.pdf.