Islands Race 2018: Game Time!

Prospector’s 2018 campaign starts Friday February 18 when the team takes on the 2018 Islands Race, a 134 nautical mile sprint which starts in Long Beach, CA and finishes in San Diego after leaving Catalina and San Clemente Islands to port.  The race will not only provide the team an opportunity to shake off winter’s cobwebs, but will also serve as a tune-up for the 1,000nm Puerto Vallarta Race in two weeks’ time and the team’s first foray into Pacific Ocean racing.

While it’s still early, the Pacific Weather Gods look to be serving up a forecast that favors reintroduction to racing.  Winds are expected to be in the 8-10 knot range starting out of the west and shifting into light northeasterly breezes by Saturday morning.  The Race looks like a largely off-the wind affair; perfect training for a campaign that promises to feature a good amount of VMG sailing.

Based on the forecast, navigator Larry Landry expects to cross the finish line off San Diego in the early hours of Saturday the 17th.  Since the forecast does not suggest Prospector will be able to challenge for the course record of just over 11 hours (set by the Santa Cruz 70 OEX in 2011), the crew is hoping to at least be ashore before last call.

Prospector will be racing in the ORR-1 class, which features perennial west-coast favorites Pyewacket(Roy Disney, Andrews 70), BadPak (Tom Holthus, Pac52) and a number of other strong competitors.  Follow the team as they test the waters with the yellowbrick Live Tracker  (http://yb.tl/islandsrace2018) and share the adventure through our Instagram feed @prospectorsailing.