MOD70 Orion and ORMA60 Mighty Merloe (formerly Groupama2) lead the pack in the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race

From the following article on Sailing Scuttlebutt:

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2014/03/17/ripping-ride-south-puerto-vallarta/

Thousand mile slide toward Puerto Vallarta
Published on March 16, 2014

 

by Editor

 
(March 16, 2014) – The 32nd edition of the biennial San Diego to Vallarta International Yacht Race started off Shelter Island, with Class 3 and 4 leaving on Friday (Mar. 14) and Class 1, 2, and Multihull departing on Saturday (Mar. 15). Both days provided summer-like conditions for the 23 entrants to begin their 1000 mile southerly slide toward beautiful Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The first retiree came quickly, with Brack Duker’s Santa Cruz 70 Holua losing their prop within the first hour of sailing on Saturday. The remaining 22 teams extended offshore on offwind angles, gybing back toward layline at about 160 nm down the track.

The two multihulls, MOD70 Orion and ORMA 60 Mighty Merloe, have now passed all the Friday starters, both posting speeds today in the 20 knot range. In general, wind strength appears to be better for the Friday starters, which lead the Saturday group by roughly 200 miles.

read more here

the race tracker is here:

http://yb.tl/SDPV2014