The Story of the 2008 Tahiti Yacht Race

For Chris Welsh and RAGTIME a victory, for Doug Baker and MAGNITUDE 80 a record, and both accomplished what they set out to do in the Transpacific Yacht Club’s 13th Tahiti Race.

The memories will forever warm the souls of the 37 who sailed the 3,571 nautical miles to French Polynesia, defeating the Doldrums, crossing the equator, dealing with breeze sometimes big, often baffling, suffering drenching rain and dark nights but also marveling at dazzling constellations of stars from the Big Dipper to the Southern Cross, fore and aft.

MAGNITUDE 80 got the record — no surprise there — but the other three boats took well deserved bows. Boat for boat, RAGTIME and Bob Lane’s 17-year-old Andrews 63, MEDICINE MAN— both significantly modified from their original forms — also beat the record. Jim Morgan’s much smaller, 26-year-old Santa Cruz 50, FORTALEZA, corrected out second overall to RAGTIME and logged the race’s sixth best elapsed time ever (16:15:36:50), faster than all but KATHMANDU and SORCERY in their two-boat race in ‘94.

“We had a great fleet,” Baker said. “There were only four boats but they all finished, and in a race like that you could easily have a problem, so there’s a lot to be said for all of them, especially RAGTIME.”

Indeed, RAGTIME had a boatload of problems, including a worrisome wobbly keel to a torn main sail — blown-out sails were common among the fleet — to a ruptured gooseneck to a disabled engine, which cost them power for their electronics until they strapped a small, noisy auxiliary motor to a grinder post. It all created a challenge for an eight-person crew consisting entirely of Pollywog rookies, who included Genny Tulloch, 23, of MORNING LIGHT distinction and perhaps the race’s youngest participant ever, Daniel Caponetto, 16.

Welsh said, “I just wonder what would have happened if they’d chosen our route. When we made that first jibe [south into the Doldrums] we were the breakout boat. That’s what paid off for us. They were far west of us, but when we were going south we were matching them on latitude mile by mile. For a while they were in lighter breeze so we actually had a few six-hour runs where we put miles on them.”

Last summer RAGTIME sailed the 2,225 nautical miles in the Transpac to Hawaii in just under 12 days. Tahiti, half-again as far, took less than three days longer. But, Welsh said, “Compared to doing Tahiti, Hawaii is a walk in the park … yeah, 12 light-air days where the boat is flat and nothing broke and it’s all easy, versus 14 3/4 days, eight days of which we didn’t see sun or stars and it was blowing 25 to 30 knots the whole time, [and] the boat’s heeled over because you’re reaching really hard, so getting around the boat you’re a monkey the whole time . . . [and] everything in the world broke.”

Four boats was the same number as sailed the first Tahiti race 83 years earlier when the winner, L.A. Morris’ 107-foot MARINER, took much longer than any of these four: 20 1/2 days. And now, more than ever, it’s prohibitively expensive, time-consuming and demanding of crew members.

No wonder only 76 boats have ever done the race.

“They’d have 50 boats if it was easy,” Baker said

Baker gave proper credit to his navigator, Ernie Richau — "he did a great job, as always … very under-rated” — and to Bob Lane, his Long Beach Yacht Club colleague who initially suggested it was time to do the race again.

The race was organized by the TPYC and hosted by the Tahiti Yacht Club at the finish. It started in dense fog off Point Fermin at the edge of los Angeles on June 22 and everyone finished not in south Pacific sunshine but at night.

“If you like ocean racing, if it comes up again, this is something you should consider,” Baker said. “I mean, you only go around once. I’d never seen the southern Cross.”

- Written by Rich Roberts