GREAT NEWS FOR MAXI SAILORS - this is a copy of the article sent to the
magazine 'Latitude 38'  www.latitude38.com
Recent News


‘Sorcery’, the world famous 82’ Maxi that has raced all of its life out of Marina del
Rey has arrived in San Francisco.  And to the amazement of all Bay Area sailors,
she is going to be parked permanently in Glen Cove Marina, Vallejo, and will be
raced from the newly formed Glen Cove Yacht Club.

Here is a tip – if you want to race on a Maxi (and everyone knows positions on
these boats are difficult to find), it would be good advice to join the Glen Cove
Yacht Club.  www.glencoveyachtclub.net  

The new owner will be looking for bodies, male and female from skippers down, to
race this legendary, magnificent piece of machinery.  

John Walker has recently relocated from England and has few contacts in the local
Bay Area racing scene.  John has spent his life sailing.  He built his first sailing
dinghy, a Yachting World Cadet when he was 16.  He campaigned his own ocean
racing sail boat ‘Astelot’ out of Sydney, Australia.  He raced this Excaliber 36 for
thousands of miles around the South Pacific and Australia, eventually moving his
way up to sail his passion.  On Maxi ocean racers, his favored position was as
bowman.  To include a few boats, he was on ‘Caprice of Huon’ 54’, ‘Leda’ 60’,
‘Buccaneer’ 75’, ‘Batavia’ 83’ and ‘Anaconda’ 83’.   Talking with John he is obviously
very experienced with big boats, particularly at the sharp end but a bit light on
experience down at the blunt end.

Due to a mix up with handing over keys down at Marina del Rey, ‘Sorcery’ had to
be loaded with a container full of stored sails and gear and prepared for sea in one
day.  So she departed acting a bit like a container ship.  ‘Sorcery’ sailed from
Marina del Rey to arrive under the Carquinez Bridge late morning,  Nov. 10th
where she waited off Glen Cove Marina for high tide.  Race trim she draws 13’6”
but loaded she was down to 14’6”.  So there was some difficulty getting her over
the small bar and into her slip.  Time ran out that day so she had to spend the
night aground but by Sunday high tide she was safely tied up and the champagne
corks were popping.  She now is riding quietly on her end slip, ready to prance
from the starting blocks.  

John Walker is based at Glen Cove Marina with his cruising yacht ‘Artemis’, a 48’
Hunter, that he purchased this year.  There he can keep a watchful eye on his
passion as work proceeds on the boat and on selection and training of crew.  
Wow! He needs a crew list of 48!  This is a golden opportunity for those sailors
wanting to race on a famous Maxi.  ‘Sorcery’ is in 100% race condition, having
competed in the MEXORC this year, winning the regatta for the 6th time taking 8
wins out of 8 races.

Glen Cove Marina is ideally situated to work on ‘Sorcery’.  Within minutes, she will
be in the open, uncluttered waters of San Pablo Bay for crew training with a
sheltered little piece of paradise at Glen Cove Marina when at rest.  John says ‘I
have tried just about every other marina in the Bay Area and Glen Cove is the only
one that is always sheltered and is sunny all day.  According to Maxine White, the
Harbor Master, the marina has nearly full occupancy but John White, Manager and
Commodore of the new yacht club, says they will give preferential treatment to
yacht club members when applying for slips.

Yes, new owner, John Walker is looking for crew.  John will manage ‘Sorcery’
himself, but is looking for amature crew.  He intends to race as much as possible in
the local area beginning December with plans to do the Newport-Tahiti race in
June 2008 and on to Australia for the Dec. 2008 Sydney-Hobart.  The boat will
return to San Francisco after coastal Australia and South Pacific races.    

‘Sorcery’ is a classic IOR line honors boat designed by Gary Mull in 1983 to be the
best and fastest with no expense spared.  She can still be expected to get line
honors in some races and can still provide those down hill, white knuckle rides that
only the crews on Maxis can experience.  I understand when pushed hard she can
achieve 30 knots surfing in big seas.  John would love to hear from previous crew
members that have experienced some of these rides.  ‘Sorcery’ can not compete
for line honors when racing against the modern planeing Maxis.  But will be close
tailing them to finish ahead of the classic displacement hull yachts.  The boat is
known wherever she sails with great respect for her performance and beauty.

The history of ‘Sorcery’ is a little sketchy.  Not being a native of California, John
only knew of the boat because of her world standing.  The original owner and
builder, Jake Wood, was dedicated to racing and winning with this beautiful, fast
yacht in the last 24 years of his life.  Sadly, Jake passed away this year after a long
illness.  But this illness did not stop him racing as he was helped aboard his
beloved yacht to compete in the 2007 Mexican ORC.  Unfortunately Jake took most
of the history with him.  

John is desperate to fill this history void and would love to hear from Latitude 38
readers that have crewed or had interesting experiences with ‘Sorcery’ to compete
a historic web site that will be there forever.  There must be some wonderful
stories out there.  See www.sorceryoceanracing.com  for more details about
‘Sorcery’ and how to contact John.

Photographs do not do this beautiful yacht justice.  Take a drive down to Glen Cove
Marina to check her out.  John is very unassuming and laid back and happy to show
the boat to anyone.  He is usually around the marina or stop in the office to talk
with Whitey or Maxine, the Marina Manager and Harbor Master.
Sorcery Ocean Racing Syndicate
                  USA-7177
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