Pyewacket 70 - Unfinished business in the Rolex Middle Sea Race
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 15 Oct 21:28 NZDT
Rolex Middle Sea Race - 2023 - Pyewacket 70 - VO 70 Mod - Skipper: Roy Disney - USA © Kurt Arrigo
Imagine owning one of the most celebrated offshore racing yachts in modern sailing history — Pyewacket 70.
More than just a fast yacht, she’s a proven platform for performance, prestige, and adventure.
Next year’s ocean classics, from the 2025 Rolex Sydney to Hobart to the 2027 Rolex Fastnet, offer a rare opportunity to not just spectate, but to compete at the highest level aboard a yacht engineered for speed and success.
If you’ve ever dreamed of combining elite racing with iconic ownership, then Pyewacket 70 is your gateway to the front of the world’s top offshore racing fleets.
One of only two latest generation Volvo 70’s currently competing and winning, Pyewacket 70 has been upgraded and maintained in tip-top racing shape. Thanks to creative designers and suppliers, Pyewacket is now performing better than ever and is always a serious contender for the major trophies in any event she enters.
Originally launched as Telefonica for the 2011 Volvo Ocean Race, she opened her account with three trans-ocean leg wins. A sistership, Groupama, won two trans-ocean legs in the nine-leg, 40,000 nm race around the world. The two Juan K-designed Volvo 70s were the only entries to complete every leg of that race – testimony to their structural engineering and construction.
After the 2011-12 VOR, Telefonica was purchased by Brisbane-based property developer Peter Harburg in 2013.
Under the new owner, the yacht was later campaigned in Australia as Black Jack, undergoing a major refit to become a “turbo-charged” 70ft offshore raceboat, with a taller mast, deeper keel, extended bowsprit and hydraulic winch systems. In this configuration, she won multiple Brisbane to Gladstone races and twice placed in the top five in the Rolex Sydney Hobart race.
Black Jack was acquired by top US offshore sailor Roy P Disney and added to the legendary Pyewacket dynasty in 2019.
Earlier this year, Pyewacket 70 sailed her final race under Disney. She finished fourth over the line in the 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race, behind three 100ft supermaxis.
Unfinished business
Pyewacket 70 has unfinished business in the Rolex Middle Sea race in which she competed in 2023, being beaten home only by the 100ft supermaxi, Leopard, and the 93ft supermaxi Bullitt.
In the ten-boat IRC 1 fleet Pyewacket 70 was third to finish, beating five other former Volvo Ocean Race competitors.
It was a close race on the first day of the 600nm race, characterised by variable winds from 3-30kts, big upwind sea state on the first night, tricky currents, and having to negotiate some awkward course geography, including an active volcano and the narrow Straits of Messina.
On Day 1, in the IRC1 fleet, the highest rated yacht, the 27m Juan K designed Lucky owned by Bryan Ehrhart), was leading on the water, but only just ahead of Pyewacket 70.
The 2022 Rolex Middle Sea Race line honours winner, Leopard 3, was just behind Lucky, with Bullitt off their starboard hip.
However, in a race which benefited mammoths and minnows, Leopard found some extra pressure and eased away to take line honours, with Bullitt second, only two hours stern. Three bigger yachts retired from the race, two with serious damage.
Transpac record holder
Two years earlier, Pyewacket 70 set the 24-hour distance record of 506.4nm in the 2,250nm 2021 Transpac Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu – breaking the earlier mark set by the 100ft Comanche of 484nm set in the previous race.
The new mark was set in the first Transpac Race Disney contested since taking ownership of Pyewacket 70 and extracting even more potential from the Juan K design.
Asked about what it's like to go this fast, Disney told race media, “This boat is very deceptive. If you’re doing 15 knots, it doesn’t make a noise and you don’t even realize you’re going that fast. At 21 knots it makes more noise, for sure. This boat is a beast, but a fun beast.”
Since competing in the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race Pyewacket 70 has been turbo-charged with a spar 3 metres taller and a keel 2 metres deeper than VO 70 class trim, allowing for more horsepower and higher speeds.
“Pyewacket has a ton more sail area and is much more lively than a standard Volvo 70,” Disney explained.
Pyewacket 70's recent results include:
- 2025 Antigua Sailing Week – Line Honours, Overall Winner
- 2024 Bermuda Race – Line Honours
- 2023 RORC Caribbean 600 – Line Honours & IRC Overall Winner
- 2023 Pineapple Cup – Line Honours
- 2022 Pacific Cup – Line Honours
- 2022 Puerto Vallarta – New Course Record
- 2021 Transpac Race – Line Honours
- 2021 Cabo San Lucas – Line Honours, Overall Winner, Race Record
- 2020 Puerto Vallarta – Class Winner
According to her designers Pyewacket 70 has "available a plan for the next-generation of IRC optimisation possible on this boat with a few easy modifications."
For a serious offshore campaigner, this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. With the right timing, her new owner could even take the helm in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart.
The legacy is rich. The performance is proven. The future is wide open.
Like to know more?:
Contact: Paul MacDonald
Ph/WhatsApp: +64 27 5133 524
Email:
Web: www.mcdyachts.com/pyewacket
Interior and exterior images: