Racing Experience. Technical Understanding. Program Leadership.
Rhumbline Performance Sailing was founded on the idea that successful racing programs require more than a fast boat.
They require talented people, thoughtful preparation, good information and a culture that keeps a team engaged and working toward the same goals. They also require someone to connect the details—from crew, schedules and logistics to sails, ratings, instruments, navigation and race preparation.
Founder Blaine Pedlow brings together decades of competitive sailing with professional experience leading teams, managing complex organizations and building programs around ambitious goals.
On the Water
Blaine has raced extensively in offshore, handicap and high-performance one-design sailing, with experience ranging from 505s and Etchells to 50-foot offshore racing programs.
His racing includes Transpac, Newport–Bermuda, Swiftsure and major West Coast inshore and offshore events, along with extensive one-design competition.
That experience has increasingly focused on the work behind the racing: building campaigns, developing teams, optimizing boats for different events and rating systems, preparing for major races, and giving sailors the information and tools they need to perform.
Technical Understanding
Modern racing programs generate an enormous amount of information. The challenge is determining what actually matters.
Rhumbline works across ORC, ORR, IRC and PHRF rating systems, sail and configuration analysis, Expedition, weather routing, onboard instruments and networks, performance data and race analysis.
The objective isn't complexity for its own sake. It's to turn technical information into practical decisions about how to configure, prepare and race the boat.
Program Leadership
The other half of Rhumbline comes from outside sailing.
Blaine's professional career has included senior executive leadership, revenue and organizational management, fundraising, partnerships and consulting. He has led teams, managed multi-million-dollar programs and budgets, worked with boards and senior stakeholders, and coordinated complex projects involving people with very different responsibilities and expertise. He holds a degree in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley.
Those skills translate directly to competitive sailing.
A racing program brings together owners, professional and amateur sailors, boat captains, sailmakers, boatyards, designers, electronics specialists, rating authorities and other vendors. Getting the most from those relationships requires more than technical knowledge—it requires communication, organization, judgment and trust.
Rhumbline brings those disciplines together so owners can spend less time managing the machinery around a racing program and more time racing.
People. Preparation. Performance.
Ultimately, sailboat racing is supposed to be rewarding.
Rhumbline believes the strongest programs combine competitive ambition with a team culture people want to be part of. Clear expectations, good communication, careful preparation and mutual respect make teams more effective—and make the time spent together on and off the water more enjoyable.
The objective is simple: build a well-run program, prepare the boat and team to perform, race hard, and have fun doing it.
Selected Experience
Offshore & Distance Racing
Transpac • Pacific Cup • Newport–Bermuda • PV Race • Cabo Race • Swiftsure • California offshore racing • Pacific Northwest offshore racing
Boats & Classes
ORC and ORR Offshore • TP52 • Santa Cruz 52 • Fast 40 • ClubSwan 42 • International 505 • Etchells • J/70 • Moore 24 • i420 • 29er
Rating & Measurement
ORC • ORR • IRC • PHRF
Navigation & Technical
Expedition • B&G systems • SailNjord • KND • NMEA • Weather routing • Current analysis • Performance data • Race analysis
Program & Campaign Management
Team development • Campaign planning • Budgets • Logistics • Vendor coordination • Race preparation • Owner representation
