Pacific Cup: The Clock is Ticking

The biennial Pacific Cup attracted 64 entrants for the 2070 nm course from San Francisco to Hawaii, with the fleet divided among four staggered starts on July 11, 12, 14, and 15. Here’s a report from July 20.

As we go to press Rio 100 was just 10 nm from the finish and threatening the 12-year elapsed time record set by Mari Cha IV of 5 days, 5 hours, 38 minutes and 10 seconds. With their start on July 15, this is now day five and the clock is ticking.

Earlier in the day, California Condor was the first boat to cross 200 mile to finish mark, triggering the live coverage of the race tracker — no more 6 hour delay. At the time, Rio 100 was only five miles behind but had passed them before the hour was up.

With the live tracker, we can see that there haven’t been a lot of changes overnight. Mas! still leads for the overall Pacific Cup, as well as their Kolea Double Handed 1 division and the PHRF group. They had another 200+ mile day run, with VMG of 8.7 kts, but they are sailing below the rhumb line and will lose a bit of timing coming up for the finish line. Evermoore remains in second in the Kolea division, followed by Nozomi.

In the Northsails Doubled Handed 2 Division, Wolfpack had a fantastic day run of 251 miles, with VMG of 10.5 kts, helping them close in on Mas! Sailing for ALS remains in second, but Spadefoot and Double Espresso have passed California Condor on corrected time.

With a day run of 201, Redhead remains top in Honu Division A, with Windswept Lady and Cassiopeia second and third respectively.

They’re still battling it out in Weems & Plath Division B, where Tiki J’s 208 day run with VMG of 8.7kts kept them in first, followed by Encore and RV Aloha.

Aero is projected to be first to the finish in Alaska Airlines Division D, but on corrected it’s still Limitless, Sweet Okole and Elan. The two Express 37s are less than six hours apart with more than 450 miles to the finish.

In the battle of the SC50s in Pasha Hawaii ORR Division D, J World’s Hula Girl still leads sailing with its rhumb line course; Oaxaca and Adrenaline have taken a more southerly route and will need to sail up to the finish.

Pyewacket and the other two Andrews 70s lead the rankings in BMW of San Rafael ORR Division E, but all eyes are on Rio 100 who had a day run of 442 with a VMG at 18.4kts. Rio 100 is projected to be first to finish, and could well end up with the elapsed time record. At this time it’s too close to call. In the shadow of Rio 100 but still sailing fast, Varuna VI had a day run of 368 miles and a VMG of 15.2. Their estimated arrival time is before dawn Thursday morning.

Event details – Tracker – Team blogs – Division splits – Facebook

Background: The Pacific Cup Yacht Club is responsible for organizing the biennial Pacific Cup, dubbed the “FUN race to Hawaii.” Since 1980, the Pacific Cup has been sailed from San Francisco Bay to Hawaii every other year, and since 1988 the finish has been at the warm and welcoming Kaneohe Yacht Club on the island of Oahu. With an emphasis on pre-race preparation for the 2070 nm race, PCYC’s volunteer membership has helped to ensure that thousands of racers have been delighted with their Pacific Cup experience.

Source: Pacific Cup Yacht Club