Close Double-Handed competition expected in 2014 Pacific Cup

When the 56 entrants begin the 2070-mile Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Hawaii next week, one-quarter of the fleet will be competing in its two double-handed divisions. For two husband-and-wife teams – Bill and Melinda Erkelens, and Jim Quanci and Mary Lovely – this year’s race brings together fond memories of previous races and the challenges of a repeat performance.

Jim Quanci and Mary Lovely will be sailing their Cal 40, Green Buffalo in its fifth Hawaii race, including the 2012 single-handed Transpac, which Jim won overall. This will be the seventh Pacific Cup for Mary, who has also done a Transpac, and Jim’s fourteenth, including his overall win in 1992 double-handing a Moore 24.

According to Jim, “Mary and I fell in love with the Pacific Cup back in 1986. I proposed to her before the race, and she said ‘yes’ after we arrived in Nawilliwilli on separate boats.” They purchased Green Buffalo in 2004 so their teenage boys could join them, and in 2006 the family raced together, finishing third in division. “We love the Pacific Cup race,” says Mary. “The folks at Kaneohe Yacht Club are like family to us. Racing to Kaneohe is like going home to a family reunion.”

“I had a single-handed trip in 2012 that was a Zen experience,” says Jim, defining Zen as being one with the water and the wind, which makes for a fast passage. “Is a Zen passage possible double-handed – and with one’s spouse no less? Time to find out.” Mary added, “With his strength as a single-handed racer, and my moxie, I know we’ll do fine. I plan to enjoy the moments, even the first three days out. I have this rare opportunity to enjoy my husband and relish the race, and end up in paradise, Kaneohe.”

Green Buffalo is the largest boat in Double-Handed Division 1. With two Moore 24s and four Santa Cruz 27s also in the division, the competition should be fierce, but no other boat has the combined experience of the Quanci/Lovely team.

The competition in the Double-Handed Division 2 should also be close, with several veteran competitors sailing light, fast boats. For Bill and Melinda Erkelens, this year is particularly special since it marks the twentieth anniversary of their 1994 overall Pacific Cup win while double-handing their Dogpatch 26, Moonshine, a feat this duo hopes to repeat in the just slightly larger Donovan 30, Wolfpack.

It’s difficult to imagine a couple with a broader range of racing experience than the Erkelens. Although Melinda is a lawyer, not a professional sailor, she has found plenty of employment in the sport she loves, having co-managed the race programs for Larry Ellison’s maxi yacht Sayonara and spent ten years working on Oracle’s America’s Cup efforts before moving to the Artemis team in 2010. Melinda has a reputation as an exceptional driver and lists among her major sailing accomplishments five Pacific Cups, five Maxi World championships and the 2005 Transpac, where she was a member of the four-woman crew that placed second in a fleet of fourteen Cal 40’s.

Bill, currently CEO for the Volvo Ocean Race Team Alvimedica, was previously COO for Oracle BMW Racing, and has been project manager and crew for many high profile maxi boats. Highlights of his sailing CV include two Sydney-Hobart races (including the disastrous 1998 event) with a first-to finish in both, eight Transpac races, twelve Mexico races, the Fastnet, a Trans Atlantic Race record, and first overall and the record in the Cape Town to Rio race. However, he says, “The Pac Cup 1994 is and will always be my favorite race ever. Windy race to umbrella drinks with Melinda. Can’t beat that!”

When not competing on other people’s big boats, the Erkelens are small boat racers, currently owners of a Wylie Wabbit and two Moore 24’s. This may explain this year’s choice of a chartered Donovan 30 built in 1987 and weighing 3,220 pounds. “Our boat will be wet, but it looks like it will be a fun ride,” says Melinda. “I’m looking forward to lots of heavy-air downwind driving, and racing double-handed I’ll never feel like I’m hogging the helm!”

Both couples are experienced at prepping for ocean races. Jim Quanci says that “after five Hawaii races (on Green Buffalo), getting ready is not all that much more than pulling a few crates out of storage and loading all the Hawaii gear on the boat.” Green Buffalo passed the Pacific Cup’s mandatory and extensive boat inspection in February, the first boat to do so.

While many of the Pacific Cup competitors spent last weekend practicing out on the Pacific, Bill and Melinda, with teenage son Josh and his friend, had fun poking Wolfpack’s bow out under the Golden Gate and returning to Ayala Cove on Angel Island for a very cozy family overnight on the boat.

Green Buffalo starts in the Double-Handed Division 1 on July 7 and Wolfpack starts in the Double-Handed Division 2 on July 8.

Background:
The 2070-mile race has staggered starts on July 6 through July 11 for the nine divisions. 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 Kaneohe Yacht Club on Oahu. The Pacific Cup is organized by Pacific Cup Yacht Club in association with Richmond Yacht Club. Event website: https://pacificcup.org