Race Summary
Aloha!
We are back on shore having place 2nd in Double-Handed Division I!
The race began in light conditions once we were outside the Golden Gate. It took nearly half a day to reach the Farrallones Islands.
The wind picked up after that with a windy close reach for a day or so, Then it became calm again so we headed south to get back into the wind. This maneuver allowed us to move ahead of Rubicon III.
We then entered the trade winds, they were the strongest I have experienced of the three races I have been in--especially the squalls which came one after another at night with high wind gusts up to 35 knots. Two especially nasty squalls rolled the boat on its beam ends, once when Tony was at the helm and once when I was steering. In both cases we had to let the spinnaker run free to right the boat, The roll down when I was at the helm caused enough water to wash over me that my automatic life jacket inflated.
Our aggressive sailing eventually lengthens our lead to 74 miles over Rubicon III. We finished the race at 10:44 HST. We now begin the party phase.
The crew, though exhausted is in good spirits but not ready to take on this adventure on anytime soon. We attended the parties at the club. Plus Sixteen served us well; due to the high winds we blew out two spinnakers of the 5 on board.
Mahalo for your thoughts and good wishes.
For pictures and more information see:
http://pacificcup.org/08/arrivals/pc08-arrival.php?yacht_id=42
Better Late than Never
The bad news is obvious, we didn't keep the blog current as the pressures of things like sleep were bearing down on us.
The good news is we placed second in the DH-1 Division of the 2008 Pacific Cup!
Even better news is, I'll be updating the blog with all the information from our trip to provide you with as much of the adventure as can.
Thanks for your patience and now that we're home, I'll be able to manage the updates and share the race logs, pictures, comments, etc.
Cheers!
2nd day at sea
night, trading positions. She disappeared to the south at dawn. The long
awaited north wind just arrived, light but from the right direction. We
won't have to beat anymore.
The weather last night was cold, foggy and overcast. We wore layers of
thermals, foul weather gear and gloves. We could only see a few meters
ahead.
Our morning position put us the north of our competitors. We are hoping we
get the north wind before they do. Based on morning positions, our
competition is Rubicon III and Raindrop.
All is well. We are rested, well fed, and not seasick.
Day 1
Our = first day at sea! We got off the dock at about 11:30. There were several people there to see us off. = Thank you all.
Our start was perfect, we got off = seconds after the bang. We sailed out with a number 3 jib because the winds were heavier than predicted. The wind was out of the west, right on our nose = so we’ve spent the day tacking back and forth. By about 1500 the wind lightened up enough that we switched to a number 3 jib. We pulled of an excellent peel with the big sail under the littler one. Not one wasted = second. We need every second as we have a competitive bunch.
We’ve seen several whales = today and there are a couple of other boats still in eyesight, including the = Contessa, the only boat that beat us last year.
Right now the wind is so light were = only making about 3-4 knots and can see the Farallone<= /font> Islands still. Our current position is N 37.34 W122.58 Or you = can visit http://www.pacificcup.org and follow the links to race tracking and find out that = way.
Our food was very enjoyable, I feel = like it was a good call, so easy to prepare. We ate after listen to childrens = hour on the radio. Nothing notable but still fun to feel connected to the = fleet.
Dusk is coming so were getting = ready for the evening. Paul will stand watch 8 to midnight, I’ll stand = midnight to = 3am and we’ll = rotate on that.
Cheers!!
2 hours to go!
We've been on the dock at StFrancis Yacht Club for two days now. I slept two nights ago on a mattress that was way too thin. The spare tiller handle and the spare udder dug into my back prompting me to emphatically call for another layer of mattress. Last nights sleep was much better with the extra pad.
Other boats have started ariving and are looking ready to go. We ate a light breakfast this morning in anticipation of possible seasickness but it still looking very calm with 6-8 knot winds outside the Golden gate.
Yesterday we spent a couple of hours with Richmond Yacht Clubs Team109. Team109 consists of Green Buffalo, Gavilan, and us Plus-Sixteen. The weather discussion really helped to reenforce our conclusions for route planning. We now have our route set and unless something really significant comes up that's what were sticking to. I have the waypoints and route all tranfered into the gps and got the gps set up the way we want to use it.
Check out the pacific cup website at http://pacificcup.org to find the tracking for the race. The whole fleet has transponders on the transoms. The more hits the site gets the better sponsorship we can continue to get for the race. So check it out.
We're getting into our gear as I write this, but have to go pee once again.....nerves. That all goes away when the starting gun goes off
Wish us well!
Cheers!!!
Tony
uncertainty
Well, we've made it to the skippers meeting at the SanFrancisco Yacht Club. The boat looks and feels ready.
The weather is looking iffy for the first day out, but appears to be forming into a "normal year" by tuesday or wednesday. Hopefully we'll get some good info at this meeting that will help us finalize our plan ..... will post more later, standby.
Micro-Monitor
I realized how fast the start date is coming when I started looking this morning at my list of things to get done around the house before we leave. I'll fly down to the boat from Portland on Tuesday the 8th and help finish any minor projects we need to get done.
Most importantly we'll be doing our last-minute strategic planning. This means I've started watching the weather very closely.
Right now, its looking pretty unpredictable so we'll be micro-monitoring things pretty closely as we get closer so we can finalize our route.
If the 96 hour proves to be accurate we'll start to see a more "normal" settling of the Pacific High. Only time will tell.
Cheers!
Tony
Revised Starting Assignments
Boat Name |
Type | Entrant | Div | LWL | Base | DISP | PHRF | PCR | Allow DA: | HH:MM:SS |
| Division DH 1 Mon, Jul 14 12:50 | ||||||||||
| Neptune's Daughter | Crealock 34 | Ed & Earlinda Polkenhorn | DH 1 | 26.21 | PHRF | 13200 | 195 | 666 | 15 | 22:57:00 |
| Rubicon III | Contessa 33 | Rod Percival | DH 1 | 25.5 | PHRF | 8289 | 138 | 640 | 15 | 8:00:00 |
| Plus Sixteen | Olson 911 | Paul Disario | DH 1 | 25 | PHRF | 8500 | 129 | 637 | 15 | 6:16:30 |
| Raindrop | Cascade 36 | Joby Easton | DH 1 | 29 | PHRF | 13000 | 132 | 624 | 14 | 22:48:00 |
| Dart | Peterson 34 | John Crutcher | DH 1 | 28.3 | PHRF | 10800 | 120 | 624 | 14 | 22:48:00 |
| Giant Slayer | Santa Cruz 27 | David Garman - Debra Lowell | DH 1 | 24 | PHRF | 3300 | 138 | 624 | 14 | 22:48:00 |
Division and Start
Our start time is 12:50 and we'll be the first group to lead nearly a week of starts.
We've ended up in the DH1 Division and looking forward to some friendly rivalry,....
....maybe a beer or two for the winners
Now that we have the official start date, I'm realizing how close we are and how much I have to get done on the home-front in the next couple of weeks. A day or two at sea and none of that will matter anyway
I'll have the beautiful island of Oahu to look forward too!!
Cheers!
Tony
Team Plus-Sixteen, Navigator
Richmond Yacht Club Team 109
Gavilan, Green Buffalo and Plus Sixteen have joined together to form RYC Team 109.
Gavilan, a Wylie 39 is on her first Pacific Cup. Skipper Brian Lewis was crew on the 1992 Pacific Cup. Gavilan’s crew is Bruce Nesbit and Marlene Benke. Bruce is a Pacific Cup veteran. This is Marlene’s first long ocean race.
Green Buffalo is a Cal 40. She finished 3rd in Division A in the 2006 Pacific Cup. She is owned by Jim Quanci, a veteran of many Pacific Cup races. Mary Lovely is skipper, Jim is navigator. Crew Members are Andrew Quanci, Stephen Quanci, Robert Nance and John Dillow, all Pacific Cup veterans.
Plus Sixteen, an Olson 911 is about to begin her second Pacific Cup. She finished 2nd in the Double Handed Division in 2006 Pacific Cup. Paul Disario is skipper and Tony Porche is navigator. Tony and Paul were together on Plus Sixteen in 2006.
109 in RYC Team109 is the sum of the boats’ Lengths Overall.
GO RYC TEAM 109!