JULY 16 RACE REPORT
Monday morning shows much of the same as Sunday on the leaderboard, but
there are some very major developments occurring on the race course which
threaten to significantly impact the overall rankings in this fascinating 20th
edition of the Pacific Cup. Most notably, the northerly boats in the first wave of
starters have sailed into a large area of very light winds and hit the brakes.
Furthermore, the Friday starters have proven to get off to a quicker start than
predicted and are storming towards the top of the overall Pacific Cup
leaderboard. Overall PHRF and Pac Cup leaderGreen Buffalo was sailing at
less than four knots this morning.
Also up north and showing reduced boat speeds are the top cruising boat and
still 2nd on line honors,Outremer,as well as the leading boat in the DH2/
Mount Gay Rum division, Douglas Pilhaja's J/105Abstract.As these northerly
boats all take their first major hitch south on a port gybe, they will begin to
consolidate with the more southerly boats in the fleet, who are still on
starboard and rumbling towards Hawaii, albeit still fairly slowly, though
comparatively quicker than their northerly rivals. If the most southerly boats
can reach the strongest breeze on the course and the northerly boats remain
slow, this most recent development could again threaten to blow the race wide
open.
With lead boat, the experimentally-ratedA Fond le Girafon slowing to just 4
knots or so for the last day, their ETA into Kaneohe is getting pushed further
and further back, while far behind them the Mills 68Prospector- the fastest
boat in the entire fleet - is cruising along at a steady 14+ knots as of this
writing. Doing what modern mini-maxi's do, the big Mark Mills designed yacht
owned by the Shelter Island Transatlantic Partners has already blazed a path
past all of the Wednesday and Thursday starters and should soon begin
overhauling the first wave of starters in wholesale fashion. With most of the
first wave of starters in the southerly pack at around the halfway mark
andProspector just 400 miles astern, it now looks like a Friday starter may
well be the first boat into Kaneohe.Prospectoris currently correcting out to
2nd overall in the ORR divisions and 2nd in the BMW of San Rafael E
Division. Top honors for ORR and E division currently belongs to pre-race
favoritePyewacket, the famous Alan Andrews designed sled owned by Roy
Pat Disney and sailing with internationally acclaimed crewmembers such as
navigator Tom Addis, VOR stud Stu Bannatyne and 5-time Olympic medalist
Torben Grael.
Again proving why one-design racing is so thrilling to watch, much of the
Express 27 fleet appears to be sailing within sight of one another with the top
four boats seemingly playing musical chairs on the leaderboard; it's that close.

We have a new leader in the DH1/ Pau Maui Vodka division in Alternate
Reality, as Loose CannonandFired Up! also find themselves on the podium
at the moment while pre-race favorite Motorcycle Irene is in a dog fight in this
competitive fleet and currently sails in 4th place, though all positions are still
up for grabs. Rebecca Hinden's Express 27Bombora, which is sailing three-
up in the Coral Reef Sailing Apparel A division still remains ahead of all of the
doublehanded Express 27's on handicap, but with her slightly more northerly
position, she should soon be passed by some of the more southerly boats
who are sailing more than a knot faster to contest for overal Express 27
honors.
Benjamin Rummen's Farr 1220The Fugitive remains in a steady first place in
the Weems & Plath B division, though just a handful of hours on corrected
time over her pursuers, which are tightly clustered together. The Swan
46Free, Grand Soleil 50Alessandra,Davidson 44Imagineand Farr
44Companera are all essentially tied on corrected time, with everything still to
play for. Taking a conservative, middle of the road approach, this fleet should
be slow and steady towards the finish. Squared back and running deep, this
should be a low-and-slow drag race to the barn in Kaneohe with little chance
for a major tactical home run to blow the division open. The other fleet of
Wednesday starters, the Alaska Airlines C division is living up to the pre-race
hype with Dean Treadway's Farr 36Sweet Okolevirtually tied on corrected
time with Phil Wampold's J/92Zaff,who is sailing neck and neck with the
Hobie 33 Aloha and the Evelyn 32-2 Poke and Destroy. As the breeze
continues to move aft and this becomes a true downwind race, Zaffwill have
her work cut out for her to run deep angles in the light-to-moderate trades that
are forecast to the finish. The big questions will be whether Okole can leg out
on her rivals, ifZaffcan keep up, and if the smaller, lighter Hobie 33 and
Evelyn 32 can make gains.
In the Pasha Hawaii D division,J World's Cazan'searly flyer to the south
looked brilliant in the short-term, while her more northerly rivals were
becalmed, but once they picked up the breeze, they have accelerated into the
lead as Cazanhas faded. Gregory Mullins' Farr 52Zamazaan and her crew,
which includes several professional sailors, has jumped out to a big lead in
division, whileJ World's Hula Girl is off their port quarter, though sailing
slightly slower and on a faster rated boat. It is a commendable effort from a
group of pay-to-play sailors who are sailing their hearts out against the wicked
up pro crew on Zamazaan. The J/120Hokulaniis rounding out the podium at
the moment, while Chris Kramer's 32-foot rocketship Six Brothers continues to
move up the leaderboard after struggling in the early stages. As the breeze
continues to move aft, watch for Six Brothers to displace Hokulani on the
leaderboard; at the moment, the two are virtually tied.

The ocean greyhound that is Prospector has found her pace and we are clipping along under our A3 spinnaker after two days plus of upwind and close jib reaching. Last night was a bit of challenge as tight spinnaker reaching on a dark night with no horizon caused a few spin outs even with our best drivers but thankfully no full on yard sales.

So far the tourist brochure has been a little optimistic as we continue towards Hawaii under leaden skies more typical of the North Atlantic. It's still long underwear and foul weather gear on deck. Maybe the board shorts come out tomorrow. We have all begun to adapt to life at 20 degree heel with 18 souls packed in a narrow carbon fiber tube all perched on the high side like very unskilled mountain climbers. The water is warming though which means so is the interior. Couple a hot humid micro climate with 18 unwashed bodies and you have the perfect re-creation of a barnyard. I don't know how Colette does it but she manages with a smile and continues to feed us three squares a day.

The ocean we left in San Francisco was filled with wildlife but after 24 hours we have found ourselves utterly alone without any wildlife companionship. Sort of odd as we saw wildlife all the way across the Atlantic. We have seen a few flying fish so maybe our luck will turn. And speaking of alone, for our fans at home following on the tracker, it looks like there are boats everywhere but looks are deceiving. Out here we have seen no one save a ship yesterday. One terrific thing is we haven't seen any garbage which is a bit of a relief.

Signing off for now at 16 knots heading for sunshine. Oh and one final thing: a shout out from mid Pacific to our uber fan Chuck Tiernan.

7/15/18 0000hrs

We were promised board shorts and T shirts.  So far it has been brisk, tight angle jib reaching since more or less the west side of the Golden Gate.  Over the past 24 hours, the air temperature as crept slowly upward as the sun poked through a rather consistent clout layer, offering tantalizing previews of the conditions which garnered the tag line “The Fun Race to Hawaii.”

Prospector could not have asked for a better start with 20-22 knots of breeze at the mouth of San Francisco Bay.  Sporty conditions all around as we jockeyed for starting position with Pyewacket within spitting distance of St. Francis Yacht Club.  With boat speeds near 12 knots, and a fairly short line, the real challenge at the start was to find a place to slow down, hold a spot and prepare for a speed run seconds before the gun.  Luckily, we were able to defend a window on the boat end of the line, allowing a clear lane out of the harbor.

Once through the Golden Gate and its wind tunnel effect, the breeze sat down dramatically.  By about 5 miles offshore, we changed from our J2 into the J1 for better light air performance.  It’s now midnight on Saturday, and we’ve been in that setup since Friday afternoon

Currently, the goal is to get around the southern edge of a windless zone that has swallowed up the Wednesday and Thursday starters.  We’ve been on starboard tack the entire time; a drag race to get to the southerly trades.  In this environment, nothing stays still.  Sails are stacked and re-stacked.  Jib sheets, mainsheets and runners are in constant motion, squealing protests against their winches as the on-deck crew squeezes every knot of boatspeed.  For the off-watch crew, life below is like trying to sleep inside a guitar.  Every burp of the jib or drop on the runners sends shockwaves echoing through the hull, magnified to the point that might just shake some fillings loose.

For now though, we press on in cracked sheet upwind mode.  Routing suggests we should be into the traditional Fun Race to Hawaii weather in another 24 hours or so.  We’re already starting to see some of the lift we need to move into our off the wind inventory, and hopefully beginning putting up big numbers to Hawaii.

Prospector Racing to Hawaii

This Friday July 13, at 1445 PDT, Prospector will hit the starting line in front of the St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco bay in the 20th Pacific Cup.

The Pacific Cup, aka the Fun Race to Hawaii, is a 2,070 nautical mile race from San Francisco to Kanoehe Bay on Oahu, Hawaii.  The race typically consists of a short beat out of the bay under the Golden Gate Bridge. From there, racers reach across the top of a windless high pressure system and in to the tradewinds.  After that, the game is to time the gybe for several days of downwind surfing to Hawaii. Once clear of the coast, it will be largely tradewind sailing, hopefully in tee shirts and board shorts!

Prospector is the scratch boat in the race and will be competing for line honors in a challenging class including Rage, a Wylie 70 that once set the course record, and Roy Disney’s Pyewacket - who is always tough to beat.

Currently, the forecast calls for a 6 or 7 day transit, which puts Prospector in Hawaii on July 19 or 20.  The course record of 5 days, 2 hours, 41 minutes and 13 second held by Rio 100 looks safe for another 2 years.

Prospector will be sailing with a crew of 18, skippered by Dr David Siwicki, Paul McDowell and Larry Landry.

Join the Prospector team on its latest adventure on our website prospectorsailing.com.

You can find the race tracker on your Yellow Bric app or on the link on our website or at https://pacificcup.org/tracking.html.

Additional news and information will be available on the regatta website https://pacificcup.org.

The boys have been hard at work getting Prospector ready for the second half of the season.  Check out that beautiful new paint job!