For Immediate Release
Winning isn't Everything
Kaneohe Bay, HI, July 22, 2014 – Winning an ocean race feels great, but three boats – Mirage, Thirsty, and Free Bowl of Soup – are competing in the 2014 Pacific Cup race from San Francisco Bay to Hawaii with a goal more rewarding than just coming in ahead of the other competitors.
The father-daughter team Stan Perkins and Kerry Hallyburton have been competing in multiple sailing events since 2013 to publicize and raise funds for Remember Nhu, an international nonprofit dedicated to preventing the exploitation of children in the sex trade industry. More specifically, through their “Sail for Remember Nhu” campaign, Perkins and Hallyburton hope to raise $160,000 to build a new safe house for 60 children rescued from sex slavery. “When my husband, Rick, and I first heard about Remember Nhu, we heard how children as young as three years old were being sold into the sex trade,” Kerry told the Hood River News in an interview earlier this year. “We had a baby at the time and couldn’t imagine the thought of children just like ours being sold and the horrific things that would be done to them. We knew at that moment that we needed to partner with Remember Nhu.”
Racing in the Pacific Cup was the ultimate goal of the team’s two-year fundraising mission but is also a dream-come-true for father and daughter alike. Stan was introduced to sailing more than 30 years ago. Kerry learned to sail with her father on the windy Columbia River Gorge and has dreamed of doing an ocean race with him for many years.
Aboard Thirsty, a Beneteau First 30, the double-handed team of Charles Devanneaux and Fred Courouble are raising awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) while paying tribute to sailing partner and friend Gilles Galeme, who lost an eight-month battle with the disease in 2012. Charly and Fred, two Frenchmen who now call Marina del Rey home, won first place in their division in the 2012 Pacific Cup. However, “our boat partner Gilles was supposed to be waiting for our arrival in Hawaii with mai-tais, but he never made it because he had been diagnosed with ALS,”
Charly said. “We decided to return to the Pacific Cup race this year, with the ALS Association’s logo on the hull and sail, and name our voyage ‘Sailing for ALS’" to honor Gilles’ memory and all the good times we have had together.” Those good times included enjoying good wine together, so Charly and Fred made sure they had plenty of excellent wine aboard when they departed San Francisco for Kaneohe Bay. The ALS awareness and fundraising effort of the Thirsty team will support research, public policy initiatives and families touched by the disease.
As their boat name might suggest, the team racing on Free Bowl of Soup, a J105 hailing from Portland, Oregon, and skippered by Eric Hopper, is on a sailing quest to raise funds for Oregon Food Bank. It’s a quest the team began over a decade ago to redeem a bit of bad karma after joking that their boat name (a line from the classic 1980 film Caddyshack) was serious (it isn’t). They turned the joke into a fun way for friends and supporters to help raise funds for a good cause, setting a lofty goal to raise the equivalent of 50,000 free bowls of soup.
Thirsty and Free Bowl of Soup crossed the finish line on Kaneohe Bay, Oahu on Monday, July 21. Mirage should follow them within a day. A “Sailing for ALS Aloha Reception” is being held on Tuesday, July 22 at noon at the Kaneohe Yacht Club.
You can also follow the race on the Pacific Cup website’s tracking page or the Yellowbrick app for iPad, iPhone and Android devices.
Details and photos of the Pacific Cup race are posted on the Pacific Cup's website and Facebook page. You can follow the race on thePacific Cup website’s tracking page or the Yellowbrick app for iPad, iPhone and Android devices.
For more information, please contact:
Karin Knowles
(510) 232-8420
media@pacificcup.org
or
Mele Pochereva
(808)286-8830
media@pacificcup.org
High resolution images are available from Pacific Cup photographer, Leslie Richter, contact: leslie@rockskipper.com, 415-509-1777 www.rockskipper.com
About Pacific Cup Yacht Club – 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 Oahu. With an emphasis on pre-race preparation for the 2070-mile race, PCYC’s volunteer membership has helped to ensure that thousands of racers have been delighted with their Pacific Cup experience. For more information about the Pacific Cup, visit http://dev.paccup.org
About Richmond Yacht Club – Since 1932 RYC has been dedicated to serious sailing while at the same time having tremendous fun. The club's Point Richmond location and excellent harbor facilities make it easy to hold both small boat and big boat regattas, and RYC has a proud tradition of hosting world class championships as well as many regattas for Bay Area racers, junior and youth boaters, and its own members. A significant percentage of Pacific Cup competitors have always come from RYC, so it's not surprising that the two clubs joined in partnership to establish RYC as the Start Line headquarters for this year's race. For more information about Richmond Yacht Club, www.richmondyc.org
About Kaneohe Yacht Club – Established in 1924, Kaneohe Yacht Club is dedicated to promoting an appreciation of sailing and boating, and has proudly hosted the Pacific Cup finish line since 1988. KYC is located on beautiful Kaneohe Bay, on the island of Oahu’s windward coast, and is home to a full spectrum of competitive and non-competitive racing events that appeal to serious sailors and fun-loving boaters alike, from youth to the young-at-heart. With the magnificent Ko‘olau Mountains as a backdrop, the protected waters of the bay, together with Hawaii’s renowned trade winds, provide a world-class venue for year-round sailing. Each year the club hosts two of the state’s most prestigious sailing events – the IRF Summer Circuit and the Kalakaua Cup – and five state championship regattas, and it has staged national and international regattas, including the 2013 Moth Worlds and the 2013 El Toro Nationals. For more information visit www.kaneoheyachtclub.com