News

Our first arriver has posted her 100 mile report. As anticipated, it's A Fond le Girafon, the foil-equipped Beneteau Figaro 3. We've added our race notice block to the front page so you can track arrivals.  Note that it's about an hour from the finish time to a boat's arrival at the docks in Kaneohe for the traditional maitais, leis, and pineapple greeting.

Our question: What does a giraffe eat?

Like baseball, sailiing competition involves a lot of numbers. One classic value tracked by racers and cruisers alike is the "day's run." This is the distance travelled from noon to noon or check-in to check-in.  We look at the 0800 check-in positions.  As of today, the top of the chart is -- no surprise -- Prospector with a respectable 337 miles on July 17.  They'll no doubt point out that they could have done better if it were windier.

Quite a few good numbers below.  We'll re-post after finishes...

 

Twenty-four more hours into this 20th edition of the Pacific Cup and we have continued to gain clarity on how much of the fleet may end up once all is said and done. With several boats beginning to line up their final approaches to the Hawaiian Islands, Charles Devanneaux and co-skipper Matthieu Damnerval look to have re-staked their claim to being the first boat over the finish line. After much uncertainty due to temporarily slowing down in light winds while the fleet's fastest boat came screaming up from behind, the two Frenchman on the revolutionary new Beneteau Figaro 3 now look set to

Another day, and another series of surprises that continue to impact the rankings in this 20th edition of the Pacific Cup. Seemingly with every check-in, the rankings get shuffled, the pursuing boats make gains and the fleets continue to compress. While a handful of boats looked dominant in their divisions as of yesterday's report, Wednesday morning shows that every single fleet in this race is still firmly up for grabs. With much of the fleet past halfway and into a somewhat atypically narrow band of moderate northeasterly tradewinds, the fleet is quite literally being herded to the barn. The

Pac Cup fleet on the home stretch with most divisions still up for grabs. In stark contrast to the last edition of the race, which was run during a very active super el niño occurrence, the 20th edition of the Pacific Cup has marked a return to more traditional, if not benign, conditions for the biennial 2,070 nautical mile race from San Francisco to Hawai'i. With a constantly evolving weather scenario, the race has been a navigator's duel which is poised to come down to the wire in most divisions and in the overall rankings.