With a stunning run of almost exactly six days, Roy Disney's Pyewacket 70 is within a mouse's throw of finishing (15 miles at this writing). Tweaking every possible feature to maximize speed, this 70-foot rocketship has left the fleet in the dust, all the while being gracious and friendly on the radio to the boats she passed.
UPDATE: Pyewacket has finished at 11:05:59 HST (14:05:59 PDT)
Another 24 hours have gone by in this 2022 Pacific Cup, and we’ve seen significant movement both on the leaderboard and on the race course. The first boat expected to finish this year’s race, Roy Pat Disney’s turbo Volvo 70 Pyewacket, is now just over a day out from Oahu. Elsewhere in the fleet, we have seen multiple battles gain clarity as some boats made big gains overnight. The Media Team and Race Committee are in Oahu and preparing to welcome Pyewacket 70 some time on Thursday before the floodgates open over the weekend.
After taking a couple of quick hitches to port, it appears that
Eight days into the 2022 Pacific Cup, the bulk of the fleet is approaching the halfway mark. Boats continue to consolidate around the rhumb line. Pyewacket 70, meanwhile, is now just over 800 miles from Kaneohe and beginning to line up their approach to the islands. They are expected some time on Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center has updated their guidance on the newly formed Hurricane Darby, though it shouldn’t play a major role in this race. The fleet is still struggling with inconsistent and lighter than normal breeze during this race which has turned into a historically slow year
Just over a week into the 2022 Pacific Cup, we are beginning to see boats consolidate. Firmly in the trades, northerly boats are taking quick hitches over to port while southerly boats are being lifted on a starboard pole, with paths now converging for many competitors. VMG running in the trades, boats that have easily-driven hulls and can square back a spinnaker pole are likely to make gains over some of the more powerful hulls and boats that struggle for depth in moderate conditions.
The main exception to this is the most extreme of the powerful hull shapes in this race; the Southern Ocean
Going offshore brings new stresses to boat and crew alike. Several of our boats reported minor to intermediate mechanical problems: broken steering cable, jammed halyard, failed checkstay, leaking prop shaft.
Other boats discovered medical conditions that came out underway, severe seasickness being the most common.
Aboard Perplexity, and I hasten to add it has turned out ok, a crew member (Kirt) developed a bloody nose. Not a big deal except when it goes on for several days. Of course, this became a cause for concern. With basic medical supplies and no doctor on board, Perplexity reached