Rahan Roars In
2026 PACIFIC CUP · SAN FRANCISCO TO KANEOHE BAY
Daily Update
Race Update · Thursday, July 16, 2026
As the Sun set over Kaneohe, Charles Devanneaux and Fred Courouble aboard Rahan set their sights on the finish line outside the bay. After 2070 miles, Rahan was the first to finish the 2026 Pacific Cup.
Dramatically outpacing the time forecast by this Beneteau 36 First’s rating, Rahan completed the crossing in nine and a half days, an elapsed time normally reserved for the classic fifty-footers. Rahan did a great job of the race and presently looks to take first in her division plus a podium position in the overall Pacific Cup ORR competition.
Two things helped Rahan and her skilled crew come out ahead: First, all the doublehanded ORR boats started on Tuesday, well before the bigger fully-crewed boats starting on Friday. A head start is always nice. Second, however, the team was able to find a reasonably swift way through the light air quagmire that slowed the other boats significantly. This only served to multiply their lead.
The same factors applied to several of our smaller entries, ‘io and TC benefitting from the same math for example. 2026 will likely be remembered as the “year of the small boat.” Out on the ocean, with the 60 to 80-footers in the hunt, 36 feet feels awfully small.
It must feel awfully good to have performed so well.
Charles, or Charly, as many call him, is the enthusiastic owner of NAOS Yachts, a Beneteau dealer and broker of pre-owned boats (and Pacific Cup sponsor). We figure he got the “pick of the litter” with his choice of Rahan.
Our congratulations to Charly, Fred, and Rahan
Rahan may be sipping her first Mai Tai tonight, but out on the water the 2026 Pacific Cup is far from over. Behind the finish line the rest of the fleet is still very much racing, and the story of the night is a maxi that has finally been let off the leash.
Zeus lights the afterburners
For a week the big Infiniti 52 Zeus has been the fast boat that could not quite catch the little ones. Not anymore. Firmly in the fresh trades now and surfing down the waves for Kaneohe, Zeus is ripping along in the mid-teens and making the best progress toward Hawaii of any boat still on the course, climbing the standings by the hour. She leads the maxi pack home, with Vitesse, Gem and Pyewacket all howling along in the right behind her and sits around 340 miles from the finish. The crew is having the time of their lives:
Getting wet and wild on the mighty Zeus. Lots of smiles as we get into the trades for Hawaii. One crew member mentioned a smell of pineapples when they stuck their head outside, but they may just need a fresh shirt.
Zeus
Over on the little Marisa, watching a very large boat come blasting past, the crew summed up the view from the cheap seats in verse, hoping Zeus would “cross our bow in a wink” and that “the Aussies save us a drink.” There is a catch for Zeus, mind you: saddled with a big handicap, all that speed still has to claw back a mountain of corrected time on the boats ahead, so this charge is as much about the clock as the finish line.
The chase behind Rahan
With Rahan in, the next boat to the barn will almost certainly be another of the small ones. The 27-foot Antrim ʻio is now closest to the finish, with around 160 miles left to run, trailed by TC, Recidivist and True Love, all inside 240. Expect that pocket-sized parade to start pouring into Kaneohe Bay over the next day. The run in is no cakewalk, though. True Love had a wild night of it:
Last night we were the pinball in a game of squalls, one after another. The 10 to 2 watch got the worst of it, seeing speeds upwards of 26 knots.
True Love
The standings are shuffling behind them too. Recidivist has taken over the ORR 4 lead, Ragtime now tops ORR 1 on corrected time, and the overall corrected battle is wide open, with Rahan, Ragtime and TC heading the ORR fleet and Viva still leading PHRF. And a happy update to yesterday's note: Shake and Bake is sailing on with its jury-rigged rudders holding, the crew, in their own words, “catching up on sleep and looking forward to getting to HI.”
The weather driving it all
What is fueling the fireworks is the trade wind, which has filled in fresh and steady: moderate-to-strong easterlies on a warm, squally run, exactly the mode these boats were built for. Nearer Hawaii the breeze veers more southeasterly and the squalls get lively, which is what had True Love surfing into the mid-20s. One system is worth a mention but not a worry: Tropical Storm Elida, far to the southeast, is forecast to strengthen and then curve away to the northwest. It stays well east of the fleet and is a non-issue for the finishers, though it may soften the trades toward the islands for the tail-enders early next week.
Words from the sailors
The messages home this morning were pure Pac Cup. Up in ORR 1, Merlin took a wry view of the sudden knife-fight at the front:
So much for the “fun race” to Hawaii. Apparently everyone in our ORR 1 division brought their port-tack knives.
Merlin
Med Viking II, for its part, filed the most important safety report of the day, concerning an uninvited guest:
At the 3am watch change we noticed an additional passenger, wearing ethnic clothing with a jacket made of feathers and a mask with a long orange beak. He has not acknowledged our request to use the head, but he has moved to the part of the boom above the water, so he is limiting our future cleaning effort.
Med Viking II, on its stowaway booby bird
The wildlife stayed busy everywhere. Halawa rescued a flying fish from the cockpit and “sent him home safely,” while Zaff reported that its “heroic bowman Tom was struck by a flying fish, but both are doing well.” ʻio got a moonless-night lift from a dolphin trailing phosphorescence under the keel, Quiver called it “textbook perfect sailing” under a sky full of stars, and Duende, chasing down Green Buffalo just ahead, cheerfully declared it was “hunting the buffalo.” And Penelope woke to a deck so thick with flying fish and squid it was “tempting to do a fry-up.” More finishers, and a lot more Mai Tais, on the way. More soon.