And Away We Go ... Slowly

Our first starts are Monday the 15th. As sometimes happens, the weather forecast for the start is light wind. This will be a challenge.

"Of course, we can't control the weather," says Principal Race Officer Michael Moradzadeh. "We worked to pick a start date with a good current helping folks out the Gate, and a full moon once they are out there, as well as a likely good offshore weather pattern, historically, but the stuff right outside the Gate looks like a challenge."

A variety of weather features are contributing to light winds in the 7-10 knot range for the Monday starters, and lighter confused winds for the Wednesday starters. Forecasts promise a much more favorable wind pattern for the six boats starting Thursday.

Starts are staggered to try to get boats all finishing around the same time, at the beginning of Awards Week at Kaneohe Yacht Club in Oahu. This means that the slower boats start first and, as may be the case this year, the first hours or days of starting weather may be significantly different depending on your start day.

"It's the luck of the draw," pronounced Green Buffalo skipper and former Pac Cup Commodore Jim Quanci. Jim will be starting Monday and, with innumerable crossings behind him, is philosophical about the upcoming challenge.

The race tracker will reveal our entrants' struggles to get out the gate. The tracker can be accessed at the Pac Cup website under "Follow the Race." Race organizers are postponing the traditional four-hour tracker delay until later Monday night.

Please joining us in wishing our Monday starters a safe, and relatively swift, passage to Hawaii.