Racers' Tracks Beginning to Converge
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, round-the-world built reaching monster that is Pyewacket 70. Now well clear of any other boat on the course, Pyewacket is trucking along and has now taken the overall lead on the water and is contending for the lead on handicap as they pass the halfway point in their race. As of this writing, Pyewacket 70 was making roughly 14 knots and has now thrown in about six gybes since last night. As some lighter air is forecast to fill in for the fleet in the next day and a half, Pyewacket may manage to extend her gains even further by simply being fast enough to sail into better conditions than the rest of the fleet. Also contending for the lead of the Alaska Airlines F Division and overall lead is the Santa Cruz 70 Westerly and the R/P 55 Zvi.
In the BMW of San Rafael B Division, the J/125 Hamachi has taken a couple of gybes to get further south and has now fallen in line right behind the J/125 Rufless. Getting south early, Rufless has eked out a small but valuable advantage with J/125 Velvet Hammer just north and now very much on the pace after falling behind off the start. The J/125’s are providing a fascinating battle for all the fans watching at home. J World’s Santa Cruz 50 Hula Girl is also beginning to look good on the tracker and leaderboard, with her long and easily driven hull proving to be a good horse for this course Clearly struggling with the conditions is the division’s fastest boat, the Riptide 41 Blue, who can’t get on the step and sail to her rating.
Making her navigational debut on a big, crewed boat, Rebecca Hinden positioned her father Bob’s Schumacher 46 Surprise further south than her rivals beginning on Day 2 of the race, and Surprise is now reaping the rewards of those decisions by moving into first place in the Goslings Rum G Division and are now extending those gains over a closely bunched group of boats further north. Showing impressive speed and depth, Surprise seems to be quite well matched to these moderate downwind conditions that racers are experiencing at the moment.
The Weems and Plath W Division also shows a southerly boat making gains as the Olson 30 Concussion has rocketed up the leaderboard due in large part to being positioned farther south than her divisional rivals. The J/105 Free Bowl of Soup, Beneteau First 40 Vera Cruz and the Express 34 Double Espresso are all still in close contention and evenly spread out across the race track.
The North Sails Division remains a closely fought battle with two Express 37’s battling for the lead, despite a huge north/ south split, with a J/35 still stuck in between. The Express 37 Limitless has come roaring back on the leaderboard due to her southerly positioning and superior boat speed in the past 24 hours. In general, the southerly boats are moving a bit quicker than the northerly boats again, but as is oftentimes the case in this race, it’s a very fine line between sailing further and quicker versus sailing fewer miles at a slightly slower pace. If Spindrift V and the Boss were to gybe right now, it looks like it would be a very close race with Limitless.
In the Mahina DH2 division, Christina and Justin Wolfe are sailing the race of their lives on their third doublehanded Pac Cup. Heading south with conviction early on and exhibiting good boat speed at virtually every check in, Raku has been rock-solid from the get-go and is now in first place on the leaderboard with a chance to continue to extend their gains over 2nd and 3rd place boats Wolfpack and ‘io. As of this writing, Raku also stands to be the highest ranked boat in the overall rankings, which started on Monday or Tuesday.
Kolea DH1 remains a gripping battle between the Dogpatch 26 Moonshine and the Moore 24 Foamy, who remain massively spread out from north to south. Moonshine has shown impressive speed for most of the race but appears to have slowed recently, while Foamy continues trucking along down south. The Beneteau 10R CruzSea Baby is still ranked in first place on the tracker but is going to have to take a long and painful gybe to get south, as she is now the most northerly boat in the entire race.
The Cal 40 Azure is still looking good in the Ocean Navigator Division, though they remain one of the more northerly boats in the fleet and will have to pay the piper and get south eventually. When Azure eventually makes her way south on a port gybe, it will be very interesting to see where she comes out in comparison to the Express 27 Alternate Reality who has hung it way out down south since the start.
It’s still all to play for in almost every division in this year’s Pacific Cup, as the bulk of the fleet begins to approach the halfway mark. While teams are just beginning to realize the gains or losses made due to their initial navigational strategies, there is still more than 1,000 miles to go, so anything can happen!
The Pac Cup Media Team and Race Committee are now beginning to show up to Oahu, perhaps a bit early, with Pyewacket 70 expected to be the first finisher some time on Thursday.
There was a medical situation onboard the Express 37 Perplexity, which involved the removal of a crew member onto a US Navy ship. Perplexity has now resumed racing, though not before losing valuable time. See the Pac Cup front page for the article.
Aloha until tomorrow,
Ronnie Simpson
Pacific Cup Yacht Club