Saturday Sees Early Finishers.... ready for Sunday?

After a much anticipated wait, Kaneohe Yacht Club saw a flurry of activity Saturday! Beginning just a few minutes after midnight, Alan Lubner’s R/P 55 Zvi came ripping across the finish line to become the second boat to finish the 2022 Pacific Cup. Docking at around 1:45 AM, the Seattle based team became the first Pac Cup finishers to be welcomed into Kaneohe Yacht Club in nearly years (Pyewacket docked in Waikiki due to draft limitations). Zvi’s provisional ranking is 4th place in the Alaska Airlines Division, missing the podium by just an hour.

Just a few hours later, Michael Schoendorf’s Riptide 41 Blue came blasting into Kaneohe with a bright yellow spinnaker up on a gloriously sunny Hawaiian morning. The fastest boat and first finisher in the BMW of San Rafael Division, Blue is currently classified in 4th place in division though could possibly move up to third place.

Separated by just a handful of minutes, David Raney’s Wylie 70 Rage and Stu Dahlgren’s Santa Cruz 70 Westerly crossed the finish line just after noon to claim a provisional ranking of third place and second place in the Alaska Airlines F Division, respectively. While results are still provisional and subject to a final certification by the Race Committee, it certainly appears that Roy P. Disney’s Pyewacket 70 will soon be declared both divisional and overall winners of this year’s Pacific Cup.

On the docks, competitors have been all grins after the windier conditions on approach to the finish have helped boats achieve their fastest sailing and highest speeds of the entire race. As the conditions are still building with the remnants of Hurricane Darby creating an acceleration In the breeze, the next handful of finishers are beginning to reach terminal velocity on their approach to Kaneohe.

The Goslings Rum G Division won’t see any finishers until Sunday and Bob Hinden’s Schumacher 46 Surprise is still looking good to win the division while second place is still very hotly contested. Free Bowl of Soup is still holding onto her lead in the Weems and Plath division, though the rankings have compressed a bit and there is still a lot of race track left.

Spindrift V and the Boss continue their race-long battle for supremacy in the North Sails Division with Limitless looking solid to round out the podium. Mahina DH2 remains the same with the J/111 Raku continuing to put one foot in front of the other and finish off what has been a masterful race. Color this writer impressed on their performance thus far. Wolfpack is looking good for second while the Pogo 30 eskoriñ and the Antrim 27C ‘io are still duking it out for the final podium spot.

Moonshine is still winning both Kolea DH1 and all of our hearts as they are now about two days from capping off another incredible Pacific Cup divisional win for this famous little plywood boat. Behind them, husband and wife team Bill and Melinda Erkelens are coming on strong and moving up the rankings as they now have a very solid chance at passing the Beneteau 10R CruzSea Baby for second place. Rodney Pimentel’s Cal 40 Azure continues to lead the way in Ocean Navigator Division with fellow Cal 40 Duende and the Islander 36 Galatea continuing to round out the podium.

These articles will likely get progressively shorter each day as fewer and fewer boats are on the race course and the Race Committee and Media Team become busier and busier with finishing boats.

Mahalo for following this incredible 21st edition of the Pacific Cup.

Aloha,

Ronnie Simpson

Pacific Cup Yacht Club