Saturday, July 14 Update on the Pacific Cup race from SF to HI.

Imagine all the preparation for what could be a three week struggle against the elements. Your sails are up and you are heading out the Golden Gate – only to find that on your particular start day, there are no winds. Are we going to be a sitting duck? That is only one of the challenges facing this year’s team of racers taking on the PacCup challenge.

The 60 teams had staggered starting dates Mon. – Fri. July 9-13, and now they have all departed the St. Francis Yacht Club off on their adventures across the Pacific Ocean.

The 20th Pacific Cup’s Friday, July 13 website Race Report says: “With Thursday’s Pasha Hawaii D division getting underway yesterday afternoon, we now have seven of eight fleets at sea and making miles towards Hawaii, with just one more division left to begin their race today: the BMW of San Rafael E division. As we have been anticipating for more than a week now, the Monday starters have continued to reap the benefits of their early start while the later starters in the week are working their way away from the coast in light airs, though at least they aren’t drifting like the Wednesday starters did once they got into the Gulf of the Farallones.”

Saturday, July 14 Website Update: “At about 2:45 pm on Friday July 13th, the BMW of San Rafael E division set sail from San Francisco Bay, bound for Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. With the firing of the starting gun and a clean start by all six E fleet boats, the final start of the 2018 Pacific Cup has commenced and all boats are now on course and racing to Hawaii. In reinforcing the popular superstition, Friday the 13th is not likely to bring good luck to the six yachts – between 41 and 70 feet – which set sail today. Like the Wednesday and Thursday starters, E division boats are expected to begin sailing in light air, despite the six boats starting in the strongest breeze of all four starting days.” Saturday, July 14 Update.

Teams check in daily and you can track the race through team reports, video and commentary at PacificCup.org or use TRACKER.

Much more to come soon. 

To view a very quick edit of Friday’s start, you can visit this link.

Behind the Scenes

Richmond Yacht Club hosted the pre-race Pacific Cup Village. Boats from out of town were allowed to dock at RYC, undergo last minute inspections, prep & provision their boats. Besides fun dinner events, lots of on-water practice, the Pacific Cup Yacht Club hosted a series of seminars for captains and crews and many Bon Voyage parties. Richmond Trail Guides, produced by SF on the Bay, were available for visitors to explore where to eat, drink, stay and play in Richmond while here for the week leading up to the the race start.

Richmond Yacht Club member and Richmond resident, Kim Paternoster, chaired the marketing communications effort. She also produced the classy and beautiful official race guide with Pt. Richmond renowned marine artist Jim DeWitt’s cover ‘Paradise Bound’ artwork. Most racing sailors on San Francisco Bay know DeWitt’s signature artwork very well. Kim shared yesterday’s start video, produced by Pacific Cup Yacht Club Media Manager Ronald A Simpson.

Kaneohe Yacht Club will welcome the sailing teams with after parties starting on Monday, July 23 until Friday, July 27, when the Awards will be announced.  Good luck everyone!

Stay tuned as we will be updating this story.