Wednesday, July 14, 2010

J's Racing Pacific Cup- Update

Fun sailing on Pacific Cup

(San Francisco-Oahu- July 5th)- Based on latest tracking info (Thursday 0900), Shawn Ivie's J/30 FRICTION LOSS is currently 2nd in class and Jim Brainerd's J/35c BRAINWAVES is fifth! Scott Dickinson's J/42 TIKI J is 4th in his class, not bad for a non-TransPac sled!  Meanwhile, having early tough "sledding" are the reaching machines like Sean Mulvihill's J/120 JAMANI (about 7th in class), Scott Campbell's J/46 RIVA (now 3rd in class!) and John Macphail's J/160 JAM (about 5th in class and 5th in fleet!). However, the last half of the race is often where the real "sleds" simply take off, watch out to see how the J/120, the J/46 and the J/160 start to roll on this part of the race.  Follow them on the tracking page at the event site.

Sometime Tuesday afternoon half the 2010 Pacific Cup boats passed the halfway-to-Hawaii mark. "Hapa" means half in Hawaiian, so we can call this hapa-hapa day.  This leads, of course, to the traditional "halfway-hijinx".  Boat parties, a rare taste of alcohol, and general frivolity are the order of the day. Halfway parties can feature costumes, songs, gifts, or perhaps a fresh can of tuna. As one of the sailor's said: "We just had our halfway party! Much frivolity and gift-opening, the Tiki God was very pleased. Rum for Poseidon."   For more Pacific Cup sailing and tracking info.