Race to Hawaii: Pacific Cup Riders Set Record in Hurricane Waters

Image: Pacific Cup 2016. This year´s edition of the Fun Race to Hawaii was also the fastest and hotest.

Fly to Hawaii, hoist the asymmetrical, slingshot across the Pacific, runout Cyclones, Tropical Storms and Hurricanes and break records...Race to Hawaii: this is the Pacific Cup 2016.

Pacific Cup reported on June 20 that the passage from San Francisco to Hawaii now has a new record set by Rio 100 in this Year's Edition of the Race. Reaching port Keneoje Bay Hawaii Rio 100 was flying boosted on strong winds. The Super Maxi Rio 100 lead by Manouch Moshaeydi crossed the race course in 5 days, 2 hours, 41 minutes and 13 seconds. 

“Rio 100 knocked two hours off the record set in 2004 by Robert Miller on the 139-foot Mari Cha IV who finished with an elapsed time of 5 days, 5 hours, 38 minutes and 10 seconds,” Pacific Cup reported. 

Rio 100 had to avoid Hurricane Cecilia and Hurricane Darby to accomplish the impossible. Making the most of breezes “fed by the well-behaved Pacific High” as well as remnants of Hurricane Celia they found way to new history.

Record breaking is not new for Rio 100. This year in February Rio 100 broke the monohull course record by completing the Vallarta Race course in 77.7 hours and in July last year the Team won the Barn Door Trophy in the 48th Transpac and came several hours behind the record due to weather conditions.

By July 21 most of the rest of the fleet and divisions were still navigating hard waters but some were reaching port such as Varuna VI. JJ World's Hula Girl was not far from the finish line and lead the Pasha Hawaii Division.

What makes the Pacific Cup a Fun Race is that there a loads of Divisions and the fleet is made up by both professional racers and those who sail out for adventure. This year's edition saw entrants peak to 64 Teams running for the lead in 8 Divisions. Divisions start out time were divided and spread from July 11 to July 15. Divisions included: Honu Division A, Kolea Doublehanded 1, Latitude 38 Cruising Divisions, Weems & PLath Division B, Alaska Airlines Division C, North Sails Doublehanded 2, Pasha Hawaii ORR Division D and BMW of San Rafael ORR Division E.

Of the 64 entrants some had to make their way back to San Francisco early. All Teams had to face the strong offshore winds of the Pacific High and deal with issues and recommendations of Cyclones and Hurricanes. 

Steve Calhoun’s Cal 40 Psyche turned back early in the race after dismasting. Matt Shore’s Nelson Marek 36 Alegria was forced to turn back due to a fuel leak. Tom Keffer’s J-42 Velocity returned home after her fresh water tanks became contaminated with salt water and Kirk Denebeim’s A35 Mirthmaker had to turn around due to a non life-threatening crew injury.

Challenging and Fun are strange words to describe a race that moves through Cyclones and Hurricane Season waters but the Pacific Cup keeps it really safe. Extensive onshore training for all Teams is given out for months in preparation of the event. A key part of the training given to all Teams is how to avoid “Danger Zones”, the 1,2,3 Rule or “getting out of the way of fast moving and unexpectedly evolving Cyclones and Hurricanes”. 

And Yes! Teams do find this way of sailing Fun!

“Hula Girl loves this stuff,” Wayne Zittlel Skipper of World’s Hula Girl said halfway to Hawaii and leading its Division.  

“She (Hula Girl) strutted through the night, holding on to our first-in-class position. We are enjoying the ride,” the leader of the pack said.  

“Flying fish and squid are zinging about. Plastic garbage is more noticeable. While sailing fast to Hawaii is our primary concern, there are a lot of stories, songs, and laughs. Fast IS fun!” the crew of Adrenalin also running hard reported.  

Team on Chasch Mer assured that “all is well” even after having to use an emergency tiller after their wheel had a total spoke failure. Sure thing, riding a sailboat without wheel is Fun! 

But by the time July 21 came on rolling into the North Pacific Ocean and while it was all over nicely for Rio 100 and those who lead the fleet the rest of the fleet -specially those in the back end and final positions saw new challenges emerge.

On July 21 Pacific Cup released an updated on the Tropical Depression Darby...  

“We're watching tropical depression Darby which has not dissipated as originally projected and is now forecast to cross the track of the fleet, potentially becoming an issue for those boats at the end of the fleet,” Organizers warned. 

“The preparation and equipment requirements for Pac Cup boats help to ensure that they are prepared for heavy weather that could be encountered between California and Hawaii. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates to the fleet,” Pacific Cup kicked it. 

The fleet continued flying with winds over the 20kt winds which assured sailors to carry them all the way to the finish. “The spinnakers are up, crews are drying out, and the rides are fast,” Pacific Cup said.  

On July 3 Pacific Cup released an article for Teams on how to avoid the “worst of the weather”. 

“Being away from the worst of it is good. With information about the system, you can position yourself either in an area where the movement of the system partly cancels the wind strength because they are opposite, or possibly avoid the main storm's effects,” Pacific Cup explains. 

Of Course the most skilled and experienced sailors know that there is a fine line between staying away from the worst of the weather and using the bad weather in one's favor. In that fine line incredibly fast winds can slingshot a race boat into record speeds. 

Pacific Cup expert gave insight details to Teams on storms, weather services and how to interpret or construct the "danger zone" for a given storm. 

Pacific Cup says that experiencing navigation of the course in the first editions -over 30 years back must have been quite a ride but today improved forecasting techniques have allowed for sailors to run out storms with “greater precision”.

“The 1-2-3 rule is a technique for predicting the storm track, adding one degree of latitude per day out (1, 2, or 3) of the forecast. They tend to move North till they run out of energy,” the expert explains. 

Having started officially on June 1 the 2016 Hurricane Season is just getting started acting both in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. Just days into the season several systems picked up momentum and transformed. They become serious business. The normal average of Tropical Cyclones in the North Pacific was set in 15 expected Cyclones. 

“The tragedies of the tall sailing ships S/V Fantome & HMS Bounty in past years, and now even more so recently the loss of the M/V El Faro, with 33 souls on board last early October, clearly make headlines and the Monday morning quarterbacking that follows. I routinely teach about Tropical Cyclones and especially their avoidance in my education and training endeavors at a number of continuing professional maritime education and training institutions around the country. The tactics employed for Tropical Storm avoidance are based on different methods today, and thus their methods needs to be better understood throughout the maritime industry, whether it involves large commercial container ships, or blue water cruising sailboats,” the Pacific Cup Tropical Storm expert said. 

The 1,2,3 Rule actually draws back and has been adapted from a US Navy procedure which created a radius of 30 knot winds to a storm's initial and forecast center prediction. Today thanks to advances made in the weather and technology sectors those who apply the 1,2,3 Rule can navigate Hurricane and Tropical Cyclone waters safely and still have Fun while doing it. After all the Pacific Cup is still called the “Fun Race to Hawaii” for a reason.

On July 23 Pacific Cup released updates on finishes and ETAs for the brave fleet still contending. It was “Wet, Windy and Wild!” they assured. 

“The skippers and crew who crossed the finish line...in the 2016 Pacific Cup race all gave similar reports of intense conditions with frequent squalls, record boat speeds and confused seas,” Organizers said. 

Thirteen boats finished by July 22. 

“It was a FAST Pac Cup” Dean Treadway Skipper of the Farr 36 Sweet Okole with a provisional second in the Alaska Airlines Division said. 

Despite having run 11 Pac Cups he assured that this one is definitely for the record books. 

“It seems like it was the easiest because it was so quick. It was just a direct shot from San Francisco to Hawaii,” Treadway said. 

The conditions that he and his crew faced were serious. Winds blew up two spinnakers and seas were confused. “It felt like you were tumbling inside a washing machine,” crew member Michael Radziejowski said. 

Express 37 Limitless also reported sail damages due to wind and storm conditions. “We blew out two big heavy kites, including a new asymmetrical in a 40 knot squall,” Cliff Stagg -sailing his fifth Pac Cup said. Provisional results revealed Limitless to top the DivisionExpress 37. The boat record speed was of 16.5 knotss -simply flying. 

Also racing in the Express 37 Division Team Elan assured that the washup and whitewater made it all “really, really, fun!”. The boat lost four of the five spinnakers of its invetory. ““It was exhausting,” Jack Peurach Skipper of Elan added. 

“It was the right amount of scary without being terrifying,” Navigator John Duncan assured. 

Leading provisional results of the Pasha Hawaii ORR Division D, J World’s Hula Girl skipper Wayne Zittel said the breeze was solid all the way, rarely dropping below 20 knots. “This boat is wetter than it has ever been in its life,” Zittel on command said.

“The race was, really, really intense,” Wayne Koide, skipper of Encore agreed and it's Navigator Jim Quanci now on his 14th Pac Cup added that this year the Pac Cup was unlike any other he had seen in the past. “Usually, after a few days things quiet down and you can catch your breath. Not this year!” Encore is provisionally in second in their division.

On July 22 and July 23 Pacific Cup kept tracking Hurricane Darby and finally had some good news for those who were still into hard miles of the race. Hurricane Darby's strength over the race area and finish area began decreasing. 

“Many boats have chosen to slow down or change course to allow Darby to pass. However, boats finishing later today will see stormy conditions. Larger boats in the KYC harbor are being asked to anchor out to prevent damage to the KYC docks, and the boats. KYC will provide a shuttle service and general support to anchored boats as conditions allow,” organizers communicated providing great support and logistics. 

An example of excellent coordination, support, logistics and communication of this year´s Pacific Cup became clear under the events which Riva Team suffered. 

The J-46 Riva logged explained what happened out at sea in their log-report “PacCup of Adversities and Challenges” an inspiring report filled with adrenaline and just good sailing spirit. 

Just 552 miles to the finish line and hoping to reach land soon for celebrations Riva Team took to detailing their “setbacks”. 

“Shortly after our last post we suffered a serious setback when we shredded our two best heavy weather spinnakers within a four hour period. These are the key working tools of offshore sailboat racing. So now we are into jury rigging other sails that are not quite as ideal for the conditions we are in, so we improvise,” the log read but problems for Riva did not end with ragged sails.  

“A major development on Riva that we have not been ready to talk about until now is the major medical event suffered by one of our crew...Most Riva crew never get seasick beyond feeling a little funky the first day or so. This race was different. Much more motion of the boat in every direction, so more seasickness adversity. Two crew had more severe symptoms. This resolved on its own for one of them...The other turned into a major diabetic emergency,” Riva added. 

Facing a diabetic emergency -and despite holding a medical kit extensive enough to solve thousands of health potential problems, with nothing but 1000 miles of Pacific Ocean waters Riva Team was between a “Rock and Hard Place”. 

This year the Pacific Cup teamed up with the program “Maritime Medical Access” from the George Washington University so within minutes Riva had a consulting doctor on the satellite phone who coordinated with the Chief Medical Officer onboard. 

But the crew member still needed some meds so the US Coast Guard deploy a C-130 helicopter who cut through the grey skies and stormy weather and made an emergency drop. Meds were dropped from the chopper just meters off Vira. Vira made just one small move towards the wind direction lost inertia and picked up the bag dropped by the US Coast Guard. Inside the drop all the meds necessary to deal with the situation were welcomed aboard . 

“Our crew member was in pretty bad shape until this intervention. He is now significantly improved and on his way to a full recovery. Our profound thanks to the Coast Guard, to the medical staff at George Washington University, and to our own Medical officer, Jeff Duvall,” Team Vira just miles from finish line said. 

Final provision results for the fleet´s leaders emerged on July 23. Team Mas! took lead of the Moore 24 -Kolea Double Handed Division 1. Pacific Cup described the double handed team of Mas! as “sailing rock stars!”.  The team broke the previous Moore 24 Pac Cup record of 11 days 9 hours, 48 minutes, 25 seconds that stood for 18 years. 

“It was like an amusement park ride; rounding up, rounding down, and getting blown sideways,” Sailor Mark English said. “This is my fourth Pac Cup,” his team partner Ian Rogers added. “My fastest trip was on the smallest boat.” The duo sailed hard in extremely challenging conditions - big wind, and big, confused seas.

Even other boats were amazed by the capacity to face the weather of Mas!. 

“While I was on the helm in this weather I kept thinking: ‘I can’t believe there are two guys out there in a Moore 24’,” Scott Easom, a regular on the Andrews 70 Pyewacket said. 

“They are insane, but that’s awesome.” Easom said. 

Provisional leader of North Sails Double Handed Division 2 was taken by Melinda and Bill Erkelens on their MORC 30 Wolfpack

“I was down below and it looked like a disco was going on up on deck,” Bill Erkelens said. Also in the same division Buzz Blackett and Jim Antrim on Blackett's Antrim 40 California Condor said they “got only three to four hours of sleep a day” and “were just flying”. 

Cal 40 Redhead was first to finish in the Honu Division A. The first to finish in the Alaska Airlines Division C was race veteran Aero. How did the 2016 Pac Cup differ from 2014? “It was four days shorter!” said Team Member. “It was intense,” skipper Joe Wells added. “There was so much wind out there.”

Roy Disney’s Pyewacket on the turboed Santa Cruz 70 took first in the BMW of San Rafael Division D and ORR overall. “We had a 370-mile day run,” Disney said. “No sled has done that before.”

Latitude 38 Cruising Division was taken by Ticket II. It was a first Pac Cup for skipper Rick Niello and his boat, a Jeanneau 56. Niello said the voyage was designed to focus on fun, but but when they found themselves leading the fleet for most of the way across the Pacific they decided they had to “put away the Scotch, we have to race.”

This year's edition and Teams add up to over 3 decades of legacy of the Pacific Cup Race. The Fun Race to Hawaii is a history-family of hundreds of boats which have participated in the race. From 24-foot double handers to 140-foot spectaculars, to innumerable family efforts, avid racers, and "sail of a lifetime" efforts. 2,070 nautical miles of North Pacific Ocean waters to reach Hawaii.