New Pacific Ocean Yacht Races
November 2 - San Francisco and San Diego
CrossPac Ventures, based in San Francisco,
today announced the first running
of a new shorthanded ocean race in summer 2003, with singlehanded
and doublehanded divisions.
Participating in the organization of CrossPac
are the Golden Gate Yacht Club, Waikiki Yacht Club, Hawaii Yacht
Club, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (Sydney), Singlehanded Sailing
Society of SF Bay and the Shorthanded Sailing Association of
Australia.
The first CrossPac will start on June 7,
2003, at the Golden Gate YC. The first leg will take racers 2,100
miles to Diamond Head on Oahu. Leg 2 begins on July 1 and takes
the fleet across the equator, past Fiji, and just south of New
Caledonia. The fleet will sail through the Tasman Sea to finish
in Pittwater, on Broken Bay just north of Sydney, Australia.
This will be the longest shorthanded race that is not a circumnavigation.
Race Director Alan Hebert adds, "We
designed the race to provide an event that sailors from all around
the Pacific Rim could take part in. From the very beginning the
race was conceived as an event that would attract both serious
corinthian sailors as well as professionals. I can't think of
a better way to cap an offshore sailing career, or to qualify
for the Vendée Globe or Around Alone."
Hebert can be reached by
email. You can see their Web site at www.CrossPac.org.
Another new TransPacific Race, this one
for crewed yachts, Silver Gate Yacht Club's Gateway to Hawaii,
will go from San Diego to Nawiliwili Bay on the island of Kauai,
a distance of 2,323 nautical miles. This newest of the biennial
Pacific races will start on June 25, 2002, and will run on even
years at roughly the same time as the Pacific Cup, alternating
years with Southern California's TransPac. Projected classes
range from ULDB and PHRF to Double-Handed and Cruising. Information
on this event is available at www.gatewaytohawaii.org,
or you can call them at (619) 222-1214. Deadline to enter is
February 1, 2002.
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