Twenty-six boats will start in two Pacific Cup classes today, with Svendsen’s Bay Marine PHRF 3 starting at 11:30 and the NAOS Yachts PHRF 4 starting at 11:40. The wind gods have not looked favorably on Monday’s starters, as most spent Monday night in 0-7 knots of wind while being entertained by many breaching whales and other wildlife. By Tuesday evening, the breeze was picking up, with most boats heading south of the rhumb line in search of breeze. Don Jesberg’s Cal 40 was the farthest south, while Elliott James’ Bloom County was the only boat north of the rhumb line yesterday evening. But he’s now diving south with the rest.

The weather for Wednesday’s starters looks much more favorable, and by Thursday, when the bigger, faster boats hit the line at 12:30 p.m., the breezes offshore will be solid. This gives the faster boats a huge boost over the slower and smaller boats that started on Monday and spent their first 24 hours sitting to leeward and not getting much farther than the Farallones and Half Moon Bay. This morning they’re finally rolling along.

On the Swan 65 Translated 9 US, skipper Paul Cayard and son Danny are part of an 11-person crew who are sailing the sistership of the Swan 65 Translated 9 that recently completed the Ocean Globe Challenge round-the-world race. The local Swan has been based in Sausalito, training sailors for the OGR, and now has a crew comprising OGR and Pac Cup vets. Translated is a global language translation and AI language company.

The Cal 40 is represented by four well-prepared, well-sailed boats in Weems & Plath PHRF 1 including Rodney Pimentel’s Azure, Jim Quanci’s Green Buffalo, Bob Horton’s Highlander and Don Jesberg’s Viva. This will be a fun group to watch. The farthest-south boat of all Monday’s starters, Don Jesberg’s Viva, is currently leading the Cal 40 fleet.

We profiled Heather Richard in January after learning she’d decided to give a doublehanded Pacific Cup race to her son Julius as a high school graduation present.

Below is the view of the scene from Windy for the Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday starters. As with a lot of sailing, there’s often a roll of the dice, and for this year’s race it’s going to be hard for the Monday starters to overcome the 24-hour pause button they were handed for their first day of racing.

Today’s starters will be heading under the Gate about noon toward fresher breeze to help them on their way to Hawaii. By next Sunday they’ll all have a full moon and will hopefully be in warmer air and steadier breezes. You can follow them on the tracker here.