High Times in the Pacific — 2026 Pacific Cup
Last month, In the July issue of Latitude 38, we shared Andy Schwenk’s predictions about the 2026 Pacific Cup race results. Here’s what actually happened.
It is always my great pleasure to break out my Magic 8 Ball and predict the fortunes of those lucky sailors who have the opportunity to set sail and bear away toward the former Sandwich Isles. Pacific Cup 2026 will long be remembered as the year the small boats got off to a lively start with steady 30-knot winds and heavy seas. The vessels that started a few days later got a little less wind, and the big-money campaigns got the opportunity to blast over the horizon with wind on the beam and set the colorful sails before the sun went down the second day.
Of course, none of this was obvious before the race started, but it’s still my best day when I get to write an article that predicts what I think is going to happen. See the July Latitude 38 for my shot at who was who on the high seas. Of course, when I wrote the article, the race had not started, and I had no idea I would actually be participating in the regatta myself.
It was my great privilege to be able to compete among Kimo Winterbottom’s excellent crew aboard his sleek blue Andrews 56 Halawa. Of course, I figured when I wrote my prediction article it would be several weeks before I saw any of the sailors the story was written about. Now in the land of sunshine and coconuts, I’m writing this just as the last vessels get off the course, and more than a few sailors have taken the opportunity to point out that I missed a few top performers.
2026 was also a milestone year, bringing the 1,000th boat to race in the Pacific Cup across the finish line since the 2,100-mile “Fun Race to Hawaii” was first run in 1980. Finisher number 1,000 was Penelope, a C&C 99 out of Portland, Oregon, correcting to 38th overall (good number) with crew Ben Emery (skipper), Rich Ackerman, Jocelyn Emery, Elisa Fu, Denis Vannier and Kevin Elk.
At the top of the overall fastest elapsed time was Michael Firmin’s hot blue Infiniti 52 with her yellow foil boards, Zeus. Six hours behind them was Thomas Furlong’s R/P 52 Vitesse. These two 52-footers posted faster times than the rest of the big boys in the fleet.