Invisible Hand First Pac Cup Finisher
Frank Slootman’s Encinal YC-based R/P 63 Invisible Hand, guided by navigator Patrick Whitmarsh, bounced off Molokai on Friday morning on her next-to-last jibe toward the Pacific Cup finish line at Kaneohe Bay, Oahu. She gave her 25-mile report before 11 a.m. Pacific Daylight Saving Time. Having overtaken Michael Chobotov’s Holo Holo-Cruising-Division Jeanneau 49 SO Venture last night, Hand was the first of the 55-boat fleet to cross the line. Having romped along at 14 knots at times, she finished in just under seven days. Such a performance would be worthy of the entire crew’s being thrown into the Kaneohe Bay YC pool. Photos please!
When it comes to the all-important corrected time honors in Class, Division and Overall Pacific Cup, Robert Date and the bloody Aussies have taken over in all categories with the TP52 Scarlet Runner. To our knowledge this is a Pacific Cup first, and is impressive as Runner lost 20 miles a few nights back after getting caught on a fishing net. Their having finished last in division in this spring’s Les Voiles de St-Barth, a Pacific Cup victory would be ever so sweet for Date and crew in their world tour.
But the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, as Roy Patrick Disney and his all-star crew on the 16-foot longer, old-school Andrews 68 Pyewacket are only minutes behind Runner. In fact, the two boats have been trading places at the top of all the leaderboards. It smells like a middle-of-the-tropical-night showdown to us, with the ‘Fun Race to Hawaii’ becoming more serious by the minute. Who knows, maybe there won’t be any more red wine with dinner for the Pyewacket crew until it’s over.
For the first time in days, a boat other than a Latitude 38 Big Boat Division boat has cracked the top five overall in the Pacific Cup. That would be Greg Slyngstad’s J-125 Hamachi in the Sonnen BMW Division D, which, like Thomas Garnier’s sistership Reinrag 2, a Transpac overall winner, has come roaring back from the middle of the division and fleet to claim 1-2 in Division and 3-7 in the ORR fleet.
Rankings in the 34-boat PHRF fleet are beginning to be distributed more equally. Karl Robrock’s little Moore 24 Snafu continues to own the Iwi Doublehanded Division lead as well as the PHRF fleet lead. At last report, however, she was still 512 miles from the finish, so victory isn’t assured. Second in division and class is Ward Naviaux’s Santa Cruz 27 Blade Runner, followed by Mary Lovely and Jim Quanci’s Cal 40 Green Buffalo, which is 3 and 3.
Fourth in PHRF Overall is Melinda and Bill Erkelen’s Donavan 30 Wolfpack, which is comfortably leading the Kolea Doublehanded Division — although Thirsty, Charles Devanneaux’s Beneteau First 30, is now second in division just five hours back and 7th in PHRF. Thirsty has made impressive gains in the last couple of days. Both of these boats have done extremely well after being dealt poor hands in terms of weather conditions, but they still have over 500 miles to go. We hope they brought enough food and water.
Running first in the Alaska Airlines Division and 5th in PHRF Overall is Rodney Pimentel’s Cal 40 Azure, but Victoria Lessley’s sistership California Girl, which had briefly taken the lead a day ago, was only five hours back. It’s going to be a battle to the finish for these boats, too, which, like the Kolea Doublehanders, got skunked by the wind and are still over 500 miles out.
Dean Treadway’s Farr 36 Sweet Okole is first in the Weems & Plath PHRF B and 6th in PHRF Overall. She’s led the division most of the race, having briefly lost it to Eric Hopper’s whimsically named J/105 Free Bowl of Soup a few days ago. Soup is now second in division, 9th in PHRF Overall, and about 10 hours back with nearly 600 miles still to go. Soup could still come out on top.
John Denny’s Hobie 33 Por Favor continues to lead the Matson PHRF Division C, but by the narrowest of margins — 38 minutes with 600 miles to go — over Wayne Koide’s Sydney 38 Encore. They are running 17 and 18 in PHRF Overall, and probably have another four days of hard racing left to Kaneohe, with some crucial tactical decisions coming up.
"You can’t win if you don’t finish" goes the old saying. Steve Stroub’s Santa Cruz 37 Tiburon is the first boat to have had a serious problem, as her rudder broke a day or so ago. It’s a shame because Tiburon, like the J/125s, was making a big move in her division and fleet. Tiburon now has a replacement rudder in place and is continuing at a pretty good pace under two headsails.
Once the first boat got within 200 miles of the finish, the Yellowbrick Tracker on the Pac Cup site went live, so if you want the latest, go there. While you’re there, go to the feature that allows you to replay the entire race, boat by boat, division by division, or all at once, in just seconds. It’s hilarious at high speed, but very educational if you slow it down. Aloha and mahalo.