Jim Quanci and ‘Green Buffalo’ Race the Pac Cup

As the boats take off on this year’s Pacific Cup race, we’re continuing our Pac Cup profile series highlighting some of the sailors and teams racing to Hawaii in this year’s event. Today we’re featuring Jim Quanci and his Cal 40 Green Buffalo.

Jim’s race began on Monday, in the PHRF 2 division, racing under the Richmond Yacht Club banner. His “Why sail in the 2026 Pacific Cup?” is to “Have some fun!” he says. “I also find a few weeks on the water makes me ‘fitter’ (lose weight and [gain] muscle tone). Also opportunity to make a few new friends!”

This will be Jim’s 21st Pacific crossing in total — 17 Pac Cups, three Singlehanded Transpacific Races, and two L.A. Transpacs under his keel, though not all aboard Green Buffalo. He tells us this will be his 10th crossing and return on the Cal 40 (seven Pac Cups and three Singlehanded Transpacific Races). Jim also found time to crew aboard Perplexity in the 2025 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

With so many crossings, Jim found it a bit of a challenge to choose his most outstanding memory, so he gave us a few. “Family and friends in 2006 (three teenagers and three adults); hitting a sperm whale in 2008; riding out a 30k+ front for several hours in the dark with the chute up, doublehanded with my wife Mary Lovely in 2014; winning overall, doublehanded on a Moore 24.”

Jim (54) has been a sailor since he was 13. He spent the first 10 years racing Lasers on the East Coast. After moving to the Bay Area he then spent 20 years ocean racing as crew on other people’s boats.

“[That’s] how I met my wife … rail meat together.”

This year’s crew joining Jim on Green Buffalo are as follows: Jeff Duvall from Portland, who has done several Pac Cups and was on Jim’s delivery crew a few years back. “Jeff leads the Pac Cup inspector team this year,” Jim tells us. Elizabeth Bishop, who crewed with Jim on the 2024 Pac Cup and is the vice dommodore of the Pacific Cup Yacht Club. This will be Elizabeth’s second Pac Cup. Gabe Serafini, who is part of the Pac Cup events team (his wife Amber runs events). Jim continues, “Gabe has done a lot of racing locally on several boats. This will be his second Pac Cup.” Cameron Gibson, who is the crew’s “newbie and youngster.” This will be Cameron’s first Pac Cup. “A bit of a break for him after finishing his master’s degree a few weeks back,” Jim adds.

And of course there are things to look forward to, both during and at the conclusion of the race: “Cold beer and cheeseburger under the lanai at Kaneohe YC; catching up with old friends; making new friends; the Milky Way — “The nights are WONDERFUL!” And then there’s the sail home, which will allow “time for reading and fishing,” Jim says.

Jim’s biggest concern while racing across the ocean is not the weather, or where they are placed in the fleet, it is “keeping the crew healthy (physically and mentally).”

By the way, if you’re wondering how Jim came to do so many races across the Pacific, it might be because apart from being passionate, committed sailors, both Jim and his wife Mary were founding members of the Pacific Cup Yacht Club (1987), and past commodores — 1989–1990, 1993–1994 and 2021–2022.

We wish Jim and the crew aboard Green Buffalo fair winds and a safe race. We’ll have another Pac Cup profile for you on Friday. In the meantime, if you like trying to predict the race winners, take a look at Andy Schwenk’s picks in this month’s issue of Latitude 38, out now.