Pacific Cup Start

July 5, 2010

To paraphrase Robin Janiszeufski's surf report* this morning, the southwest swell today was "not epic, but it's definitely not a day for beginners." At noon, the Lightship buoy was reporting 6.2-ft waves, 17.4 seconds apart - nice!

Friction Loss, a J/30, sinks into a trough. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

The first two divisions which started the Pacific Cup today tacked out through the swell under foggy skies with a good amount of wind from the usual (westerly) direction. Division DH1 (slowest doublehanded boats) and Division A (slowest full crew boats) started at 1130 and 1145 respectively from St. Francis YC.

Paul Disaro and Tony Porche on the Olson 911 Plus Sixteen say a last goodbye to the well-wishers they leave behind. ©2010 Erik Simonson/www.pressure-drop.us

Plus Sixteen west of the Golden Gate Bridge. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

During the pre-race check-in, PRO Bobbi Tosse made sure that each race crew knew that the SMS text-messaging check-in system was not going to work. Fully crewed entries will check in via SSB during the daily roll call, while doublehanders are permitted to use Sat phones.

Valis, a Pacific Seacraft 44 from Sausalito, will be the communications boat. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

Further is a Santa Cruz 27 raced by James Clappier of Northern California and Cody Spruce from Maine. Both are students at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. Their tender age of 21 makes the duo the youngest to race doublehanded in the Pacific Cup. (What were you doing at 21?) Furthur was a project boat they picked up in Monterey and hauled to Florida for a complete refit. James was on the delivery crew when the ILC 40 Mureadritta’s XL sank after being hit by a whale on the way home from the 2006 Pac Cup. Further got a late start today; they called the race committee to say they'd started at 1205. For more on James, Cody and Further's odyssey from Florida and their PacCup campaign, see http://2010dhpacificcup.blogspot.com.

Starts continue on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. To follow all the action in the Pacific Cup, see www.pacificcup.org. We'll have more here too.

Moonshine, Dylan Benjamin's Dogpatch 26, is a doublehanded PacCup vet. Rufus Sjoberg is crewing. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

The Cal 40 Green Buffalo took the north side going out the Gate. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

Michael Andrews and owner Pat Broderick ride Nancy's rail, while Gordie Nash drives the Wyliecat 30 like a big El Toro. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

"Reef early, reef often," is the Golden Rule of Laser 28 sailing. Mega Hurts departed SF with a double-reefed main. ©2010 norcalsailing.com

*Tune in to KPIG at 0830-ish weekday mornings to hear surf reports from 'Zeuf, your girl in the curl'.