Life is good aboard Hula Girl (HG from now on).

We left San Francisco is 14-16 from the West, #3 and full main… Went for a non-aggressive, STBD start, footed under Condor for clear air, and exited the Bay on port, until a fat layline towards Mile Rocks.

We talked back to the shipping lane to stay in touch with our division, and finally decided we’d had enough sailing AWAY from Hawaii. So, off to the Great Circle, direct route… well to windward of Condor and apparently more South than the others… Saw a few pods of Humbacks passing south of the Farallones. Nice for all to see the wildlife! I enjoyed the view from afar, too.

We changed up to our #1 jib for a while, and then our 3, and finally tucked a reef in our main as the wind has stayed up and gone right more, and earlier than forecast.

Trucking along doing 8.5, staying in touch with a great circle route.

A big thanks to all of the people and partners who helped us in our preparations for this race: The Waterfront Hotel, Miss Pearl’s, Spinlok, Mclube, West Marine (and particularly Dan and the gang at the Alameda store), Expedition. The Dominos gang did great getting us pizzas at 0945. They were meant to be dinner, but were pretty well consumed by 1400. Sandwiches from Autobahn Cafe in Oakland made for great dinner! (hopefully all remains well in Oakland)

Off to check the weather forecast and get back on deck.

Cheers from HG,

Barry, Wayne, Geoff, Bob, Sully, Mark, Vern, Rick and Tom

Official race tracker is: http://www.ionearth.com/2010/pacific-cup/
Our Spot tracker page is: http://tinyurl.com/hulagirl