Pretty cool. Just awesome sailing right now in perfect conditions, and the Hawaiian Islands are coming up fast.

And there is more: from Wednesday morning at 8 am to Thursday morning 8am, Hula Girl covered more miles than any other boat out here, with the exception of the big Icon. That’s pretty impressive for a team that never sailed together before, and never sailed this boat before. In fact, most of the crew didn’t even know each other two weeks ago. They came from all around the US and Canada to race in the 2012 Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii. Add to the mix three coaches from J World Performance Sailing, and you have Team Hula Girl.

In the course of an event like this, we (coaches) work hard to try to get everyone aboard to do all the heavy lifting. Everyone is an equal team member, and gets equal time doing all the jobs onboard an offshore racer, from trimming to grinding to driving. I’m not going to candy-coat anything. It can be really rough going for the first couple of days. The crew is learning the boat and getting acclimated to onboard life in the toughest possible setting: an actual offshore race on a real offshore boat competing against numerous grand-prix level teams. And it’s not uncommon that we get fairly beat up by the competition in those early days.

But then something pretty cool happens. The team gels. They learn how to drive the boat better, the early signs of being too high (or to low) and how much to respond. How the pitch and roll and yaw of the Pacific swells effect the boat and the sails. The trimming gets crisper, faster to respond to the driver and the wind. The team goes from being re-active to pro-active. The boat sails ‘in the groove’ longer, smoother, faster. Case in point: yesterday. As mentioned before, Team Hula Girl did an impressive job posting high miles and gains (some significant) on many teams out here with pro sailors, long term programs, and seasoned vets. Nicely done!!

We are about 100 miles out right now, on the final push to the finish. We are expecting a fifth place in our class, and a fifth place overall. Not too shabby. And, what’s even better, is that it’s shaping up to be one final beautiful evening. We’ll have a waxing moon, and mostly clear skies. With about 14 knots of breeze, we are surfing small swells under spinnaker at about 12 knots. Tonight, as we run towards Kaneohe Bay on the north shore of Oahu looking at an early morning finish, I am really proud to have sailed with everyone on this team. Not only did they do a truly fantastic job, but they were also an absolute blast to be with. Many thanks to coaches Geoff (the Governor) and Chris (the Dude) for their tireless efforts and keeping the proverbial ‘wheels on the wagon,’ and of course thanks to Tom (the Tominator), Tim (the Bishop), Les (Field Marshal Serge), Brendan (the Cowboy), Martha (Trixie), and John (Bux Money) for making this such an enjoyable and memorable passage.

Clearly we have been out here too long. Now we need to get ready for our finish. And I’m looking forward to sampling the local refreshments. I hear they have something delicious called a Mai Tai and that it is terribly difficult to have only one. There are some challenges I am not ready or willing to face, so I am fine if they give me a couple…

Aloha,

Wayne Zittel and the Hula Girl Team

www.saiing-jworld.com

800-910-1101

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It’s a little after 3 am out here in the middle of nowhere.

Well, actually we aren’t in any proverbial nowhere, we are out in the beautiful Pacific Ocean on a fantastic evening., so that part might be a little misleading. But the middle part is wholly accurate: we have just passed the halfway point in the 2012 Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Hawaii. Out here, right now, we are farther from any speck of dry land than you can get anywhere else on the planet. 1035 miles, if you want to be exact. So if ‘somewhere’ for you equates to terra firma, then I guess indeed we might be in the middle of nowhere after all.

Out here we are pushing into the tradewinds where the breeze comes on stronger and steadier. Earlier, the sliver of a moon pushed thru the patchy clouds, a welcome sight after a couple of dark dark nights out here. The way the reflected light plays off the water in a shimmery streak off the side of the boat which masks the speeds we are hitting as Hula Girl surfs, then loads up on the back of a wave, then surfs again. The darkness can almost fool you into thinking that we are stationary, a snapshot with all the trappings of speed, but frozen… unless you look down and see the water rushing by, or hear the hissing of the searing past the hull, or catch a glimpse of the spray thrown by the bow. Then it’s pretty clear we are trucking along. The moon has set now, and it;s all stars.

I just spent an hour driving. It’s just glorious out there. I snuck the earbuds in and fired up the tunes. It’s about my favorite thing in the world: driving a fast boat with the kite up at night on shuffle play. It will never get old.

It’ wont be getting light out here for a while… we are somewhere between Pacific TIme and Hawaiian time, where civic distinctions don’t exist and the mariners only deal with their own language, differences from Zulu, GMT, and the like. Life is good aboard… we are having a blast. Great company, great sailing, great competition. We have been underway a little over four and a half days, with about 4 to go, if we are lucky.

But who am I kidding…. we are already lucky.

Time to get some sleep before the next watch. Have a great night, and we’ll .see you all when the sun comes ’round again…

Wayne Zittel and the Hula Girl Team

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Well, what can I say? It’s all been pretty straightforward in the 2012 Pac Cup so far.

We are now into day two and scooting along. The daily run yesterday was a mediocre 215, but not horrible given the conditions that plagued the area earlier in the week. So I am definitely not complaining. As of the 8am roll call on Friday, we were 5th in class, 5th overall in our extremely competitive fleet… Medusa, the SC52 with a full contingent of talented crew punched out to claim an early lead in class and overall. And with Swazik, Double Trouble, Condor, and the rest, the team rosters read like a who’s-who of West Coast racing. This is going to be a tough fleet.

Most of the day yesterday was spent reaching with the Code 0. We saw Condor with their spinnaker up off our starboard side, but over the course of the afternoon they dropped down below us to the south, and eventually disappeared overt he horizon. Their heading was WAY south and I wasn’t comfortable with that, so we kept reaching with the Zero. In the late afternoon the breeze had not yet shifted to the north and had come up to about 14-15 knots, so we dropped the Code 0 and went back to the Jib Top and GS, which we carried thru the night.

First light. Breeze shifting right, to due north. That can only mean one thing in a Hawaii race: Spin-time. We went straight to the 2A, and with a bow pointed almost directly at the Islands, took off at about 11-12 knots in about 16 knots of breeze. We are riding a wave of new pressure onto the course, coming into the fleet with the new breeze. This should mean that we are closing with the smaller boats ahead of us very quickly, and that we are in for a good amount of unstable wind. And sure enough, it’s been shifty and puffy, but the team has been handling it well.

At the 8am roll call today, we found we had snuck into 4th place. Encouraging news for the team, even if the early standings don’t really mean too much (1600 miles to go!). Well to the north are Swazik and the other SC50, while well to the south are the J125 Double Trouble and Condor. Interesting to note that the leader is way south. Second place is in the middle. Third place is in the north. And fourth back in the middle. So there seems to be a lot of potential lanes out here, but as I said, it’s still very early. What I do know is that we have a bit of a drag race going, and we need to sail the boat well to keep up with these guys.

Freeze dried lasagne for dinner tonight, and probably a bit of salad. Then into our first night with the kite up. It’s pretty clear today (patchy clouds) but not much of a moon so it will be a dark one. Beautiful right now, 15 knots and flat seas, and we are looking forward to a fun evening.

More soon…

Wayne Zittel and the Hula Girl Team

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We appreciate the support, efforts and generosity of all those who have made it possible for the individuals and our company to get Hula Girl to the starting line for the 2012 Pacific Cup.  First, to the friends and families of our customers and coaches who support their loved ones’ pursuit of offshore adventure!  Thank you!

Thank you to the management and staff of the Waterfront Hotel and Miss Pearl’s Restaurant and Lounge.  They provide phenomenal hospitality to our out-of-town participants and go way, way, beyond to welcome our customers and support J/World at Jack London Square.

Miss Pearl’s generously hosted our team for a send off on Tuesday.  The pizzas were delicious and you gotta love their hurricanes!

Thanks also to Dan and the team at West Marine Alameda.  They go “over and above” anytime we need something, but especially in assembling the bulk of our crew gear.