Not too much to report from Day 7… 18:30 PDT.

A nice roll call of course, and a close dual for second shaping up. We’re very pleased to be in the hunt for a top spot. Our Ti leaves are drying out, and need to get home asap! 610 NM to go.

(plus the level of slap happy and inappropriate humor is on an uptrend)

All of the “fresh” food was finally disposed of today. Any meat implying a need for refrigeration was discarded. Still, no shortage of food aboard!

Fresh squeezed lemonade was served out of Mt. Gay Rum cups this afternoon, refreshing for all, but disappointing to most!

(apologies to Mike Priest for inappropriate use of the sacred logo cups!)

Winds on the lower side – happy with our reachy course so far… 13-15 knots most of the day. Can’t imagine it’s better for those more south of us.

Only time will tell. Geesh – 2 minutes between us and Deception. Glad they’ve sorted out their water ingress issues at their rudder bearing, so we won’t feel bad trying so hard to beat them!

To M.L. “Happy Cow!”

Cheers to all,

Barry and the Hula Girl Guys (this would be a very bad name for a band)

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

Aloha!

Kite up at 0900! 1.5 oz 3A to be exact. Hopefully tolerant of our course and 22-25 kt winds.
So, the Hula Girl is dancing, on her return to Hawaii!

Most of the gang still on deck, so I assume they’re liking it!
Since the kite went up, we’ve been averaging 14.5 knots with the top speed recorded just over 20 knots.

920 down. 1150 to go!

Casualties of the dry ice meltdown have been discarded. Some on deck were not too pleased by the aroma as they jetisoned the nearly explosive bag salads.

Not sure we’ll be able to tear down the course with the kite up at night, but expecting to sag down to rhumbline, and reach back up during the night. In the meantime, Wayne and Kevin fighting for wheel time – damn near have to pull Kevin off the wheel!

Best to all,

Barry and the crew of Hula Girl

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

Due to user error – Blog Posts were sent to the wrong address.
This was sent on night one:

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

It’s always nice to be on the top of the leader board, but it doesn’t really meaning anything on days one through three, as boats have cast their best interpretation of the pre-race weather analysis and the conditions they’ve been experiencing – all in an effort to minimize miles sailed and maximize boat speed in the right direction.

We’ve stuck to our original “Great Circle” strategy, with the hope and expectation that we’ll be on the southern edge of good (enough) pressure from the High without sailing too far north. We see no reason to go south – unless they continue to get good pressure and a lift right to Island.

We’ve been sailing with our blast reacher and genoa staysail up most of today. On the edge of wind direction and velocity several times to put up a kite, but have stayed in this configuration to maintain this course and make the boat relatively easy to handle. Still doing good speed, but I’m sure our competition are able to push a little harder with full crews of seasoned veterans. We’re doing 9-11 in wind of 17-20 from the north.

Though a couple of us have fought through various occasions of sea sickness, all are fine aboard the Hula Girl.

Sadly, our dry ice that was meant to last 4-6 days has given up on Day 3. Hopefully most of the fresh produce is good for a day or two. We might have to lose some of the non-cured lunch meats and eat softer cheese 😉

I think we have enough Snickers bars alone to make it to Hawaii, though.

Dark and foggy night, and warmer because of it. Looking forward to the growing moon, shedding more layers and a boat shower!

Recently updated Spot.

Cheers,

Barry

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

Space aboard the legendary Hula Girl still available!

There’s a buzz around San Francisco Bay right now. At every marina in town, you’ll notice select boats being given lots of attention. And out jetting around Alcatraz you might notice some boats from far and wide shaking down the systems, taking a look at the sails, and getting ready the “Fun Race to Hawaii!”

Yes, the Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to the north shore of Oahu starts in early July. World renowned for the great competition mixed with seriously good times, this race takes the fleet into some of the finest sailing conditions you’ll ever find: miles and miles of downwind surfing on crystal blue swells in tropical conditions.

Team J/World will be racing over to the Islands on Hula Girl, a turboed Santa Cruz 50 built and optimized for offshore events just like the Pac Cup. This is a fully managed, turn-key program, overseen by three J World coaches. You just show up and race…

“I wanted to thank you for a wonderful trip and the experience of a lifetime. I was and remain extremely impressed with all the preparation and hard work that you put in to make this trip a success for the students. I took from this experience not only a great deal of knowledge on ocean sailing, but also increased confidence in my ability as a sailor.” – MC, after the 2008 Pacific Cup

We meet as a team on July 5, and our start is on July 8. We expect the race to be from 9-11 days. Then of course everyone is invited to kick back in Hawaii and join us for the closing ceremonies at Kaneohe Yacht Club.

So if you are interested in the adventure of a lifetime on an exciting boat where everyone gets to be an active member of the team, this is the perfect opportunity. And if you are thinking you would like to enter your own boat in offshore events some day, our coaches will teach you all the tricks of the trade and help you hit the ground running (so to speak, of course!).

We are trying to finalize the team (and want to get you sized for the team gear!), so contact asap!

All the best,

Wayne Zittel and the J World Team