Well, we just finished our annual Offshore Yacht Racing Seminar.  We spent two days shoreside in San Francisco going over everything from offshore safety equipment and sail inventories to provisioning and details regarding life at sea.

Thursday morning we headed out under the Golden Gate and turned south along the coast.  The light breezes built to moderate, and by the evening we were in a consistent over 20 knots mode.  The night got a little, shall we say, sporty, and we ended up throttling back, waiting for daylight to get some more productive practice in.

About halfway down the coast, our breeze backed off to a drifter (as predicted), but it filled again and we got another fantastic spinnaker run down by Catalina Island.

Next offshore racing event is the Newport to Cabo Race in March, and we still have a couple of spaces open on that one.

I’d be remiss not to mention the Baja-Ha-Ha rally from San Diego to Cabo starting at the end of the month.  Not a true race, but over 180 boats are signed up for this famous two week trip down the Baja Coast.  Multiple stops in some stunning anchorages make this one adventure you do not want to miss!

Hey everyone,

Thanks tons to all our supporters who have been sending congratulations to our team!  We really appreciate it.  So the awards ceremony was last night here at Kaneohe Yacht Club, and the Hula Girl did pretty well.  We won first in class, second in ORR, and the Bill Lee perpetual award.  Not too shabby for a bunch of Hulagains that really hadn’t sailed together a couple of weeks ago!

So all the bling and hardware is pretty cool, but I have to say I think there was an even better reward for us in Hawaii.  Unfortunately the fast race over meant that we beat some friends and family coming to Oahu to meet us, so Jade didn’t get to display the banner she and her mom made for father Chris racing with us upon arrival, but she brought it down to the boat last night  and we were proud to display it there!  Thanks Jade!  And sorry I cut you out of the picture, Chris.  She’s just way cuter.  You rock, Jade!

And finally a thanks to all the Pacific Cup organizers and volunteers….  from Richmond to Kaneohe, it really takes a cast of thousands to pull off an event like this, and they did it again in great style…

Ok, that’s it for now.  Chris, Brendan, Mike, Andreas, Michael, Steven, Paul and Sean, job well done and Mahalo!

Wayne Zittel and the Hulagains

Well it’s about 4am California Time.  I’m not sure what time it is out here since we are traversing a number of time zones (with nothing in them) , but we are getting close to Hawaii time.  So I guess it it’s a little after midnight locally.  The graveyard shift might be in the cockpit sailing the boat, but is’s far from a grim affair out there.  The big moon and wild clouds play across the course of the 2016 Pacific Cup in a spectacular way.

The full moon on the 2016 SD-PV race made night wonderfully bright

So here we are, about five and a half days into the race from San Francisco to Hawaii and things are great out here.  We have had good breeze the entire year, and of the more than a dozen Hawaii races I have done, this is probably one of the most ‘typical’ in that there were no terribly large weather anomalies that we had to contend with.  This is pretty close to the textbook thing.  Plus, it’s fast.  If things persist as forecast, we should be finishing early Friday.  That’s less than 8 days to Hawaii.  That’s really quick for a 50 footer.

Everyone on Hula Girl has been doing a great job.  We’ve had a small amount of boat-work, but nothing rushed or unplanned.  You know, the typical staysail up and down thing, a couple of spinnaker peels, one douse for a small preventative repair, and so on.  The driving aboard has been getting better and better, despite the challenging conditions:  first off, it gets breezy, solidly in the 20s, up over 30 at times.  Secondly, the wave pattern is really very erratic.  A couple of tropical disturbances to the south have kicked up some swell energy coming from the wrong direction, so it is a bit of a washing machine.  Makes surfing and driving tougher than usual.  And finally, the breeze, while present, is not terribly consistent.  There are some pretty big shifts and variations in velocity around the persistent (but mild) squall activity out here.  So all in all, a challenging environment in which to hone one’s skills at ocean driving, but like I said, everyone is doing fantastically.

In fact, we have been doing well enough to maintain our lead and continue to be winning our division.  We are on the long port tack gybe towards the islands some 600 miles away right now, and we like our position relative to our competition, so now we just need to work extra hard and not have any major problems!

Ok, enough of this typing.  I came down here to pull the latest weather reports, but then got to feeling guilty about not sending in an update earlier in the day.  But now I really want to go sit in the cockpit and enjoy the evening,.  The moon plays across the water out in front of the boat and it feels like you are speeding into a sea of a million silvery fish.  Hula Girl, our trusty steed, has been performing flawlessly and just loves this stuff.  Brendan is driving, Paul is the on deck watch captain.  Steven is trimming.  Michael is grinding.  And I’m just going to go out there and soak it all in.

See you all tomorrow…

Wayne Zittel and Team Hula Girl

Time to get you all report number one from J World’s Hula Girl in the 2016 Pacific Cup! We just started day three of our 2016 Pacific Cup, and things are starting to settle in. The world is leveling off, and (dare we even think it?) drying off.

We started in the typical freshening SF breeze last Thursday. With a #4 jib and a reefed main, we had a nice start and were in top pack as we sailed out under the Golden Gate. Once clear of the ‘wind machine’ funnel which is the mouth of SF Bay, the breeze started to lighten and we shook our reef and eventually changed to our #3 jib. Then land faded into overcast distance and our small sleet of racers were all there was. We watched the outlines of our competitors into the early evening, then lost them too and we were alone.

The breeze and waves were, however, our constant companions. I’m not sure it has dipped under 20 knots yet this race. So for the first 36 hours, it was hard on tight reaching. That means a loud boat as she launches off waves. That means a wet boat, as she lands back in the sea hurling wall of water in the wind, which in turn hurls it at the crew.

On day two we reefed the main again, and went up with the blast reacher. Perfect combo, and proved to be fast and controllable. And while the entire crew was wet, and cold, and uncomfortable, our soggy spirits were lifted to see that we were in second place! So suddenly it is all worth it… and the good stuff should be coming any time now…

The good stuff happens when you cross ridge and into the SE corner of the semi-permanent Pacific High pressure system which lives in the northern Pacific. This shift the breeze (and the swells) around behind the boat, and, well, away we go. It’s what makes this race so famous and popular. Well, I’m happy to say that this morning, just after roll call, we shook the reef and set our 4A spinnaker (heavy runner) in some 26 knots of breeze. We are instantly surfing in the 15 knot range and it is trial by fire for the fresh crew aboard Hula Girl!

J World’s Hula Girl cruising past Diamond Head the end of the Transpac, July 2015. Photo Credit: Lauren Easley http://www.leialohacreative.com

So more positive news: after the kite went up we got the morning position reports and were gratified to learn that we had taken over first place! It’s really early in a very, very long race, but feels good to be in the hunt. The breeze is still blowing strong, and it is forecast to be a windy trip over. It’s already been a fast one… we covered 500 miles in the first 48 hours. So now to just keep the wheels on the wagon, so to speak!

Life onboard is good… crew is happy that the slamming of the upwind leg is gone. The boat is level, and much more comfortable. It’s still cloudy, but we hope to punch out into some sweet Pacific sunshine before too long.
Ok, that’s it for now… more soon…

Team Hula Girl

Click HERE for a link to a great photo of the ol’ Girl and her crew at the start!

Wow, what a great Memorial Day weekend we had here at J/World.  The holiday gave us the perfect three day window in which to run the latest of our J/70 Racing Clinics, this one in San Francisco.  The weather was absolutely ideal.  Clear skies made an excellent backdrop for the sailing, and the breezes started off light each day and did the typical build to 20-ish across our South Bay sailing venue.

Many thanks to all the sailors for coming out to join us for the clinic!  It was absolutely great meeting and sailing with you.

The next clinic will be in early July, so contact us now if you are interested!

• Wayne Zittel and the J/World Team