Word just came in from the Mighty Racing Vessel Rain Drop. This boat has been in the winner’s circle more than its share, and in fact won the Pacific Cup Hawaii Race eight years ago. This time around Joby Easton and Bill Huseby are bringing along their boys Carson and Carter. The four of them are making the classic Cascade 36 sing along, though from the description below it’s not as easy as it may look on the tracker.
From Bill Huseby, s/v Rain Drop
Wednesday afternoon at 1:00pm Pacific Standard Time. A 214 mile day yesterday was unreal. As Brad Baker (Seattle) put it, “We must have sold our souls” to put those kind of miles (TOWARDS THE FINISH) in the Mighty Racing Vessel Rain Drop. 
With only two of us able to drive (I know, nothing has changed) in the 18-26 knots of breeze with confused seas, Joby and I cried Uncle last night. As the sun went down we actually took the kite down, threw up the big genoa and winged it out. We each got some precious sleep. We figure it cost us about 10 miles or about an hour and a half.
The boys have been doing great at keeping us awake: Coffee, water, check the IAS for ships, ask us questions repeat as needed. I really wish the conditions were a little more benign so that they could drive too. Oh well.
The kite is back up now and we are SCREAMING along. For some insane reason we think we still might be able to make up the insane day and a half we had to spot them at the start due to the unfavorable conditions we small boats had. We will have a pretty good idea at 4:00 PST when we receive the roll call positions if we even have a chance. I feel like the overall win is slowly slipping through our fingers.
A bit scary for sure. Tonight when you curl up in your bed for a good nights sleep, please take a moment and send good thoughts to all the racers preparing to do night battle in the Vic-Maui, Pacific Cup, Single Handed Transpac AND a rowing race to the islands.
Ed. Note: It’s worth noting that a boat designed 50 years ago (albeit modified and no doubt meticulously prepped) is ahead of so many newer, lighter and supposedly faster boats. Whoever says you “need” a new boat to be competitive should be keel-hauled. Furthermore, this is the kind of boat that could keep going to the South Pacific for a year’s cruise in paradise.
Also, of some concern is the Tropical Storm Darby. Brad Baker reports, “Tropical Storm Darby is likely weighing heavy on many of the slower boats minds. Over the last two days the weather report has changed and now they are saying it’s going to maintain tropical storm strength and cross right in front of or over the competitors. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_ep5.shtml?5-daynl#contents ” I’ll check in on this later today as we watch the finish of Valkyrie‘s and Kinetic‘s epic ride .
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.