Longtime and very successful racer Andy Schwenk, who until recently called the Pacific Northwest home, suffered an infection and subsequent sepsis while delivering his Express 37 Spindrift V back from Hawaii to California after the Pacific Cup. He was treated at sea and then airlifted back to California in an amazing flurry of coordination between other sailors, the race organizers, the US Coast Guard, US Air Force and a Taiwanese tanker. Here’s Scuttlebutt’s report:
(August 8, 2022) – USCG-licensed captain, instructor and rigging specialist Andy Schwenk (57, Point Richmond, CA) has been brought safely to land by a combination of Coast Guard, Air Force, commercial shipping, and assistance from a fellow yacht. A rapidly-spreading infection required the action.
Schwenk’s Express 37 Spindrift V had completed the 2022 Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii, finishing first in her class on July 18. Returning to California, the boat faced heavy weather, damaging their mainsail and leading to an injury to Andy’s ankle, which subsequently became infected.
Various elements of Spindrift’s communications tools were also damaged, leading to challenges in getting assistance. A relayed call to Pac Cup race organizers led to the diversion of fellow racer (and division winner) Surprise, a Schumacher 46 owned by Bob and Maryann Hinden and skippered for the return by Robin Jeffers, diverting to transfer antibiotics to Spindrift V.
The August 4 transfer at 1:00 am was a “real pro job,” as Andy later texted. Because of Spindrift’s communications problems, many of the communications in this incident were routed through systems that had been established to manage the race itself.
“When the boats couldn’t make direct contact, a lot of coordination took place on my iPhone,” commented Principal Race Officer Michael Moradzadeh.
We did get a trace of rain yesterday and the temps did cool down to unseasonably cool. Don’t worry it’s going to be great weather this weekend and back to warmish Monday and Tuesday.
The Pacific High, while still weak (1034mb and weakening), is providing us some protection from the lows and attached frontal systems coming across the North Pacific. This is helping to keep the snowpack intact and the lakes and rivers at good levels. What will be interesting to watch is to see just how far to the east the Pacific High will move over the next three days. This will help the folks sailing back from Pacific Cup and Vic Maui. It looks like Zvi and Rage will make it back by Sunday. They will be sailing in some nice breeze from the NW-NNW as they approach the coast.
As the sat pic and surface analysis charts show today we have high pressure over us and this will keep a weak onshore flow (Mother Nature’s air conditioning) in place well into next week. So while temps may approach 90F during the day, it will cool at night.
With weak onshore flow, we’ll have generally light air over the area, perfect for hydroplane racing, and not so good for sailboat racing. The breeze in Admiralty Inlet and the Central Sound will tend to pick up from the NW in the afternoon before easing after midnight.
Stay hydrated, use lots of sunblock, and remember that the water in the Sound and the lakes is still very cool so cold water shock and hypothermia can still be issues.
Our very convoluted weather pattern is still in place over the North Pacific and the Pacific NW. True we’ve had plenty of days in the 90s but compared to the rest of the country, we are very lucky. Plus the snowpack is holding up, barely, and the fire danger is just now starting to creep up so time to be extra cautious in the outdoors even when you’re on the boat. We do not need a California fire situation here.
As you can see from the surface charts, we still have high pressure offshore and low-pressure inland. Thus the pattern we have seen this week is going to continue into early next week before temps drop back into the normal summer range. We’ve had a very consistent pattern of light air in the morning then as the temps rise inland, cooler air is drawn down the Strait of JdF, Admiralty Inlet, and then down the Sound bringing our temps to the 60s overnight. The Strait has the potential for Small Craft Advisories in the late afternoon and evening.
The main difference this weekend will be areas of dense fog forming overnight. You can always check the UW Western Washington surface conditions chart(https://a.atmos.washington.edu/cgi-bin/latest.cgi?sfcplots-wwa), For each station on the left side, there is a red number over a blue number. The red number is the current temp and the blue number is the dew point. When those two numbers are the same, you will get fog.
From space!
The interesting charts for today are the 72hr, 1 Aug chart which shows the weak cold front which will bring our temps for next week back to “normal”. The other interesting feature on that chart is our elusive Pacific High finally starting to strengthen (1036mb) and become more round in shape. The bad news about that is the trip home for the Pacific Cup and Vic-Maui boats will be a long slog close reaching and beating.
The other chart is the 96hr, 2 Aug chart which shows not one but two hurricanes that have formed in the eastern Pacific, Frank and Georgette. They won’t last but the Pacific north of 20N is continuing to warm and we aren’t even to the active part of hurricane season yet.
Not as bad as last year but it will get your attention starting on Tuesday when it will get to 90°F. Wednesday will be the warmest at 93°F and after that it will slowly back off to the low 80s by the 1st of August. Compared to the rest of the country, we shouldn’t complain.
The surface analysis chart and sat pic for today show our weak (1030mb) Pacific High elongated from 38N 158W to 43N 146W. The sat pic gives us a nice view of Post Tropical Cyclone Estelle at 23N 130W as it continues to degrade. Most of the Pacific Cup boats have finished, with the PacNW contingent representing us very nicely. The Vic-Maui boats are finally starting to finish with five boats due in today but some boats are still 700 miles out. That’s 16 and 18 days since they started and the Awards Banquet is tomorrow. As we predicted, the later starting big boats in each fleet totally dominated the racing with both Pyewacket and Peligroso sweeping all the honors.
With high pressure offshore and low-pressure inland, we have an onshore flow that will peak this afternoon and into tomorrow morning with westerly gale force winds in the Strait of JdF. There will be some trickle-down northerlies of 15-20 knots in Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound in the early evening with less wind in the rest of the Salish Sea.
By mid-Saturday morning conditions will have eased over the entire area. This will hold until mid-afternoon Saturday when the onshore flow will once again start down the Straits. This will bring westerly winds of 15-25 knots to the eastern end of the Straits easing by midnight,
Sunday morning the pressure gradient will have eased bringing light conditions to everywhere except the Strait of Georgia which will see a NW breeze of 15-25 knots coming down from Campbell River. A weak onshore flow will develop in the Strait of JdF in the late afternoon and early evening with light northerlies in the central Sound.
Have a great weekend, use sunblock, and be safe on the water.
We’ve been watching our PNW boats very carefully this Pacific Cup, and were disappointed to see that the J/125 Hamachi was apparently going to finish second to sistership Rufless. But wait, there’s more. Hamachi filed a rating protest and Rufless withdrew, giving Hamachi a class win and third overall. See Ronnie Simpson’s report here. I’ve excerpted the Hamachi-relevant part:
Third place overall and first place in the BMW of San Rafael Division is Jason Andrews and Shawn Dougherty’s Seattle based J/125 Hamachi. After an overall win in the 2019 Transpac, the team is back on the box in a Hawaii race after yet another fantastic crossing. With a slower rating than Hamachi, Rufus Sjoberg’s J/125 Rufless finished just a couple of hours behind Hamachi but seemingly corrected out to claim the divisional win. We say apparently because Hamachi had lodged a protest against Rufless’ ORR rating, claiming a rating discrepancy. After much deliberation, the crew on Rufless has decided to withdraw themselves from the Pacific Cup. While this is a sad occurrence for all of us here at Pac Cup, who view Rufus Sjoberg and his Rufless team as part of our ohana (family), we support their decision and wish them the best of luck in having their boat re-measured, re-rated and coming back stronger in 2024. Rufus, Navigator Skip McCormack and the entire Rufless crew were incredibly gracious in coming to this decision. The Corinthian spirit of sailing is alive and well here in Kaneohe as the Rufless crew and Hamachi crew congratulated each other on a hard-fought race and shared a warm and friendly debrief.
Zvi celebrating
As far as the rest of our PNWers go;
Moonshine (Marc Andrea Klimaschewski, Sloop Tavern and CYC Seattle, Dogpatch 26, Kolea Doublehanded division) Won the Kolea DH1 Division.
Alternate Reality (Ian, Mitchell and Darrel Jensen, Sloop Tavern YC, Express 27, Ocean Navigator class). Fourth in Ocean Navigator Division.
Dash (Stephanie Arnold & Ken Machtley, Orcas Island YC, J/99, Mahina DH2) Fifth in Mahina DH2
Free Bowl of Soup (Erik Hopper & Douglass Schenk, Portland YC & CYC Portland, J/105, Weems and Plath) First in the Weems and Plath Division.
the Boss (Chad Stenwick, West Sound CYC, J/35, North Sails division) Second in the North Sails Division to Andy Schwenk’s Express 37.
Lodos (Tolga Cezik, CYC Seattle, J/111, Goslings Rum division) Sixth in Goslings Rum Division.
Such Fast (David Garman, SSS, One Design 35, Goslings Rum division) Ninth in Goslings Rum Division
Freja (Jonathan Cruse, Sloop Tavern YC & CYC Seattle, Aerodyne 43, Goslings Rum division) Fifth in Gosling’s Rum Division, and has the best quote of the event describing “non-consensual surfing.” See report here.
Raku (Christina and Justine Wolfe, Orcas Island YC, J/111, Mahina DH2) While they seemed to be a lock on first place for much of the race, the Donovan 30 Wolfpack made a dramatic final push to finish first and push the Wolfes to second.
Hamachi (Jason Andrews and Shawn Dougherty, CYC Seattle & Sloop Tavern YC, J/125, BMW of San Rafael division) First in the BMW of San Rafael Division.
Blue (Michael Schoendorf, South Shore YC, Pacific Cup YC, Riptide 41, BMW of San Rafael) Third boat to finish in Hawaii and third in the BMW of San Rafael Division. You absolutely have to love a 41′ boat finishing that early.
Rage (David Raney, Corinthian YC Portland, Wylie 70, Alaska Airlines class) Third in the Alaska Airlines Division. Rage came from behind to finish ahead of Westerly, though not enough to beat her on corrected time.
Westerly (Stuart Dahlgren, Royal Victoria YC, Santa Cruz 70, Alaska Airlines class) Second place in Alaska Airlines Division and overall. I’m going to call her first among normal boats, as Pyewacket with her canting keel really should be in a different class. This was an amazing achievement especially considering the final push it took just to get to the starting line.
Shadow II (Peter McCarthy, West Vancouver YC, TP52, Alaska Airlines class) Fifth in Alaska Airlines Division.
Zvi (Alan Lubner, Seattle YC, Reichel/Pugh 55, Alaska Airlines class) Second boat (first of the normal boats) to get to Hawaii and fourth in the Alaska Airlines Division. The Zvi program continues to improve in its second race to Hawaii, and has show consistently high speeds in this race.
Ed. Note: At the risk of redundancy, Sail Sand Point is a Seattle sailing treasure and we should support it. Based at Magnuson Park, it brings sailing to Seattle community. Between sailing lessons, open boating and hosting interscholastic regattas, it’s the place to be. The Party on the Pier is a great way to support it and fun. And the paella is to die for. -KH
From Seth Muir, Executive Director of SSP.
Sail Sand Point is returning with their annual Party on the Pier on July 30th. This event benefits their programs which serve over 15,000 people each year ranging from 8 year olds in Optis to 80 year olds in keelboats. Head down to Magnuson Park’s beautiful pier and enjoy live music, paella, libations and some light fundraising for a great cause–getting more people introduced to the joy of sailing! Info and tickets are available here: https://www.sailsandpoint.org/events/party-on-the-pier/
Ed. Note: As one of many who scours Craigslist for those hidden gems, I saw Co-Motion and was confused and unimpressed. Now that I know the story, I’m intrigued to the max and would love to see her. I would HIGHLY recommend getting and reading this book. Combined with Bill Buchan’s “Star Fever,” it should make us all proud of the sailing culture of the PNW and the do-it-yourself-with-the-help-of-friends attitude. KH
By Dean Peoples
There is an exhilarating feeling in a sailing vessel when it starts to surf…
Reaching down a wave, the boat seems to rock back, spray shoots out from midship, and the knotmeter says 16+…
Carl Sutter, one of the founders of PNW racing and owner of Fisheries Supply, did a presentation on the history of sailing in the PNW a couple years ago for the Renton Sailing Center. He mentioned that one of the first ultra-lights sailed in Puget Sound, Co-Motion, was built by my father Phil Peoples. He also mentioned that he had seen it listed on Craigslist in Tacoma.
Having helped build and race the boat, I was interested in seeing it, so I contacted the owner, Ian Gegg, who had bought it from my brother, Will Peoples, in 1990. When Phil built the 42-foot sloop Zephyr, he sold Co-Motion to Will in 1980. Will rigged it, re-powered it, and cruised the San Juans.
Ian installed a J-35 mast and sails, added some structural improvements, and named it Who-Ah, as in ‘wild ride’. I was amazed to find the boat in good sailing condition and still winning races!
Phil, with the help of his wife, Robbie, wrote a booklet about the boat covering the concept, construction, testing, and the 1972 Vic-Maui Race.
Below is an excerpt from the booklet The Sailboat “Co-Motion” (One of the First Ultra-Lights) by Philip L. Peoples.
INTRODUCTION
I started handicap-racing sailboats in 1959 when my brother Sam and I bought an “R” Class boat named Lady Van. It had been converted to “cruising accommodations” by the installation of bunks, head, sink, and inboard engine. According to Hans Otto Giese, one of Seattle’s sailing “gurus”, Lady Van was a “cruising racing-boat” while all the other competitors were “racing cruising-boats”. Hans Otto respected Lady Van because she was faster than his 6-Meter, Oslo, despite the speed inhibiting conversion features.
Lady Van was not a typical cruising-boat
—–she was a “lead-mine” with half her 12,000 pound gross weight in her lead keel. She was 39 feet long with 18 inches of freeboard. She was “pinched” at bow and stern to minimize wetter surface. Many cruising boat skippers disliked her because she had a low handicap rating and was very fast in light wind conditions (which prevailed in the Seattle area). I loved her.
Ten years later (1969), I started construction of an ultra-light sailboat that was the exact opposite of Lady Van. Co-Motion was 37 feet long, very light at 8,000 pounds, and with a deep fin keel and 2700 pounds of lead. She was slow in light wind conditions and had a high rating (the opposite of Lady Van. Nevertheless, many cruising boat skippers disliked her at any race because she was “fast in moderate to fresh winds and ugly”. I loved her.
CHAPTER 1—–THE CONCEPT
In the middle of the 20th century, around 1950, ocean-going sailboats were designed with a lot of ballast and strength to endure difficult up-wind passages in the open sea. Despite this design approach, most long distance ocean races were mainly “off the wind” (down wind) because sailboats move faster, are more comfortable, and there is generally an “off the wind” course” that will get you to the finish line soonest. The longest, biggest, and most expensive boats were first to finish the races principally because of their long waterlines (and higher hull speeds). Accordingly, sailboat handicap rules were developed in an attempt to equalize the competition and give the smaller boats a chance. Then the designers tried to find “loopholes” in the handicap rule to give a new design an advantage over existing designs.
Co-Motion under construction, in a basement!
Some fairly odd boats were designed in this process and sailboat racing tended to degenerate into design competitions to “beat the rule” rather than produce fast sea-worthy sailboats. A few exceptions to this trend included the 72-foot Windward Passage that revolutionized large boat design and the Cal 40 and Buchan 37 that revolutionized the medium size design. These boats had three factors in common: relatively light weight, “easy” lines, and stability through beam and draft.
My personal experiences started out with light weight inland scows in 1930, then keel boats in Puget Sound in 1955 such as the 24-foot Blanchard Knockabout, a 39-foot R-Boat, and a 37 foot Buchan in 1965. I noticed a trend with the Buchan 37 that lighter “cruising” boats with good stability were faster in almost all conditions. This connected with my experiences with very light inland lake scows which were extremely fast but had the disadvantage of capsizing unexpectedly.
I began to think about a new boat somewhere between a 38-foot “A” class scow and the Buchan 37 that would be very fast and would not capsize.
A backyard project!
The “A” scow won the Inland Lake Yachting Association championship race on August 21, 1924 (with gaff-rigged mainsail) and was sailed by a family friend, Leonard Carpenter of Lake Minnetonka. In those days, the “A” scow was one of the fastest sailing vessels in the world, running and reaching in excess of 20 knots. What I had in mind was a sea-worthy 37-foot boat that was much lighter and flatter than the Buchan. Stability would be achieved with a deep fin keel, very low lead, and “hard” bilges. My objective was to design and build a fast safe sailboat without regard to the handicap rules.I was encouraged after reading “Fast Boats” by Teale (1961) and predicted that the new boat would achieve 18 knots under the same conditions that the Buchan would achieve 12 knots, Fig. 3. Fig. 4 compares sailboat performance parameters indicating that the new boat would be similar to the International 14 parameters in several respects but not quite meeting “planing requirements”. However, I felt that the new boat would surf downwind at about 20 knots for extended periods on the face of typical ocean waves (which advance at 20 to 40 knots).
As a consequence, I settled on a hull design concept outlined in Fig. 5 that should provide great boat speed under most conditions and light enough to be essentially unsinkable (gross weight slightly less than the displacement of hull and equipment).
To get an eBook or the printed booklet on the Co-Motion or the Zephyr email Dean Peoples at dpeopl@q.com.
Our great weather continues with another perfect weekend for boating. The only bad news is that we are behind for rainfall this month. So far we’ve only had .16” compared to an average on this date of .32” so just ½ of normal. We are still 5” ahead for the year and compared to some parts of the country where there is catastrophic flooding or a catastrophic drought, we are pretty lucky.
Today’s surface analysis, 500MB, and sat pic show what is keeping us in this zone. We still have a weak (1031MB) Pacific High that continues to bedevil the Vic-Maui and Pac Cup racers by not stabilizing and being way west of where it should be. Then off of Ketchikan, we have a weak (1006MB) low-pressure system with an extensive attached cold front right off our coast that will make landfall this evening and bring patchy rainfall to the Salish Sea tomorrow morning until it just breaks apart. This low will continue to keep us cool and slightly overcast as it is reinforced by an upper-level cut-off low-pressure system. See the 500MB charts.
This configuration of highs and lows will keep the onshore flow bringing Mother Nature’s air conditioning to the area. Saturday will see a building westerly to 20 knots in the Strait of JdF and a building northerly to Puget Sound. This will continue on Sunday except the Sound will remain light and variable most of the day. By Monday, the high-pressure systems will be firmly in control of the weather around here and the wind will remain light.
We mentioned Hurricane Darby last week and as of today it has weakened and is passing south of the Big Island. Wait, there’s more, Hurricane Six has formed off of Central America with winds of 85 knts and gusts to 105. It should become the fifth named storm of the year shortly. Yes, the Pacific Hurricane season is very active and will make life interesting for Hawaii at some point.
The Pacific Cup fleet is starting to enter the full on sledding part of the game. Pyewacket will soon be finished and at last look was doing 21+ knots.
Thanks to alert readers, I was made aware of two other PNW Pacific Cup boats. We’ll start with those.
Mako
Mako (Jason Vannice/Kyle Reese-Cassal. South Sound Sailing Society, Sydney 38, Goslings Rum division) Mako has been on the southern side of the fleet and is now consolidating with those to the north. She is currently in third in division on corrected time, and her main competitors are quite a bit larger. It will be interesting to see how this develops, especially if the wind builds.
Perplexity
Perplexity (John Wilkerson, Sloop Tavern & Port Madison YCs, Express 37, North Sails division) Early on, Perplexity had a medical emergency and transfer at sea. See Latitude 38’s coverage: https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/2022/07/11/#navy-medevacs-pacific-cup-crewman. That all said, she’s been playing catchup on a southerly track and currently lies sixth in division with less than 1000 miles to go.
(Apologies to both crews and their fans for not covering them in the last post)
And now for the rest of the PNW fleet:
Moonshine (Marc Andrea Klimaschewski, Sloop Tavern and CYC Seattle, Dogpatch 26, Kolea Doublehanded division) I’m pleased to report that Moonshine is leading her division and must be driving the bigger boats crazy when they realize they haven’t passed her yet!
Alternate Reality (Ian, Mitchell and Darrel Jensen, Sloop Tavern YC, Express 27, Ocean Navigator class). Alternate Reality took a deep dive south and is making their way north to consolidate with the fleet. The boats ahead of her on handicap are all bigger and heavier, so it will be interesting to watch the lightweight Express 27 in straight line speed against waterline
Dash (Stephanie Arnold & Ken Machtley, Orcas Island YC, J/99, Mahina DH2) Dash remains fifth in her division. The doublehanded boats ahead of her are all capable of very fast downwind speeds, so it will be tough to find a passing lane.
Free Bowl of Soup (Erik Hopper & Douglass Schenk, Portland YC & CYC Portland, J/105, Weems and Plath) Ding ding ding, another PNW division leader. FBOS has sailed a conservative course and it’s paid with the division lead. The J/105 should have consistenltly high speeds on the run to Hawaii.
the Boss (Chad Stenwick, West Sound CYC, J/35, North Sails division) the Boss is showing that the venerable J/35 is still a good ride to Hawaii. Lying in second in division, she is trailing the Express 37 Spindrift skippered by none other than PNW transplant Andy Schwenk, who knows his way to Hawaii very well.
Lodos (Tolga Cezik, CYC Seattle, J/111, Goslings Rum division) Lodos remains sixth in a closely contested Goslings Rum division. No doubt all the Goslings boats will be pushing hard these last few hundred miles.
Such Fast (David Garman, SSS, One Design 35, Goslings Rum division) SUCH FAST is in the same class as Lodos, trailing by a fair amount.
Freja (Jonathan Cruse, Sloop Tavern YC & CYC Seattle, Aerodyne 43, Goslings Rum division) Freja has established some separation from her class, staying to the north. Currently standing fifth in division, she could move up if her northerly position pays.
Raku (Christina and Justine Wolfe, Orcas Island YC, J/111, Mahina DH2) The Wolfe’s made a bold move to the south has paid, and she’s leading her division by a good margin, and sailing in the same waters as many larger boats.
Hamachi (Jason Andrews and Shawn Dougherty, CYC Seattle & Sloop Tavern YC, J/125, BMW of San Rafael division) Hamachi is leading the BMW of San Rafael division. I have a lot of confidence they’ll close out the victory.
Blue (Michael Schoendorf, South Shore YC, Pacific Cup YC, Riptide 41, BMW of San Rafael) Blue is starting to really move, 13.4 knots at present, and I expect her to finish first in division on the water, but it will be very tough to correct ahead of the speedy boats in class. Currently she lies fifth.
Rage (David Raney, Corinthian YC Portland, Wylie 70, Alaska Airlines class) Rage is in her element, her narrow Wylie designed hull slicing up the miles at a high rate. It will be interesting to see if she can catch Westerly on the water in the approaches to Hawaii.
Westerly (Stuart Dahlgren, Royal Victoria YC, Santa Cruz 70, Alaska Airlines class) Westerly gave up the division corrected time lead when Pyewacket hit the afterburners. She is currently lying second and pretty much on the rhumb line.
Shadow II (Peter McCarthy, West Vancouver YC, TP52, Alaska Airlines class) Shadow II has made her way from the northern-most position in class to the southern most. She’s trailing the other division boats but should have a great ride into Hawaii.
Zvi (Alan Lubner, Seattle YC, Reichel/Pugh 55, Alaska Airlines class) Zvi is now in the conditions the team was hoping for, at last check going 14+ knots and looking solid for being the second boat into Hawaii.
As the strong downwind rides start to develop, it’s time to check in on the PNW contingent in the Pacific Cup.
The smaller/slower boats suffered light air in the early stages of the race, but by the time the Alaska Airlines class (the biggest, fastest boats) started the winds were more typical of San Francisco Bay. All the fleets have had some less than thrilling winds to contend with. Predictably, the PNW is well represented. I count 15 boats.
Note that when you read this, things may have changed. Go to pacificcup.org to check out the tracker and other news!
As of this writing:
Moonshine (Marc Andrea Klimaschewski, Sloop Tavern and CYC Seattle, Dogpatch 26, Kolea Doublehanded division) This little boat has been toying with the corrected time lead in their division the whole time on the north edge of the fleet, and they currently lie 2nd.
Alternate Reality (Ian, Mitchell and Darrel Jensen, Sloop Tavern YC, Express 27, Ocean Navigator class). Alternate Reality suffered slow going in the early parts of the race and then made the decision to head south for better conditions in the long run. Time will tell if it pays off. They’re currently lying fourth in class.
Dash (Stephanie Arnold & Ken Machtley, Orcas Island YC, J/99, Mahina DH2) Dash had an excellent beginning of the race and was, for a while, toying with the lead. She is now in fifth in her class.
Free Bowl of Soup (Erik Hopper & Douglass Schenk, Portland YC & CYC Portland, J/105, Weems and Plath) This J/105 logs a lot of traveling miles. Currently lying second in her class, FBoS is looking for a strong finish.
the Boss (Chad Stenwick, West Sound CYC, J/35, North Sails division) Well known to Puget Sound sailors under previous owners, the Boss is continuing her racy ways. She’s currently second in the North Sails division.
Lodos (Tolga Cezik, CYC Seattle, J/111, Goslings Rum division) Lodos suffered somewhat on a more northerly course, but is picking up the pace now and is currently sixth in the Goslings Rum division)
Such Fast (David Garman, SSS, One Design 35, Goslings Rum division) SUCH FAST has had a less than fast race so far – she’s trailing the fleet, for now anyway.
Freja (Jonathan Cruse, Sloop Tavern YC & CYC Seattle, Aerodyne 43, Goslings Rum division) Freja has been building up to this race, and the light and fast Aerodyne 43 is well suited for it. My colleague Molly Howe and her husband Jake are onboard, which is certainly a big help. They are currently fifth in division.
Raku (Christina and Justine Wolfe, Orcas Island YC, J/111, Mahina DH2) The Wolfes made a bold move to the south early, and it appears to be paying off as they continue to sail in better breeze than the bulk of the fleet. They are currently winning their division.
Hamachi (Jason Andrews and Shawn Dougherty, CYC Seattle & Sloop Tavern YC, J/125, BMW of San Rafael division) Hamachi is one of the best optimized J/125s for this race, and there are several other 125s in the race. The team has one a Hawaii race before and are currently second in class.
Blue (Michael Schoendorf, South Shore YC, Pacific Cup YC, Riptide 41, BMW of San Rafael) While not strictly a PNW boat, Blue was designed by Paul Bieker, built by Betts and features NW talent such as Jonathan McKee. So we get to adopt her. While Blue is leading her class on the water, she hasn’t had the chance to leg out on the J/125s and other longer waterline boats in her class. That time may yet come as they approach Hawaii.
Rage (David Raney, Corinthian YC Portland, Wylie 70, Alaska Airlines class) Built by Schooner Creek, the well travelled Rage is a very impressive ULDB. One time holder of the Pacific Cup elapsed time record, Rage will log some serious miles as the wind moves aft and builds. She’s currently standing fifth in the Alaska Airlines class.
Westerly (Stuart Dahlgren, Royal Victoria YC, Santa Cruz 70, Alaska Airlines class) The Dahlgrens didn’t let a serious bump in the delivery stop them from competing. On the delivery down, the keel was damaged. Working up to the last minute, Westerly was fixed and relaunched in time for the start. She currently lies second in class.
Shadow II (Peter McCarthy, West Vancouver YC, TP52, Alaska Airlines class) This is the kind of race the TPs were designed for. Shadow II was one of the most northerly of boats, and has been making up ground as of late. She’s currently lying fourth in class.
Zvi (Alan Lubner, Seattle YC, Reichel/Pugh 55, Alaska Airlines class) This multi-year program continues to add talent and performance. If it weren’t for the mighty Pyewacket, Zvi would be the 800-pound guerilla of the fleet. She is well behind Pyewacket and well ahead of the rest of the American Airlines fleet. Approaching the islands she should achieve some remarkable speeds.
LodosZviWesterlyRakuHamachiFree Bowl of SoupDashShadow IIBlueMoonshine
