Cookies and competition (oh wow)

Earlier today, we received a very special delivery. Wayne and Linda on the Nordic Tug “Buoy Toy” were friendly neighbors to us out on E-dock here at Richmond Yacht Club for the past 2 months. We were the lucky recipients of the most amazing gift from them…24 homemade chocolate chip and walnut cookies. The squeeze test categorized them in the chewy division (a favorite), and it will be a challenge to make them last for the race duration (the goal is for each of us to enjoy one each day). It was an incredibly thoughtful gift from some wonderful people. Thank you!

Cookies from Wayne and Linda on Buoy Toy.  These may incite domestic violence onboard Shearwater.

On another note, boats racing Pacific Cup are divided up into a number of different divisions. For the double-handers, there are two divisions – our division is the faster of the 2 divisions, although when you look at the ratings, most of the difference is comprised of the 2 super fast double-handed boats (War Pony and California Condor who are MUCH faster than the rest of us). We’re the third fastest boat in our division of 7 boats in terms of our rating. This handicap system means that in order to win, you have to win by a required margin if you owe other boats time.  The other boats are as follows:

• Aeriagnie (C&C 40 tall rig) – Cecille and Perry are sailing friends who decided to take on Pacific Cup. Perry actually owns a J/120 in southern California, and a lot of our conversation has been about set-ups for J/120’s. Cecille is the Commodore of the Pacific Singlehanded Sailing Association. They are posting updates on a blog. We owe them 1 day 5 hours and 20 minutes over the entire course. Remember we are hoping for roughly 11-12 day crossing, but it is looking like it might be on the slow side this year.
• California Condor (Antrim Class 40) – In the yacht club at Richmond Yacht Club, there are plaques on the wall that have Buzz Blackett’s name on them from decades past – he’s been a fixture in the SF racing community for a long time. His partner for the race is Jim Antrim, who designs very fast boats. They know what they are doing, and they have a very fast boat…they will be super competitive. They are also posting updates on a blog. They owe us 1 day 13 hours and 22 minutes.
• Ragtime! (J/92) – Bob Johnston has been a great resource for us, providing helpful advice about logistics, helping us get a slip at RYC, and we’ve spent a lot of time talking about crazy, short-handed sailing adventures with him. Bob has raced to Hawaii twice singlehanded, and he’s racing with Tracy Rogers, another J/92 owner and bay-area sailor. We owe them 1 day 1 hour and 18 minutes.
• Thirsty (Beneteau First 30) – We had a great evening chatting with the two French sailors on Thirsty a few days ago and realized that we were out of our league when it comes to provisioning well onboard. Our approach is to use freeze-dried meals. Theirs is to bring full bottles of wine and duck confit. Most impressive and important, though, they are sailing to raise awareness and funds for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) – please consider reading about their cause and supporting their effort. These guys won the division in 2012, after dealing with rudder issues, so they know what they’re doing. They are posting updates on a blog. We owe them 1 day 2 hours and 17 minutes.
• War Pony (Farr 36) – We had the opportunity to tour War Pony back in January at a Pacific Cup seminar – the interior is sparse, to say the least! If there were ever a boat jacked up on steroids, it might be War Pony. Their nickname is Punishment Pony. We’re definitely looking forward to talking to them after the race to compare notes. They are posting updates on a blog. They owe us 1 day 9 hours and 30 minutes.
• Wolfpack (Donovan 30) – It’s probably fair to say that Wolfpack might be a ringer in the race and a possible overall contender, given the sailing experience of the husband/wife team on board. Twenty years ago, they won Pacific Cup overall racing double-handed. The boat is something else, and we’ve heard that they are chartering it for the race for a “fee” of just making the boat fast. It looks quick, but manageable…and…wait…they’ve tied a bunch of lines to the aft starboard pulpit for added leverage…give me a moment while I go tie extra lines to our aft starboard pulpit! They’re definitely going to be fun to watch. We owe them (ugh!) 14 hours and 23 minutes.

In the slower double-handed division that started today, there are 8 boats (4 Santa Cruz 27’s, 2 Moore 24’s, “the” Cal 40 Green Buffalo whose prowess at Transpac races is legendary, and a Newport 30). We’ve been able to chat with a few of these boats, and we’ve especially enjoyed talking with the super father/daughter team on the Santa Cruz 27, Mirage, who are also racing for a very good cause. Please check out their website – they are trying to raise awareness to stop child sex trafficking.

It should be a very fun race.

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