Thundering through the fleet

Mari Cha IV leads maxi boat charge in West Marine Pacific Cup

Winnetou, Martin Braun's San Francisco Yacht Club entry covered 252.3 miles of open ocean in one day to maintain her lead over the entire fleet and Division E downwind racers on day seven of the West Marine Pacific Cup.

Morpheus continues as second in fleet and second in the division, as well. It's a real sleighride in Division E as the combination of Santa Cruz 50s and 52s, Barrett 52, Schumacher 50 and Wyliecat 43 all seem to be within a few target Kaneohe Bay miles of one another and could arrive there within a 24 hour period.

And for miles covered in a day, Mari Cha IV covered 418.6 miles in a 24 hour period en route to Hawaii. Currently holder of several monohull records including world monohull 24 hour of 525.7, the giant ketch is aggressively addressing the Pacific record as well. Due to the major handicap of being the biggest and fastest on the water, Mari Cha IV is scored on correction as fourth in the maxis - Division F. Braveheart continues the division lead with Icon second.

Eyrie and Pole Cat are still first and second in the doublehanded division. In fact other than one change with Moonshine and Mirage BS swapping places there has been little change in the intrepid class of two sailors per boat.

In Division A, First Light and Ghost, both flying the Kaneohe Yacht Club burgee still contest the lead with First Light on the most southerly effort and Ghost clinging to the northerly rhumbline (most direct to Kaneohe).

California Girl continues as leader of Division B with Hawaii Yacht Club entry, Ikaika second in the daily position reports. Cirrus from Kaneohe yacht Club is scored in fourth place. Inspired Environments, Tim Ballard's Corinthian Yacht Club entry is holding the lead in Division C but Bodacious, up to now well in the hunt has slipped back to sixth in the division. Lightwave, a 34 foot J/105 from Encinal Yacht Club is now credited with second in the division. Lightwave is moving along with only three aboard.

Division E is still covered first and second by Andiamo and Surprise. Kaimiloa from Kaneohe Yacht Club is now sixth in the division; Hawaii Yacht Club's Niele is eighth.

Promotion reports that they are doing what they do on every WMPC race - having a great time.The aptly named, Promotion, a Santa Cruz 40 owned by title sponsor West Marine has always emphasised "The Fun Race to Hawaii" as part of their participation. They noted on 3 July, breakfast of Banana Pecan Pancakes and dinner of barbequed Rosemary Pork Loi. These are certain to bring tears to those muddling through 'survival' fare elsewhere in the fleet.Before the race has finished, we'll share some historic efforts on how Promotion crew members tough it out on what is always their fun race.

Regular reporting from Cirrus indicated warm, sunny, dry weather with water temperatures not yet to Hawaii standards.

Cirrus also included information re saltwater showers on the high seas, not requiring freshwater rinse. It goes even further that the itchy post (saltwater) shower feeling experienced on land comes from "organic material like proteins, which are likely to be present in coastal waters in a higher concentration than in the middle of the ocean." Perhaps a second opinion could be proffered -- there is some argument by mid-ocean shower practitioners.

And while the Promotion crew was enjoying Rosemary Pork Loin, Cirrus people had Beef Stew with Cornbread.

On-the-water chatter from California Girl indicates that the Lessley family was enjoying a vintage wine and (perhaps) vintage cheese repast - possibly to dazzle those whose food stores have been irreparably dampened.

Bodacious and Auspice mutually reported sightings of one another.

Mari Cha IV says they are working to keep the speed above 2 0knots most of the time and that "it seems a couple of gybes midway to Hawaii will put us on the lay line to the finish."

Division 1 (start: June 29 @ 09:55:00 HST):

Boat Lat Lon Dayrun @ MadeGood togo Divn Oa

Eyrie 32-48N 133-53W 165.8 246 165.5 1439.7 1* 21
PoleCat 32-12N 134-09W 171.4 248 171.3 1413.9 2 26
SaltyHotel 31-23N 133-18W 167.6 247 167.0 1438.1 3 39
Nina 30-36N 133-13W 171.3 249 170.7 1428.0 4 45
Moonshine 31-16N 132-44W 168.6 244 166.8 1463.5 5 46
MirageBlSo 31-03N 132-18W 156.6 234 148.4 1481.0 6 48
MirageExpr 30-48N 131-58W 153.8 241 149.8 1493.3 7 49
Diane Retired. Back in SF


Division A (start: June 28 @ 08:45:00 HST):

Boat Lat Lon Dayrun @ MadeGood togo Divn Oa

FirstLight 30-24N 135-11W 151.6 251 151.5 1327.4 1* 37
Ghost 32-51N 136-27W 159.8 254 158.0 1322.6 2 38
Bravo 30-37N 135-13W 154.4 253 154.4 1329.9 3 41
Cayenne 30-19N 135-14W 145.9 252 145.9 1323.4 4 42
IslandTime 31-37N 134-54W 153.0 255 152.4 1365.7 5 43
Ketch 22 32-40N 135-34W 165.3 257 162.9 1358.4 6 47
Victoria DNS


Division B (start: June 28 @ 09:00:00 HST):

Boat Lat Lon Dayrun @ MadeGood togo Divn Oa

CalifGirl 30-40N 136-56W 164.8 257 163.6 1247.7 1* 22
Ikaika 30-19N 136-21W 148.1 251 148.1 1268.7 2 28
TuttoBene 28-51N 135-42W 152.3 252 152.0 1274.7 3 32
Cirrus 29-55N 135-55W 154.1 253 154.1 1282.2 4 34
MarCaballo 30-41N 136-07W 162.0 260 160.0 1287.5 5 35
Tango 31-40N 136-36W 181.5 247 181.4 1286.3 6 36
Acacia 30-39N 135-17W 161.8 253 161.7 1327.3 7 44
Chimaera DNS

Division C (start: June 29 @ 10:10:00 HST):

Boat Lat Lon Dayrun @ MadeGood togo Divn Oa

InsprdEnvr 33-10N 136-53W 196.4 260 189.5 1311.4 1* 20
Lightwave 31-50N 135-00W 185.1 258 183.2 1365.6 2 24
Punahele 32-38N 135-41W 189.8 259 186.0 1352.2 3 25
Predator 32-09N 134-55W 176.7 250 176.7 1376.6 4 27
Auspice 30-39N 134-12W 170.3 247 169.4 1380.4 5 29
Bodacious 30-35N 134-13W 169.7 242 166.8 1378.3 6 30
Sea Peace 32-52N 135-27W 171.9 254 170.4 1368.7 7 31
WhiteFang 31-10N 134-49W 178.8 247 178.5 1360.3 8 33


Division D (start: June 30 @ 10:55:00 HST):

Boat Lat Lon Dayrun @ MadeGood togo Divn Oa

Andiamo 31-29N 134-32W 195.7 252 195.6 1380.4 1* 9
Surprise 32-15N 135-56W 216.8 253 216.0 1331.3 2 12
Sensation 32-15N 134-50W 214.7 258 212.5 1382.7 3 14
BtweenShts 31-19N 133-56W 195.8 250 195.7 1406.0 4 15
Synge 31-23N 133-56W 203.5 250 203.4 1407.3 5 16
Kaimiloa 30-21N 133-14W 191.1 251 190.8 1422.9 6 18
Scorpio 30-18N 132-56W 188.8 247 187.2 1437.0 7 19
Niele 30-59N 132-54W 184.7 249 184.1 1450.3 8 23
Promotion 31-26N 131-28W 158.8 231 146.7 1528.5 9 40


Division E (start: July 1 @ 11:45:00 HST):

Boat Lat Lon Dayrun @ MadeGood togo Divn Oa

Winnetou 32-46N 134-24W 252.3 245 251.9 1414.8 1* 1*
Morpheus 33-07N 133-45W 235.3 243 234.5 1453.1 2 2
Natazak 32-44N 134-06W 249.1 249 249.0 1428.1 3 3
Lightning 33-32N 133-52W 231.8 248 231.8 1457.6 4 4
Kyrnos 32-42N 133-15W 230.0 241 227.6 1467.2 5 5
ChcknLttle 31-24N 132-08W 228.4 239 222.2 1495.3 6 7
WhiteCaps 33-33N 133-00W 221.4 258 218.8 1497.8 7 8
C squared 31-33N 132-44W 247.0 238 239.5 1468.7 8 17


Division F (start: July 2 @ 12:35:00 HST):

Boat Lat Lon Dayrun @ MadeGood togo Divn Oa

Braveheart 33-41N 130-21W 271.4 241 267.5 1624.2 1* 6
Icon 32-27N 129-36W 280.7 233 263.1 1637.0 2 10
Magnitud80 33-38N 133-56W 372.0 247 371.9 1456.9 3 11
MariChaIV 32-46N 135-22W 418.6 250 418.4 1370.0 4 13