Hello from Horizon!

We just completed our second day of the race and the spirits are running high on Horizon.  As of this morning’s standings we were second in class and fleet.   We gained mileage on everyone in our class and we’re hoping that our strategy of staying North will pay off!

Even better news is that we broke out of the cloud cover around 2 AM and immediately it started to warm up.  Maybe 5-10 degrees but believe me it was welcome.  We’re still wearing all the layers as well as our foulies but at least we’re warm!

Just before dark we put up our #2 jib top and immediately our speeds started exceeding 10 knotts.  We carried the jib top all night and this morning we added a stay sail.  The wind speeds have been averaging between 16 – 22 knotts and  our boat speeds have been in the low to mid teens.  Hip has the current record of 18 knotts.  It won’t last!!

We had sun all day today and as of 4 PM fog has settled in.  Very weird!  Last night we saw the entire sky light up as a meteor (we think) hit the atmosphere.  It was a bright as hell and actually had a smoke trial as it broke up before it hit the water.  Pretty spectacular!

Last night we had Jason’s Beef Stew for dinner (Thank you Kathy) and this evening we’ll be having Pot Pie.  Can’t wait!

Everyone is getting plenty of sleep and it’s nice to have all crew members driving.  It keeps everyone fresh and really keeps us on our toes!

We’re looking forward for the wind to back another 20 degrees so we can put up our spinnakers.  That’s when we’ll really take off!  Hopefully we’ll be flying our 2A by tomorrows check in!

That’s it for now!  Having a blast! Go Horizon!!!

Hello from the crew of Horizon!

We’re off again!  Yesterday we started our race to Hawaii off Saint Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco Bay at 1:15 pm.  We had a nice clean start in 16-18 knots of wind with gusts up to 26 knotts.  Our start was very exciting and it was great seeing the crowd of family and friends at Saint Francis watching, cheering and taking pictures.  Hopefully they got some great shots!

This years race has a different twist.  Usually the Pacific High is further South in which our strategy was to take the Southerly route and be one of the furthest boats South.  Theoretically this strategy gave us leverage on the rest of the fleet.

This year the high is much further North which means we are taking the Northerly route or as its called the “Great Circle Route”.  This is the shortest route to Hawaii and if we have consistant winds in the teens or better yet in the 20 plus range we should have a quick race.  Hopefully it will pay off.  As of this morning we were North of most of our class and all day the strategy has been to stay as North as we can so we can stay in the higher wind pressure.  Currently we are 3rd in class and 3rd inn fleet.  That’s pretty good for us because usually at this stage in the race we are at or near the bottom.  Hopefully we didn’t jinx ourselves.

We started the race under full main and a #3 jib.  After exiting the bay we made a right hand turn and sailed up the coast for two hours.  The winds dropped into the low teens and at that point we went with our heavy #1 jib and tacked over to Port for our run to Hawaii.  Currently we are still reaching with our heavy #1.  Winds are in the low teens and we are averaging about 8 knotts!

Highlights so far are starting our race off of Saint Francis Yacht Club, racing under the Golden Gate Bridge for the 1st time, seeing a pod of Blue Whales yesterday afternoon and waking up a Pilot Whale this afternoon that stayed with us for 15 minutes!  Lastly was our Hot dinner prepared by Hip!  It was great and we all needed it because its very cold!

It’s July and I’m wearing, long johns, sweats, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, thermal jacket and a complete set off foulies.  All at once!  How’s that for cold!  The crazy thing is that we all love it and we’re having a blast!

We’ll that’s it for know.  Time to go racing!

Hello from Horizon racing!

We’re off again!  This Thursday, July 8^th, Horizon will be making its 5^th crossing across the pond to Hawaii.  This time our start is right in front of the Sr. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco and will finish on the North shore of Oahu, Hawaii.

As in the past we will be E-mailing our progress reports from Horizon and they can be found on the HorizonSailors.com web site.  In addition you can find updates on the 2010 Pacific Cup web site.  As in prior races will also have a transponder on board and you can check on our progress through ionearth.com.  Once on the site you’ll find a page for the 2010 Pac Cup.

There are eight racers on board.  All good friends and we have been racing together for years.  On this trip we have Jon Shampain and his son Erik, Robert Plant, Tom O’Keefe, Jason Adamson, John Berry and Peter Kornhaber.

This race is a little different from Transpac.  It takes the same meticulous planning that began over one year ago and then we had to get Horizon up to San Francisco.  Our prep book is our Pac Cup Bible and at this point its about 12 inches thick of details that need to be discussed and dealt width in order to have a successful crossing.  Ellen Todd has been our coordinator and coupled with Jon Shampain’s relentless effort for perfection we are ready to go!

Pac Cup’s fleet is a mix of serious off shore racers as well as club racers that want to experience racing across the Pacific.  It’s billed as the “Fun Race” and they encourage 1^st time racers.  I would say that about half the fleet has never raced over to Hawaii before and their enthusiasm and excitement about this adventure is truly contagious.

There are seven classes and all the starts are staggered.  The 1st start was today and they consisted of the slower boats.  There is a start on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (our start) and Saturday.  If you have chance check out the 2010 Pac Cup Web Site and go to the 2010 race page.  This page will give you the break down of the divisions and ratings.  There are boats as small as 22 feet crossing the Pacific!  Pretty wild!

Our class consists of eight boats it is very competitive.  There are two sister SC 50’s as well as a number of other very quick boats.  It should be very close racing and there will be a very small margin for error.

At this point the weather forecast is still too far out to tell if we will have a fast or slow race.  Hopefully it blows like hell and we can complete our crossing in less than 10 days!

That’s it for now.  Once the race starts I’ll send our 1^st progress reports.

Jack Taylor