LOOKS LIKE FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE BAR FOR FIRST PAC CUP BOATS

At 1650 hours on Thursday, the crew on Icon, the Perry 66, was likely licking their lips knowing a frosty cold beverage sits less than 164 nm away. They're currently leading the 2012 Pac Cup fleet and looking to a Friday morning arrival.

Hot on their heels is Double Trouble, the J125, in the same breeze 12+ knots from 230 degrees, with just 242.20 nm from paradise, and currently sitting in first overall.

Said navigator Skip MacCormack earlier today, “This boat has been LIT UP. We have been pushing hard. The last two nights were spent sending it into complete darkness. There has been no visual reference what-so-ever until last night when we had stars to drive by for 30 minutes until we were engulfed by another big, black, horizon eating rain cloud.

No throttling back, keep pushing, pushing, pushing to get to the leverage point first in an attempt to remove options from our competitors. We have now gybed and are headed to Hawaii. Now we are officially allowed to talk about that first Mai Tai. No more of this unofficial talk. So far, Jody (MacCormack) has the boat speed record at 20.8. She is killing it, having gained huge confidence in her driving skills.”

Medusa, the Santa Cruz 52 skippered by Jay Spaulding is sitting 351.80 nm behind Double Trouble but still comfortably in front of J World’s Hula Girl who has 415 nm left in this race.

From Hula Girl, Wayne Zittel talked of sleigh rides today, “It's been a wild couple of days. Early Tuesday morning, we entered a solid band of breeze, which lasted for about two days. Winds were mostly 20-25 knots, with occasional squalls pushing things to around 30. Hula Girl was dancing with the waves, ticking off prolonged runs at 15, 16 knots and occasional leaps over 20. Just a complete blast, but nerve wracking... the squalls come on fast, and last a loooong time. You see the darkness come up behind you. Then you feel the rain. Then the wind is on you, the boat literally takes off, and your sleigh ride has begun. You'd better bring your A game.

But we have taken some lumps too. We blew up a kite (my favorite 2A. We broke a gooseneck pin (good on the sharp eyes of Tim for noticing it before it became a big issue). We got some debris caught on the prop and strut, then later caught a sheet down there... had to drop the kite and park it for a bit to clear the tangle. We broke an after guy. And so on. Radio chatter indicates that more than a couple boats have has issues, but luckily nothing sounds too major.”

Jamani is leading the double-handed fleet, with 525 nm to finish. Cassiopeia (Islander 36) is leading the Div A fleet, with committee boat Valis just behind.

Paul Elliott, skipper on Valis, said this afternoon, “Today has been a wonderful sunny day, with great wind and moderate seas. Halfway through last night we took down the spinnaker (which was over-powering us in the squalls), and sailed until morning with main and genoa. We lost a little top speed, but we sailed safely through the night with no drama or breakage (and broken equals slow). This morning we hoisted the “shy kite” AKA “chicken chute”, a smaller spinnaker designed for heavier air. This has been pulling us towards Kaneohe at a speedy clip since then.”

Don’t forget to log onto http://www.pacificcup.org/blogs, to catch up on day-to-day life aboard Pac 2012 boats.

Stay tuned!

Pic Hula Girl compliments of Erik Simonson/Pressure-drop.us