Pacific Cup 2002
Philippe Kahn and Pegasus Racing, Pacific Cup 2002.
Pegasus Racing, Pacific Cup 2002
Pacific Cup 2002 Skipper’s Blog: Our training run for Transpac 2003
Competitors: Zephyrus 86, Mari-Cha 147 Designer: Reichel-Pugh 77 Sail number: 50008 Rig: Sloop LOA (ft.): 77 Draft (ft): 12.5 Beam (ft): 15 Hull color: White / Blue Yacht Club: Waikiki Yacht Club Designer: Reichel Pugh Builder: McConaghy, Sydney, Australia Year launched: 2001 Skipper: Philippe Kahn Navigator: Ed Adams Watch Captain 1: Jeff Madrigali Watch Captain…
The moon, the stars and the squalls
Date: Friday, July 19th Lat: 22 50 North Lon: 155 49 West Course over ground: 232 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 13 knots Last night was pretty much postcard perfect with the moon coming in and out of squall clouds, the big sky and the big start, 20-knot winds and nice waves. We were on…
Hanging tough after a tough night
Date: Thursday, July 18th Lat: 25 31 North Lon: 151 39 West Course over ground: 226 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 12 knots In sail boat racing there is a factor that nobody controls: The weather. No matter how good and prepared you are, no matter how much technology you use, you can hardly go…
Flying Fish
Date: Thursday, July 18th Lat: 26 38 North Lon: 149 37 West Course over ground: 220 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 15 knots At sunset, we jibed on what could be a 500 lay line to Honolulu. Now its mostly port jibe. Unfortunately, it’s pretty light, with winds between 16 and 19 knots most of…
A picture is worth 1000 words and a picture with words is worth 1000 pictures!
On-board I am very busy, steering Pegasus 8 to 10 hours a day, trimming sails sleeping a bit and writing the “Skipper’s Log” a and taking most of the PictureMails on this site and then getting it all on the Pegasus Racing website using LightSurf technology (www.lightsurf.com ) Its all outgoing communications. That is until…
Jibing all night
Date: Wednesday, July 17th Lat: 26 45 North Lon: 146 08 West Course over ground: 256 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 15 knots All night we jibed on every shift. This was a pitch-dark night as the moon set early. We executed each jibe like clockworks. Wind ranged from 18 to 26 knots. Jibing Pegasus…
Can the Magic continue?
Date:Tuesday, July 16th Lat: 28 02 North Lon: 140 58 West Course over ground: 226 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 14 knots We think not. However, we still feel like we are defying gravity: We again have covered more miles and gained distance on both Mari-Cha and Zephyrus, for the third consecutive day. We…
Pegasus 77 shows great numbers
Date: Monday, July 15th Lat: 29 05 North Lon: 135 13 West Course over ground: 232 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 17 knots The plan to accomplish the impossible, for David to beat Goliath in other words, for Pegasus 77 to beat Zephyrus and Mari-Cha boat for boat seems now remotely possible. That is…
A Satisfying Roll Call
Date: Sunday, July 14th Lat: 31 09 North Lon: 129 07 West Course over ground: 214 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 17 knots Racing sailboats that are as different in size and potential as Pegasus 77 from the huge Zephyrus or the behemoth Mari-Cha is like is radically different than racing fundamentally similar boats.…
Pegasus 77 is Fabulous!
Date: Sunday, July 14th Lat: 31 59 North Lon: 128 05 West Course over ground: 203 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 16 knots We loved Pegasus when we won Transpac 2001. Since the finish of Transpac 2001 we put Pegasus in her Transpac 2003 mode. That meant taking out 7000 pounds of lead out of…
Morning Roll Call
Date: Saturday, July 13th Lat: 35 47 North Lon: 125 17 West Course over ground: 18 degrees magnetic Speed over ground: 19 knots As day broke we all waited for the 9 am PST roll call. We had lost track of our competitors and had found good wind. Fundamentally their size should make them average…
A Thrilling Start!
We started in 20 knots. Pegasus had the better start but with our water length disadvantage, by the time we got out of the Golden Gate, both Mari-Cha and Zephyrus were significantly ahead. When we crossed the Gate, we expected a right hand shift and we stayed right. Both Mari-Cha and Zephyrus tacked and went…
Night before the start!
The night before the start there is great appreciation for a nice quality meal. Shark was in rare form. He just decided to drink coke out of a wine glass and have it show in the team picture above and get his Dad in trouble… Not he’s only 12 and is turning to be both…
Preparations and more Preparations!
Now is the time for last minute preparations: 13 hungry sailors will need to eat well, drink well, sleep as well as possible in order to perform. That’s a lot of planning because we don’t have refrigeration in order to save weight. In fact we carry very little water as we make water along the…
Wednesday July 10th: Weather and Competition
We have a strong high pressure system building which should make for a good race. Forecasting precisely passed 3 days is challenging. That is one of the challenges of Pacific Cup: Being good enough meteorologists and strategists to take full advantage of changing weather patterns. We will be on the ocean for more than 7…