Why do the organizers call the Pacific Cup the Fun Race to Hawaii? To understand that answer you have to be able to understand the weather patterns between San Francisco and Hawaii.
This time of year the predominant weather system in our area is the Pacific High that sits off the San Francisco Bay, about 500 miles or more. A great way to visualize how this High Pressure System works is to go check out the Earth Wind Model http://earth.nullschool.net/. This app is basically a google earth image that shows the outline of land masses and wind lines that move in the direction of the wind, their color shows intensity. Highs move in a clockwise direction while Lows moves counter clockwise. The pacific high right now is a ridge that covers a couple of thousand miles west southwest of San Francisco. The trick is to use that high to your best advantage which would be the sling shot effect; shooting the boat like a boomerang around the bottom side of that high. As us Cowboys from Wyoming would say, Yeeee Haaa!!!!
The Pacific Cup is basically 5 races in one. In full disclosure you have to understand this information is coming from me, who has never done this race but has tried to understand it the best as I can. I do have some cruising experience. The first race is getting out of the thermal effect off the coast. The thermals are created by the hot California central and southern valleys that heat the air causing it to rise which is then back filled by cooler air coming off the water. This affect can last for a few hundred miles off shore, typically moving north to south. So the first race is a sailing reach across the wind out of the gate for a couple of days or so. The next obstacle is to get over the ridge of high pressure that runs west/northwest to east/southeast. You can see this ridge as solid blue image surrounded by wind lines moving clockwise in the model. At the time of this writing the ridge is bow shape coming out of the northwest running southeast but then curving to the east/northeast. This ridge right now would be easy to cross without having to go too far south. This is critical because the race is usually won by the boat that crosses Longitude 130 at the correct latitude. The big question is; which latitude? Usually somewhere between latitude 28 to latitude 35 (San Francisco is latitude 38). In the Earth Wind App you can click on your mouse or touch the screen and it will display the Latitude/Longitude. You can also see a grid under the wind lines, the first grid line off the California coast is Longitude 130. My guess would be the current correct tactic would probably dictate crossing Longitude 130 at a higher latitude, leaving the boat setup for a nice run to Hawaii but then again this will probably change by the time we get out there.
The third race begins when you first enter the trades and start running downwind to Hawaii. Again the Earth Wind Model shows a steady flow of wind lines moving directly to Hawaii from that ridge. This is where the “FUN” part begins. If the conditions are right this is where the term fair winds and following seas originated. The trade wind swells are high and wide and going in the same direction. Those sailors that do this year after year, do it for this experience. I have never had this type of ride in all of my sailing; I am soooo looking forward to this.
Hopefully at this point we will be around the half way mark or better and by then we should have the rhythm down of 4 hours on and 4 hours off watches and pushing the boat as fast as we can, 24 hours per day. This ride will go for a while and as we start approaching the Island, the squalls start arriving. Now we are into race No. 4; weaving through the squalls. Again this is not an experience I have had, but my best guess would be they are like the thunderstorms that cross the plains of Wyoming. Big billowing Cumulus Clouds holding a lot of moisture that from time to time needs to be dropped. When that rather violent necessity occurs, there will be a large down draft created by the momentum of the rain falling. You always want to leave the squall to the left, otherwise you get caught in their vortex and simply sit for a long while, which isn’t moving very fast to the finish line. The 5th and final race is close to that finish line inside the Kaneohe Bay which can be tricky especially at night; then the party begins!
Check out the Pacific Cup web site, to learn more about the event. Yellow Brick Road website so you can following our track as compared to our competitors. The Earth Wind Model so you can see the wind that drives us. Then you may start to understand why; they call this the Fun Race To Hawaii!
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