2010 Pacific Cup

I have loved boats all of my life. I can remember staring with rapt attention at pictures of sailboats in Sail Magazine at the barber shop while everyone else was trying to sneak peeks at Playboy...I love women, but sail boats are my passion.

So tonight I write from my cabin, 50 yards away from Delicate Balance. She sits ready and waiting, like a thoroughbred waiting for the bell at Churchill Downs. Racers, whether they be human, horses, or boats...just know when their time has come. They can sense the tension in the preparation for a major event. I believe that boats have personalities, some of which is their own, and a LOT of which is imbued on her by the men and women who work her decks. To me, boats are living beings...

So DB sits and waits impatiently tonight...straining at her lines, knowing that there is a great adventure in her future. She was bred for this, and I'm honored to be able to take her to sea.

At nearly every marina and boatyard around the bay, there are dozens of sailors crawling all over their boats in preparation for their respective Pacific Cup race starts. It's an interesting bit of observation. Some boats have most of their crew aboard, worrying every detail. Others sit silent, apparently ready to go. I think we're somewhere in between. Delicate Balance is rigged...the only decisions left are headsails. Two more sleeps and we're off.

A new starter battery was installed today, probably the final major install before we load the food and crew. The Iridium satphone is up and operating, thanks to Lewis from Global Marine Networks without whom I'd still be staring at the screen asking...wtf?

Right now all of the naviguessers and most of the crews are looking at the weather forecasts in the vain attempt to determine where to point the boat once we get under the Golden Gate bridge. The forecast is for light and variable winds in the Gulf of the Farallones, and if our friends bobbing around out there tonight are any indication, the forecast is "terribly" accurate.

We're already a bit heavy, so I'm trying to determine which sails to leave on board. Right now, I'm leaning towards the light air rags...and what the hell, they're lighter. I'm also wondering if we really need to eat as well as our food inventory would indicate ;-).

Three more sleeps until our start...this has been a long six months and I'm chomping at the bit to get underway. The next update is going to be via our Iridium satphone when I test it out on board. Keep your fingers x'd that it works eh?

Hey Rob Grant, one of the boats that you failed to mention in your July piece on the Pac Cup was the OYRA season champion in 2009. Now granted, the Pac Cup is a different race, and we haven't sailed to Kaneohe before, but we're clearly capable of getting someplace in a hurry. How about a little respect for us and our friends on Cinnabar?

Today Doug and I assembled our spinnaker poles after getting them "beefed up" a bit by Eric Chase out in Marshall. They were a bit frightening to watch originally, as they were kind of.....like fly rods. They bent like hell under a load, and we load t hem up pretty well with our huge asymmetrical kites. We're now finally able to sail with our rated sail configuration...for the first time since last June.
We then headed back to the 'hood (Richmond), and cleaned the boat out of all of the tools and extraneous crap. My threat? "If it can't swim, it isn't staying aboard". So the Fein and Dremel tools took a walk. I conceded on a battery powered drill as long as no more than three drill bits came along for the ride.
I'm now staring at a massive pile of sails and a weather forecast trying to determine which pieces of cloth are going to make the race. We're not going to be carrying all of them because of the weight concerns. Lighter is faster.
Last pre-race practice is tomorrow. Until then.

Nick

Welcome family and friends to the Delicate Balance Pacific Cup weblog. We're going to attempt to bring the race a bit closer to you through nightly postings describing our experiences on the 2010 Pacific Cup. It'll probably be boring as hell because we're actually a boat full of friends that like sailing together...so if you're looking for scandal, and tales of beatings with winch handles, you're going to have to look elsewhere. OTOH, here you're going to be able to read about tales of daring do...such as what happens when a crew of 8 eats a meal of kielbasa and beans. I promise you, it won't be funny.

Yesterday we had six weeks to go, and Doug and I were feeling pressed for time. This morning we realized that we were down to two weeks - a day. We're kind of freaking out. Our start is July 8 at 1315 hours. So stay tuned.

- Nick