Preparation continues for the Pacific Cup

May 31st and June 1st was our second practice weekend in preparation for the Pacific Cup. I feel as though most of us are becoming much more comfortable around each other. We are also all beginning to see what needs to be done when, and who is best at doing it.

The bowmen are Morgan and Robbie, while skippering has been a mix of me with light wind, my brother and my Dad in the heavier winds. Cameron does a lot of jib trimming and I did my fair share of main trimming. Mark Towill and Ralfie Steitz were not able to come out that weekend, so we had Eric Arndt and Jeff Thorpe in their places.

One of our main goals

/by

Preparing for the Pacific Cup 2008

With less than two months until the start of the Pacific Cup, Allie Cayard shares a bit of insight into the team’s preparation for the race from San Francisco to Hawaii.

The crew of the Hula Girl consists of Paul, Danny and me (Allie) Cayard, along with two Marin Catholic High School alumni who are attending Chico State, Morgan Gutenkunst and Cameron McCloskey. We also have two more experienced offshore sailors who did the Transpac Race last year on Disney’s Morning Light; Mark Towill and Robbie Kane. Mark is from Hawaii and is attending Brown University; Robbie is from Connecticut and is attending the University of Rhode Island.

In preparation for the Pacific Cup Paul, Danny, Morgan and I are attending a safety course at California Maritime Academy in Vallejo, California. All of us had our first test on Hula Girl as a team on the 26th and 27th of April. As a beginner on big boats I have a great deal of learning to do, but I felt as though my team was willing to work with me which is a great feeling, especially when one is your older brother. Most of the crew selection was done by my Dad because he has the most experience and knows best! However, it all started with the three of us as a family thing. The food is going to be all freeze dried, which will bring my Dad back to his first Whitbread memories. The boat is going through a few changes at the moment to make it more of a racing boat rather than a cruising boat.

I personally am most looking forward to the experience. It will be one that many people only dream of doing and I am very blessed to have this opportunity. I am also looking forward to growing from the experience because I have always been pampered and being on a boat for ten days will ALL boys will be a new experience for me. I am least looking forward to smelly boys and dirty guy jokes!

This is also the first offshore race for both my brother and I. Danny and a few of the crew brought the boat up to SF from Southern California, but this is an entirely new experience.

I am not quite sure what my responsibilities will be on board, but I have a small feeling I will take on a motherly role with the boys while at the same time being treated like one of the boys by my father.

Sailing with my Dad will no doubt be fun and intense. At times I may even want to kill him, but in the end it’s all worth the experience. I love my Dad with all my heart and he has been the best father anyone could ask for. I am grateful to be stuck on a boat with both him and my brother for ten days before I go off to college.

I have no idea where the name Hula Girl comes from. We debated for a while whether to change it and if so what to change it to. I think we’ll find a meaning for it on our trip to Hawaii.

– Allie Cayard

/by

TIME TO PLAY JUDGE

In the May Issue of Seahorse Magazine, columnist Paul Cayard provided his latest theory regarding the America’s Cup, and it has to do with an interpretation of the Deed of Gift that might become the next fodder for the New York legal system. The crux of his position focuses on whether the complete boat must be constructed within the country being represented, or just the hull.

Modern America’s Cup rules have required that hulls be built in the country of their club, with masts, sails, hardware, etc. able to come from elsewhere. Cayard believes that since the 34th America’s Cup match between the Swiss Alinghi team and the American BMW Oracle Racing team will be following the strict terms of the Deed of Gift, that everything – winches, cordage, instruments – will need to come from their respective countries.
Here is how the DoG reads:

“Any organized yacht Club of a foreign country… shall always be entitled to the right of sailing a match for this Cup with a yacht or vessel propelled by sails only and constructed in the country to which the challenging Club belongs, against any one yacht or vessel constructed in the country of the Club holding the Cup. ”

We suspect this is a non-issue for the Americans, but can the same be said for the Swiss? When asked for their interpretation, the American team agreed with Cayard, while the Swiss team declined to comment. What do you think?

Cast your vote here:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/08/0505

/by

The 2008 Pacific Cup.

Starting in San Francisco and finishing in Oahu’s Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, the Pacific Cup is organized by St. Francis Yacht Club. This year marks the 15th edition of the biennial race, which will commence on July 14. More than 70 boats are expected to participate in the 2,070 mile downwind race.

Together with his son and daughter, Paul Cayard is preparing their Santa Cruz 50 Hula Girl for the 2008 Pacific Cup.

/by

2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Final Race Day

Short Story

Warpath won the day and we finished third, 1 point out of second and 5 points out of first.

Long story

The wind was very shifty today. We played the shifts very well and worked through the fleet in the first race to win by a healthy margin. In the second race, we were over the start line early, started last, and got in phase while amazingly most of the fleet was out of phase and we marched through to finish 5th!

It doesn’t get better than today. Looking forward, we have to eliminate the two bad races and keep our top 6 consistency and we will be in good shape for the World Championship next month.

Running for the plane.

Out.

/by

2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Race Day 3

The forecast was for a strong northwester today and it was for the first race. When it blows out of the northwest here it is very shifty. With the wind blowing 22-24 knots from 315, the first race got underway at 1040. A number of boats were over the start line early including the eventual race winner Barking Mad. Their comeback is an example of what can be done when in phase in a very shifty wind. I did not do a very good job in the first race and we seemed to be constantly out of phase. We struggled and finally finished 19th.

At the start of the second race, our boat speed indicator shut down and we sailed without that valuable reference as well as True Wind Direction for the first windward leg of the race. When the wind is very unstable, both of these indicators are very important and useful. We managed to get up to the first windward mark in pretty decent shape around 10th and then Kyle, our F-18 pilot, took the paddle wheel out and fixed the boats speed. From there we moved up to fifth by the finish. Meanwhile, Barking Mad had another great race by starting well and staying in phase to win again!. They are not slow either and this helps of course.

In the last race, we crossed the French on port tack and they hailed “protest”. It was close but I thought we were ok. But if the starboard tack boat protests, then the port tack boat doesn’t have much recourse. So I told the guys we should do a penalty turn and we did. This put us back into 15th place. The crew of Warpath kept racing hard and we managed to grind back to 5th at the finish, beating that French boat by 4 places!

The truth is, I am happy that we “fouled” someone and did our penalty turn. There are way too many fouls going on out on the race course that never get absolved by the offending party. This situation has gotten a lot worse since I last raced in this class three years ago.

So we are in fourth place tonight. Not bad all things considered. We just need to avoid the disastrous races and we will be right up at the top. Barking Mad is leading by a bunch, Opus, yesterdays leader is in second place, and Mascalzone, the current world Champion is in third. “Nerone”, we were tied with at the end of racing both Thursday and Friday, fell back a bunch with two bad races today and a disqualification at the end of the day yesterday…

Tomorrow’s forecast is 13-15 knots from the north. Two races are scheduled.

Stuart Hartley the Warpath team photographer, whom I mistakenly left out of the email last Wednesday, has been taking photos out on the water and I am posting them on my website. Take a look at www.cayardsailing.com.

/by

2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Race Day 2

The breeze was in first thing this morning. We got underway with the first race of the day right at 1035 with 22 knots from 170 and BIG waves. All the Farr 40’s were on #4 jibs and downwind was flat out planning. Opus of Germany won the race and we had a decent performance to get 6th while the two leaders from yesterday, Mascalzone Latino and Barking Mad were back a bit.

For the second race of the day, the wind had moderated a bit and half the fleet went with a #3 jib which is slightly bigger than a #4. The wind actually was down in the 18 knot range, from 180, and those of us with the #4’s struggled a bit up the first windward leg. We had good positioning on our approaches to the windward mark all day, avoiding the big starboard tack line up which was extra painful today with the big waves on starboard tack. We had a good run and changed the jib to the #3 for the second beat. We sailed fast and the correct way, which happened to be to the right and moved into third place by the second windward mark. Again Mascalzone and Barking Mad were back but again Opus was leading and in fact won the second race too!

The wind really dropped off for the third race, down to 12 knots and kept moving right…now 190. I got us a terrible start and we were deep…almost last. We were just very late at the committee boat end of the line and even when we tacked to port we had no clear air. So we spent the first beat just trying to get some oxygen and got to the first mark about 24th. Barking Mad had a great start and was out in front right away. We managed to grind our way back to about 14th I think at the finish. I am a bit down on myself about that last race.

There were plenty of red protest flags out there today and plenty of people calling the race committee after finishing to say they were protesting. Amazingly, very few protests ever come to fruition. I really enjoy not being involved in all that stuff and so far we have been real clean.

I haven’t seen the official scores but I think we are still tied for third with Nerone, a few points behind Mascalzone and about 11 behind Opus. Still lots of racing left.

For the official results go to www.Premiere-racing.com

Tomorrows forecast has a front passing over Miami at 0600 with lots of rain and then a sharp wind shift to the NNW and a strong cool breeze for tomorrow. When the wind blows from the NNW here it is offshore and so very shifty. Should be a lot of fun for those who get it right.

/by

2008 Acura Miami Grand Prix- Race Day 1

The day started with a postponement due to lack of wind. This allowed Howes, Ed Reynolds and I an opportunity to discuss the program and our planning for the Worlds in April. So for and hour and a half we sat a “Big Pink” eating waffles and talking about airplanes.

The committee sent us out at 1030 and we finally got race 1 underway around 1300 after a one hour wait on the water. The wind direction for Race 1 was 170 at 10 knots. We race right off the eastern shore of Key Biscayne. The Gulf Stream current runs north at a couple of knots just 2 miles off shore. So when going to windward in a southerly wind, one would think that going to the right in the shallower water would be good. Well the winner of both races came out of the left, and it was the same boat, current World Champion, Mascalzone Latino from Napoli. Barking Mad which is from the USA sailed well to get two 2nd’s. Nerone, another Italian boat, from Rome, (southern Italian boys can sail!) Got a 7,3 I believe.
Onboard Warpath, we managed a 5, 6 so we are in pretty good shape so far.

The rest of the fleet was more up and down with their results. The competition if very tight. With 30 boats in the Farr 40 fleet, small mistakes on the first windward leg cost a lot.

It was a mild day with the wind maxing out at 12 knots about 1500. It was also pretty stable.

We are happy with our consistency and our new boat.

Tomorrow will be a different day with winds in the teens and low 20’s.

You can see all the results at: premiere-racing.com

/by

Acura Miami Grand Prix

The Farr 40 Class has landed in Miami this week for the second regatta of the spring. Thirty boats will be competing over four days, from March 6-9 with ten races scheduled. The fleet is extremely competitive with several new boats launched this spring. We just got our new Warpath and yesterday was our first sail. So far, things feel pretty good so I am optimistic that we will have a little bump in our performance over Key West.

There is a lot more to getting a new boat ready to go than just ordering one. Dave Armitage, our mainsheet trimmer and sail designer, has done a really nice job getting all our Quantum sails built in time and they look very good. The boat has a new Southern Spars rig and Even Evens has installed the new B&G H3000 instrument package onboard. Brad Fitzgerald and his team at Fitzgerald Racing have put the perfect bottom on the boat (nice bottoms are good in sailing too). Chris Cantrick and CT Olander who work for the Howes, did a great job preparing the boat. The crew has been working on all the details here the past two days and it will continue for a while until every detail is perfect.

So here we are, ready to roll, heading toward the world championship in April. The Farr 40 World Championships will be also in Miami so we are getting plenty of time on this race track and should feel very comfortable with the weather here by then.

The crew of Warpath for this regatta:

Greg Glendell-Bow

Kyle Weaver-Mast and resident F-18 pilot

Mark Towill-Pit and Morning Light team member

Nate Reynolds-Navigator and Pit Assist

Rome Kirby-Floater and yes, son of Jerry

Fred Howe-Owner and downwind trimmer

Grant (Louie) Loretz-Upwind trimmer and life member of Team New Zealand

Dave Armitage-Main Trimmer and Sail Designer

Steve Howe-Owner/Driver

Paul Cayard-Tactician

Our support team:

Ed Reynolds-Quantum Sails President and GM of Warpath

CT Olander-Boat Captain and Tender Driver

Joyce Hamilton-she is the one who does everything (every team needs one)

Barbara Thoney-Housing and logistics

Tomorrow’s forecast is for a very light day with possibly up to 10 knots in the morning and then dying through the day. So we are docking out at 0800 with the Barking Mad crew to get some early sailing in with our light air sails.

We had the weigh in today so now we are off to dinner which should be a bit of a feast.

/by

Key West Race Week – Update Final

Three races today in perfect Key West conditions-18-24 knots of wind and sunshine.

There was way too much action to go through it all. The first two races were great for us with a 3, 5 but the third one was bad.

The scores aren’t out yet but I think Barking Mad and Mascalzone tied for first. The French were probably third. I think we may have slipped to 7th or even 8th today. The final results will be available at www.premiere-racing.com.

The amazing thing was watching Mascalzone come back through the fleet after being over early in 3 races. They are truly quick. The French were very impressive in their speed too and they have a brand new boat here so we are hoping for some of that with our new boat which will be ready for the next regatta in March.

We are pretty happy with our regatta. Just getting used to sailing together and sorting out the boat and sails. Being down here in Key West at this time of the year is a treat no matter where you finish.

/by