Friends of Rhum Boogie and Her Crew

This coming Wednesday, July 7, Rhum Boogie with skipper and crew cross the starting line and race from San Francisco to Hawaii in the 2010 Pacific Cup.

Who’s aboard?

Wayne Lamprey – owner/skipper

Olivier Laparra – on his third Pac Cup, Ashley Perrin – inveterate sailor/adventurer,

Mathieu Peyron – stepping up to navigate, and David Krausz – making the move from round the buoys to ocean racing.

The race – the Pacific Cup. Each year racing sailboats cross the Pacific from California to Hawaii. On odd-numbered years, the race is the Trans-Pac and the start is from Long Beach. Even-numbered years, the Pacific Cup starts in front of the St Francis yacht club just off San Francisco’s Marina Green and boats head out the Golden Gate to cover 2070 miles to Kaneohe on Oahu. The web-site for the Pac Cup for more information is here: http://pacificcup.org/

Following the Race – and Rhum Boogie. The boats – about 60 in all – are divided into divisions based upon performance and each division starts on a different day. Rhum Boogie is in Division C and starts on July 7 at 12:45. Here are the division splits and the boats in each: http://pacificcup.org/2010/divisions There are nine boats in Division C, each with a different performance handicap, the number in the far right column. Rhum Boogie according to the computer and rating gurus is the “slowest” boat in Division C. You can track our progress – where we are in the Pacific – as each boat will have a transponder on board and the location of all the boats will be shown here: http://pacificcup.org/2010/divisions Per the ratings, Rhum Boogie should be behind all other boats in Division C. The real result won’t be known until handicaps are applied and so-called corrected times are calculated. Over the course of the race, 2070 miles, the difference in handicaps in Division C between the slowest boat, Rhum Boogie with a rating of 566, and the fastest boat, Andromeda with a rating of 528, amounts to a lot of time, 21.85 hours to be exact. That means that if Rhum Boogie, a petite 33 footer with a crew of five, finishes less than 21.85 hours after Andromeda, a stately Swan 59 with a crew complement of eleven (!!), Rhum Boogie beats Andromeda.

The fastest boats in the fleet are Pegasus and Limit – large, fast big-budget boats from California and Australia respectively. They are in Division E and start on Saturday the 10th. Despite our three day head start, these boats will likely get to Oahua before poor Rhum Boogie. A photo of Rhum Boogie on the Bay is attached.

The Start. The race starts in the San Francisco Bay just in front of the St Francis Yacht Club and our start is at 12:45. We will be docked at the St. Francis the night before and will shove off by 11:00. You can join family and friends if you wish on the race-deck at the St Francis to watch the boats cross the line as the starting gun is fired. (Stride with confidence into the club and tell them you are there for the Pac Cup start.) The other option is to watch the start using the St Francis “race-cam,” that is pointed right down the starting line. Here’s a link: http://207.150.197.186/ Rhum Boogie will be the boat with a red hull, sail number 33007. (The far end of the line will be the favored end, so expect the boats to crowd there.)

Once we reach Oahu – 10 to 14 days from our start – the Mai Tais flow, the luaus commence, we party, relax and enjoy Hawaii.

Aloha, Wayne