2000 – 2001

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Pacific Cup Updates

July 23, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Rage update 7-23 3:43am pdt
Distance to finish: 35 miles, bearing 237 magnetic

The last 100 miles or so has been really wild. Knarly squalls, a couple of kite changes, no one sleeping.

We called in at our 100 mile check in amidst a flurry of activity. Steve had just put on a fabulous display of controlled driving in an extremely violent squall. Thank goodness we had up the 1.5 fractional or the Whomper would have destroyed something. I was trimming with Oliver grinding and George on the main for about 1/2 hour of exhilaration. Or was that sheer terror? The boat was going from 18 to 20+ knots when I bothered to look, which wasn’t much. Sheets of spray enveloped the whole front of the boat as she pounded through waves just like a giant speedboat.

Fortunatly, the wind let up and Steve (being the owner of Rage) went below to call Philippe Kahn, the owner of Pegasus, on the SSB Radio. Although we had closed in, they will be first to finish and we wanted to congratulate Philippe and his crew for a good race across this big ocean. Philippe was very gracious and said he enjoyed racing against us. He also said we are still making them nervous until the moment they cross the line.

Soon after, the wind died down and it was back up with the big kite. We are steaming relatively comfortably towards the finish. While I have been writing this we have closed to 29 miles. At 25 to go we call the Pacific Cup race commitee again to check in.

I want thank all of those who helped me get Rage ready for this race. Without all of the personal help from so many talented people, we would not have been competitive. Especially a big thanks to my sponsors for this race and my “Made in America” Open 60.

Just did our 25 mile check in. We may still win this whole thing on corrected time! Hopefully the next update will be from the dock at Kanehoe yacht club, the island of Oahu, Hawaii, Paradise, Earth.

Bruce