“Rage” is Back! It’s on for the Pacific Cup

Pacific Cup UPdates

“Rage” is Back!
It’s on for the Pacific Cup
By: Bruce Schwab, skipper “Made in America” Globe Challenge

San Francisco

June 28, 2000

The 11th running of the Pacific Cup, the bi-annual 2,070 downhill race from San Francisco to Kaneohe Bay in Oahu is fast approaching, with the first fleet of boats set to start on July 10th followed successively by the larger boats with July 14th set as the start date for Division H. That will be our start. I’m sailing on Rage this year to take a run at getting her record back.

Rage first made headlines in 1993 in her inaugural race across the Pacific. She was so radical and rated so fast, they in fact made her sail her first Transpac with only half of her intended sail area. Despite the heavily penalized sail plan, she still took first in class in PHRF. The following year in 1994, her first Pacific Cup, she broke the course record arriving in 8 days, 7 hrs., then did it again in 1996 with a run of 7 days, 6 hrs. In 1998, Roy Disney Jr.’s newest Pyewacket took the title for course record, completing the run in 6 days, 14 hrs.

I’ve spent a lot of time this year with the original design team of Rage – Steve Rander who built Rage at his Schooner Creek Boat Works in Portland, Ted Van Dusen who did all of the composite work, and Tom Wylie who designed Rage back in 1992. They’re building the Open 60 for my “Made in America” Global Challenge, and in many ways, Rage is the mother of “Wylie’s Wocket” – our affectionate term for “Made in America’s” Open 60. A few weeks ago during a noisy cell phone conversation while stuck in traffic on the Bay Bridge, I quipped with Steve that it would be fun to “turbo charge” Rage using some of the concepts we’ve come up with for the Open 60. We tossed some ideas back and forth about changes to the rig and a revved up sail plan, and before I made it off the Powell St. exit, we had a plan.

The rig is already a very similar sail plan to that envisioned for the Open 60. Also, the keel on Rage was deepened in 1998 from 10′ to 13′, with a resulting increase in righting moment. We simply needed to put the boat back in balance and add some tricks for deep sailing angles and we’d be ready for battle. I was also very excited about getting out on the ocean for some long distance sailing again.

I’ve been driving a desk for a long time – 6 straight months now of non-stop work to build the “Made in America” campaign. In the last Pacific Cup aboard the “Azzura” we won the double-handed division, and I’m dying to get out there again.A break to Hawaii would be just grand about now, and we’ll be able to test some of the new rigging concepts planned for the Open 60. We had Rage out for a check sail the other day, and having already done some minor adjustments, and she streaked up the City Front in fine form.

The first race for the “Made in America” challenge will be the Atlantic Challenge in July of next year, but we need all the on-the-water data we can collect to trial our concepts. So now, having fully justified the trip to Hawaii in my mind, I can focus the next few days on scrambling to get all the rigging adjustments done and the sails completed The idea of pre-testing my design concepts on a proven boat, Rage, is very exciting and is a further step in the development of the “Made In America” Open 60 program.

For further information, contact: Joan Garrett/V.B.S.I. – media liaison for The Made In America Global Challenge

Rage” Background

San Francisco

June 28, 2000

The concept for Rage began in 1984 when builder Steve Rander of Schooner Creek Boatworks in Portland, raced his 42′ sloop Magic Carpet in the 1984 Pacific Cup. As 1984 was his first Pacific Cup, Steve carefully followed the progress of the fleet, and noticed that for some reason the 66′ Merlin, 42′ Magic Carpet, and 27′ Lighten Up produced similar day runs in surfing conditions. Turns out, all three boats had similar displacement length and sail area displacement ratios.

Surmising that altering the displacement length and sail area displacement ratios would result in a winning boat, Steve teamed up with designer Tom Wylie in 1992 to create Rage, a 70′ ultralight that indeed became all the rage in the world of 70ft boat design. Weighing in at 21,000 lbs, Rage was made from a wood veneer Klegecell cored composite and fitted with an 85′ carbon rig designed and built by Ted Van Dusen of Composite Engineering. Unlike other carbon rigs of the time, Rage’s rig was designed to withstand a full mast in the water knock down with no shrouds attached – a forerunner of things to come including the freestanding rigs of the Wylie Cats and the Wylie Wocket Open 60 currently being built for Bruce Schwab’s “Made in America” challenge.

The plans for Rage arrived in Portland in mid-January of 1993, leaving only 10 weeks for production, but on March 13, 1993 Rage was launched – just two days before the in-water cut off date of March 15th. While Rage was completed in time for the 1993 Transpac, ruling changes nearly kept her from racing. It was not until the skippers meeting a few days before the race that she was authorized to compete, but allowed to go with only half her intended sail area so as not to overshadow the other 70 raters. Despite her severe sail plan limitations, Rage was first in her PHRF class in her inaugural run.

Rage competed in the 1994 Pacific Cup with a course record run of 8 days, 7 hrs, and in 1996 she again set the course record at 7 days, 6 hrs. Her record would not fall until 1998 when Roy Disney Jr’s. Pyewacket completed the run in 6 days, 14 hrs., 23 min’s. In 1998, Rage had changed her keel – deepening her draft from 10′ to 13′. As a result of the keel change, her righting moment was increased significantly, but her sail inventory was no longer well matched to the new configuration and she was lead into the finish by Pyewacket, Merlin and Magnitude in 1998.

Rage will compete again in the 2000 Pacific Cup, and will be out to regain her record. Her sail inventory has been updated, and for the first time, she will be using a spinnaker pole. The 32′ carbon pole will allow the tack of the asymmetrical spinnakers to be brought to weather and thus support much deeper sailing angles. If recent performances are any indication she should do well, having recently broken the Oregon offshore record of 30 hours with a stunning 19 hour course time.

For further information, contact: Joan Garrett/V.B.S.I. – media liaison for The Made In America Global Challenge

Rage Updates

“Rage” Pacific Cup preparation Log:

6-25: Helpers: Tom Wylie, Adrien Fournier. They help me go up rig and remove upper spreaders to check bases. Not an easy task, with many pounds of duct tape & goo on the spreader tips to saw off with my leatherman serrated knife blade. Thanks goodness I just sharpened it. Spreader bases were pretty beat up, especially the port side. Called Rander & found out they had snagged a J35 rig while sailing, and dragged the 10,000 lb. 35 footer along for a while with the upper shroud. Good thing they were overbuilt to start with. You never now when you’ll be dragging boats along with your rigging.

6-26: Helpers: Adrien. Adrien got started on our communications installations. A major task. We are installing: Inmarsat-C satellite email transceiver, a Mini-M satellite phone and data station (web access at sea!), and Sea-Station 2000 real-time weather satellite receiver. We need this stuff to send our daily updates from the boat, and to get super clear weather pics direct from the satellites. I got started on the new track installation for the spinnaker pole. Using 1-1/2″ track, the biggest stock stuff around. For a 32ft pole we can’t risk ripping the track off. Drilling and tapping in the thick carbon mast was gross. Carbon dust everywhere.

6-27: Adro, Tom, Steve Nurse, & Me. Turns out that there are all kinds of computer configuration and software protocol problems with getting things to talk to each other. It’s really too bad that you can’t actually buy stuff and have it work. You have to be a programmer to figure out what the hell is wrong. Thank god Adrien can figure this stuff out! More carbon dust and mast scrambling for me while finishing up the track. Then we motor over to Svendsens boatyard where I have sweet-talked Chris Evanoff to stay late and help us raise Rage’s huge mast and replace a pad under the base. I am moving the rig more forward for optimum downwind speed. Mast forward is slow upwind, but fast downwind and it’s downwind to Hawaii. Good thing too. That’s why we race there, and not back!

6-28: Adro, Tim Danford, & Me. Adrien & Tim take turns matching wits with the work of Bill Gates henchmen. I get the mast repositioned with as much prebend as I can, then seal up the partners (where the mast goes thru the deck) so I can pour in the “Spartite”. This is a pourable urethane hard plastic that forms a strong seal and locks the mast in position. In the morning I have a conference call with Joan, and the AMD people. Worked out the details on their official supplier sponsorship. A real “corporate” name! It’s not a big dollar deal but we are delighted to have them aboard. Our association with them could lead to something big. Besides, they make great PC chips, and are supplying us our computers! Stay tuned for a press release and soon as the paperwork is finished. By the way, we survive completely on donations until we land a major sponsor. I’m putting all of our resources into this Pac Cup in a bet that we will do well and generate some PR that will magically attract some $. Hope the donations pick up steam again, it’s going to be really tight after the Pac Cup. Actually it’s really tight now. But if we continue to get help from new and old supporters, somehow it will all work out.

6-29: Eureka! Adrien gets the Mini-M working, and we actually sort of surf the net at a staggering 9600-baud. This is really slow, but it pretty cool to be able to hook up almost anywhere in the world, totally wireless. Of course the unit costs a fortune, and the 7 minutes we were on cost about 21 bucks! It’s going to cost a bundle to send out the pictures while racing, they will take forever at this transfer rate. But this is what we do for fame and lack of fortune. I pour more spartite (ran out yesterday). (This goo costs a bunch too, got them low down, no good, goin broke blues!) On another positive note, Tom Wylie has offered to pitch in a bit towards some hardware for the Pac Cup on Rage. He is very excited that I’m aboard for this trip and feels that there is a lot more speed we can crank out of the old girl. Without Tom, I never would have gotten this far. Here he should be getting paid for consulting with me on this stuff, and instead he’s pitching in his time & money. I’d feel guilty if I weren’t so glad he’s as excited as I am.

6-30/am: This a.m. was a bit stressful. Jeanie was upset that I wasn’t going with her on her long planned 4th of July visit to Tahoe with some friends. I need to make some money before the race so I can pay our bills when I get back from Hawaii. With working on Rage, sailing to Hawaii, and then in Hawaii for a week, I have no income for a month. Much of the expenses for Rage come out of my pocket (credit card) until Made in America gets enough donations to reimburse me. I haven’t spent much time with Jeanie lately, but didn’t know what else to do.

6-30/pm: Feeling a bit better now. One of my supporters gave me a pep talk about priorities (as in: Jeanie). Then I ran into early supporter Eric Jungeman, who made another donation on the spot! That will help Made in America reimburse me for the continuous expenses, and it’s tax deductible for him! (hint, hint) So I’ll work like hell tomorrow, then head to the hills with Jeanie for a couple of days. I was dyin for a mountain bike ride anyway. Besides, I’ll get more done with a clear head when we get back. Also, I have a tendency to come up with brilliant boatspeed ideas while careening down steep singletrack. Don’t ask me why.

Talk to later!
Ragin Wocketeerin mountain bikin Bruce

Singlehanded Transpac reflections.

San Francisco

July 4, 2000

As a former participant, and friend of many of this years entries, I want to take a moment to call attention the Singlehanded Transpac race that is underway. If you haven’t been following it, a great race is happening. The website is: http://209.24.137.193/index.html.

It has been impossible for me to avoid checking every day to see how everyone is doing! I did some rigging work for a few of the racers in the last week before the start on June 24th. The entries of this race are really “My People”, and I wish I was out there with them. They are a real bunch of characters, and truly great folks to know. Many of them are some of my greatest spiritual supporters, and I am one of theirs. Some simply do not have winning on their minds, but wouldn’t miss the race for the world. A few were in the race in 1996 when I won, and are back again. I feel like I sort of “missed the bus” by not being out there with them.

Here are some of my friends in the race, starting with those roughly closest to Hawaii. I will just list a few, there are 23 entries!

Anna Stockel: All who know Anna know she is one tough chick. She is sailing her Santa Cruz 50 “Sundowner” with the goal of first to finish in Hawaii, boat for boat. She has the fastest boat, but it’s not easy to sail a 50 footer at full speed. A lot of ‘tough’ guys would cower when those big sails start flogging! She will have a real challenge for first to finish from Chuck Beazell, but Anna has an indomitable spirit and will never give up. Anna has been a great supporter of mine, and I am flattered to have her respect and support.

Chuck Beazell: Chuck is sailing his Hunter 54 called “Joe”. Chuck is a really great sailor. He was in the race in 1996, and fought like hell to stay in front of me (I was on “Rumbleseat”). He knew I would beat him on corrected time, but wanted to beat me boat for boat. My boat was much better for singlehanding but he kept pushing. He push so hard he broke his mast with only about 50 miles to go! But get this: He wanted to beat me so bad, he rigged a brilliant jury rig with his spinnaker poles! With a mere 15 miles to go, I came past and he called me on the VHF radio to reluctantly admit defeat. But he finished under Jury rig in a great display of seamanship. He is very determined and Anna will have her hands full staying ahead till the end. The suspense of who will win this little battle is killing me!

Steve Mann (“Tawodi”), and Barry Ruff (“AXA Pacific”): This is another great “race within a race” Both are racing Wylie 39’s (by our favorite designer, Tom Wylie!), with Steve’s being greatly modified. Steve is younger, very athletic, and looks tough to beat, but may push his equipment too hard. Barry has done a very impressive job preparing his boat, a boat which I liked a great deal. He has a very relaxed and stoic approach, which over the long haul will make him tough. Steve better watch out for Barry, Barry looks like a tough old fart to me.

Ed English: Ed was also in the 96 race aboard his old “Orange Blossom Special”. He is really sharp guy, with a good sense of humor. His old boat (35ft) had some steering control and a few structural problems, but the new Orange Blossom (42ft) should be much better prepared.

Gregg Morris: Greg is truly one of the “Characters” of this race aboard his Moore 24 “Color Blind”. If you saw his boats paint job, you would understand the name! (Actually I just love the colors on this wild little boat) This is Greg’s 4th time in this race, so he’s bound to get it right this time. He will be very tough to beat on corrected time, the Moore has a very good handicap for this race. Greg has a couple of good quotes I often use: His description of the event in general: “A bug light for weirdo’s with boats”. Regarding the safety rules of the race (Gregg hates rules): “These remind me of Mexican Laws: vaguely written but strictly enforced!”

Ken (The General) Roper: The General (no kidding, he was a brigadier General!) has raced this race more than anyone else, on his “Harrier”, a Finn Flyer 31. He embodies spirit of the racers as much as anyone. He is also one of the funniest humans I have ever met. I wish I knew him better, but I never can make it past a couple of sentences in conversation before he cracks me up. He doesn’t even try, but his dry, derisive comments about everything just kill me. Everyone loves the General, if you met him you would too.

Terry McKelvey: Watch out for Terry on her Cal 2-27 “Sensei”. Not only does Anna have a shot of first to finish, Terry will be a threat for 1st on handicap, meaning there is a possibility that Women will sweep this race for the first time! This would be a good year for it, with Ellen MacArthur winning the Singlehanded Transatlantic. I like what Americas Cup heroine Dawn Riley had to say about Ellen’s win: “I think it’s because the Men won’t ask for directions!”. Seriously though, Terry is really involved in the singlehanded sailing scene around here, and a win would be well deserved.

Mike Jefferson: I must say that Mike is a very good friend and supporter. He is a technical whiz, and a fanatical believer in being prepared. So much so that we love to bug him about all the stuff he crams into his Yamaha 33 “Fox Fyre”. In return he rags on me for being a “fanatical racer”. In truth we both greatly respect each other’s approach. The wonderful thing about Mike is that while he’s sometimes a little socially insecure on land, at sea he writes the some of the best stuff you’ll ever read about what makes us go do this crazy event (read his race reports!). He’s not afraid to make fun of his (our?) human foibles, so his stories say a little about all of us.

I could write a book on these folks and others, but it’s time to check on the web for their position reports! And tomorrow it’s back to getting ready for MY race to Hawaii!

I’ll keep you posted,

Bruce Schwab Skipper,
Made in America Globe Challenges

Pacific Cup Updates

July 7, 2000

One of the best things about preparing for an ocean race is all the speculation, whining, boasting, and creative lying that takes place beforehand. And there is no better place for all of these than at the West Marine Pacific Cup party that was hosted by Marina Village last night at the Encinal Yacht Club in Alameda!

Attached are a few pics of the happy sailors at the party. I did my best to capture the overall silliness:

Bill Colombo of Doyle Sails Alameda: When I finally got through the endless line, all the food was gone. This photo reveals where it all went.
	Famous Latitude 38 race editor and photographer Rob Moore caught in the act.
Transpac Legend Skip Allen holding forth by the pool.
	General Characters and perennial race organization stalwarts Bobbi Tosse & John Clauser.
The real reason I go to these parties!

More progress reports on my secret upgrade program for “Rage” later!

Bruce

Special thanks to our Pacific Cup Sponsors!:

Doyle Sails Alameda: Official Supplier of sails to Made in America
Titan winch handles: Makers of the superlight “Viper” carbon winch handles
Forespar Mfg: Makers of our badass 32ft “Turbo” spinnaker pole
Samson Cordage: Suppliers of “Amsteel Blue” running rigging, the strongest and most durable line
MAS Epoxies: Suppliers of Epoxy resin to Made in America
Nobeltec: Providing World-Wide charting software to Made in America
Complete Cruising Solutions:
Waypoint: Knowledgable dealers of Navigation and Weather software, charts, and books
HF Radio on Board: Experts in Marine Communication

Pacific Cup Updates

July 9, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Rage Prep log 2:

7-8: Pacific Cup skippers meeting, and later the Bon Voyage party. Ran into Mark Rudiger, he will be navigating on Philippe Kahn’s Turbo’d Andrews 70 “Pegasus”. Yow! They will be really tough to beat.

7-9: Rage is getting closer to being ready! Went for a test drive today.

Take a look at the 1st attached pic. Now this is a nice lookin’ kite. Bill Colombo from Doyle Sails Alameda was as happy as we were. This was also our first look at the new “Turbo” Carbon spinnaker pole (32′!) from Forespar, what a work of art.

In addition, we tried our new Titan Carbon winch handles. The crew was delighted with how they are so light and easy to use. When we got back to the dock, Steve took all the old aluminum and chrome ones off the boat!

We did some communication testing while sailing. Had no problems test sending a photo via satellite with our “Mini-M” from HF Radio On Board. Then we downloaded a real-time weather satellite picture with our receiver from Marilee at Waypoint.

Our new custom afterguys made from “Amsteel Blue” line by Samson Cordage were like bars of steel, this an amazing material.

Also attached are couple of shots from the mast of Rage. Lots of more rigging, electrical, and misc work to do before the start on friday, including a quick haulout! Stay tuned.

Pacific Cup Updates

July 15, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Arrrhh. Twas a soggy night.

We started yesterday at 2:50pm. Followed Pegasus & Taxidancer out the gate. With their greater crew weight (12 guys? we have 8) they had the edge upwind. But once we cracked off, we started honkin. The sun is up now and roll call is at 9am, so we will be able to see who is ahead and to weather.

I got drenched on our first jib change, so I feel pretty gooey. But it will be warmer soon! Will get you some more pics when things dry out a bit.

Later,

Bruce Schwab
Rockin on Rage
2000 Pac Cup

Special thanks to our Pacific Cup Sponsors!:

Pacific Cup Updates

July 16, 2000

San Francisco, CA

As it turns out, the boat just in front of us yesterday was Taxidancer. We had an all day drag race, going from jibs to reaching kites, and finally to the Whomper. Glad to say we slowly chewed them up.

Pegasus was well south of both of us. They bore off to the south much more than us on the first night. Probably should have gone south with them, but they were to the north of us before dark and we couldn’t see them on radar with the heel angle we had. I think we’ll have a gimbaling radar on the Open 60!

We had a great porpoise show in the afternoon, they are amazing. They go for style points while getting “big air”, but when you try to get a picture of them all you get is the splash after they go back in the water.

It was very light at times last night, and you could almost read by the full moon until the overcast set in. The wind got quite light a few times, a sign we could have gone further south? We will know more at this mornings check in! We are all a bit nervous with anticipation.

I am very happy with all of the Rage upgrades. Our Turbo Forespar carbon pole is working great! Also our Samson “Amsteel” sheets and guys are like steel.

Will try to send another note after the 9am check in.

See ya, Bruce

Me again. Just got the check ins. We have managed to work our way to the south of Taxi. They are still ahead of us as far as miles to Hawaii goes, but I like our position. There is a number of boats pretty well parked up ahead and to the right of us, so we want to go around the bozo zone.” Pegasus has come up in front of us, and are about 15 miles dead ahead. We actually sailed the most miles of anyone in the fleet in the last 24 hrs!

Hi to everyone, talk to you tomorrow from the rockin ship Rage!

Bruce Schwab Skipper

Special thanks to our Pacific Cup Sponsors!:

Pacific Cup Updates

July 17, 2000

San Francisco, CA

12:36am pdt

Position: 30 35N 130 50W

Really really light air. Shifting constantly. It is beautiful out here but very frustrating. Thank goodness for our “Whomper”. Without it we’d hardly be moving. Bill & I are so glad we made it on the flat side, since in this light air we are constantly reaching up to get moving.

We hope like hell that Taxi Dancer and Pegasus are hurtin for wind too!

We had some nice wind off of a “mist” squall for a while. Have you ever seen a “Moon Rainbow?” The moon is so bright we could see one for about a 1/2 hr. really cool.

Later,
Bruce

Position: 30 09N 132 10W

11:24pdt

We are happy! At dawn we noticed a boat square behind us on the horizon. Turns out we took 14 miles out of Taxi Dancer and put another 16 miles between us for a net gain of 30 miles in 24 hrs. Pegasus and us sailed exactly the same miles, but our course was slightly further north so we gain a mile closer to Hawaii. Their lead is now 15 miles closer to Hawaii than us.

They have more leverage to the south, but we have great angle and speed right now. Us hounds are on the trail and won’t let up on the scent!

Attached is pic of some nut on the pole, and also Commander Rander.

Thanks for the good wishes, and Mark Wiltz radioed us off of Anomaly to say hi to his family in Hood River.

More later,

Bruce “Wocket Man”

Bruce here on Rage again, Monday 5pm,

More news on the fleet: Most boats stuck in light air. Several have abandoned in frustration. Some of those who quit are trying to motor to more wind, and at least one, Stray Cat Blues (a J35) is heading back to SF.

Wind is light for us on the sleds, but we can go 8kts in only 6kts of wind and it is actually very pleasant sailing. For once the big boats may do well on corrected time! The wind can be really off & on around the squalls which are starting to show up.

With the boats so spread out it is hard to figure out how everyone measures up on handicap. But Jay our navigator has a spreadsheet on most of the boats progress and miles to go. I’ve been checking it out and here is a list of who’s doing well, boat for boat:

Class H: Pegasus (Andrews 70+) leads us on Rage (Wylie 70) by about 15 miles
G: Triumph (Santa Cruz 52)
F: White Caps (Santa Cruz 50)
E: Osprey (Santa Cruz 40?)
D: Bodacious (Modified Farr IOR one tonner)
C: Elan (Express 37) and Soldini (J-105)
B: Alicante (?) and Red Sky (?)
A: Diminished Capacity (?)
Doublehanded 2: Punk Dolphin (Wylie 39)
Doublehanded 1: Wildflower (Wylie 28) and Mirage (Express 27)

I think 80 boats started this race! It will be interesting to see how all this sorts out.

Naptime,
Bruce

Special thanks to our Pacific Cup Sponsors!:

Pacific Cup Updates

July 18, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Subject: Just like baseball…

Rage Pac Cup day 5 update: What a difference a day makes. It never ceases to amaze me that in this vast ocean, sailboat racing is still a game of inches, just like baseball!

When we left you yesterday morning, Taxi Dancer was on the horizon behind us. We were working with 2 small mist squalls, one on either side of us. We were moving well, but the water 100 yards ahead was totally glassy. Amazingly this contined for about 20 minutes with the wind we were in moving with us. Heading straight for what looked like a skating rink. As we finally ran up to the “great mirror” we saw more ripples to port and a possible escape route. George was on the helm, and declared that “Our Salvation lay to Port”. We fought desparately to sail as high as possible to get around the corner and latch on to the squall to port. Bit by bit it worked.

We we able to the drive off across the squall with the header it gave us. On the horizon behind, Taxi Dancer continued helplessly to the south without the header. After the squall the wind was light, but our westerly position worked to our advantage. The wind had turned a corner and allowed us to sail closer to rhumbline, while still working south. But what about Pegasus?

They had been much further to the south. Would they get the shift? We sailed hard all day and into a beautiful night. Full moon, smooth seas, and a light but steady wind. Shortly before dawn we positioned ourselves in front of a big squall. No wimpy “mist squall”, this gave us 20kts true. The most wind with our super Doyle “Turbo kite” so far. The result: 14-16kts directly for Hawaii for what seemed like an hour. The watch change came, breakfast, then all hands stayed up to listen to the morning roll call.

We gained 65 miles towards Hawaii on Pegasus since yesterday morning!! Rage is now 50 miles closer to the finish than them.

It is far, far, from over, and Pegasus has more leverage to the south. But they have a race on their hands. Taxi Dancer is 88 miles behind.

More later,

Bruce
Wylie Wocket One
Rage

Subject: Rage Position update

Howdy from the Pacific again.

Attached are a couple pics of life aboard. Steve went up the rig to check things out, and says my rigging work looks good.

The wind is filling in today, hopefully we are in the “trades”.To give you a perspective on what sailing on Rage is like, the true wind is off our quarter at about 15 kts. But the apparent wind (the way the wind is actually blowing in our faces) is just forward of the beam at about 7. We are moving at 10. I feel a bit quilty, knowing how hard it is for most of the fleet to get moving. The majority are still on a more northerly route and have difficulty escaping to where we are. We are “Ragin” right by them.

The mileage differences this am were a bit off, due to some goofy software, but we are still doin great.

Lead on Pegasus: 25 miles
Lead on Taxi Dancer: 74 miles

Happily wriden the wooden wocket,

Bruce

Special thanks to our Pacific Cup Sponsors!:

Pacific Cup Updates

July 19, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Rage update, 1/2 way to Hawaii!

So last night, after our watched pulled our 8-12 a.m. shift, things got exciting. The wind had been steadily picking up and the waves were becoming a nuisance when steering. We were making good time, generally pretty close to our desired heading, considering the persistant windshifts.

The watch on deck (Bill, John, Jay, and Campbell) were yukking it up as they usually do around 2 a.m. when the discussion turned to the spinnaker up at the time, our “whomper”… Campbell had just exclaimed: “Dudes, I think we’ll have this baby up till the finish,” when there was an explosive BANG. Those of us below were rudely awakened from our respective nightmares and rushed on deck to see the entire 4,000 sq. ft spinnaker floating mostly in the air alongside us. The halyard had broken (why didn’t I replace that one?!), and so the whole thing was dangling from the pole tip.

Miraculously, we pulled it aboard without a single tear or scratch,albeit soaking wet. The luckier crew were wearing only their skivvies and didn’t get their clothes all wet. It took a few minutes to sort things out and then we set the 1.5 oz. fractional kite. Since the wind had picked up, the smaller kite was almost as fast anyway. At dawn Steve went up the rig and ran the replacement halyard. Turns out that the old halyard was fine but had been munched by a sharp spreader base. I went up the rig myself a couple of hours later to tape things up.

We sailed hard but on the morning check-in, Pegasus had really been moving to the south. They averaged a knot & 1/2(!) faster to take an 8 mile lead on us. Ouch. Hopefully we’re in the same breeze now and we can see how a drag race shapes up.

Tactically, if there is a header (we are both on port jibe), they’ll gain big. If there’s a lift, then it will be a bonus for us. In the meantime we are heading straight at Kanehoe at 13 kts.

Today was our halfway party!! We opened surprise gifts and had a special pizza made by or master chef Oliver “Cookie” Coolidge.

No one seems to grab the camera when we are pulling the sails out of the water.

Rage Parties On!!
Bruce

Special thanks to our Pacific Cup Sponsors!:

Pacific Cup Updates

July 20, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Rage update 7-20
Position: 25 00N 144 49W
Speed: 13.5kts
Course: 223 degrees magnetic
Wind: Propietary information, sorry.

Hi there race fans,

The battle for first to finish is shaping up to be real battle with Pegasus. They hauled ass again last night to take a 32 mile lead closer to Hawaii. But there are more details here for you to know than what meets the eye.

Pegasus is now fully commited to a southerly route. Although they are going really fast, if they jibed right now they would cross behind us. And they must jibe or get a huge header to get to the finish. Our course routes are a about a 100 miles apart. If you assume their jibe angle will be 90 degrees, they need to continue to gain about 20 miles a day to jibe and intersect us. That is assuming no major windshift.

There is traditionally a header (a right shift on port jibe) as you get nearer to the islands, so if that happens soon, that may allow them to narrow the distance between our two different routes. The die is cast for both of us, we simply need to sail as absolutely as fast as we can. Each morning we will wait for the positions in a somewhat anxious state! How much did they gain? Can we hold on?

As the tension increases, I have been working on rallying our mostly corinthian team to work hard. There was a shortage of bunks for the off watch to sleep on the weather side, so at least one of each off watch has been sleeping in a leeward bunk. This is something my racing nature will not allow me to do, so I decided to set an example and have been sleeping on deck on the weather rail when off watch. Don’t worry Jeanie, I stay tethered in so as not to fall off in my sleep! Now that we may have a chance to beat the awesome group of pros on Pegasus, all have joined up to move to the weather side whenever possible. Morale is great, and the nightwatch stories and jokes are hilarious.

Besides, it’s cooler to sleep on deck anyway. It is pretty much a sauna inside!

Speaking of sleep, I’m rather short on it right now.

The water is flying by, but is it flyin fast enough?

Bruce
Rocketship Rage

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Pacific Cup Updates

July 21, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Rage update 7-21, 10am pdt
Position: 22 59N 149 06W
Course: 241 magnetic at 15.5kts

The race for first to Hawaii is really Ragin now. The wind has finally really filled in and the sky is grey and angry looking. Last night was excessively exciting at times, with continous squalls increasing and shifting the wind. The last 24 hrs was our fastest so far, and we have hit 20kts several times. The noise below of the spinnaker sheet easing on the winch is deafening. The bow often dives below the surface to emerge from the other side of the waves. The loads on the afterguy and upper runner are terrifying.

We have closed the distance to about 25 miles behind Pegasus. They must have had a wild night jibing on the shifts, to take up position almost directly in front of us. It is the smart move for them to cover and stay between us and the finish.

It is now a flat out drag race. The 4000 sq ft “whomper” is still up and pulling like angry elephant. If we weren’t so close we might change to a smaller kite, but there is no backing off now.

Some of our best driving has been by Campbell Rivers. At only 16 he is a real natural and a great find by Commander Rander. He is also completely insane and hasn’t seen enough big stuff break to be scared! I like that. He reminds me of me.

I stayed on deck pretty much all night to look after things and gear settings. The others joke that I sleep with my eyes open to make sure they don’t screw up.

Attached is a shot of the cockpit in it’s continuous action, and the bow flying along.

Scared but determined,
The crew of Rage

Rage update 7-21 7:25pdt

We just finished a major fire drill. We were on starboard jibe, having jibed earlier today to set up the best angle for our final approach. I was off watch trying to snooze on the weather rail when there was (another) loud BANG. Broken halyard again! Everyone jumped to the foredeck and once again we rescued our beloved “Whomper” before it became a fishing net.

The halyard (another old one) broke near the mast block, so it still long enough to use. I went up the rig to relead it while the gang banded and repacked the whomper. Repacking the kite instead of hoisting another took more time, but we wanted the right kite up. Halfway through this process we remembered that we had been thinking about jibing back to port, so we changed all the gear around for that. This is a bigger task than one might think, since our turbo pole is so long there is a rather complicated array of lines, a reaching strut, and safety lines to set up each time.

Anyway, we lost a few miles in this fiasco, but we are dailed in now. Hope there are no more big surprises. We don’t know where Pegasus is right now, so all we can do is keep going fast.

Later,

Bruce

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Pacific Cup Updates

July 22, 2000

San Francisco, CA

Rage update 7-22 10:14pdt
Position: 21 47N 153 28W

About one more day to go aboard the good ship Rage. After a frustrating night of lightening winds, Pegasus put another good 20 miles on us. It appears we can hang with them in real light, or windy conditions, but they are pretty invincible in moderate air. This would be the logical result of having a 6ft longer spin pole than ours, and 6-8ft more rig height. Their max spinnakers are probably nearly 1,000sq ft larger than even our “Whomper”! Speaking of our favorite sail, it is getting the tack ring rewebbed on by our resident sailmaker, Bill Colombo. In the last fire drill, the shackles hooked to tack were not quite right and wore through the webbing that holds the ring to the sail. So as you can imagine, at about 3am in the morning there was another loud bang and we had to rescue yet again. We are getting really good at this now, it didn’t even get wet.

Amazingly, this time Campbell slept through the entire procedure, dead to the world. Yesterday Steve found out he wasn’t drinking much water so he made him start guzzeling. After being rehydrated and the long nap, the kid is back in form.

Got to go, Bill has the kite ready to go! Down with old backup and up with our fav.

Fighting to the end!!!
The Warship Wocket,
Rage

PS: Whomper flies again! The pedal stays on the floor till the bar in Kanehoe!/font>

Rage report 7-12 4:38 pdt
Position: 22 21N 154 54W
Speed: Steady 13-17kts

170 miles to go to the finish in Kanehoe. Of course that is as the crow flies, we still have a jibe or three to go. The wind is back and we are hauling. Pegasus has a 50-60 mile lead as far as we know. We have the radio on to listen for their 100 mile to go check in.

Unless they break something they will get first to finish, but it turns out we have an unexpected reason to hurry in. According to projections, we have a shot at first overall on handicap for the race! This is something we never expected as usually Rage gets killed on handicap. But we have sailed a good race and have a chance.

Pegasus owes us about 10 hours, so we are really interested in when they hit 100 miles to go. Now that the wind is up, we hope to close in enough to make them nervous.

It is stinking hot. After a 1/2 hr of grinding away with my favorite Titan Carbon winch handle, I was completely drenched in sweat. We sort of have a grinding contest to see who never has to use low gear (on a 4,000 sq ft kite!). I will win. In the attached pic I was just warming up.

Ragin to the finish,
Bruce

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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

Rage Pacific Cup final update, from the dock at Kanahoe Yacht Club.

Position: Paradise.
Speed: Rapidly decelerating.
Course: Back and forth between the bar and the table.

Rage finished the 2000 West Marine Pacific Cup race very early this morning today. We are tied up next to Pegasus, waiting for the rest of the fleet to slowly trickle in. It will take a while as the two of us were way out in front.

Pegasus beat us to the dock by 5hrs. I am disappointed that we couldn’t catch them boat for boat, but we soundly beat them on corrected time. Many of the Pegasus crew congratulated us, they were surprised to have us breathing down their necks.

To see if we win the race overall, now we just sit and wait. I’m not counting any chickens, but it looks very possible that our time will hold up on handicap. It is rare that a big boat corrects out on the smaller ones, but Rage and Pegasus pressed each other hard to build a huge lead.

It was really great to meet all of our loved ones at the dock with fresh food and dangerous drinks. Jeanie always looks even prettier than ever when these voyages are over!

I shall soon be getting used to sleeping at night again. Please keep checking into our “Open 60” progress on www.oceanplanet.org Feel free to email me (there is a contact button on the site) if you want to get updates.

Thanks for sailing along with us!

Bruce

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