Nothing left to do but celebrate! Pacific Cup 2010 – San Francisco to Hawaii

The dust has settled and in the end we pulled off the rare “Clean Sweep” and then some. Conditions allowed us to complete the 2070nm course in a little over 8 days 10 hours. This was good enough for first to finish, first in class, first overall, and a new course record for a Santa Cruz 50. Another perk will be the family trophy awarded to he top boat with two or more family members aboard. I was fortunate to sail across the ocean with my dad and Navigator, Jon Shampain.

In the period of eight and a half days we saw every condition other then really light air and only sailed minimal miles over the rated distance of

the race. We started out with a #3 jib and beat out under the Golden Gate Bridge exchanging tacks with our fleet of 50 footers and a couple of faster 40 footers. The next day as the wind lightened slightly and backed a few degrees we shifted to the heavy #1 Genoa. By day three the wind had built and backed enough to get the #2 Jib Top up and a Genoa Staysail underneath it. As the wind continued to back we were able to get up the 3A. Perhaps we could have put it up earlier but we working hard to keep the high lane in our fleet. This would be key later in the extension of our lead. After popping the 3A the wind quickly went aft enough to get the 4A up. Now we were lit up in the high lane. By the next day (day 4 or 5 at this point) we had sailed fast down in front of our class. We extended from there and never looked back. Only one day in the middle, California Condor, a new Antrim Class 40, looked good briefly before breaking there rudders. With 800nm to go we threw in a jibe and that was it. Straight to the finish! We changes from the 4A, to the 3A, to the 4A, and then the 2A the day before our finish.

The Horizon Program has every advantage possible. She just went through a major refit at Choate’s in Southern California. She has a professional Boat Captain and Navigator, Jon Shampain (and my father!). She has an owner who loves his boat to death and a steady crew who loves sailing her. And finally she has an all Ullman Sails inventory that is continually updated and upgraded. For this race we built a new Carbon #2 Jib Top, an AirX 700 4A, an AirX 600 2A, and a carbon #3 jib. And wouldn’t you know it, those were exactly the sails used the majority of the time!

The track record speaks for itself. Let Ullman Sails fill in the magic piece or your winning puzzle.

Erik Shampain

Ullman Sails

760-521-3482

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Horizon First to Finish in 2010 Pacific Cup

as noted from the PacCup website:
Horizon, the Santa Cruz 50 from Dana Point, finished the 2010 Pacific Cup this evening at 22:01:39 Hawaii Standard Time. Skipper Jack Taylor and Navigator Jon Shampain and the crew brought the boat from the Golden Gate to Kaneohe Bay in 8 days eleven hours, forty-six minutes, and thirty-nine seconds. Their course, like most in their fleet, took them on a path well to the north of the usual one for this race.

"In the past, this course has been an abysmal failure," noted one race observer. This year however, unusually strong winds to the north paired with uncharacteristic light winds to the south made the uncommon path the one to victory. Horizon established an early lead and maintained it over the rest of the race. She also managed to avoid the array of petty and major breakages that affected other competitors.

Horizon benefited from an excellent program of preparation and attention to detail. Welcome Horizon!

check back soon for more wrap up from Horizon's and Ullman Sails' Erik Shampain! Way to go HORIZON!!

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Reports from the Pacific. Erik Shampain, Ullman Sails Team Member reports from aboard the Santa Cruz 50, Horizon.

We awoke today after two very fast days of sailing under the new 4A spinnaker to find ourselves first in class and first overall for the third morning in a row. We are sailing this years Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii. We're currently in Day 5 of racing with 800 mile to go. It's been a fast race with winds speeds topping 30 knots and speeds reaching 24.4 knots! Today as winds lightened slightly and backed more, we gybed on the final approach to Hawaii and shifted to the new 2A. Our start day appears to have been a favorable one as we blasted out of the bay under #3 jib, shifted to the Heavy #1 Genoa and then on to the #2 Jib Top with a Genoa Staysail underneath it by the of day 2. Under the gloomy sky and backing wind of day 3 we set the 3A spinnaker. This was good for about 10 minutes and the crispy 4A went up quickly. This 'Work Horse' stayed the course and kept us 1 and 1 through today.

There has been plenty of carnage on the coarse and the immaculatey prepared Horizon keeps pressing on. Follow us, our progress, the race reports, updates, and tracking on the 2010 Pacific Cup website or our other race updates on SailingAnarchy.com.

Keep checking back for the wrap up when my laptop arrives in Hawaii!
Erik Shampain
Ullman Sails Newport Beach / Santa Ana
One Design Coordinator

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Horizon leading the 2010 Pacific Cip

Jack Taylor's Santa Cruz 50 Horizon is screaming towards the finish line in Hawaii in a record setting pace. This year has seen massive carnage amongst the boats but Horizon is sailing well under the direction of Jon Shampain. Read his reports on Sailing Anarchy or the Horizon website.

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