ADESSO VELA

Ieri sabato 4 luglio - festa dell'indipendenza americana - è partita da Los Angeles alla volta di Honolulu, la Transpac, tradizionale regata oceanica made in USA, che si alterna di anno in anno con la Pacific Cup. Questa mantiene Honolulu come porto di arrivo partendo però da San Francisco.
Ad affrontare le oltre 2000 miglia ci sono barche note come Alfa Romeo di Neville Crichton, e meno note come il TP52 Flash. A bordo però, non c'è uno skipper qualunque, ma il signore della vela Paul Cayard, che dopo la positiva esperienza dell'anno scorso nella Pacific Cup a bordo di Hula Girl con i suoi figli (foto), ci riprova quest'anno.

Dalla Newsletter di Paul Cayard - It is the eve of the start for us on Flash, the Farr designed TP52 which has been modified with a deeper keel, bowsprit and square top main. The Trans Pac is a 2250 mile race from LA to Honolulu which is run every odd numbered year. There are three starts in this years race in an effort to get the whole fleet to finish as closely as possible. The smallest boats started last Monday and another group started on Thursday. We are in the final group tomorrow. Unfortunately for the first two groups, there was very little wind out on the Pacific last week. Things are starting to shape up tomorrow and Monday. This should give a big advantage to the boats in our group for overall honors.
Some of the well known names in our group are John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti, Roy P Disney's Pywacket, and Neville Chrighton's Alfa Romeo-the 100 foot R/P super Maxi that will be gunning for the outright record which currently stands at 6 days 19 hour set by Hasso Platner's Morning Glory.
Our boat, Flash, was originally built for George Andreadis and I sailed on her (Atalanti) in the first Med Cup season in 2005. A bit of work has gone into making Flash seaworthy and somewhat waterproof.
So at 1255 PDT tomorrow we will be off. The router currently has us finishing at midnight on July 14. That is, of course, subject to change. The Flash crew;
Tom Akin-Skipper
Jay Crum
Joe Crum
Paul Cayard
Danny Cayard
Allie Cayard
Paul Allen
Skip McCormick
Hogan Beatie
Will Paxton
You can follow the fleet by going to www.transpacrace.com and click on the Tracker.
We just ate at PF Chang's and finished it off with "The Great Wall of Chocolate"!
Off to a real bed for the last time for 8 days.