PacCup 2016 (and Return!)

Friends and Family -

Welcome! As you probably know, the crew of Bullet will depart July 12, 2016 to take part in the 2016 Pacific Cup Race from San Francisco, CA to Kaneohe, HI. There are no stops between SF and Hawaii and we will use just the wind to propel us along the 2,000+ nm route.

Bullet is an Express 37 "masthead fractional rigged" sloop designed by Carl Schumacher, a legendary Californian naval architect, and built in 1985 by Alsberg Brothers Boatworks in Santa Cruz, CA.  Sixty-five Express 37s were built from 1984 to 1988. These boats were purpose-built for offshore racing, and in 1985 Express 37s won the top three positions in the Los Angeles to Hawaii Transpac Race.

This year, three other Express 37s will be joining us for the Pacific Cup: Elan, Limitless, and One Eyed Jack. Of course, these boats are our primary competition (Elan finished 4th overall in 2012, with an elapsed time of 11 days, 6 hours, 56 minutes). But the PacCup is an handicapped race, meaning all 70 boats (from 24 feet to 100 feet) are competing against each other based off of a formula that rates how fast (theoretically) each boat should finish the race. We will also be be racing against the Alaska Airlines Division C, and will compete for the Carl Schumacher Trophy and Best First Passage.

During the 2016 Pacific Cup, Bullet will be Skippered by Larry, Navigated by Nick G, and Crewed by Nick S, Kurt and JT. We are a rookie crew, but very much look forward to sailing fast to Hawaii. We hope to keep you all informed during the journey through this blog.

Also, Bullet will be making return trip from Hawaii to San Francisco following the Pacific Cup, departing soon after July 30, 2016.  The return delivery crew includes JT, Mike, Anthony and Scott. We also hope to keep you all informed (through this blog) of our return trip.

We depart for Hawaii 11:25 am (Pacific time) on July 12, 2016.  We hope you all can follow us and cheer us on.  

Mahalo!

The Bullet Crew