On July 14th 2008, after months of practice and boat preparation, I joined Bob Hinden on board his Valiant 42 "Acacia" with four other crew members for a leisurely race to Hawaii. The Pacific Cup -- held on even years and not to be confused with the more competitive Transpac Yacht Race - held odd years from L.A. to Honolulu -- is a divsional Double Handed, Crewed and Multihull race from the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco to the Kaneohe Yacht Club on the east side of O'ahu, HI.
I met Bob through his daughter Rebecca, a fellow crew member and close friend from Providence. Becca studied photography at R.I.S.D. with my high school friend Alex Delany. After reconnecting in S.F., Becca soon became my mentor and roommate; she taught me everything I know about making color photographs, riding/fixing motorcycles and living life to the fullest in the Bay Area. Before Beth and I left for the East Coast in 2009, Becca made beautiful photographs of our wedding. Though her plans to sail around the world with her father are currently on hold, Becca continues to sail and race in the bay on smaller boats - I am envious.
Acacia finished 8th (last) in our division of the Pac Cup: 52nd out of the 68 boats that sailed to Hawaii - not great but it was fun, we tried hard and everyone got along and made it to the finish line. Our time was: 14 days, 5:05:20 from start to finish. Our only major mishap, aside from not heading south and catching the tradewinds sooner, was getting the keel tangled on a crab pot on day two. Chris, the bravest and most experienced crew member, relieved us of this obstacle by diving under the boat and untangling the keel somewhere south of the Farallones.
Below is a map of our course based on periodic readings from a GPS transponder. The photos of Hawaii that follow were made with Kodak 160VC 35mm film:
Acacia's Course:
Rebecca Hinden washing and drying the hardest working spinnaker - "Big Pink"
Boats at Kaneohe Yacht Club
Around O'ahu
Honolulu Botanical Gardens
After the race, Beth joined us in O'ahu and the two of us traveled on to Kauai to hike the Na Pali Coast:
I met Bob through his daughter Rebecca, a fellow crew member and close friend from Providence. Becca studied photography at R.I.S.D. with my high school friend Alex Delany. After reconnecting in S.F., Becca soon became my mentor and roommate; she taught me everything I know about making color photographs, riding/fixing motorcycles and living life to the fullest in the Bay Area. Before Beth and I left for the East Coast in 2009, Becca made beautiful photographs of our wedding. Though her plans to sail around the world with her father are currently on hold, Becca continues to sail and race in the bay on smaller boats - I am envious.
Acacia finished 8th (last) in our division of the Pac Cup: 52nd out of the 68 boats that sailed to Hawaii - not great but it was fun, we tried hard and everyone got along and made it to the finish line. Our time was: 14 days, 5:05:20 from start to finish. Our only major mishap, aside from not heading south and catching the tradewinds sooner, was getting the keel tangled on a crab pot on day two. Chris, the bravest and most experienced crew member, relieved us of this obstacle by diving under the boat and untangling the keel somewhere south of the Farallones.
Below is a map of our course based on periodic readings from a GPS transponder. The photos of Hawaii that follow were made with Kodak 160VC 35mm film:
Acacia's Course:
Rebecca Hinden washing and drying the hardest working spinnaker - "Big Pink"
Boats at Kaneohe Yacht Club
Around O'ahu
Honolulu Botanical Gardens
After the race, Beth joined us in O'ahu and the two of us traveled on to Kauai to hike the Na Pali Coast:
