2014 Pacific Cup - Scarlet Runner wins

by Vanessa Yates on 27 Jul 2014 2014 Pacific Cup - Since crossing the finish line at 02:05:18 HST on Saturday 19 July the crew of Scarlet Runner, have been cautiously celebrating their provisional race results. Although first place in their Latitude 38 division looked likely for Robert Date's Reichel/Pugh 52, it was still possible that pending strong winds could favour the 48 other competitors still to complete their journey from San Francisco to Hawaii.

Last night at the Pacific Cup Presentation Dinner at Kanehoe yacht club, however, Scarlet Runner was officially announced first in division, first in ORR Overall and winner of the 2014 Pacific Cup.

The 'fun race to Hawaii' wasn't without its challenges for the Australian boat, losing 20 miles on day four when a discarded fishing net wrapped around their keel and then blowing out the A4 spinnaker on day seven.

'The closer we got to Hawaii the more it felt like we were in a match race against Roy Disney's Pyewacket', said Rob Date. 'We certainly could have used those lost 20 miles, but hard reaching and running conditions bring out the best in Scarlet, and the crew really dug deep for the last 48 hours, so we slowly improved our lead and all our hard work and effort has paid off.'

About Scarlet Runner’s Current Campaign

The successful 2070 nautical mile race is the last official engagement of Scarlet Runner's world journey.

Leaving her home port of Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne, Australia on 11 July 2013, Scarlet competed in the Sydney to Gold Coast race then the Brisbane to Keppell yacht race. A quick stop at Airlie Beach arriving in time to compete in the opening day of Airlie Beach Race Week saw her, in full delivery mode, first over the line in her division.

Scarlet then stopped in Cairns, Darwin and Cocos Keeling Islands before leaving Australian waters for Mauritius and Durban on her way to Cape Town where she competed in her first international race in January 2014, The Cape to Rio. A fantastic effort from the crew in very tough conditions resulted in second over the line, second in her division and second IRC Overall to the Italian Volvo 70 Maserati.

The next leg of the journey took Scarlet Runner from Rio de Janeiro to Salvador then onto Fortaleza before leaving Brazil and basing in St. Maarten to compete in the St.Thomas International Regatta, Les Voiles de St. Barth, the Antigua to Guadeloupe race, Around Antigua race and Antigua Race Week.

At the conclusion of the Caribbean campaign, Scarlet sailed through the Panama Canal to Acapulco then onto Cabo San Lucas, San Diego and then arrived in San Francisco for her scheduled start date for the Pacific Cup, coincidentally exactly one year to the day since she left Sandringham, 11 July.

'The hard work involved in all the logistics of this campaign is being rewarded by sailing such a great boat and achieving some great results.' said Boat Captain Brett Averay, who will have sailed all of the approximate 33,000 miles of the journey with Scarlet Runner by the time she returns home.

Brett has been joined on the deliveries by Rowan 'Disco' Leaper and Tim Kenner as a core group of three, supported by various crew for different legs of the deliveries.

Scarlet Runner is due to leave Hawaii late July, depending on the optimal weather window advised by navigator Jessica Sweeney, with stops in Fiji and possibly Vanuatu before landing back in Australia at Sydney then ultimately Melbourne.

About Scarlet Runner’s Future Campaigns

Preparations for Scarlet Runner to compete in the Rolex Sydney Hobart 70th Anniversary race will begin upon her return to Sandringham early September, and if the boat isn’t sold in the meantime, Rob is looking forward to heading over to Adelaide in February 2015 to compete in the Adelaide to Port Lincoln race (Scarlet currently holds the race record) and then Lincoln Week Regatta.