Pacific Cup Preparation Snapshot

Since we are at the beginning of the year, it is a good time to step back and see what was accomplished so far and what we still need to do to get ready for the Pacific Cup.

Boat:
- Electronics
- need to mount the GPS
- need to install SSB
- need to finalize electrical connections
- need to thoroughly test the auto-pilot
- need to rent satellite phone
- General boat preparation
- need to mount stove
- need to install the second battery
- need to buy and install the solar panels
- need to build emergency tiller
- need to have an emergency rudder made
- need to reserve liferaft
- need to fit lee-cloths and general storage nets around the cabin
- need to change forward hatch
- need to make sure that attach point of shrouds on deck is completely sealed
- need to have the last jackline made (for the cockpit)
- need to buy an engine with a direct gas feed (and incidently sell the current one)
- need to fit a second external halyard mechanism (we will use one of our old halyard as the emergency spare)
- put on new deck fittings (cleats, forward padeye)
- buy new foreguy line (since we want a stronger attach point than the one on the mast, we need a longer line)
- clean up boat, varnish outside woodwork, apply teak oil to inside woodwork
- change all interior lights to LEDs

- potentially get a spinnaker sock
- we found a spare pole we can borrow for the pac cup so that's taken care of
- reach blaster needs to be fixed (not much required)

If there is time, it would be great to find some audio solution since we should have enough power generation capacity to run the stereo from time to time. The twin problem will be music selection of course and we do accept submissions at this time.

Crew
- need to take CPR class
- need to take celestial navigation class (sponsored by OCSC!)
- need to practice more gibes under heavier weather
- need to practice use of sextant on a moving and wet deck
- need to figure out how to rig the net
and generally, do a lot of practice racing double-handed, work out shifts, etc...but that's the fun part :)

Well, that's already a lot on our plate.

We also need to figure out how we are going to do PR since this is a fundraiser for BeatSarcoma!

A busy year ahead!