Eric Schuman (Jose Cuervo) and I had the opportunity to accompany two J105s on a Russian Air Cargo Plane to Honolulu, Hawaii for the Kenwood Cup.

Matson Freight Lines had a slip-up in communication and the boats were left behind in Oakland. Matson stepped up to the plate with a solution. The Russian Cargo plane was contracted by Matson Shipping Lines & ACSI (Air Charter Services International). HeavyLift Cargo Airlines owns the plane out of London, England. They diverted the Russian-built Antonov AN-124 plane—one of only three in the world—from Kansas to Oakland.

This plane is the world’s largest air cargo plane. The only people on board were sixteen Russians (nine pilots and seven crew), an English representative from HeavyLift, Eric & myself. To say the least, we had two very happy owners when we landed in Honolulu.

A Few Other Notes About the Kenwood Cup:

• Raced by six J105s; 3 Pac-Cup boats, 2 flown over, one Honolulu Local.

• Two CYC members raced in the Regatta; myself on Jose Cuervo (Sam Hock SYC boat) & Sean Torsney (Tiburon; Steve Stroub SFYC boat using Sabertooth - Mike Eagan's boat). We came in a very close 3rd over all, Sean 6th overall.

• Very tight fleet racing in the top three boats. Poll to poll finishes everyday.

• Trade winds from 12 to 18/20 per day. Great surfing down wind.

• J105 Boats saw average speeds of low 20s racing home in the Molokai race (a 165 mile race from Honolulu to a buoy off Maui & back).

• Raced with not much on - totally the best part!

Flying the boats over:

• Everyone involved hustled in 48 hours to pull this off. From Matson to the air charter company to all the owners, family & friends involved. An amazing deal.

• The Russians were thrilled when they found out that I was flying over. We figured they had not had a woman passenger in a wee bit!

• It took the loading crew (all seven Russians) almost five hours to load the boats. They had to re-configure the ramps in order to get the trucks onto the airplane.

• The Flight crew gave us a tour of the cockpit. Got to sit in the capn's seat. The cockpit is twice the size of a 747’s.

• The entire crew lives on the plane for 3 months at a time. The have a portion of the plane that is all beds, full kitchens & baths. They have one month leave and then are off flying again for three months.

• These planes mainly carry satellites. Currently, it is helping the Russians with the submerged submarine.

• We were greeted in Honolulu by a very warm welcome. We made all the Hawaii news stations for days. Even the front page of the paper.

• The boats had a 24 turn-time to be rigged for a Monday practice race. They made it in record time!

• All in all, I can not stress enough what a fantastic regatta the Kenwood Cup is. Very well run (all international juries) and the race management was first class. On top of it, you can not beat racing in your bathing suit! Try that in S.F.!