Entering the Pacific Cup Race: Fort Worth, Texas, to Hawaii With a J/105

© 2024 Matt Arno

We've been reaching out to sailors signed up for this year's Pacific Cup to learn a little more about who they are, and why they signed up for the race. Matt Arno from Fort Worth, Texas, shared a little about his sailing life and his plan for his first Pac Cup race.

Matt has owned the J/105 Blue Flash for 15 years, mostly focused on one-design racing. Before that he crewed on a variety of smaller J/boats, and has been adding offshore racing to the schedule, one step at a time.

"We started out doing the Harvest Moon Regatta (150 miles Galveston to Port Aransas), which we've done several times," Matt told us, "then did the Chicago-Mackinac race (330 miles) twice, then two years ago the Newport Bermuda (600 miles there and then 600 back).

"The next step is Pac Cup. It's been on my bucket list for quite some time and represents the biggest race I'll be able to do on my own boat. Going to do Sydney Hobart or Fastnet will have to be as crew for someone else."

There'll be fewer bodies aboard when Blue Flash crosses the Pacific in July…

Read more on Latitude 38

×