PHRF rating: 150

Yacht Club: N/A

Homeport: Alameda

Occupation: Writer

Age: 44

Greg finished third in class on both of his previous attempts, aboard his Farr 33 Slipstream. This year he's downgraded in waterline length, but upgraded his rating by entering his recently acquired Moore 24, Color Blind, which is appropriately named due to its lavendar-colored hull with a bright orange boot stripe, and green bottom paint. Who needs a radar reflector with that combination? He'll race to win, but his most important challenge is a personal one: to beat his best previous time of 12 days, 21 hours and 37 minutes set in '94 (10:02:29 corrected).

Again this year his game plan will be to self-steer 80% of the time, taking periodic 15 minute naps regulated by his trusty egg timer (while napping he'll let his autopilot do the driving). "I plan to run black at night so I can trim," says Greg. "I'll be up all night and cat nap in the morning."

And what does this two-time veteran look forward to most upon arrival? Party time at the Tahiti Nui bar! On board, however, he claims he'll be too busy to worry about entertainment: "No music and no books," says Greg.

After the race, he'll take the sensible approach, however, and will opt to ship Color Blind home via a Matson freighter.

Navigation: GPSs. Steering: primary: self; secondary: Autohelm.
Food: Power Bars and canned food; "My favorite is chili."
Special thanks to: Hal Wright, Dan and Darin Dowd, Bob Comir and Eric Jungemann.