Explore. Dream. Discover.

Scuttlebutt advertiser, and very good friend John Sangmeister of Gladstone’s Long Beach shares sentiments from his Transpac Race experience…

With our 73-foot trimaran “Lending Club/Tritium” having now safely traveled from Honolulu to Oakland on board the good ship Matson “MahiMahi”, there is time to reflect on the recent 2013 Transpac Race and express gratitude for those who helped make it possible.

The Transpac is a race steeped in a tradition of two things we’re quite fond of: Aloha and commerce. It’s a wonderful journey that starts and ends in two great venues. Rum-line (pun intended) is 2,225 nm of warm breezes across an indigo blue ocean. The finish features one of the world’s most spectacular landfalls. At the dock they hand you a cold beverage in a carved out Pineapple. The race welcomes all, from families to Grand Prix competitors.

Our journey started nearly 19 months ago with a boondoggle lunch with Gino Morrelli and his design team to explore the possibility of chasing Bruno Peyron’s elapsed time record for the race. A call to Laurent Esquier expanded the possibility and we are grateful for the support we received from Artemis Racing, giving new life to their training platform.

The offshore skills of Ryan Breymaier solidified the effort, and with the help of Anson, Andrew, Mark, Mac, Jeff, Ben, Doug, Matt, Gilles, Gautier, Jac, Warren, James, Gary, Tim, Steve, Chuck, Paul, Chris, Pete, Steve, Artie, Max, Christophe, Joe and Jib, the boat finally came together.

In addition to Gino and Ryan, we were fortunate to sail with Will Oxley, Erik Berzins, Howard Hamlin, Peter Stoneberg, Renaud Laplanche and Jay Steinbeck. We could not have sailed without the generous support of the Switlik Parachute Company, KVH Industries, Garmin, Matson, Aere, Mcmurdo AIS personal transponders, RBS Battens, Gladstone’s Long Beach and Lending Club.

Lending Club is the leading on-line peer-to-peer lender to consumers and small business owners. It’s a terrific company led by a great sailor and remarkable CEO Renaud Laplanche. This program was not always predictable but Renaud was steadfast in his commitment. Finally we are grateful to our families for putting up with these occasional mid-life crisis.

We left Long Beach on July 13 with a warm send-off and arrived in the Ala Wai on July 18 to an equally wonderful reception hosted by Transpac Yacht Club Rear Commodore Bo Wheeler.

I remembered 20 years earlier flying to Hawaii to meet my future wife after she had raced in a hard fought battle on board Orient Express. Who knew Transpac could help build families and family traditions? We finished just short of our stated goal. As a team we sailed fewer than six days together, and as Gino said, “We got closer to that record than we probably deserved.”

As Mark Twain is often quoted, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

The Transpac is a wonderful race. If you’re so inclined; make plans now. We look forward to welcoming you to Rainbow Harbor in 2015. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop in sooner at Gladstone’s Long Beach.

Aloha and Mahalo,

John Sangmeister

Gladstone’s Long Beach
330 South Pine Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90802
Reservations: 562-432-8588
www.GladstonesLongBeach.com