Doing the Full Monty

The biennial Transpacific Yacht Race, better known as the Transpac, plots a 2,225 nm course from Los Angeles, CA to Honolulu, HI. But our mastery of the Pacific Ocean tells us this is not an ocean crossing. Neither is the Pacific Cup from San Francisco, CA to Kaneohe, HI.

But heh, Hawaii is too nice to pass up, Halfpac sounds lame, and sailing to Asia is just too damn far to make a point. But what about sailing from Asia?

An ambitious and fully transpacific yacht race is in the works from China’s Shanghai to Los Angeles. Planned for the northern hemisphere winter in 2018, the inaugural Pacific Cup International Yacht Race expects strong winds for the 6,000 nm course.

Pacific Cup? Really? Nothing better to call it?

“I started to think about this race since 2007,” said Zhai Mo, the first Chinese person who ever sailed alone around the globe. “It’s going to be a non-stop race as we will not have any supply depots in the sea. We plan to hold this competition once every two years.”

But what’s more challenging is that participants are only allowed to use traditional maritime navigation tools, including ways through astronomy, instead of any other electronic navigational equipment throughout the race.

The Clipper Round the World Race, in which paying customers compete on a fleet of twelve 70-foot yachts, has a leg from China to the western US. It is a hellish course with snow, bitter winds, and epic ocean rollers. Breakdowns of boat and bodies are common, and during the 2015-16 edition, a crew died when washed overboard.

So why do this? Simple… bribery. The winner get 10 million yuan ($1.49 million). Standing by for the start in two years.

Source: Global Times, Scuttlebutt