Transpac Race: Drum Roll, Please

Honolulu, HI (July 21, 2019) – Mostly favorable weather conditions for this race and the staggered start paradigm has created for the 50th edition of Transpac what was intended: a flood of both fast and slow entries converging on the finish in Hawaii.

Some 70% of the 82 entries that will finish in this year’s edition have or will have finished between yesterday noon and tomorrow noon, a remarkable high density flood of racers arriving happy, tired, thirsty for the welcome kit of celebration Mai Tais.

TPYC race officials say 75% of the entries in this year’s anniversary edition are newcomers to the race, but there are a lot of familiar faces on the arrival docks and Aloha parties being held at Waikiki and Hawaii Yacht Clubs.

All of them, even among the Division 1 and Division 2 teams deprived of course records and corrected time victories due to their first night of light air, have said this year’s race for them was the best in memory.

“From the reports and dock chatter, everyone has been really happy with this race,” said TPYC Commodore Tom Hogan. “We had our fast multihulls even suggesting they start even another day or two later to be more a part of this celebratory Aloha scene.”

Few would dispute that this year’s race the best weather was reserved for the second wave of starters, and sure enough the top three teams in the overall corrected time standings are from Division 3, led by Shawn Dougherty’s and Jason Anderson’s Hamachi, followed by Zach Anderson and Chris Kramer’s Velvet Hammer.

These two are both J/125’s, but had measurable differences great enough to give Hammer a 2 hour 45 minute corrected time margin with their rival sistership.

Yet the Pacific Northwest-based Hamachi team rode a wave of strong tradewinds in their final approach to the finish, crossing the line today at 2:21:29 local time, a 44-minute corrected time margin to be clear of Hammer, and almost 2 hours clear of Bob Pethwick’s Rogers 46 Bretwalda 3, yesterday’s first Division 3 finisher.

So, unless a Cal 40 sprouts wings and flies to the finish, the King Kalakaua trophy looks pretty safe for Hamachi.

Finishers will keep rolling in, with the “Tail end Charlie” award appearing ready for either Jason Siebert’s Schock 40 Gamble or the Hawaii-based trader, Doug Pasnik’s Andrews 70, both about 600 miles out.

Daily standings from 0800 roll call: click here.

Event Details – Entry list – Tracker – Results – Facebook

Note: There is a 4-hour delay on the tracker but goes live within the final 200 miles.

Attrition list:
• Mayhem, Hobie 33, Steven Eder (rudder)
• Aloha, Hobie 33, Kyle Vanderspek (rudder)
• Nalu V, Cal 40, Mark Ashmore (unknown water ingress)
• Trouble, Santa Cruz 50, Tom Camp (rudder)
• Live Wire, Olson 40, Tim Jones (mast damage)
• OEX, Santa Cruz 70, John Sangmeister (rudder – sunk)
• Pyewacket, Andrews 70, Roy Disney (rescued OEX)
• Macondo, Beneteau First 47.7, Mike Sudo (rudder)

Background: First organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club in 1906, the biennial Transpacific Yacht Race or Transpac is an offshore sailing race from Point Fermin in Los Angeles to Diamond Head, just east of Honolulu, a distance of 2225 nm. The 2019 edition has 12 divisions with staggered starts on July 10, 12, and 13.

Boats racing in Divisions 6, 7, 8, 9, the Cal 40s, and the Multihulls in Class 0A will start on July 10. The second start on July 12 will be for the boats in Divisions 3, 5 and the Santa Cruz 50/52s, with the final start on July 13 for the remaining monohull entries in Divisions 1 and 2, along with the Multihull class 0 entries.

The current race records were set in 2017 when Comanche set the new Merlin trophy elapsed time record at 5 days 01:55:26. Comanche also set a 24 hour distance Transpac record at 484.1 nm, a 20.2 knot average speed. The ORMA 60 trimaran Mighty Merloe set the multihull elapsed time record at 4 days 06:32:30.

Source: TPYC