The Mai Tais will taste good either way

(July 17, 2013) – The 2225-mile Transpac race attracts the sleek sleds designed to surf the tradewinds on the biennial race from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Despite being ground zero for “Have a Hobie Day”, this west coast classic does not attract offshore multihulls. But this year it attracted two.

One multihull is fueled by desire to break the current Transpacific Yacht Race record set by Bruno Peyron in 1997 aboard Commodore Explorer, an 86-foot catamaran, in five days, nine hours, 18 minutes, and 26 seconds.

The record dangles in front of Lending Club, barely in reach, though the wind gods and tsunami debris are not doing the 72-foot trimaran any favors.

The other multihull is fueled by gasoline, and not much of it. Since their dismasting on July 15, the Gunboat 66 Phaedo pulled a u-turn back to California with only enough gas to cover a third of the distance. Their support team has charted a 70ft sportfisher that is now enroute, needing to travel approximately 400 miles into the Pacific Ocean to do a fuel and food transfer.

So the remaining multihull continues on in search of glory. “We continue to experience debris in the ocean,” observes Lending Club skipper John Sangmeister. “We are behind the clock but making good ground again. The boat is sailing along at 21 knots and the afternoon trades are building. Navigator Will Oxley reported that we had remaining just ‘one Sydney Hobart to go’. We have 34 hours to get there.”

The big trimaran is aiming at the islands, relishing the warm winds and rolling swells. Record or no record, the Mai Tais will taste good either way

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