Transpac Race: First Finishers to Arrive Friday

(July 23, 2015) – The 48th edition of the 2,225 nm LA-Honolulu Transpac continues to favor the first wave of starters (July 13) which look to have gotten the best of the weather lottery offered to the 66 starters.

While the second wave of starters (July 16) has gotten the worst of it as they trail the third wave (July 18), the smaller boats now on their 10th day continue to dominate the overall ranking.

Harry Zanville’s Santa Cruz 37 Celerity now dominates all categories as they are ahead of the first wave on elapsed time and are the ORR Division 7 and overall leader. The tracker, which has a 6 hour delay, reports their position at 195 nm from the finish. If they continue their pace of 10 knots, they will likely be drinking Blue Hawaiians for breakfast.

Noteworthy is that once inside 100 nm, the tracker goes live.

What could disrupt Celerity’s sweep is their two closest competitors are coming in from the south, which is Paul Stemler’s J/44 Patriot (2nd, Div 7; 2nd overall) and Tracy Obert’s 59-foot BBY ketch Majorie (1st, Div 8; 3rd overall). While the northern track looks stronger, nothing is for certain in this edition.

The roar of the 100-footers will soon be felt by the first wave fleet, as Wild Oats XI, Ragamuffin 100, and Division 1 leader Rio 100 are now clicking at 20 knots and on layline to Diamond Head from 600 nm away. Going two to three times faster than the boats ahead, the bars better get the ice cubes ready for these maxis.

Of course, the leader of the multihull division, the Gunboat 66 Extreme H2O owned by Pat Benz, likely has an icemaker onboard and is making its own tropical beverages.

Given the amount of wiggling on the Tracker, all bets are off for the remaining positions, but those currently holding the crowns are Craig Reynolds’ TP52 Bolt (Div 2), Chuck Nichols’ Andrews 70 Pyewacket (Div 3), Tim Fuller’s J/125 Resolute (Div 4), John Shulze’s Santa Cruz 50 Horizon (Div 5), and John Chamberlain / Dean Fargo’s Swan 651 Second Wind (Div 6).

Race website – Tracker – Daily video analysis – Facebook

Transpac schedule:
Monday, July 13: First Transpac Start: Divisions 7 & 8; 22 entrants
Thursday, July 16: Second Transpac Start: Divisions 4, 5 & 6; 18 entrants
Friday, July 18: Third Transpac Start: Multihulls, Divisions 1, 2 & 3; 19 entrants
Friday, July 31: Honolulu Awards Ceremony – The Modern Hotel
Saturday, Aug 1st: Kaneohe YC Party and Plywood Cup Regatta

ABOUT TRANSPAC
First organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club in 1906, the 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 2,225 nm. This is among the world’s great ocean races, and biennially attracts some of the world’s fastest sailing yachts, some of its most talented offshore racing sailors, and a wide variety of offshore sailing adventurers.

Transpacific YC also conducts occasional races to Papeete, Tahiti. Membership is open to all sailors who have completed a TPYC race to either of these destinations in paradise.