Final days before Transpac Race 2019

Ninety entries are set to begin the 50th edition of the Transpacific YC’s biennial 2225-mile race from Los Angeles, CA to Honolulu, HI.

This record turnout will feature three staggered starts, the first of which on July 10 will see 33 monohulls between 33 and 67 feet in length begin their journey at 1:00 PM PDT on a starting line set one mile south of Point Fermin in San Pedro. Two multihulls of 40 and 42 feet scored in one division will be also be starting on this day 30 minutes earlier at 12:30 PDT.

The next wave of racers will be setting off on July 12 also at 1:00 PM PDT from Point Fermin, and will include 27 monohull yachts between 35 to 73 feet in length. This group is divided and scored in three divisions.

The last wave of starters is to be four multihulls of 63 and 70 feet in length scored in one division crossing the same line at Point Fermin at 12:30 PM PDT on July 13 followed 30 minutes later by 24 monohulls between 40 and 100 feet in length being scored in two divisions.

These starts represent the last stage of what for some was a long journey in pre-race preparation, one that took not just many months in ticking boxes for compliance to safety and rating rules, but for some years in the planning and logistics.

Skippers and navigators are required, for example, to have competed in a recent race of similar requirements, including the Pacific Cup, Sydney-Hobart, Fastnet, Newport-Bermuda, or any similar race, and the skipper, navigator, and one watch captain is supposed to have sailed together in a race or passage of 150 or more miles in length on the boat they are racing together in Transpac.

Among the participants in the 2019 edition, 75% are newcomers to the race this year.

“In all we’re really pleased with this fleet in Transpac 50,” said TPYC Commodore Tom Hogan. “There are some 775 men and women and boys and girls sailing west over the horizon this week, heading to Honolulu on 90 boats of all sizes and types. This shows to us great interest in not only Transpac, but in ocean racing as well.”

Event Details – Entry list – Facebook

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.

Source: TPYC