Entries open for 2021 Transpac Race

The 2021 edition of the LA to Honolulu Transpac is now open for entry. This will be the 51st edition of this 2225-mile biennial ocean racing classic which extends from Los Angeles, CA to Honolulu, HI. The first of three staggered starts is July 13 with the fleet to complete the course in time for the final awards ceremony on July 30 in Honolulu.

“Amidst all the recent bad news about races being cancelled or postponed this season, we hope this early opening for entries will be good news for all ocean sailors interested in Transpac next year,” said Jim Eddy, Commodore of the Transpacific Yacht Club.

The first entry is John Sangmeister from Long Beach, ready to return after his team suffered a broken rudder in 2019 which sank his modified Santa Cruz 70 OEX 200 miles from the start, prompting a successful rescue from Roy Disney’s Andrews 68 Pyewacket.

Both teams returned to the coast safely on board Pyewacket, earning Disney and team last year’s prestigious US Sailing Arthur B Hanson Rescue Medal for their efforts.

“I love this race, the people, the adventure, the Aloha,” said Sangmeister, who will need a boat. “I wanted to be the first to sign up to compete and complete what we did not finish last year.”

That Aloha spirit is often associated with Transpac not just due to the destination but also because the race itself is pure bliss for all ocean sailors, who in one race get to enjoy a wide sampling of weather conditions.

The gentle westerlies at the start are followed by a few days of cold and wet high-speed headsail reaching in the coastal offshore northerlies, which then warm up and move aft into several more days of tradewind spinnaker reaching and running towards the iconic finish line at Diamond Head in Honolulu.

For last year’s 50th anniversary race, entries opened in mid-April 2018 which attracted 50 entries by September 2018, and 100 entries by mid-February 2019. Eventually a record number 84 monohulls and 6 multihulls crossed the starting line.

Event information – Race details – Entry list