Transpac Race hoping to avoid COVID-19

With just over 8 months in advance of the first start on July 13, 2021, there are 42 confirmed entries in the 51st edition of the Transpacific Yacht Club’s race from Los Angeles to Honolulu, the Transpac.

“This is a great turnout so far in this unusual year,” said TPYC commodore Jim Eddy, with the milestone 40th entry for the 2225-mile biennial race made by San Francisco Bay area-based Dave MacEwen with his Roger 46 Lucky Duck.

MacEwen is not new to Transpac: in three previous editions he and his team on his Santa Cruz 52 of the same name have earned respectable results, placing third in both the 2019 and 2015 editions in the “Fabulous Fifties” group of SC 50’s and SC 52’s, one of the more competitive classes in the race.

Yet for the 2021, MacEwan has chosen a different platform: an all carbon-fiber flat-out race boat designed in 2006 by Simon Rogers and built at CMI in Thailand, something quite different than his previous racer/cruiser.

“We have stepped up to a faster, but far less comfortable, Rogers 46 for this race, and are excited to get her out in the big wind and waves we routinely see on our way to Hawaii,” he said. Indeed, Bob Pethick’s Rogers 46 Bretwalda 3 was a full 24 hours faster than MacEwan’s SC 52 in last year’s 50th edition Transpac.

“The Transpac race is for us the ultimate test of boat prep, navigation and sailing skills,” notes MacEwen. “We look forward to going up against some of the best talent in the world as we battle our way to the finish line.”

This veteran team is like many others who have entered for this cycle, yet there are also rookie entries busy gathering valuable information to prepare for their first try, with a virtual Transpac seminar held recently with topics ranging from sail selection strategies to boat prep and inspection requirements to modern marine communications: click here

Another is the Weather Routing seminar from Marine Weather University by world-class navigator and two-time America’s Cup winner Peter Isler and Expedition routing software experts Nick White and Artie Means: click here

Since being first sailed in 1906 as an idea inspired a decade earlier by Hawaiian King David Kalakaua, Transpac remains an attraction for all avid ocean racers and adventurers, and with some luck, will continue without interruption in 2021: https://transpacyc.com/race-info/2021-race-info