Monohulls begin finishing Transpac Race

(July 8, 2023) – The first of the waves of monohulls from multiple divisions have crossed the 2023 Transpac Race finish line at Diamond Head, with Bill McKinley’s Ker 46+ DENALI3 among the first to get in at 02:12:17 Hawaii time.

This team was leading Division 4 for most of the race, and recorded an elapsed time of 8 days 16 hours 12 minutes 17 seconds after beginning in the second start on June 29. Next in was Greg Dorn’s Dehler 46 Favonius, finishing at 06:38:22 HST for an elapsed time of 10 days 20 hours 38 minutes 22 seconds, the earliest finish of a day one starter in Division 7.

About three and a half hours later, Dean Stanec’s J/130 Night’s Watch crossed the line at 11:00:59:41, only 1 hour ahead of FAVONIUS sistership WINGS, skippered by Ian Edwards and his team from Australia.

The corrected times among these three teams are remarkably tight: after 10 days of racing, only 14 minutes separates the current division leader Night’s Watch from Wings in their current third place position.

In recognition of their sportsmanship despite a strong rivalry throughout the race, the Favonius team greeted the Wings team upon their arrival at their slip with the traditional Hawaiian welcome: beautiful floral leis.

Most of the remaining teams in this division are expected within the next 24 hours, with a notable exception: Stephen Lewis’ Newland 368 Pegasus reported breaking their mast this morning at about 100 miles out from Diamond Head.

The team has fashioned a jury rig and are sailing unassisted to the finish – fortunately no one aboard was hurt and the spar was cut away without damaging the hull.

With their two Dehler 46 sisterships locked in battle nearly the entire race, but their rivals Favonius in the end coming out ahead, Ian Edwards reflected on what he thought they could have done differently on Wings in this race had he to do it over again.

“I researched what all the experts said about this race in preparation,” he said, “and I think I would not change our configuration. Our Code 65 headsail was ideal for close power reaching and we put this to good use early in the race where we had the lead. But when the wind went aft, the larger spinnakers on Favonius really kicked in for them. Regardless, this was a great rivalry, we really had fun.”

Edwards and his team – veterans of many Sydney-Hobarts and other offshore races in the western Pacific – also admitted he wished he had a little more insight on the weather, the kind that comes from Transpac experience in knowing when to get leveraged out to one side on final approach to take advantage of an anticipated shift.

“We used the GRIB files and our routing program for guidance, and it was for much of this race not favorable to get too far away from the rhumb line. Later then the wind lifted I think we just did not recognize an opportunity on how to use that to come back into the lead, having not done the race before.”

The next to arrive at Diamond Head at 15:06:02 HST was Dave Moore’s Santa Cruz 52 Westerly 52 (above), the leader of Division 5. Like Denali3, Moore and his team got an early jump away from their second start rivals and held both the division and corrected time lead throughout nearly the entire race.

While still awaiting other finishers to arrive to confirm this title, their finish time today nonetheless places them in a strong position to claim one of the most prestigious perpetual trophies in this race, the King Kalakaua Trophy for overall best corrected time.

Westerly 52 is not a stock SC 52: it has had some turbo-charged upgrades to improve performance. For example, instead of stainless rod standing rigging, she has carbon fiber shrouds to both increase stability and reduce pitching moment. This and a thorough analysis of the boat’s polar performance, sail inventory, and measurement trim (assisted by ORR optimization guru Greg Stewart) gave the team a strong preparation for this race.

“I think 80% of the success in offshore racing is determined before you leave the dock which this team exemplified,” shared navigator Chris Busch. “This is the best-prepared boat I’ve sailed in some 15 Transpacs I’ve raced. The boat and the team are so good, this made my job easy.”

Event details – Preliminary results – Tracker – July 8 Roll Call

From the inaugural race in 1906, the biennial Transpac Race in 2023 is the 52nd edition with 57 entrants to take on the 2225 nm course from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

Staggered Starts
June 27 – Division 7, 8
June 29 – Division 4, 5, 6
July 1 – Division 1, 2, 3, 9

Source: TYC