Transpac Race: And the Winners Are…

Honolulu, HI (July 28, 2015) – It has been over two weeks since the first of three staggered starts for the 48th edition of the biennial Transpac Race, with now only a few stragglers still on the 2,225 nm course from Los Angeles to Honolulu. The past few days have been busy on Transpac Row in Ala Wai harbor.

While the early starters on July 13 had a lock on the ORR Overall rankings for much of the race, it was a late surge by the final starters on July 18 that now appear to have won the hardware. As for the second wave starters on July 16, Mother Nature hated you. Come back in two years.

With no protests threatening on land and no remaining threats at sea, James McDowell’s Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion is on top of the leaderboard in overall ORR scoring, followed by Chuck Nichols’ charter of the Andrews 70 Pyewacket, with Craig Reynolds’s TP52 Bolt in third place.

For the most formidable boats, the Transpac Race is an ocean crossing speed test, ratings be damned, with the Barn Door Trophy symbolic of that achievement. It is for boats powered by people, not engines, so canting creations don’t qualify. This year, Manouch Moshayedi’s Rio 100 won the Barn Door Trophy.

“Transpac is one of the best and most important yacht races in the world and the Barn Door trophy is one of the most coveted,” said Moshayedi. “A year and half ago we decided to build a boat that was able to win the Barn Door Trophy, this mission was well executed and achieved.

“I have to thank Brett Bakewell-White and the Cookson’s yard for designing and building such a great boat for us.

“My special thanks go to our most important team member, Keith Kilpatrick who supervised building the boat as it progressed inch by inch and then taking care of her and customizing her for our races. The boat is always prepared and in top shape.

“Keith is also one of our best drivers and all around sailors and in the most challenging times the helm is always passed on to him. Keith is our MVP and I wouldn’t cross any oceans without him.

“Despite the difficult weather conditions, Chris Branning, our navigator did a great job of keeping us away from the doldrums and like threading a needle, kept us moving at optimum speeds, we are certainly lucky to have had him with us on this race.

“Our team over all is fantastic and even though it comprises of professional sailors and amateurs, it’s a very cohesive and fun group. One week on a boat with 19 people could be a very long trip if one has the wrong crowd. But in our case we all enjoyed our ride, at times laughed out loud and at times we all worked in unison to keep the boat in good shape while going as fast as we could.

“Gavin Brady, who is of course very well known worldwide, is our leader and our sailing guru and the “to go” man for every maneuver. The team has full respect for Gavin and follows his orders without question which is great as there is no second guessing. I can say that without a doubt our team really enjoys sailing together and has a lot of fun while doing it.

“This race was very special for me as I had my son Sebastian along for the ride and seeing him drive through the Molokai Channel was a great pleasure. And since we ended up finishing ten hours after the record time, we are now forced to come back again next time to see if we can break the record.”

Provisional results are now available here.

TRACKING: When boats approach within 100 miles of the finish, there is a real-time window set up on the tracker here. For other entries still on the course, there is a 6-hour delay on the tracker.

Race website – Provisional Results – 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.