Latest News

All in at Transpac 50

With Jason Seibert's Schock 40 Gamble making it across the finish line this morning after a long passage of almost 11 days, the Transpacific Yacht Club can declare all boats have finished this year's 50th edition to the LA-Honolulu Race. The final tally of boats completing the course successfully is 81, with 678 sailors aboard. Nine yachts retired from this year's race: seven returned to the mainland, one continued to Hawaii, and one sank at sea.

Nearly without exception, all were glad they came, with plenty of tales of adventure and challenge running the gamut of topics common to ocean racing: high speeds and low speeds, gourmet cooking to freeze dried mush, perfect moonlit nights to scary squalls, freezing cold to baking in the sun with no relief. For some the trip was without incident, while others ran into one problem after another and the trip was spent troubleshooting these to get them to Hawaii in one piece.

FlyingFiche II Race Blog

Transpac 2019 is in the books! The Flyingfiche II crossed the finish line just after 8 p.m. local time Sunday. We placed fourth of 11 in our very competitive division, and 12th of 84 finishers overall.

This is the second Transpac that we've completed on this boat, and everyone has been asking the obvious question: How did 2019 compare to 2017?

The conditions in 2017 were much milder, and from what I understand, this year's conditions were much more typical—more wind, bigger waves, tougher squalls. The shift in degree of conditions results in a change in the kind of sailing on these boats. When the wind and waves lined up—like when we were coming down Molokai Channel, especially—we weren't sailing in the way we do in the coastal waters of Southern California. It was a surfing session on a 50-foot board that has a spinnaker attached to help drop in. We were able to get into this mode much more often this year, and it enabled us to finish the race faster by an entire day. The difference in top speeds was huge—17.5 knots last time compared to 24.5 this year. The Santa Cruz 50 was designed for this race, and that was much more apparent to me this year. 

Last wave of finishers happy to finish after rough seas and big breezes on final approach in Transpac 50

By sunset on Monday, only a handful of yachts were still at sea heading towards the finish in the 50th edition of the LA-Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race, organized by the Transpacific YC. This day was overcast and almost dreary compared to the bright tropical sunshine of all the other finish days, and with the final stretch after many days at sea many teams were more than ready to cross the finish at Diamond Head. 

A source of fatigue and frustration for many was the unusual sea state produced by cross-swells, making the smaller and slower boats in particular difficult to sail efficiently. One team sent a message saying "On land, I will miss thrashing about the boat, getting vibrant bruises that connect to form geographic regions all over my body." Kidding aside, for some this was also the source of damage that had serious effects on their race. 

And the Winners Are…

FULL RESULTS

FIRST TO FINISH: ARGO, MOD 70, Jason Caroll
BARN DOOR TROPHY (First monohull): COMANCHE, Verdier/VPLP 100, Jim Cooney & Samantha Grant
MERLIN TROPHY: RIO100, Bakewell/White 100, Manouch Moshayedi
STORM TRYSAIL TEAM TROPHY: TBD (Naughty Blue Tequila leader as of 7/22/19)
1st OVERALL ORR: HAMACHI, J/125, Shawn Doughery & Jason Andrews

1st DIV 0: ARGO, MOD70, Jason Caroll
1st DIV 0A: TBD
1st DIV 1: BADPAK, Pac52, Tom Holthus
1st DIV 2: TAXI DANCER, RP70, Yabsley / Compton
1st DIV 3: HAMACHI, J/125, Shawn Doughery & Jason Andrews
1st DIV 4: OAXACA, Santa Cruz 50, Michael Moradzadeh
1st DIV 5: GOOD CALL, Nautor's Swan 60, Tom Barker
1st DIv 6: BLUEFLASH, J/121, Scott Grealish
1st DIV 7: CHUBASCO, S&S Yawl, Akin / Baker / Carpenter / Durant
1st DIV 8: SWEET OKOLE, Farr 36, Dean Treadway
1st DIV 9: FREE, Swan 461, Christian Doegl
1st DIV 10: CALLISTO, Cal 40, Eddy Family

Tropic Thunder Race Blog

Mother nature put on quite a display over the past 24 hr.  We finally saw an amazing sunset.  The clouds glowed orange sorbet, soft pink and mauve.

I think this was her apology for the recurring cloud bursts over the course of the day.  We would go from bone dry to soaked to the bone in 10 minutes.  At least it was warm rain.

At one point, there was a rainbow that made a complete circle around the sun.  So much amazing beauty out here.  Overnight the Milky came out in all of her glory complete with shooting stars; several bright enough to have a tail.  They would last for seconds before they burned out.

Half the fleet finished and all enjoy high-speed sailing at Transpac 50

Mostly favorable weather conditions for this race and the staggered start paradigm has created for the 50th edition of the Transpacific Yacht Race what was intended: a flood of both fast and slow entries converging together on the finish in Hawaii. Some 70% of the 82 entries that will finish in this year's edition have or will have finished between Saturday Noon and Monday Noon, a remarkable high density flood of racers arriving happy, tired, thirsty and wholly satisfied with this year's race. 

TPYC race officials say 75% of the entries in this year's anniversary edition are newcomers to the race, but there are a lot of familiar faces on the arrival docks and Aloha parties being held at Waikiki and Hawaii Yacht Clubs. All of them, even among the Division 1 and Division 2 teams deprived of course records and corrected time victories due to their first night of light air, have said this year's race for them was the best in memory. 

Triumph Race Blog

With roughly 100 NM to go, we have a nearly cloudless sky and 17-20 knot tradewinds sending us to the turn at Molokai, then the final stretch to the Diamond Head Buoy. The evening sky last night after sunset was resplendent in its Indigo accents punctuated by the Milky Way and so many stars with brilliant Mars and Venus showing.  The energy on board is peaking as the fleet converges and gains are made in the last run to the finish!    The 4-on / 4-off watch schedule was suspended this morning by the Skipper as we prepare for the approaching classic experience of storied winds and waves of the Molokai Channel.  Families and friends can still watch the live Yellow Brick (200NMS version) presentation of this last leg while preparing the perfect Mai Tai and donning a fresh Island Lei.  

The boat is remarkably clean, from the perspective of an offshore racer - family & friends should probably delay entry until the sailors do their thing; the food has been really good - only one freeze dried meal of Mac and Beans Chili with the prior night's Sabatinos sausage leftovers added for flavor.  We have eaten all the water, carbs and proteins needed for this final 100 NM showdown.  We have also caught up on sleep and we greatly anticipate these final 10 hours as the fleet sorts out who is where and execute the critical gybes required at the optimal moment off the wall at Molokai.  Some will make it, some might not.  The high winds and vertical short period high wave chop are so focused within the narrow passage between these Islands that anything can happen to affect the final outcome.

Katara Race Blog

To all who followed or were involved in Katara's journey across the Pacific,

We are official members of the double digits club! Just moments ago we cross the 100nm line from the Diamond Head light finish line. We are making excellent way at 12-14kts in a pleasant 18-20kts of breeze. We've got a heck of a ride ahead of us down the Molokai Channel and it should be all the more sporty for having to do it in the dark.

We are projecting a finish sometime near 0600 HST, or approximately 9.5 hours from now.