Prior to the 2017 Transpac Race, skipper Ken Read said "Comanche is here on the west coast because this is one of the big five races, one of the classic ocean races that this boat was really made to do. We always chase records, that's kind of the boats M.O., and this is a really prestigious record." 5 days later, Comanche now owns the Transpac race monohull course record with their elapsed time of 5 Days, 1 Hour, 55 Minutes, 26 Seconds, over half a day faster than the previous record. Their finish time was July 11th, at 11:55:26 HST.
That previous record, set in 2009 by Alfa Romeo II was 5 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes, 20 seconds.
More history on the Transpac Honolulu Race Elapsed Time Record Trophy.
More stories, photos and video coming soon.
Congratulations to Comanche! Aloha!
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For the majority of the race, the trackers ping at the turn of the hour for each boat. The positions are revealed on a 4-hour delay on the main Race Tracker to keep each boat's strategy a bit of a mystery to the competition during the race. As the boats approach Hawaii and are within 100nm of the finish, the tracker removes the delay and shows the realtime position for each ping. Additionally, we've ask YB Tracking to have the positions update every 10 minutes when the boats are within 100nm of the finish.
On the Dock... home, tired, but happy...
Quote from Lloyd Thornburg - Owner Skipper
“A hearty congratulations to a perfect race sailed by Mighty Merloe! Team Phaedo sailed a very good race and I am very proud of our team while we gave it our best it was not quite enough for Mighty Merloe's epic light air down wind speed. Now that the racing is behind us we are here in Hawaii enjoying the unparalleled hospitality of our Hawaiian welcome and many well wishers. Aloha!”
Quote from Simon Fisher- Navigator
"It’s great to be in Hawaii after 4 days of really intense racing, after a bumpy first night and the realisation that we had some very intense competition from Mighty Merloe and Maserati it feels like we have thrown everything including the kitchen sink at our bid to get line honours in this race. Having realised that in the conditions we had we weren't going to win on boat speed alone we worked hard on making a more southerly tactical option work. After gybing on what felt like every shift between LA and Hawaii we have to take our hats of to the crew of Mighty Merloe who sailed a faultless race. Despite our efforts we couldn’t find a way past them. It has been a really solid effort from the crew to achieve what turned out to be a solid second place despite hanging it all out there for a chance of glory and the win!”
Congratulations to HL Enloe and the crew of the ORMA 60 trimaran Mighty Merloe, the first to finish in the 2017 Transpac Race, and new holders of the multihull Transpac Race record elapsed time! Mighty Merloe has been racing just about every west coast offshore event for the last few years, often with no multihull competition to measure themselves against. Getting the opportunity to welcome Phaedo3 and Maserati to the west coast, go head to head against them and come out on top is a dream come true for Enloe's team. We'll hear more from them shortly.
Enloe sailed this year's Transpac race with his team of Steve Calder (Main Trimmer), Jay Davis (Bowman), Artie Means (Navigator), Loïck Peyron (Helm), Franck Proffit (Helm), Will Suto (Grinder), Jacques Vincent (Co-Skipper).
Mighty Merloe crossed the finish line under helicopter escort at 17:03:30 (HST) on Monday, July 10th. Their elapsed time of 4 Days, 6 Hours, 33 Minutes, 30 Seconds beats the 20 year old record of Bruno Peyron's Commodore Explorer by more than a day, previously set at 5 days 9 hours 18 min and 26 secs.
More photos and video to follow.
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Most of the remainder of the fleet at halfway point in the race
Honolulu, HI – One week after the first wave of starters and four days after the last wave, the bulk of the 55 entries in this year's 49th edition of the Transpac race are at about their halfway points to the finish at Diamond Head in Honolulu. On the 2225-mile course less than a dozen are still to reach the half-way points in their projected tracks in the race.
Unlike the last two editions of this classic biennial ocean race, the weather has been favorable for a "normal" passage to Hawaii, with the boats heading southwest after passing the West End of Catalina Island, then arching towards the west and now north of west as they get into the easterly tradewinds near the southern latitudes of the Hawaiian archipelago. The fleet's southerly arch away from the rhumb line has been intentional to stay away from the light winds in the Pacific High, but in the next few days some may extend west rather then south to cut down the distance if they're confident there is enough wind pressure to justify this move.
The conditions of relatively steady 10-20 knot winds with few holes has been perfect for the fleet leaders, who have been speeding along at over 20 knots of boat speed and are quickly consuming the remaining miles left to Diamond Head. At 0900 Hawaii Time today the three leading multihulls - H.L. Enloe's ORMA 60 Mighty Merloe, Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70 Phaedo and Giovanni Soldini's MOD 70 Maserati - have been locked in battle, with Merloe in the lead ahead of Phaedo by 57 miles with only 168 miles to go on their final approach to Oahu.
At current speeds, Merloe's finish time tonight will not only break the multihull race record set in 1997 by Bruno Peyron's Commodore Explorer of 5 days 9 hours 18 min and 26 sec, but possibly smash it by more than a day. The other two MOD 70's also likely to beat the previous mark by coming in only a few hours later.
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| Feb 24, 2026
ORR and 2025 Lessons Learned Seminar |
5:00 PM PSTZoom Webinar |
| March 5, 2027
Last Day for Standard Entry Payment |
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| May 28, 2027
Last Date to Pay Late Entry Fee |
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| June 11, 2027
Deadline for Submitting Final Rating Data |
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| June 4, 2027
Initial Inspection Deadline |
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| June 22, 2027
Deadline for "As-Built" Sails Certificate |
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| July 3, 2027
Mandatory Person in Charge Meeting |
TBA |
| July 3, 2027
Aloha Send Off Party |
Evening |
| July 6, 2027
First Transpac Race Start |
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| July 8, 2027
Second Transpac Race Start |
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| July 10, 2027
Third Transpac Race Start |
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| July 20, 2027
Honolulu Awards Ceremony, Day 3 Starters |
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| July 22, 2027
Honolulu Awards Ceremony, Day 2 Starters |
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| July 24, 2027
Honolulu Awards Ceremony, Day 1 Starters |
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| July 25, 2027
Navigator’s De-Brief Meeting |
