History

The 39th Transpacific Yacht race will forever be known as one of the Outstanding races in Transpac history. The race was again sponsored by the Kenwood Corporation, and attracted new, exciting entries, mirroring the latest develpments of yachting technology including: ZEPHYRUS, a Reichel/Pugh 75'; MAGNITUDE, an Andrews 70' Turbo, and VICKI, an Andrews 70' Turbo. As it turned out the race would ultimately be won, however, by repeating Transpac veterans, outstanding sailing, and excellent wind conditions.

The 1994 Tahiti Race may well go down in the record books as the World’s longest Match Race. While a dozen boats expressed early interest in the race, only SORCERY and KATHMANDU crossed the starting line in Los Angeles harbor at 1310 on June 24, 1994. SORCERY, a Mull 82, was skippered by Jake Wood, a veteran of five Tahiti races. KATHMANDU, a Santa Cruz 70, was skippered by Fred Kirschner, an avid ULDB-70 racer. The boats were closely matched in terms of official ratings but quite different in design, with SORCERY displacing about three times as much as KATHMANDU. Both skippers were highly motivated to beat the course record (17d.07h.57m.55s.) set by TICONDEROGA in 1964.

The 37th running of the Transpacific Yacht race was actually four races in one. Due to the large disparity of boat speeds within the fleet of 42, it was decided to stagger the start over a four day period to try to equalize the finishing dates. The results were mixed due to mother nature and the Pacific high playing a fickle hand with most entrants. Kenwood Corporation, again, sponsored the event.