News
Please check these photo galleries for updated shots of your favorite teams crossing the finish line, arriving at the dock, donning the leis and tasting the mai tais in full Aloha fashion.
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A key part of life onboard Merlin is routine, however as the race progresses some routines have strengthened and some have fallen by the wayside. There are no more complaints about cold weather it is now complaints about the lack of fans down below. Various project completed during the week have strengthen bonds and broaden skill sets. A repaired A2 spinnaker took many watches and hours of labor from the crew to fix after it blew out.
Only 24 hours out from Hawaii, it will be an intense time overnight as we push hard to gain precious miles on handicap before we say Aloha.
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Some excitement on Amazing Grace last night when the afterguy foot block failed and broke free from the deck. Fortunately no one injured. Was able to douse kite, jibe, and set new kite, sailing at a slightly less favorable jibe angle, but still heading toward Hawaii. Get those Mai Tais ready, we're thirsty!
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With a finish time of 19:34:25 HST today, Manouch Moshayedi's Bakewell-White 100 RIO100 has become the fastest monohull without powered performance systems to finish the 50th edition of the biennial 2225-mile LA-Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race. In so doing she has won the Merlin Trophy, which this year was re-defined from its original criteria of being awarded to the fastest monohull of any configuration in the race.
RIO100 is the first boat in the history of Transpac to have won both the Merlin and Barn Door Trophies. Asked how he felt about this, Manouch said "It feels fantastic, I'm going to go down the list of trophies, one by one!"
Two years ago in their Barn Door Trophy win, RIO100 was not at full speed for the latter portion of the race having hit debris that broke one of their two rudders. Quick work by the crew capped the hole in the hull at the rudder bearing and the team sailed on for their elapsed time win. This time the only debris hit was a long hawse line from a fishing boat that they believe slowed them "for about one and a half - two hours" while they removed it from the keel. But all in all Manouch felt this was a "cleaner" race, and their elapsed time of 6 days 9 hours 8 minutes 26 seconds is the fastest yet for a non-canting Monohull.
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With the new open criteria established for the Transpac Barn Door Trophy for the 2019 race, the Comanche team gathered on Friday to receive the trophy awarded to the first monohull to finish the race. Specifically, the 2019 Notice of Race removed any restrictions on use of moveable ballast or non-manual power to define those eligible to receive this classic trophy, while boats that are first-to-finish contenders may not have a length greater than 100 feet overall (30.48 meters). This criteria is similar to that used in numerous other ocean races around the world, including the Sydney-Hobart, Fastnet, Middle Sea and other races.
From 2009 - 2017 those monohull entries that used moveable ballast or non-manual power were eligible to race, but the first boat to finish with these systems on board was not eligible to win this trophy, and instead were contenders for the Merlin Trophy.
Under the previous rule, Manouch Moshayedi's Rio100 won both the 2015 and 2017 Barn Door Trophy.
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We passed a buoy a couple of days about 800 miles offshore. I am pretty sure it was not anchored. We were going 13 or so and it passed one boat length (50 feet) to windward and we did not see it until we were within a couple of boat lengths. We are glad that we did not ring that bell.
The boat captain decided to do some boat maintenance. So he emptied an entire can of dry lube on all the moving parts down below (there are lots). The crew members down below at that time experienced severe oxygen deprivation. They knew that no gas masks were available, so they evacuated the premises. I have never experienced an all hands on deck call that was as effective. Everyone feared lighting a match for the next few hours. Not much ventilation. One hatch.
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The big attraction of Transpac is the downwind sailing for days and days. Big swells,sunshine and big spinnakers in strong tradewinds. At least that's the theory. It does not always work out that way. For example of the seven Transpac races and five Pac cup races that I've done so far, only two Transpacs and two Pac Cups were truly windy. That said, we still often get great days and nights of spinnaker sailing at speeds that make grown men and women squeal like little children. It also means that the race attracts a wide and varied assortment of yachts prepared by their owners and crews to perform at full potential 24/7 for the whole race, pushing as hard as they can whenever they can. It is a race of "run what you brung" . Take Fast Exit. We have a kitchenette, small bathroom, some cabins with bunks and a saloon with convertible settee/bunks. A sort of Sprinter van with a really big engine, in the form a tall Carbon Fiber mast, big mainsail and big spinnakers. Now, also in our class are boats akin to a large sport station wagon. Think Cadillac CTS-V or Mercedes AMG, decent size with a stupidly big engine. You could sleep in it, but would you really want to? And, so we race, in handicap style. They have to beat us to Hawaii by a certain amount of time to win. Get to the wind first, be in the right lane and put up the biggest kite you can. Sheet in, hold on and drive. Shooting down big rollers with spray flying about all over the place, half the time in daylight half the time at night. If you're lucky, like this year you get a full moon, if not, it's pitch black. No matter what, you don't back off. Ever. Days two and three the Turbo Camper team pulled off 24 hour runs of 278 and 288 miles. Pretty good for a fully powered up Turbo Camper.
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