News
Transpacific Yacht Club is saddened to report the passing in fall, 2021 of our steadfast and long-serving member of the Board of Directors, Roby Bessent. Roby was 88 years old, a marine surveyor who for many years served as Chief Safety Inspector for the Los Angeles-Honolulu Race, one of the most vital functions a race officer can serve. Roby was a 30-year member of TPYC and was in Honolulu for the finishes of every Transpac race over the last 20 years. In accordance with his wishes, his ashes will be spread near the finish line at Diamond Head after the next Transpac race.
Roby was also a go-to on matters of yachting and flag etiquette, but more important to TPYC was his assiduous attention to the club’s collections, to the distribution of Transpac history books, videos and—as race time approached—race posters. He took special care with the Fastest Elapsed Time Trophy, also known as the Disney Clock trophy.
Roby was also a member of Long Beach Yacht Club, where he was a regular in the volunteer ranks of the Congressional Cup match races. He also organized many TPYC meetings at LBYC since he lived in a salt-air neighborhood in Long Beach, a stone’s throw from Alamitos Bay. In addition to the many contributions that he made during his life, he has generously given to
Transpac through his estate. His bequest will, in time, endow Transpac in a new and important way.
In his younger years, Roby crewed on the iconic maxi, Kialoa, and refurbished and sailed a Cal 37, Hoot Mon. He studied at the University of Florida and at John Muir College of the University of California, San Diego, two institutions that must have done something right.
That is the past and future of Roby Bessent. Aloha.