History
It was clear as early as 10 months prior to the 50th Transpac held in July 2019 that this was going to be an immensely popular race – by September 2018 there were already 50 entries on the roster, which went to over 80 in December, and this peaked at one time to 108 boats by early-Spring 2019, a figure that would have shattered the previous participation record of 80 entries set in 1979.
Yet even with 73 monohulls and 6 multihulls crossing the finish at Diamond Head, with 9 yachts retiring, this was an impressive record turnout for this 2225-mile biennial ocean racing classic. Teams from 7 nations were represented at the starts, with the fleet broken into 12 racing divisions ranging in size from two entries (Multihull Class 0A) to fifteen (Monohull Class 1).
It was in this latter class that the fastest and most modern boats were on hand, hunting for high speeds and record times should the weather conditions allow. Within this large class there was great diversity, with sizes ranging from Jim Cooney’s VPLP/Verdier 100 Comanche, the first to finish monohull once again after she set a new course record in 2017, to Jason Seibert’s canting-keeled Schock 40 Gamble, the last boat to get to Hawaii.
The next largest class in average size was the nine ULDB Sled teams that have been loyal to racing Transpac for over 30 years since their designs made their debuts in the 1980’s. Even Chip Merlin brought his boat Merlin back for Transpac 50 after designer/builder Bill Lee raced her for her 40th anniversary in the previous 2017 edition.
This finishing number in this class was reduced by two when in the wee hours of the second night of the race the helmsman on John Sangmeister’s modified Santa Cruz 70 OEX felt a crack and crunch in the rudder, which was highly loaded as the team was headsail reaching at high speed. The helm then went sluggish and the boat rendered unsteerable in the heavy winds and waves, and closer inspection revealed seawater pouring into the boat through a hole in the hull at the lower rudder bearing. The OEX team dropped their headsails, tried bailing the boat, and when it became clear they were not keeping up, liferafts were deployed and Maydays hailed.
Fortunately Roy Disney’s team on his Andrews 68 Pyewacket was nearby, and with only a slight course deviation were at OEX’s position quickly, ready to rescue their rival crew. While seeing OEX slip below the waves in the foggy gloom, the two teams sailed back to the Coast without further incident, a little shaken but unharmed.
For this heroic effort Disney and team were awarded US Sailing’s Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal and a rousing standing ovation in profound thanks and respect from the over 700 participants at the Awards Ceremony in Honolulu. This was a moving moment for all who have been to sea and faced tough and dangerous circumstances.
This was not the only mishap in the race: several boats retired for broken rudders, with all but one failure occurring in the first few days of the race so they turned back for the Coast. Two entries had mast issues, with one returning to the Coast, and one – Carlos Brea and David Chase’s Fast 42 Uhambo – managing to complete the course and finish at Diamond Head under jury rig.
Transpac 50 was also unique in attracting many teams who entered their favorite designs from yesteryear, including the six Cal 40’s racing in their own division, or Patrick Broughton’s Australian team on the S&S 72 Kialoa II, beautifully restored to look as good as when Jim Kilroy raced her in the 1960’s. One of the team members on the Kialoa II crew, Dallas Kilponen, beautifully captured the joys of life at sea while racing this classic ketch in his production of a video that was awarded a new trophy for Transpac, the Richard L. Burla Trophy, awarded to the best media production made during the race. This video was also later nominated for an international award at the Yacht Racing Forum’s Mirabaud Video Awards.
Another classic yacht of note entered in this race was Chubasco, the 1939-built 67-foot S&S yawl that the Akin/Baker/Carpenter/Durant syndicate painstakingly restored over two years to make ready for the race. The team on board had dozens of Transpacs and probably >100,00 ocean racing miles logged among them, but the boathandling challenges of pushing this boat to Hawaii gave them respect for their forerunners who did the same in earlier races this boat saw in its heydey.
And while these and many other stories gave plenty of introspection and nostalgia to this race - as there always is in a race that had its first start in 1906 - its interesting to note that some 75% of the teams in Transpac 50 were first-time entries in the race. So with enthusiasm like this, it seems that the predictions of the demise of ocean racing seem to be greatly exaggerated.
As with most Transpacs, the multiple start days can produce biases in favor of one wave of racers over another if the weather patterns line up more favorably. In 2013 the first wave was favored, with the slowest boats in the fleet winning the overall trophies, including Matt Brooks’s classic 1936 S&S ketch Dorade. This year it was the second and third wave that looked to get stronger breeze over a shorter route, until the last wave got caught in an unusually strong Catalina Eddy that kept them pinned to the coast in the first night, eroding all their advantages in corrected time.
So, just a few days into the race and while analyzing the positions and speeds being reported by the YB trackers, it became apparent the second wave was going to be looking good on the fleet. They were able to not have to dive too far south getting off the Coast as the first wave did, and thus they reduced the miles sailed to Hawaii while also having good breeze.
So, when Bob Pethick and his Rogers 46 Bretwalda arrived at Diamond Head in the mid-afternoon of their 8th day of racing, being the first of that favored group in Division 4, they had for a while enjoyed being at the top of the standings. Yet this did not last, since about 12 hours later a few hours before sunrise that night a new leader would emerge from the finish line at Diamond Head: Shawn Dougherty and Jason Andrews’s J/125 Hamachi.
These two led a team from the Seattle region balanced with youth and experience, and with careful preparation, high energy and minimal mistakes made during the race (and Yes, a little luck), they not only remained among the leaders but vaulted into and maintained their lead during the final hours of the race. The overall King Kalakaua Trophy looked to be within their grasp.
As the corrected time clock was ticking, the Hamachi team stood by to await their fate. "We would be so excited and proud to have our hard work over the past few months get rewarded with this amazing trophy," said Dougherty. "The team was phenomenal, everyone worked hard but had fun too, and to be given this prestigious award would be quite an honor."
In the end the finish times showed they earned this honor well, finishing 44 minutes ahead of their nearest rival in corrected time, and on top of a pack of five in Division 3 that were half a day ahead of the sixth overall finisher started on the same favourable day and who won Division 4.
Like the Burla Trophy, yet another new trophy was established this year, this one by the Storm Trysail Club to be awarded to the 3-boat team which compiles the best score, as determined by using the total of each team member's percentage placement in its respective class. Eleven teams entered this competition, fully one third of the fleet, and it was won by the Naughty Blue Tequila team composed of Division 9 winner Nadelos ("naughty"), Cal 40 Division runner-up Azure ("blue") and Division 4 winner Oaxaca ("tequila").
So in summary it can be stated that Transpac 50 was another great edition of this classic ocean race, where no records were broken as in 2017, but all participants enjoyed having all the elements that make this race great: a diversity of conditions to challenge all getting off the coast followed by beautiful postcard tradewinds sailing though the middle and end of the course. Those that did well in the results did so through careful planning, preparation and executing their strategies on the race course.
One take-way from this race was the incredibly fast elapsed times achieved by the fastest multihulls – only 4.5 days for the MOD 70 trimarans – may prompt an even later start date in the future to have these magnificent ocean greyhounds be part of the final festivities of this great race.