2025 Transpac Fleet Crossing the Finish Line
As of this morning, the crowns on the winning boats appear to be firmly in place for almost all 10 divisions of the 2025 Transpac. The overall winner is a California favorite: Alli Bell’s Cal 40 Restless. After all the Tuesday starters edged south following the start, the Restless crew stuck pretty close to the rhumb line, with their symmetrical kites powering her to the winner’s circle.
Overall it was an interesting year for the navigators, who contended with a light-air patch in the middle of the course and somewhat lighter winds overall, spiced up by the usual squalls and shifts. The full moon lit the way for much of the race when not covered up by clouds darkening the sky.
After Lucky was able to break away from the mid-course light air, she roared along at 22+ knots to take the Barn Door Trophy, but it was Tom Holthus and the crew aboard his Botin 56 Badpak that took Boatswain’s Locker/Yanmar – Division 1.
John Raymont’s Kerr 52 Fast Exit II was the winner in Mount Gay – Division 2 ahead of Thomas Furlong’s Reichel Pugh 52 Vitesse. The West Coast TP52/52-ft fleet gained some more traction as a very competitive offshore class.
Greg Dorn of Favonius 2 commented on their approach to Hawaii: “Conditions are holding steady at 15 to 18 knots from 90 to 100 degrees. We’re sailing with a full main, spinnaker staysail, and our new A2. We’re set up on a port jibe and expect to hold this board for the majority of the remaining distance, with only a few jibes to starboard to set up the final layline. We are 180 miles to the finish. The past 24 hours have been marked by tight racing with Merlin, Grand Illusion, and Zero Gravity …. The final crossing saw them on starboard, forcing us to jibe away, an inshore-style crossing scenario playing out 2,000 miles into the race. Remarkable, and a perfect example of this sport’s singular nature.”
The Whittier Trust – Division 3 fleet was the home of the California sleds, and was finally taken by Jack Jennings and his crew aboard his Reichel Pugh 68 Pied Piper. It was Roy Disney’s team aboard Pyewacket that pushed them from astern and corrected out just over an hour behind.
In Cal Maritime – Division 4 it is Rich Festa aboard his Rogers 46 Groundhog Day who is standing out front, but the spoiler may be Steven Ernest on his J/145 Aimant de Fille who’s wearing the crown with 123 miles to go.
In Cabrillo Boat Shop – Division 5 it was 2023 class and overall winner Dave Moore’s souped-up Santa Cruz 52 Westerly that cruised to another class win in a class full of 50-ft California sleds from Bill Lee, and one from Alan Andrews.
Garmin – Division 6 had four J/125s facing off against Michael Mollmann’s Elliot 35SS Palby Marine, with Andrew Picel’s J/125 Arsenal taking top honors.
In Suntex – Division 7, Charles-Etienne Devanneaux and Fred Courouble doublehanded the modified Beneteau First 36 Rahan across the line to be the second boat to finish the 2025 Transpac behind the 88-ft Lucky. They were among the lucky starters in Tuesday’s Division 7, and carried the breeze from the starting line all the way to the top spot in the division and fourth overall. An amazing result for the only doublehanded boat in the 2025 Transpac!
In Pasha – Division 8 it was Mike Sudo’s Beneteau 47.7 Macondo that wore the crown most of the way across the Pacific and retained it until the finish line.
There’s a lot of excitement in Bridger Insurance – Division 9 as the Transpac Yacht Club rear commodore Alli Bell reaffirmed the legendary status of well-sailed Cal 40s by taking first in class and first overall!
The smithREgroup ORR Multihull fleet consisted of two unevenly matched catamarans, with Don Wilson’s Gunboat 68 Convexity2 up against a stellar performance by Jerzy Poprawski’s Moorings 4300 Kastor Polux. Nonetheless, it was the carbon Gunboat that showed her sterns to the starry twins Castor and Pollux.
There are 34 boats that have finished, 13 boats still on the course, and four boats that retired early with gear failure or injuries. Many others faced a long list of gear failures but have been able to sail their way to Hawaii. Greg Reynolds’ Nelson Marek 68 Bolt looks as if she’ll be next across the line.
Follow the rest of the boats finishing here.
John Doe Mariner Found in Monterey Bay in 2021 Now Identified
A decayed body found just outside Monterey Bay in 2021 has now been identified, 28 years after being listed as missing. The remains had been tangled in a fishing net, enclosed in black fleece long johns and found with five keys and two coins, and no identification..
Forensic investigators were able to determine the bones likely belonged to a man aged between 35 and 50, around 6 feet 3 inches tall. At the time it was unclear how long he had been adrift in the ocean. “Broken ends of the tibia and humerus were uneven, suggesting marine decomposition and ‘scavenging activity’,” SFGate reported this month. Despite extensive investigations, and scrutiny by the Missing and Unidentified Persons Section of the California Department of Justice, the man was not identified and the case details were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP99784.
In 2022, the Monterey County Cold Case Task Force worked with Othram, a forensics laboratory based in Texas, to use advanced DNA processes and forensic genetic genealogy to try identify the remains.
The results show the remains belong to Jeffrey Lyndon Hulliger, born on May 30, 1960. According to the report published by DNASolves.com, Hulliger was 36 years old when he was lost at sea with a friend while fishing in Monterey Bay on January 14, 1997. His friend and boatmate, Greg Mitchell, has never been found. After the duo sent out a distress signal from their boat, the Salmon Patty, the Coast Guard attempted to locate the vessel, which was reported to have been taking on water.
Newspaper accounts at the time reported the Coast Guard launched “a multi-day search with volunteers, two Coast Guard cutters, a helicopter and an airplane.” Although the mariners’ boat was equipped with a life raft, two survival suits and an electronic satellite beacon, no signal from the beacon was ever received. Neither the boat nor their remains were located, and both men were presumed drowned.
DNASolves.com reports that two years after the pair’s disappearance, Hulliger’s brother told reporters that he had “tried to convince Jeffrey Hulliger to not go out fishing for black cod that day because the weather was so bad.” He believed his brother and Mitchell drowned when their boat capsized in 18-foot waves off Point Reyes.
Discover the Magic of Owl Harbor
Sailagram: A Snapshot of June Sailing
June was a busy month on the water. The Master Mariners Wooden Boat Show, Summer Sailstice, USCG Eagle arriving on the Bay, beer cans — and that’s just the organized events. We’ve selected a snapshot of some of the action.
SV ‘Atalanta’ — Refitting a Modern Classic
Among the windswept cypress trees and sprawling golf courses of the Monterey Peninsula, where classic and exotic car enthusiasts gather each year for the famed Concours d’Elegance, it is often said that there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Ferrari. When my boat partner Chuck Drake and I upgraded from our Santana 35 and bought Atalanta, a custom 1988 New Zealand-built Farr 53 in summer 2020, although she looked beautiful, we knew we were in for a project.
I had spent the first part of the pandemic reinventing myself. After racing yachts in the Med and Caribbean for most of my 20s, I had a two-decade-long career as a nonprofit fundraiser. During the early days of the pandemic, I realized that where I was happiest was on the water. Inspired by offshore sailing programs like those run by 59 North, my goal was to start a business that combined offshore passages with local charters on Monterey Bay. I earned my 100-ton Coast Guard license and set off to find the perfect boat.
Unfortunately, most boats were either out of my geographic area or out of my budget, or otherwise not suitable for offshore charters. High on my wish list were individual berths, rather than the double cabins found on many modern boats. When Atalanta was listed right in our backyard, we immediately went to see her. The boat showed beautifully on that summer day on San Francisco Bay, and the immaculately varnished interior of tawa, a light hardwood native to New Zealand, glowed alluringly in the morning sun. The 130 hp Volvo diesel had been completely rebuilt and had only 2,900 original hours. She ticked all of our boxes. Her lines, to my eye, were perfect. The boat had a presence about her that was undeniable.
Elsewhere, however, things were not so rosy. An aging teak deck, original ’80s-vintage electronics, frayed running rigging, and pools of hydraulic oil gave glimpses of some of the major projects we would need to undertake. The list was long and daunting. But the price was too good to pass up, and we knew that this would make a comfortable and safe cruising platform for our families and friends. Additionally, it would enable me to realize my dream of offering charters on the West Coast and beyond.
Spaulding Marine Center, Full-Service Boat Yard and Education Center
