Transpac 2025: ‘Lucky’ Grabs the Barn Door at 0723, More Boats Arriving This Weekend

Transpac racers surfed toward the tropical islands under a full moon last night, while positions are getting sorted as the breeze evens out across the course and the fleet starts to converge on Hawaii. It was yesterday evening that the big boat, Lucky, snatched the line-honors position from the Beneteau First 36 Rahan as she powered past at almost 20 knots. For a while it was looking as if Rahan could stay ahead to get line honors until Lucky passed them with just with just 340 miles to go. And it was Lucky that surfed across the finish line at 0723 this morning to grab the Barn Door Trophy.

The light breeze in the middle of the race split the fleet three ways, with some going low to avoid it, some going high, and some just suffering through it. The Tuesday starters were the lucky ones who slipped by the slow blue blob before it formed, with the Thursday and Saturday starters facing the strategic puzzle.

All the boats have now crossed the halfway point, and those who were lucky got to open their halfway gift boxes. The “five o’clock shadows” are starting to be full-fledged beards, so perhaps some of the razors will get used. The gift boxes come from family and friends, and contain cards, snacks, rum, and whatever else gives tired crew mid-race inspiration.

Transpac YC Rear Commodore Alli Bell on her Cal 40 Restless continues to lead Division 9, while Andy McCormack’s Reichel/Pugh 68 Pied Piper has moved up to steal first overall in ORR Monohull, dropping Restless to second overall.

An update from Greg Dorn’s TP52 Favonius 2 highlighted the change in the weather, remarking on heavier breeze and better boat speeds. Greg said, “With sustained speeds in the 17- and 18-knot range and regularly touching 22 knots, the boat is planing beautifully. A 52-ft, seven-ton boat planing through waves, surfing down wave backsides, and zipping along essentially nearly level in flatter segments is an incredible sight.”

Meanwhile, crew Matthew Sessions and Ashley Perrin reported on some mid-ocean repairs, including replacing an exploded spinnaker block, re-priming the watermaker, and releading a wayward mainsheet block. The boats are put through the stress test 24/7 for well over 2,000 miles, and things break.

When asked about the squalls that often feature prominently in the Transpac, Tom Furlong, owner and skipper of the Reichel/Pugh 52 Vitesse, described this year’s race as an outlier. “No squalls that are significant,” he said during an at-sea interview. “We’ve had little spates of rain here and there, but it’s not the squall-squalls that we’re used to, where you get a six- or eight-knot increase in breeze and really hard rain.

“We’re getting into territory now where we’re seeing some of the higher breeze,” Furlong reported. “It’s what these planing boats want — you want to get into that breeze and really start planing. I was driving last night for a little while with just under 20 knots of breeze, and it was a really nice evening.”

“The last 24 hours have been great,” said Ivan Batanov, owner and skipper of the Reichel/Pugh 51 Zero Gravity 51. “We’ve seen really nice conditions, mostly in the 16-18-knot range, and we’re pointed straight at Hawaii.”

As of yesterday evening, the crowns on the leaders on the tracker looked like this (subject to change!):

Boatswain’s Locker/Yanmar Division 1 • Badpak – Botin 56, owned by Tom Holthus
Mount Gay Division 2 • Fast Exit II – Ker 52, owned by John Raymont
Whittier Trust Division 3 • Pied Piper – Reichel/Pugh 68, owned by Jack Jennings
Cal Maritime Division 4 • Aimant de Fille – J/145, owned by Steven Ernest
Cabrillo Boat Shop Division 5 • Westerly – Santa Cruz 52, owned by Dave Moore
Garmin Division 6 • Arsenal – J/125, owned by Andrew Picel
Suntex Division 7 • Rahan – Beneteau First 47.7, owned by Fred Courouble and Charles-Etienne Devanneaux
Pasha Division 8 • Macando – Beneteau First 47.7, owned by Mike Sudo
Bridger Insurance Division 9 • Restless – Cal 40, owned by Alli Bell
smithREgroup Multihull Division • Convexity2 – Gunboat 68 (multihull), owned by Don Wilson

Dave Moore’s Westerly was first in class and first overall in 2023 and looks to be headed for a repeat as they close in on the final 600 miles.

Lucky turned on the afterburners with less than 300 miles to go, and as predicted by navigator Stan Honey, she finished the 2,225-mile race early this morning with the rest of the boats, especially Tuesday starters, hot on her heels.

The rest of the fleet should begin sailing by the finish off Diamond Head starting Sunday morning. Follow them here.