Transpac Shaping Up Nicely

The early entry deadline for the 48th Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race is six weeks away — March 1 — and the late entry deadline is June 1. As of this morning, 34 boats had entered — including two 100-footers fresh from success in the recent Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

The two 100-footers signed up so far are Wild Oats XI, the Reichel-Pugh 100 that just took line honors in Hobart for a record eighth time, besting Jim Clark’s $100 million 100-ft Comanche and her all-star crew. Wild Oats has been entered by Robert Oatley of Australia’s Hamiliton Island YC and Roy P. Disney of Southern California. The second 100-footer entered is Manouch Moshayedi’s totally redesigned Newport Beach-based Bakewell-White Rio100, the fourth finisher in the Sydney Hobart. Comanche will be going after the Transatlantic record, so she’ll not be racing to Hawaii, but there could be other 100-footers.

The third biggest entry is an international sailing legend, the S&S 79 Kialoa III, campaigned around the world starting in 1974 by Jim Kilroy of Los Angeles. She’s now owned by Jorge Madden of Helena, Montana, who nonetheless will be racing under the burgee of the Yacht Club of Monaco.

We’re also happy to see that our friend Lloyd Thornburg of Santa Fe, St. Barth and the New York YC will be returning with his totally rebuilt Gunboat 66 cat Phaedo (‘Fay-dough’). The big orange machine — with a 12,000-pound load on the headstay at rest — had turned in a 24-hour run of 427 miles in the last Transpac before losing her stick. Another Gunboat cat, Chim Chim, the second Gunboat 62 ever built, is undergoing a total refit at Driscoll’s in San Diego. Her owner hopes she’ll be done in time for a run to the islands. We’ll have more on Chim Chim and Rio 100 in the February issue of Latitude 38.

The Transpac has always been a sledfest; so far three SC70s — Grand Illusion, Holua and Maverick — have signed up. More are expected.

The oldest of the ‘oldie but goodies’ is Martha, an 84-ft schooner that was built in 1907, entered by the Schooner Martha Foundation of Port Townsend, Washington.

The second oldest boat entered to date is Sam and Willi Bell’s Long Beach-based Lapworth 50 Westward. Built in 1962, the Lapworth 50 actually has a shot at overall corrected time honors, as evidenced by the fact that she was near the top of the leaderboard for much of the 2013 Transpac.

If you have a more ‘normal’ boat, don’t be deterred from entering, as owners have already signed up with a Beneteau, two Jeanneaus, a Catalina, a Swan and such. From Northern California, Dean Treadway has entered his Richmond YC-based cold-molded Farr 36 Sweet Okole. Entry fees range from $1,250 to more than $10,000. For details, visit www.transpacyc.com.