China TransPac – going the other way, all the way

by Lu Wen’ao, Global Times on 13 Oct 2016 A highly ambitious trans-Pacific yacht race from Shanghai in China to Los Angeles USA is slated to start in 2018. The inaugural Pacific Cup International Yacht Race, a 6,000 nm crossing of the full width of the ocean, will start in the winter of 2018 – a time of year when the northern Pacific is often considered “windy season” on the waters, with force 8-10 winds.

Zhai Mo, a notable Chinese navigator who proposed the race, said that under these conditions, yachts will be able to reach speeds of up to 40-50 knots. 'I started thinking about this trans-Pacific yacht race in 2007,' said Zhai. 'It's going to be a non-stop race as we will not have any supply depots in the sea. We plan to hold this competition every two years.'

Participants will only be allowed to use 'traditional maritime navigation tools' instead of any electronic navigational equipment. The top prize for the inaugural race will be RMB10m (nearly USD1.5m), according to the organisers.

[Editor’s Note: This will be interesting, if it happens. I rather wonder about yacht races with prize money. The Volvo, the Fastnet, the America’s Cup and the well-established TransPac - among many, many other – are raced for the sheer hell of it, and bragging rights. The forthcoming Golden Globe Race has no prize money, although the original version did. Yes, there are professionals in our sport, but very few events have prize money. Somehow, it changes things.
This release does not mention what sort of boats are expected in the race, but “speeds of 40-50 knots” seems to indicate some fairly serious yachting hardware. Standing by on 72].