Countdown to Transpac - Under 70 days to go

by Transpacific YC on 29 Apr 2017 With just under 70 days to go to the first start of the 49th biennial Transpac, skippers and sailors, sponsors, families, spectators and organizers from the Transpacific YC are all working hard on their preparation tasks for this classic 2225-mile race from LA to Honolulu. In all, 63 monohull and multihull entries from seven countries around the Pacific and beyond are now entered, ranging in size from Chris Lemke and Brad Lawson’s Hobie 33 Dark Star to two 100-footers: Comanche, skippered by Ken Read, and Manouch Moshayedi’s Rio100.

Once class divisions are decided, all will start in three separate waves on July 3rd, fifth and sixth, 2017 for a rich variety of elapsed and corrected time trophies.

Before they can start, all entered teams are ticking off their lists of race requirements, including their assembly of safety gear and receiving their training, accumulating their offshore qualifying miles, building crew lists, planning logistics for boat and crew at each end of the race, scheduling pre-race inspections, and arranging boat and sail measurements for rating certificates.

For training, 30% of each crew is required to have attended a US Sailing Safety at Sea Seminar within the last five years, and two are being offered before the start: over May 6-7th in Kaneohe YC in Hawaii, and on July 2nd in Long Beach on the eve of the first start. Another important seminar includes Peter Isler’s course on navigation and hands-on use of Expedition routing software, held on May 24th at Los Angeles YC.

TPYC race organizers are serious about safety, and all entries must be inspected before their start. Chief Inspector Whit Batchelor is taking appointments now for inspections to start after this Friday, April 28th up until prior to Sunday, June 18th, and the time limit to remedy any missing items is Saturday, July 1st.

And for multihull entries there is now good news: Amendment #3 of Notice of Race has been published stating that Multihull ratings for Multihull handicap awards shall be based on the ORR Multihull rating rule (ORR-MH), with each multihull yacht required to have a valid ORR-MH rating certificate. The measurement and certificate information required to generate and issue an ORR-MH certificate can be obtained by emailing ora.rating.services@gmail.com.

'This is an important time for every entry in Transpac, whether a veteran or a newcomer,' says Transpac Race Chairman Tom Trujillo. 'Preparation determines success in this race, and we are pleased to have a deep pool of talent to assist everyone in being ready for their start. We're also pleased to have the new ORR-MH rating system available for us to use to rate our Multihulls, given the broad variety of boat types we have racing in this class.'

For those interested and who can meet the qualifications, Transpac 2017 is still accepting entries up until May 30th. For more information visit the event website, or email TPYC Entry Chairmen Chris Hemans or Ross Pearlman at entry@transpacyc.com.