49th Transpac early entry deadline approaches on March 1st

by Transpacific Yacht Club on 25 Feb 2017 Planning for the 49th edition of the Los Angeles-Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race presented by the Los Angeles Times and organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club is well underway, with 52 monohull and multihull entries from nine nations already signed up for this biennial 2225-mile ocean race, one of the world's oldest having first been sailed in 1905.

'We have had strong early interest in the race this cycle,' says Chris Hemans of TPYC, 'and we expect to have even more entries coming in as we approach the deadlines. What's encouraging to us is to see such a great mix of both returning teams and new names and faces that will come join us to race to Hawaii.' Hemans is among the entries himself, campaigning his Rogers 46 Varuna for the third time.

The variation in boat size in the current monohull entry list ranges from Christopher Lemke's Hobie 33 Dark Star to Manouch Moshayedi's Blakewell White 100 Rio100, and in type from Karl Otto Book's comfortable Was a 44 Cubaneren from Vestfold, Norway to Tom Holthus's brand-new high-tech carbon fiber Pac52 Bad Pak.

And in the Multihulls there is a similar broad variation in sizes and types, from Jerzy Poprawski's 43-foot catamaran Kastor Pollux to Giovanni Soldini's MOD70 trimaran Maserati, who just completed the Caribbean 600 in a match race with another expected MOD70 Transpac entry, Phaedo3 owned by Lloyd Thornburg, the two separated by only 12 minutes in this 600-mile race.

All entries will be competing for a long list of prestigious trophies awarded for both elapsed and corrected time honors, both overall and within their classes and divisions. Starts for the race will be in four successive waves, starting on July 3rd for the Aloha Division of cruisers and ending on July 7th with the start of the fast Multihulls. This new schedule will help keep racing closer in the fleet as they encounter similar weather conditions during the race, and new corrected time trophies have been commissioned for classes that start on the same day.

This is among several new features and innovations in the 2017 Transpac that have built on the success of earlier races, including a new interactive event website, the first-time use of Time-on-Time scoring based on the Transpac wind matrix model, and the allowance of sail stacking in the race.

Other features of the 2017 Transpac include pre- and post-race activities that surround the voyage to Hawaii, including numerous educational and social events planned for prior to the race and social events and awards planned for Honolulu. These are designed to enhance the experience of participation in one of the world's truly great ocean races for not only the sailors, but for their families and other spectators and sponsors of the event.

On March 4th, for example, an all-day seminar will be held at Los Angeles YC entitled Preparing for the Race of a Lifetime: Los Angeles to Hawaii, with experts in numerous aspects of preparation for this race. Topics include an overview of the requirements in the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions, preparing the boat and the crew, sail selection strategies, measurement and rating requirements, safety gear and inspection, a panel discussion on crew selection, communications equipment and reporting protocols, and tips on gathering images to both preserve and share the experience.

'We urge first-time participants to attend,' said Tom Trujillo of LAYC, 'but both technology and our requirements change with the times, so race veterans are also welcome. Everyone learns from these discussions.'

To sign up for the LAYC seminar, visit website. A complete list of events of the 2017 Transpac can be found online here.

Entry fees increase after March 1st, so those interested in participating in this iconic race to paradise should start their entry process now by visiting the entry website and completing the Application for Entry. This site has the event documents describing the requirements needed to qualify to enter the race.

The Transpacific YC wishes to thank their sponsors of the 2017 Transpac for their support. These include the Los Angeles Times as Presenting Sponsor, and the following outstanding companies: Goslings Black Seal, Pasha Hawaii, Farmers and Merchants Bank, Reyn Spooner, Mariners Insurance, and Gladstone's Long Beach.

For more information on both the 2017 and earlier editions of the Transpac, visit website.