Transpac 51 now has 52 entries, entry fee deadline extended
by Transpacific Yacht Club 30 Jan 2021 02:24 AEDT
From July 13, 2021
With the first of three starts now less than six months away, the 51st edition of the biennial Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpac race is still building its entry list, having reached 52 registered yachts last week. More entries are being anticipated, with race organizers at the Transpacific Yacht Club recently extending the deadline for Standard Entry Fee payment from March 1st to April 30th, 2021.
"We felt that this year people need a little more time for their planning and not feel rushed due to an early entry fee deadline," said TPYC Commodore Jim Eddy. "The turnout so far is quite strong, we have a lot of enthusiasm for this race, and we look forward to assisting our entries with their planning needs."
To assist with this, TPYC is helping organize seminars on important topics that pertain to this classic ocean race that stretches 2225-miles from the start at Point Fermin in Los Angeles to the finish at Honolulu's Diamond Head. Already two seminars were held last Fall on logistics planning and an introduction to weather routing, with a third now announced from world-class navigator Peter Isler: a special course in his Marine Weather University entitled Preparing for Transpac: Navigation, Strategy, Weather, Electronics and More, offered on Saturday, February 20th from 0900-1230 Pacific Time.
Besides Isler, expert meteorologist Chris Bedford and marine electronics guru Artie Means will offer both insight and instruction on developing a race strategy, pre-race weather study, in-race optimal routing and tactics, satellite data techniques, afterguard/navigator communication and much more. Much of the presentation will feature Expedition Navigation & Racing software and Peter will share his knowledge of this powerful tool.
Not only has Isler helped win the America's Cup twice, he has also helped win the Transpac as well and is seeking to do so again this year by being navigator on Roy P. Disney's modified Volvo 70 Pyewacket. Disney was the 50th entry in this 51st edition, unusually late for a team that has had a strong historical connection with this race: Roy P.'s father Roy E. Disney first entered the Transpac in 1975, and a Disney team has been entered in every race since for the past 46 years...with Roy P. aboard every time.
While having set course records in 1997, 1999 and again in 2007 on super fast first-to-finish contenders of various designs to win the Barn Door Trophy, the more recent Pyewacket campaigns were focused on a corrected time win for the King Kalakaua Trophy in their Andrews 70. They came close, winning the Sled class in 2013 but falling second overall to Matt Brown's S&S 52 Dorade, a 1930's design wooden ketch that started 3 days earlier in more favorable weather.
And in the last Transpac in 2019 a slow initial weather pattern set up to deprive the Sleds of overall glory once again, yet more significantly the Pyewacket team had an even higher calling to answer: rescuing the team on John Sangmeister's Santa Cruz 70 OEX as it sank on the second night of the race. Disney's trip to Hawaii that year would be on a plane where he came to the Awards Ceremony to accept US Sailing's Arthur B Hanson Rescue Medal for his team's efforts.
"We have researched the weather patterns on this course going back to the 1950's," Disney said, "and its never really certain what you're going to get, it looks like a gamble to get record-breaking conditions. This is really a race that is more complex than it looks for this kind of effort, and you start planning the next race as soon as you finish the last."
With this latest Pyewacket, a Volvo 70 turbo-charged by its previous owners in Australia, Disney was entered in last year's planned LA-Tahiti Race, also organized by the Transpacific YC. However, the race was Covid-postponed to next year, where Disney also plans to come back and challenge the course record for this race as well.
"I've raced to Hawaii 23 times, which might be a record too, I'm not sure," he said. "Its one of the best races in the world, every edition is different, and I really look forward to it every time."
In other Transpac news, the Cabrillo Way Marina in San Pedro has been chosen as the new 2021 Transpac pre-start venue, where entries will have preferred rates to moor their boats and have plenty of space available for gear and equipment organization and shipment prior to the race starts in July. Contact Al Garnier and his team at for more information on schedules, rates and bookings.
And the Prince Hotel in Waikiki is offering special discount rates to Transpac teams who want to book rooms within the period Sunday, July 18 - Monday, August 3rd 2021. More information and booking details are at this link: res.windsurfercrs.com/ibe/details.aspx?propertyid=15175&nights=1&checkin=07/21/2021&group=PGTPYF.
For more information, visit transpacyc.com.