Announcement

**BobJ** · 07-07-2013, 08:04 AM

Thanks J - this will be fun to watch. Dare I say, more fun than that local deal going on? This is a great TP fleet!

I have to ID some fellow SSS'ers in the race: Ronnie Simpson aboard Criminal Mischief and Dan Alvarez, Stephen Buckingham, Ruben Gabriel and Greg Nelsen on Mr. Hands (ohhh, nooooooo!) All but one have skippered boats solo to Hawaii, so they know the way.

**Surf City Racing** · 07-07-2013, 07:20 PM

FIRST START OF 2013 TRANSPAC TOMORROW

July 7, 2013, Los Angeles, CA – Tomorrow at 1:00 PM local time, the first of three waves of offshore yachts will start their 2225-mile journey to Honolulu in the 2013 Transpacific Yacht Race, aka the Transpac. This epic biennial race, in its 47th edition and organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club, this year features 59 entries from eight countries spread into 9 divisions.

The slowest of these two divisions, Divisions 7 and 8, will start tomorrow, with 15 entries crossing the starting line off Point Fermin, just west of Los Angeles Harbor. These include more modern cruiser-racers, like Michael Spies and Patinyakorn Buranrom’s Tripp 40 Sansiri and their mixed team of Thai, American and Australian crew, and classic yachts, such as Matt Brooks’s classic 1930 S&S 52-foot yawl Dorade and its all-pro mixed Anglo-American crew.

The smallest boat in the race, Edward Sanford’s J/105 Creative, will also be starting the race tomorrow, with a lean group of four crew.

In tomorrow’s Division 7 start will be the highest percentage of international entries of any class in the race, with four of seven from outside the US. These include Sansiri from Thailand and three teams from Japan: Kazuhiro Nakajima’s Reichel/Pugh 44 Gefion, Hioshi Kitada’s X-41 KIHO, and Yuichi Takahashi’s First 40 Ten Quarter. In all there are six entries in the race from Japan.

This race has been an inspiration to all who dream of sailing over the horizon to the west, both young and old alike.

“I think this will be a great adventure, and everyone should have a good time,” said Shirley Fischer, who is sailing on Hiroyuki Funaoku and Janet Nicholson’s Jeanneau 43 Sun Odyssey DS Aquarius in her first Transpac. “I’m 86 years young, I’ve sailed before with Hiro and my daughter Janet, and they asked me to come, so here I am. I’ve had my own boat before, just sailing from here to Catalina, but Hawaii of course is much further. So I’m looking forward to just being part of this, for going this far, and enjoying the experience.”

When asked about her role on the team, Fischer said “I will do anything I can to help. But when on the helm I was asked to look out for refrigerators and whales!”

At yesterday’s Skipper’s and Navigator’s Meeting, participants learned the weather forecast for this fleet looks good, at least for the beginning phase of this race. Well-established at 1029 mb, the center of the Pacific High lies 900 miles west of San Francisco and will drive 10-20 knot northwest winds along the southern California coastal waters for the next three days, with higher speeds offshore, allowing this early fleet to get a fast start to their southwesterly tracks towards Hawaii.

And while these entries in the first start are not fast enough to break any course records, they may still win racing under the ORR system that uses a special Transpac course model to equalize the boats under handicap for this race.

And after the briefing, crews got an early taste of Hawaiian hospitality last night at the Aloha Send-Off Party held at Gladstone’s Restaurant in Long Beach, where there were traditional Tahitian performances, hula dancing, and plenty of leis all around.

Once the race gets underway, race tracking will be provided using the Yellowbrick tracking system, and will be shown on the home page of the race website: www.transpacyc.com. A daily video analysis on the progress of the race will be provided by race veteran and Seahorse Magazine editor Dobbs Davis, with online access to the show also on the race website.

Information on the race, its history, the entries, crews and all race documents can be found at www.transpacyc.com.

Photos, videos, and other resources are also available in the Media section of the site, and Facebook and Twitter will provide ongoing news, photos, videos and commentary about the activities and people involved with the 2013 Transpac.

For further information, contact media@transpacrace.com.
About the Transpac: Organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club, the Transpac is a 2225-mile race from Point Fermin in Los Angeles to Diamond Head, just east of Honolulu, a distance of 2225-miles. With its first running in 1906, this is among the world’s great ocean races, and biennially attracts the world’s most talented offshore sailors and offshore sailing adventurers. For more history and information, visit www.transpacyc.com.

**Surf City Racing** · 07-07-2013, 07:23 PM

**familysailor** · 07-07-2013, 07:57 PM

Keep 'em comin'.

**Surf City Racing** · 07-07-2013, 08:09 PM

Originally posted by familysailor View Post

Keep 'em comin'.

You got it Mr. Sailor! How about this...

**familysailor** · 07-07-2013, 09:16 PM

Is the weather looking good for that hot rod? ^^^

**Surf City Racing** · 07-07-2013, 09:51 PM

My sources say YES! Should be a good year...but, someone suggested that the early boats may get a push. You know how weather is...It's not an exact science.

**familysailor** · 07-08-2013, 07:23 AM

Just as an aside--
Your avatar photo looks like you're just about to mount a Penny Farthing Bicycle.
Just add a saddle and handlebars via Photoshop and you're there.

And Now,
Back to our regularly scheduled program.

**Surf City Racing** · 07-08-2013, 08:15 AM

Trackers are up!

http://yb.tl/transpac2013

**some dude** · 07-08-2013, 09:11 AM

[QUOTE=Surf City Racing;31853]Hello everyone! I'll be helping out with Transpac coverage this year, and I'll post some info here when I have a second between gigs. We've got a serious fleet of just over 60 boats! Check out the line up! I've been posting to the Transpac FB page for months, which can be found here. And of course our new website is pretty sweet!

We've got a killer media team including Dobbs Davis from Seahorse doing weather reports, Sharon Green on the high quality imagery, Jen Edney covering Maserati, Christophe Favreau on Tritium, and myself on vid/ social media/ pics. There are a few others, it's like a big family, great group of people!

Today was the skipper's meeting and opening ceremony, which was pretty sweet! I'll send PB pics and the scoop when I get it. First start is Monday. Cheers, J

Love the pic of Dorade and Westward among all the modern boats

**opusone** · 07-08-2013, 09:47 AM

Originally posted by Surf City Racing View Post

Trackers are up!

http://yb.tl/transpac2013

Very cool that there is some activity about this Race on line. We start this Thursday and are hoping for some better forecasts....

Cheers,

opusone

**Photoboy** · 07-08-2013, 12:20 PM

Todays starters. (Plus B-Quest)*

Jeremy reports sunny, slightly hazy conditions, 10-12 knots of wind with 6 foot swell.

Pics and video to follow!

*B-Quest was deleted from the Official Transpac competition at last minute, but are continuing to sail anyway.

**Charlie Tuna** · 07-08-2013, 02:11 PM

They booted the handicapped team?

**Photoboy** · 07-08-2013, 02:19 PM

Official Statement Regarding B-Quest

The Transpacific YC regrets that the entry for the yacht B’Quest – Challenged America in Division 7 has been withdrawn by the TPYC Board for non-compliance with entry requirements for this race.

Specifically, B’Quest – Challenged America failed to meet a June 23rd deadline for not completing the required safety inspection procedure, nor asked for any extension to that deadline.

As late as yesterday, July 7th, one day prior to the start of Division 7, B’Quest – Challenged America had still not complied with these rules. The owner of the yacht was therefore informed in writing of the decision yesterday, in accordance with Rule 76.1 of the Racing Rules of Sailing.

"We take safety rules very seriously,” said Dave Cort, Commodore of Transpacific YC. “We feel this yacht has been given every opportunity to work with us to meet the requirements of this race, and they simply have not complied. We regret having to make this decision, we really wanted to have them in this race."

Announcement

2013 Transpac PLUS PD Pick n Win Contest!

2013 Transpac PLUS PD Pick n Win Contest!

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