Race Records

LOS ANGELES TO HONOLULU


Elapsed time race records are achieved through a unique combination of circumstances: the limitations on the size and style of boats competing in the race, the steady improvement of yacht design and technology, the skill and efficiency of the crew and the navigator, and of course one of the most important factors of all: the weather.

On any given year of this race on the designated start date, it is the North Pacific weather patterns that will dictate whether or not a race record could be threatened by the first-to-finish contenders entered in the race. These patterns must be in precise alignment to deliver consistent (not necessarily strong) winds over a course track that also minimizes the actual distance raced from Point Fermin to Diamond Head.

With modern technology in weather analysis, boat speed prediction and routing software, the tools are better than ever to deliver more records should these factors line up in future races.

And its important to note the difference between race records and course records: the latter is often faster because a team may await for weeks at any favorable time of year to have the precise alignment of weather needed to have a go at a record run.

One of the longest-standing records in Transpac history (20 years) was set in 1977 by the yacht Merlin, designed by Bill Lee, with an elapsed time of 8 days 11 hours 1 minute and 45 seconds. This was more than just a remarkable time: the feat set off a revolution of interest in light fast offshore-capable yacht design and create a new generation of interest in West Coast offshore racing that would also export itself elsewhere as well.

In the 1997 race Roy P. Disney sailing the family’s turbo-charged Santa Cruz 70 Pyewacket finally broke the race record by getting to Honolulu in 7 days 15 hours 24 minutes and 40 seconds, taking almost a day off Merlin's long lasting time.

In 1999 Roy E. Disney built a new Pyewacket, a 73-foot maxi ultralight yacht designed by Reichel/Pugh which recaptured the record from his son with an elapsed time of 7 days 11 hours 41 minutes and 27 seconds. In recognition of all monohull yachts that may set new race records, Disney commissioned noted designer Andrea Favilli to create a trophy, formally called the Transpac Honolulu Race Elapsed Time Record Trophy, but informally referred to as “the Clock Trophy.”

The record fell once again in 2005, with Germany’s Hasso Plattner racing his maxZ86 Morning Glory, the scratch boat leading a five-boat assault that year on the monohull record. She finished the race in 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes and 11 seconds to win the “Barn Door" trophy, an elaborately-carved large slab of carved Hawaiian Koa wood traditionally awarded to the monohull with the fastest elapsed time.

Fastest daily runs are also remarkable achievements and worthy of note. On July 7, 2009, New Zealander Neville Crichton and his team on the Reichel/Pugh 100 Alfa Romeo II bested Morning Glory’s record for best day's run set in the 2005 race by sailing 399 nautical miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 16.6 knots. The next two days she broke her own best-day records by sailing 420 nautical miles and then 431 nautical miles (average speed nearly 18 knots).

Also first to finish in 2009, Alfa Romeo II set a Transpac race elapsed-time record of 5 days 14 hours 36 minutes 20 seconds. However, because she uses stored power (a diesel engine) to create the hydraulic pressure needed to move her canting keel, Alfa Romeo II was not eligible for the traditional Barn Door trophy, but instead was the inaugural winner of a new trophy dedicated by Trisha Steele, called the Merlin Trophy. This new trophy started a new tradition in Transpac to recognize the most advanced monohull designs allowed to race.

In that year’s double-handed division, Pegasus 50, an Owen Clarke-designed Open 50 sailed by Philippe Kahn and Mark Christensen, also set a new record of 7 days 19 hours 38 minutes and 35 seconds. They took 2.5 days off the previous record set in 2001 by Howard Gordon and Jay Crum who also raced an Open 50. Kahn and Christensen pioneered use of an iPhone, with Fullpower-MotionX GPS technology.

In 2017 multiple race records were broken. Jim Clark’s VPLP 100 Comanche  skippered by Ken Read set the new Merlin trophy elapsed time record at 5 days 1 hour 55 minutes 26 seconds for an impressive average speed on the course of 18 knots. Comanche also set the best 24-hour distance record at 484.1 nm, a 20.2 knot average speed. The steady conditions in that year’s race also allowed H.L. Enroe’s on his ORMA 60 trimaran Mighty Merloe to set the multihull elapsed time record at 4 days 6 hours 32 minutes 30 seconds, and average speed on the course of 21.7 knots.

In 2019 there were no new records set, but the Barn Door Trophy was re-dedicated to be awarded to the fastest monohull in each race, while the Merlin Trophy was re-dedicated to be awarded to the fastest monohull in the race without stored power.

 

 

THE TAHITI RACE


In 2008, Doug Baker, with his four-year-old Magnitude 80 speedster ripped about 3 1/2 days off Kathmandu's 1994 elapsed time record, sailing to Tahiti in 11 days 10 hours 13 minutes 18 seconds (average speed 13.0 knots). He said, "When you have a boat like this, any record is always your goal. It's an adventure, not just a race."