Transpac 2023 — The Big Guns

In this month’s Latitude 38, Bay Area sailor Andy Schwenk gives us a great preview of this year’s upcoming Transpac Race, along with some insights on life aboard, mid-race.

On June 24, under the big guns of USS Iowa, the fastest guns in the West Coast sailing fleet will gather for the Aloha send-off party marking 95 years since the inaugural voyage of the legendary Transpac Race.

Tom Furlong’s Vitesse, a 52-ft Reichel/Pugh sled packed full of ocean racing fury, will be back looking to turn the wick up just one more notch to turn their second place in the COVID-depleted fleet of 2021 into a first-place pickle dish. Roy Disney and the well-seasoned Pyewacket boys have parked their modified Volvo 70 weapon and splashed the “Old Man’s” boat for another round. Last time out they performed a rescue at sea for a competitor and received US Sailing’s highest award. Yes, she’s fast enough for you …

A quad set of J/125s will try to accomplish their feat of 2019, finishing first, second, and third overall.

Tom Holthus’s Botin 56 BadPak has added four feet since their 2017 win, and the Big Green Machine will be eating all their vegetables to prepare for another victory run.

The 2015 winner, James McDowell’s Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion, is back to compete with 70-ish-ft vessels from as far away as British Columbia — well, that’s actually in North America and it’s more British than it is Columbian. Stu and Joy Dahlgren aboard the SC70 Westerly can explain. Just to keep things confusing, there will be two Westerlys in the race this summer, both from the old chicken coop in Santa Cruz, at 52-ft and 70-ft respectively. Dave Moore’s SC52 Westerly has been modded to the point that she rates nearly what the 70s did in their original configuration.

At the other end of the fleet, the pride of Richmond YC, Dean Treadway, will rally the lovely, bright-finished Sweet Okole, his venerable Farr 36, one more time. Also hailing from the East Bay, Capt. Cree Partridge, head honcho at Berkeley Marine Center, will be piloting the Antrim 40 Glass Slipper on her maiden voyage. Splashed in the same mold as the mighty California Condor, this vessel should fly over wave tops much the same way.

The lone entry representing the fairer sex will be Marie Rogers aboard her Andrews 56 Good Trouble.

The class breaks are not out until after this publication deadline. This prevents me from making a bunch of bold predictions, but I can tell you this: The first time I raced across the pond in the 1982 Victoria to Maui race, we spread pilot charts out on the floor of our living room, and several other skippers who had done the race in years previous brought their old plotting sheets and charts of the Eastern Pacific, which were plumb full of holes from thumbtacks and dividers. Now, yachts lay pixels all over the internet and computers are churning out numbers, percentages and angles until the navigator needs to wear sunglasses to focus on the screen.

Go to Latitude38.com to read Andy’s description of the typical life aboard during a Transpac race.