Biennial Meeting

Transpac’s biennial meeting, dinner, and elections at Newport Harbor YC was a huge success this year.  The members were joined at the dock by 2011 overall winner Grand Illusion, the fabled Ragtime, crowd favorite Alaska Eagle, and the sturdy Aloha class Traveler.

Commodore Bill Lee presided over an evening which honored the 1977 Honolulu race that featured the duel between Merlin and her equally new rival Drifter and also Ragtime.  1977 was a race that changed the face of Transpac as the new lightweight “sleds” from Santa Cruz started their rise to the top of Hawaii bound racers.  Left in the dust were such famous boats as Windward Passage and Kialoa.  Merlin set her record that was to last an amazing 20 years.  On the other end of the spectrum, 5 boats were dismasted on a single night that year!

Among the crews from the 1977 race who attended the dinner was the entire crew of the Class D winning Cal 40 Vivant.

Transpac’s biennial election was heartily cheered by the crowd who were impatient to see a great slide show presented by Sharon Green of Ultimate Sailing.  Sharon’s collection of pictures and music took us through the complete race from the festivities in Long Beach, the start off Pt Fermin, the days and nights at sea, and finally the Diamond Head finishes, and the tremendous Aloha welcome provided by our Honolulu Committee and all our friends in Hawaii.

The new Board of Directors of the Transpacific Yacht Club for the coming years 2012 and 2013 are: Alan Andrews, Jon Andron, Roby Bessent, Commodore Dave Cort, Kerry Deaver, Roy Disney, James Eddy III, Honolulu Chair Carl Geringer, Robbie Haines, Tom Hogan, Stan Honey, David Lee, Vice Commodore Dan Nowlan, Ross Pearlman, Drew Satariano, Trisha Steele, Peter Tong, Tom Trujillo, Rear Commodore Bo Wheeler, and Mainland Chair Warren Wolfe.  New Commodore Dave Cort welcomed the new board and set the stage for two more great races for Transpac in the coming two years.  Leading off with our planned Tahiti Race in April of 2012, and the next Honolulu race in July of 2013.

2013 Honolulu Race Start Date

In a brief board meeting before the biennial meeting, the board confirmed Monday, July 8, 2013 as the first start date for the next Honolulu race.

2012 Tahiti Race Information

With two very fast boats entered to start from Los Angeles, Beau Geste and Rage, and two more starting from Honolulu, Chasch Mer and Moonshadow III, the Tahiti race looks like it will be on once again.  The last running of the Tahiti race was in 2008 when Magnitude 80 joined three other boats and demolished the previous record with her run of 11 days, 10 hours.  Harking back to 1977 again, it is interesting to note that in the years both preceding and following, 1976 and 1978, there were Tahiti races with four boats each time.  Coming up in 2012, Beau Geste, the Farr 80 owned by Karl Kwok, has an excellent chance at eclipsing the 4 year old record belonging to Magnitude 80’s Doug Baker.

Looking forward

In his closing remarks, Commodore Cort challenged all present to help bolster the membership in our truly unique yacht club and looked forward to more great Transpac races.

Aloha!

Photos Courtesy of Doug Gifford - www.douggiffordphoto.com