Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race 2023 open for entries

Pyewacket approaches Hawaii © Sharon Green / Ultimate Sailing

The Transpacific Yacht Club is pleased to announce that the entry process is now open for the 2023 edition of the Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race.

Known at the Transpac, this will be the 52nd edition of this classic 2025-mile ocean race held biennially since 1906.

The Notice of Race (NOR) detailing the terms and conditions of the event is now available online here. The race is open to entry for offshore-capable racing and cruising monohull yachts from 30 to 100 feet in length that also meet other criteria listed in the NOR.

Multihull entries must be at least 45 feet in length unless specific stability criteria are met, and there is no restriction on maximum length.

March 1, 2023 is the deadline for payment of the standard entry fees, and after this date up until May 26, 2023 late entry fees will apply.

The Transpac has three start dates to help compress the fleet on the race course and in arrival dates at the finish line at Diamond Head in Honolulu. All starts are 1 mile off Point Fermin in San Pedro, with the first wave leaving on Tuesday, June 27th, the second on Thursday, June 29th and the third on Saturday, July 1, 2023. Any fast multihull entries may start later, depending on their speed. All dates for pre- and post-race activities will be published on the event website.

The pre-start venue for participants will be located at Cabrillo Marina in San Pedro, where a race village is planned for sailors, their family and friends, sponsors and the public as well. At the finish most boats will be in the Ala Wai Harbor in Waikiki at Hawaii Yacht Club, Waikiki Yacht Club or in assigned slips in the marina. Deeper draft boats will be at other locations nearby.

During the race there will be tracking services and regular commentary to explain the features of the course and an analysis of the fleet's progress during the race. Photo and video uploads along with stories from the teams will also be available on the race's web and social media channels.

First to enter the 52nd Transpac is Newport Beach-based John Raymont with his Ker 51 Fast Exit II. Raymont's excitement about this race goes back to his teenage years growing up in Huntington on Long Island, New York when in the 1960's and '70's he followed magazine stories about legendary Transpac yachts like Windward Passage, Ragtime and later Merlin.

"My first overnight race was on an Ericson 39, a seaworthy boat for the typical East Coast sailing of upwind and reaching," he said. "Later I got to sail longer offshore races like the race to Jamaica I did on La Forza del Destino, a 52-foot Gary Mull design from the early '70's. In this race we surged downwind in tradewinds and big waves past Cuba in the Windward Passage, but never got close to planing. So reading the accounts of boats like Passage and Merlin planing their way to Hawaii has always been a huge inspiration for me, I dreamed of doing this great race."

Raymont raced his first two Transpacs in 2017 and 2019 on this Andrews 40 of the same name, then acquired his current Fast Exit for racing in last year's 51st edition of the race.

"This boat is like an offshore TP52," he said, "So we had plenty of high-speed rides in this last race. In fact I learned that even though we had a few times we needed to throttle back during the race our elapsed time was the 25th fastest in Transpac history. We hope to improve on this next year."

"We're excited about attracting more entries like John who have been inspired to do this iconic race to fulfill their dreams," said TPYC Commodore Tom Trujillo. "And like John and many others, we find that doing the race just once is not enough, they keep coming back for more. So we are here to welcome them with the spirit of Aloha."

For more on entry information for Transpac 2023, and for more on the history of this classic ocean race, visit transpacyc.com