Final 20 Boats Set Sail in Transpacific Yacht Race

An overcast morning blossomed into a warm afternoon with calm winds to greet the last 20 starters of the 2,225-mile Transpacific Yacht Race from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to Honolulu.

The other 55 yachts departed on July 11 and 15. The staggered starts, classified by size, give each yacht the opportunity to reach Hawaii first.

Among those leaving Sunday was Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney who owns the Transpac monohull record with a time of 7 days 11 hours 41 minutes 27 seconds, set in 1999 aboard Pyewacket. Disney is sailing in his 15th and final Transpac and was shoulder to shoulder with two yachts at the onset of the race.

“It’d be really nice to win, but we always go out win or lose,” Disney said at a Transpac Walk of Fame dedication on July 7. “When you leave here, it’s an amazing experience. In the afternoon you see Catalina, and then it recedes in the background and the night comes, the wind picks up and you know you’re on your way.”

Wendy Siegal set sail July 11 onboard her Cal-40 Willow Wind for her third Transpac venture. She expected to be passed by Sunday’s larger yachts about halfway to Honolulu.

“We are out there enjoying the same sunsets,” Siegal said at the dedication ceremony. “Actually, we enjoy it more because we’ll be out there for almost two weeks instead of only one.”

If the weather cooperates, analysts expect Disney’s record to be shattered by a full day.

“Setting records is a continuous progress,” said Bill Lee, whose designs helped revolutionize the race in the 1970s. “We have potentially 6 1/2 -day yachts racing this year. Twenty years from now we’ll have 5 1/2 -day boats on the track.”

This year marks the centennial celebration of Transpac, first held in 1906 and raced every other year. The first Transpac featured three boats and was intended to promote tourism to Hawaii. It was scheduled to depart from San Francisco when a magnitude-8.25 earthquake hit the city, causing the change in venue to Los Angeles.