Yachts & Yachting – August 2019

FEATURE TRANSPAC

Above

Maverick is a

strong contender

this year and could

bring home the

first British win

Below

The Hawaian

welcome is worth

racing for

“We are looking forward to

resuming our battle with Maverick.

A heavier wind race will suit them

better, as with their DSS boards they

are much more suited to reaching,

but we can sail deeper than them.”

e Barn Door was originally the

line honours trophy, in place until 1991,

when staggered starts were introduced

to compress the nishing times. Since

2009 it has been restricted to yachts with

manual power only. But this year it is

returning to its original open monohull

roots, including modern supermaxis,

which use stored energy for moving

canting keels and driving winches.

e monohull record belongs to the

supermaxi Comanche, set in 2017 at

ve days, one hour, 55 minutes and

26 seconds. At the time Comanche

was owned by American Jim Clark,

but later that year was bought by

Jim Cooney, an Australian-born

Chartered Engineer, the chairman

of an Oxford-based renewables

company building wind farms.

He has been big-boat campaigning

since 2010, rst with Brindabella

and now with Comanche. “My wife

Samantha and I sail together with

our children as a family,” he said. “It

could be both parents and two sons

for the Transpac and then we will

continue the boat back to Sydney, via

Samoa or Tonga. A great adventure.

“We have been keen to do this race

as it was what Comanche was built for.

We spent a lot of time before the 2018

Hobart, putting her through her paces.

We had her on every conceivable angle

and every conguration. We learnt

how to get the boat to perform in light

airs and VMG running conditions,

which everyone has agreed up to now

has been Comanche’s Achilles heel.”

Comanche’s navigator is the legendary

Stan Honey, who has navigated 22

Hawaii races – Transpac and Pacic Cup

races out of San Francisco – collecting

seven records and has 11 line honours

nishes. He said: “I grew up sailing in

southern California and the Transpac

was the pinnacle. Every kid would

dream about which boat they would

like to ride. I had the good fortune

to do my rst Transpac as a teenager

and then I was asked to navigate very

early on, so I’ve done a lot of them.

“Some years it’s kinda light in

the middle and you are just sailing

along normally, but even in those

years, you still tend to get good

breeze in the Molokai channel, and

that is what you remember. Some

years you get fabulous running in

the trades, for around two-thirds of

the race, just gorgeous conditions.

“In comparison to the Fastnet

and the Sydney-Hobart, the

Transpac is a cake walk.

“My preparation for this 50th

Transpac has been looking at what

conguration we can legally put on

Comanche, to be as fast as possible.

“e weather in the last race was a

miracle. Overall it was not favourable,

but we had a tiny window that we

snuck through. e likelihood that

we could get weather as good again

to improve on the record is not

great, but it’s certainly possible.

‘However, we are sailing the boat

better now. We do need some wind

from the start, but the boat is much

better in the light than it used to

be. Even so, once we get boat speed

below seven knots, we park.”

e manual-powered race record of

6 days, 16 hours was set back in 2005

by Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory.

e 2019 favourite for this muscle-

men division, the Merlin Trophy, is the

US west coast supermaxi Rio 100.

Manouch Moshayedi, skipper and

owner of Rio 100, purchased the 2003

Bakewell-White design in Australia

and embarked on a major rebuild,

replacing the back half of the boat.

Moshayedi said: “In 2016 we did

the Pacic Cup, which starts in San

Francisco and ends on the north

shore of Oahu. We broke MariCha

IV’s record by almost three hours

and nished in just over ve days.

“We won the Transpac Barn Door

Trophy in 2015 and then again in

2017. e rule change was a bit of a
      disappointment, since the rebuilt boat
      was specically redesigned and rebuilt
      based on the then rule. However, I am
      happy that the Merlin Trophy has been
      designated to be given to a traditional
      sailboat, which Rio 100 would qualify for.
      “On the Transpac course, we must
      ignore Comanche and just run our
      race. It’s tough for us to compete with
      those types of boats. On average they
      go a knot or two faster with their huge
      righting moment and sail area.”

TIM WYATT

44 Yachts & Yachting August 2019 yachtsandyachting.co.uk