TRANSPAC
Sixteen boats hit the line for the first start of three in the 2025 Transpac. Next stop: Hawaii.
The 16 boats that crossed the starting line today in the 2025 Transpac are up against the challenge of a lifetime. As the smallest yachts in this year’s 53-strong fleet, they are about to endure the greatest number of difficult days at sea, but they also have the greatest—and longest— opportunity to enjoy the splendors of sailing across the Pacific. After all, the more time one spends at sea, the more exposure one has to its moods and its majesty.
Four divisions began racing today at 1320, local time, on the waters off of Los Angeles’s Point Fermin. Organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club, the biennial event is considered one of the world’s premier ocean races. It uses three pursuit-style starts spread over five days (July 1, 3, and 5, 2025) to help all 53 boats finish within days of each other at Honolulu’s Diamond Head. With boats ranging from 35 to 88 feet, the staggered starts favor smaller vessels first so the fleet can make landfall in Hawaii around the same time.
The boats that started today may seem to saunter compared with the bigger steeds starting later this week. But, given that the event’s top prize—the King Kalakaua Trophy—is determined using the Offshore Racing Rule handicap system, the playing field is level on this 2,225 nautical mile course.
Just moments before today’s start, LA’s fireboat blasted a celebratory spray of Pacific brine, dousing the starting area amidst a 10-12 knot westerly that was gusting to 15+ by the first signal. A dragging leeward mark required a 20-minute postponement to ensure a proper line, but—come 1320—the starting gun fired in earnest, and the fleet set off on the adventure of a lifetime.
All 16 boats started cleanly and on starboard tack. At the time of this writing, a cluster of four frontrunners was forming: Mike Sudo’s Beneteau 47.7 Macondo, Michael Marion’s Dufour 525 Insoumise, Samantha Gebb’s Pacer 42 Zimmer and Andy Schwenk’s Custom 49 Sir Edmund.
