Transpac 2025 - Full Moon and Full Throttle
At the head of the fleet is Bryon Ehrhart’s 88-foot Lucky (formerly Rambler 88), chewing through the final 350 miles in big breezes, clocking over 400 miles in a day. Despite starting nearly four days after the first batch, Lucky’s aiming squarely at the Barn Door Trophy for fastest elapsed time. Navigator Stan Honey predicts landfall in the early hours of Friday, July 11. The prestigious King Kalakaua Trophy, awarded for best corrected time, remains undecided until the last boat finishes.
The Pacific, though vast, hasn’t played fair. Roy P. Disney, aboard Pyewacket, described their passage as being rerouted around what he calls the “Pacific Pothole”—a weather hole of stubborn light air. “The seas haven’t really organized,” said Disney. “We’re doing 12 knots in 15 knots of wind. It’s been like this for days.”
This Transpac, Disney’s 26th, also marks the first-ever offshore race for 19-year-old Oscar Perry, sailing aboard the Cal Maritime entry Oaxaca. “My longest race before this was maybe 20 miles,” said Perry. “Now I’m getting hit by flying squid at night and watching dolphins in bioluminescence. It’s surreal.”
Back aboard the Santa Cruz 52 Heroic Heart, the Firestone brothers—Dan and Steve—along with old mate Mike Wolfe, are reliving their teenage circumnavigation roots. Though seasoned sailors, this is their first proper ocean race. “I asked for a refund after 24 hours in the lull,” joked Wolfe. But once the kite went up, spirits rose. “Getting shaken awake and gybing the kite in the dark? That’s what we came for,” said Dan. The crew’s already compiling a “next time” list. Top item? “Don’t bring the J3.”
Meanwhile, Tom Holthus and son Kelly are on their ninth and fifth Transpacs, respectively, aboard BadPak. Kelly, now 20, is no longer the wide-eyed 12-year-old he was on his first crossing—he’s now on the bow, surrounded by three college mates and their fathers. “Put a tiller in their hands and they sail the boat like a dinghy,” said Holthus.
Weather-wise, Tom Furlong’s Reichel/Pugh 52 Vitesse has found the race unusually gentle. “No big squalls. Some rain, some breeze. But it’s not the punchy stuff we’re used to,” he said. “Still, we’re into that sweet spot now—planing breeze, just under 20 knots, and flat seas.”
Over on Zero Gravity 51, things are calmer still—unless you count the snack economy. “We joke that the snacks are free, but you pay for whatever’s still in your snack bag at the end,” said skipper Ivan Batanov. “Snack trading starts soon—it’s a whole secondary market.”
Despite a sail break, spirits remain high thanks to hot meals and crew dinners under the stars. “Last night, we had steak, asparagus, and potatoes. We’re now thinking about installing a gimballed wine rack,” Batanov quipped.
And tonight? It’s a full moon. Roy Disney put it best: “When you’re surfing downwind into the moon path—that’s when it becomes magic. Every night gets better.”
For the 49 boats still chasing Honolulu, this race is about more than speed—it’s about shared watches, salt in your beard, late-night helm chats, and seeing land for the first time after 2,225 miles. For veterans and rookies alike, Transpac 2025 is delivering all the right conditions for lifelong memories.