They’re already in…

Matt Brooks’s entry DORADE is one of the world’s oldest and most successful ocean racing yachts, period.

A classic Sparkman & Stephens design built in wood at Minneford’s Yacht Yard in City Island, New York, Brooks has fastidiously maintained and upgraded her to be faster than she ever was when she won the Bermuda Race in 1936, the LA-Honolulu Transpac in 1936 (and again in 2013!), and other classic ocean races throughout her long history.

This year DORADE is active, racing in the New York YC Annual and 175th Regattas, along with other events on the classic yacht circuit in New England, such as the Opera House Cup in Nantucket.

Designed and built for fast offshore passages and extremely active around the world under her first two owners, ZEPHYRUS’s third owner Damon Guizot is just as passionate about offshore racing, being an active participant in most long races in Southern California. She has never yet raced to Tahiti, so this will be a suitable addition to a long pedigree of racing heritage.

DAD’S DREAM is a classic Brewer-designed ocean cruising yacht, more than capable of making a safe and seaworthy passage through the tradewinds and doldrums en route to Tahiti. Yet Bill Boyd is seeking to swap this boat for a small, lighter and faster design to head to Tahiti with a singular vision: do the race with his pal Scott Atwood and one other partner, with all three bringing their teenage daughters on the race (hence the name “Dad’s Dream”).

Bill has extensive experience – 7 Honolulu Transpacs and one race from San Francisco to Point Venus, Tahiti on a Santa Cruz 50 – and wants to share this experience of life offshore with his daughter Andrea and Scott and his daughter Kimberly.

“Scott and I have given great thought on our motivation in doing this race,” Boyd said. “We both have a love of the sea, have sailed all over the world, hundreds of thousands of miles. But the thrill of sailing with the most precious thing in our world is OUR DAUGHTERS! The dream of making land fall with them, the special bonding under the stars, seeing the Southern Cross together for the first time in their lives! Sailing in the Southern latitudes crossing over the Equator and watching the water run down the drain the other direction. This is what DAD’S DREAM IS ABOUT! And TRANSPAC TAHITI RACE 2020 is making this come true.”

CABRON is a Botin 80 (ex-BEAU GESTE) built at Cookson and launched in 2013. She captured line honors in the 2014 Auckland to Fiji Race later went on to win the Groupama Race in 2016.
Under Steve Maheen’s more recent ownership, CABRON has been hunting for monohull course records in various Southern California to Mexico races, and has them already for the Newport-Ensenada and San Diego-Ensenada races. The next target before setting off to Tahiti is the race to Puerto Vallarta.
With her light weight, high stability and generous sail area, Maheen and his Misfits Racing Team will be a serious contender to seek a new course record to Tahiti as well, currently held by MAGNITUDE 80 and set in 2008 at 11 days 10 hours 13 minutes 18 seconds.

As a Class 40, NACIRA was designed and built for shorthanded ocean racing, such as the 2006 Route du Rhum, the 1 Transat Jacques Vabre in 2007, the Plymouth-Boston Transat, La Solidaire du Chocolat and two Quebec-St Malo races.

In 2014, NACIRA arrived in French Polynesia and did 4 editions of the Tahiti Pearl Regatta, winning the racing monohull category in 2017.

NACIRA has just celebrated her 100 000 NM, and with Benoit Parnaudeau she is now ready to return to an ocean race that has the same distance as the downwind race she was built for: the Transpac Tahiti distance = Route du Rhum.

A press time, the PYEWACKET team was still making arrangements to ship their latest race boat of this name – the Volvo Open 70 Blackjack, ex-Telefonica – to its new home in California from Australia. Team manager Robbie Haines says the team is excited about the race and this project, one with a clear intent to challenge the course record. According to owner Roy Disney, the race to Tahiti is one that complements the team’s strong record of having raced 23 Honolulu Transpacs, 7 Pacific Cups, and one Victoria-Maui race, and twice breaking the Transpac record in 1997 and 1999.

He said about the reason to do this race: “The obvious answer is…Tahiti. And a chance to break that record, a chance to cross the Equator for the first time. Its also where I spent my second honeymoon.”

In preparation for the race, PYEWACKET plans to do local and west coast long distance races like Puerto Vallarta, Ensenada, the So Cal 300, etc.

With guidance from designer Alan Andrews over the past two decades and more, Bob Lane’s MEDICINE MAN has grown from 56 to 61 and now 63 feet as she has evolved through many design and configuration changes to keep her on the cutting edge of offshore speed. Its therefore safe to say this yacht is one of the fastest for her size anywhere in the world.

Coupled with Lane’s experience – he says he has raced an impressive 17 Transpacs, dozens of races to Mexico, and the record-breaking 2008 edition of the Tahiti race – MEDICINE MAN promises to be a contender.