Los Angeles, CA — Under clear Southern California skies, 6 to 10 knots of wind, and just a hint of fog out on the western horizon, the first wave of the 2023 Transpac fleet is on their way towards Hawaii. Nine entries in Boatswains Locker Division 7 and six in smithREgroup Division 8 crossed the start line today. One Hawaiian-based entry in the latter class – Russ Johnson’s Jeanneau 52.2 Blue Moon – only arrived last night and received permission to delay their start until the next group sets off on Thursday.
A team who is taking on this race for the first time and on one of the smallest boats in the fleet is Herwig Baumgartner’s 1D35 Black Marlin from Los Angeles with an assembled amateur crew of seven on board. This morning before leaving the dock at the Cabrillo Way Marina in San Pedro they “were looking forward to the tradewinds and the legendary downwind sailing Transpac offers.”