West Coast yacht designer Bill Lee was elected in November as the newest commodore of the Transpacific Yacht Club, host of the biennial Transpac Race from California to Hawaii. Lee’s designs helped define the ultra light displacement boat (ULDB) class. His ground breaking designs, which favor surfing spinnaker runs in heavy air, have won the Pacific race a number of times &mdash most notably his 1970s designs Chutzpah and Merlin on which he set a new course record in 1977.
Also elected were Dave Cort, vice commodore, and Leslie DeMeuse-Disney, rear commodore and the first woman to serve as a flag officer of the Transpacific Yacht Club.
July 4, 2011 will mark the start of the 46th Transpac Race. Lee said that the race welcomes all classes and hinted at the possibility of a 2012 race to Tahiti.
