LONG BEACH, Calif.—Handicap ratings for the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii are out, and the fastest monohull ever to sail the race faces an intriguing set of scenarios.

Can Pyewacket beat Ariadne, a 73-foot cruising yacht? Can Pyewacket beat Lady Liberty, a Catalina 36?

About 50 of the 74 entries are expected to be moored in Rainbow Harbor’s Transpac Village in downtown Long Beach by the weekend, awaiting their starts from Point Fermin in nearby San Pedro on Monday, Thursday and Sunday, July 15.

The schedule of events starts Saturday evening, July 7, at 6 p.m. with opening ceremonies and the dedication of 11 monuments along the Transpac Walk of Fame. The 5 1/2-foot-tall monuments present highlights and photos of each decade of the race since its inception in 1906.

Back to the future, based on computations from the Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) system administered by US Sailing, Roy E. Disney’s radically modified 94-foot Pyewacket-with-wings is almost a day faster than it was in 2005 when it finished only 2.5 hours behind the record time of 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds by Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory.

But Transpac is more than a race for the Barn Door for fastest elapsed time by a monohull. Those with no hope for that compete for the King Kalakaua Trophy for first place overall on corrected handicap time. Pyewacket owes the slowest-rated boat—John Wallner’s Lady Liberty, a Catalina 36 from Calabasas, Calif.—9.4 days in time, and Lady Liberty will have a six-day head start when it sails off the line at Point Fermin next Monday at 1 p.m.

So, in normal conditions, whatever those are, if Lady Liberty should finish in about 15 days and Pyewacket has to make up more time than it needs to sail the race, who will correct out ahead?

“Wow!” Wallner said. “I’m already there. I figured if we’re the slowest boat, we’re the ones to beat. No one cares if they lose to Pyewacket, but no one wants to lose to us.”

Disney, pondering the prospect, asked, “So we probably don’t count on winning overall? It might be close. We just have to pick everybody off before we get there.”

There are several other threats for the King Kalakaua Trophy, including Doug Baker’s Magnitude 80, Roger Sturgeon’s new STP65, Rosebud; nine Santa Cruz 50s and 52s in their own division, two-time Barn Door winner Philippe Kahn sailing an Open 50 doublehanded, and Disney’s Morning Light team of young sailors on Kahn’s former Transpac 52 that was second overall by 40 minutes to Sturgeon’s TP52 Rosebud in 2005.

Further, there is Ariadne, Frank Easterbrook’s 73-foot cruiser from Newport Beach in the Aloha A class that is the fastest-rated boat starting Monday. In this case, Pyewacket owes 5.24 days to a boat with a six-day head start. Officially, it doesn’t count for any trophy, but which crew will slap hands for reaching Diamond Head first?

Easterbook said, “It could be very interesting. It means a lot. My team is pumped!”

Disney said, “It sounds like the time machine has come into this.”

In 2005, Pyewacket and Morning Glory were both maxZ86s rated as the “scratch” boats with zero ratings. That baseline—based on a handicap distance of 2,300 nautical miles and not the actual distance of 2,225—is still in place, but now at minus–33.110 seconds per mile, which converts to 21.15 hours faster over the course, Pyewacket appears to be out of reach in the ratings.

The next fastest-rated boat, Magnitude 80, is rated at 7.110, or 25.7 hours back.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the race for a record or the Barn Door is a slam dunk. Remember how a funny little wooden boat from New Zealand named Ragtime came out of nowhere to stun grandiose Windward Passage in 1973? And how only an inspired and hasty jury rig saved Cheval’s Barn Door victory when it lost half its mast on the last day in ‘93?

Share or bookmark this story: