The first starts of the 2023 Transpac are just around the corner, and our 55 entries prove that there is no one right boat for Transpac. The current list ranges from Steve Campo’s BAZINGA, a Hobie 33, to Manouch Moshayedi’s RIO100 to three MOD70 trimarans that will be looking for speeds in the high thirties.
As always, the 2023 Transpac fleet will feature races within the race. The Santa Cruz 50/52 fleet is one of the long-standing rivalry classes. This year, our 50th entry was Chris Messano’s DECEPTION, a Santa Cruz 50 that is one of many boats undergoing work with high hopes in the bargain. Messano and co-skipper Bill Durant are excited to put the improved Deception through her paces this summer, particularly because the crew consists largely of the Messano and Durant families.
Their extensive efforts to renovate DECEPTION are impressive: a new stern scoop, a new rudder, gutted and refurbished (and minimalist) interior, new flush portlights and hatches, removal of deck tracks in favor of cleaner and lighter floating clew ring system, and pedestal winches (to name a few). And if this weren’t enough their plan after racing to Cabo is to fit a new modern T-bulb keel for even less drag, more stability and better offwind speed.
"I love to refurbish classic cars, and this has been a similar passion for me," said Messano. "We wanted to do this right: take our time, use the right materials, and have not just a better-looking boat but one that performs closer to modern standards of performance."
DECEPTION joins Michael Moradzadeh’s Santa Cruz 50 OAXACA and Dave Moore’s Santa Cruz 52 WESTERLY as the first of the Santa Cruz 50/52 entries – almost certainly with more to come. These boats were literally made for the trade wind surfing conditions of Transpac.
The competition among the sleds will be fierce. Already, there are five Santa Cruz 70s, two Andrews 68s, and the celebrated Bill Lee Custom 68 MERLIN signed up for those 2,225 steadily bluer-and-warmer miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Point Fermin to Diamond Head.
The competition isn’t always between boats. Tom Holthus is back for the 2023 race with the Botin 56 BADPAK, and he is competing against himself as well as against the fleet. Holthus was the Division 1 winner in 2021 (on the current BADPAK) and in 2019 (on the Pac52 BADPAK) ,and is looking for a three-peat. Holthus says a key to this success is a team that is largely unchanged, with many thousands of miles of racing together.
"We will have a crew of 10 who are not only excellent sailors but are really compatible," he said. "We'll not be making any major changes to the boat and sails in this cycle, but will focus on building our strengths in knowing the boat and each other well. With the Cabo Race, the Islands Race and the SoCal 300 to train on, we'll be ready to go in July."
Holthus is also confident they can be contenders for the overall King Kalakaua Trophy, awarded to the team finishing first overall on corrected time, but he knows that he can really be competitive only against boats starting on the same day—in the same weather—and that is a matter of chance. With different fleets starting on different days, he says, "Winning involves favorable weather, something we cannot control beyond those other teams starting on the same day."
It is less than six months to first gun.
Text & Image transpacyc.com