Day record
The Volvo 70 Pyewacket has won the Barn Door Trophy for the 2021 Transpac Race, setting a new 24-hour record in the process.
26 July 2021
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Roy Disney has set a new Transpac Race 24 hour record with his turbo Volvo 70 Pyewacket this week, crossing the Diamond Head finishing line 2:53am Hawaiian Standard Time.
Disney completed a 2225-nautical mile course in five days, 16 hours and 53 minutes with an average speed of 16.3 knots.
In 2017, the VPLP 100-footer Comanche set a new record at five days, two hours.
Knowing that record could not be broken, Pyewacket instead extended to the north corner of the course, gybed once, and headed at high speed for Oahu. In 24 hours, the team sailed 506.4 nautical miles, averaging over 21 knots.
“A dear friend of mine, Stan Honey, used to own this record,” said Disney, “so we thought, Why not? We’re not going to win overall [in corrected time], so why not go for that one. It was pretty special.”
“This boat is very deceptive. If you’re doing 15 knots, it doesn’t make a noise, and you don’t even realise you’re going that fast. At 21 knots, it makes more noise, for sure,” he later added.
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“This boat is a beast but a fun beast.”
Disney has raced to Hawaii 25 times, almost most of anyone else in the history of this race – his own teammate Gary Weisman having also competed 25 times.
“This race has an allure,” Disney said. “I’m standing here on the dock already thinking about what to do better for the next race. That’s what this race does to you!”
“I’m fortunate to sail with a group of very very close friends who are family to me – this is my family. It’s an extra joy to sail this well and with this group of friends.”
Until being overtaken by Pyewacket yesterday, Cecil and Alyson Rossi’s Farr 57 Ho’okolohe was out in front of the entire fleet for most of this race, being the fastest boat in the first wave of Division 8 starters on Tuesday, July 13th.
Their elapsed time of 9 days 22 hours 39 minutes, 36 seconds made for an average speed of 9.3 knots on the course. An impressive feat considering how they spent their first 24 hours struggling in light air to get off the California coast.
For Bryon Ehrhardt’s Judel/Vrolijk 72 Lucky, the next boat on track to finish at the time of writing, the tracker recorded boat speeds of over 20 knots until a broken rudder saw that plummet to 1.9 knots.
Meanwhile, more sea stories from the racecourse include this from Steve Sellinger’s Santa Cruz 50 Triumph, who is in the hot sun, 18–22 knots of wind, and 3–6 foot seas.
“Last night was a fun-filled terror with a series of squalls. I have never liked squalls and, after last night, I hate them even more. We drove right into the heart of the death star squall but came out the other end,” says Sellinger.
“Moments later, it was game on, and we were swallowed whole, and wind speeds quickly reached 30-33 knots with torrential rains. The rest of the crew was bunked below.”
“Brad [Wheeler] and Chris [Snow] reported being listening as Triumph hydroplaned and we yelled to each other about the rapidly changing conditions. Justin reportedly silently thanked David for his timing as Justin had just done a tiring 4–hour shift.
“Zack [Hanna] slept through the entire event. [David Liebenberg] kicked the death star squall’s ass! He is the boat MVP today. Only one day because we can’t let this go to his head! We survived and are stronger for it.”
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