2017 Transpac Race Update July 11, 2017, 1700 At 0015 Sunday July 9th we struck an unseen submerged object at a speed of 18-20 knots. We believe that it first struck the keel, then ran along the portside, until it struck the port rudder. The ensuing impact completely snapped the rudder just below the upper bearing. The rest of the stock and the rudder were now free to swing about, destroying the lower bearing and threatening to tear a hole in the boat. Since we were on starboard tack, copious amounts of water were pouring into the boat. The first order of business was to slow the boat down to try and keep the free swinging rudder from doing more damage. The kite and the staysail were dropped and with the reduction in speed we were able to keep up with the ingress of water with our pumps. With the water somewhat under control, we needed to come up with plan. We knew if we gybed, we could heel the boat enough that the damaged bearing would be well out of the water, but the boat would also pick up speed, which in turn could cause the rudder to rip […]

Q & A with Manouch Moshayedi as the Rio team prepares for the 2017 Transpac. Rio 100 will starting on Thursday, July 6th in Division 1 against Aszhou (RP 63), Bad Pak (Pac52), Comanche (Super Maxi), Invisible Hand (Pac52), Kinetic V (TP 52), Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Rapid Transit (Antrium 49) and Weddel (Grand Mistral OD). How many of your crew from the Pac52 Rio will cross over to sail the Transpac on Rio 100? MM: “Eight of the sixteen crew on our Transpac team have been racing the Pac52 with me. Ben Bardwell Keith Kilpatrick Jeff Messano Morgan Gutenkunst Sebastian Moshayedi Ryan Marshall Justin Ferris and myself” You’re racing against two of your Pac52 class competitors (Bad Pak and Invisible Hand). Are you curious to see how they fare within your class? Any thoughts on how the boat transitions from buoy to offshore mode? MM: “I think they will do quite well in the class under ORR rating, most probably they will beat Rio100 on rating. Bad Pak and Invisible Hand were built with Transpac in mind so they are easy to transition to offshore mode. Rio can’t be converted to offshore. Rio 100 is our offshore boat.” As defending winner of […]

[Source: Sailing Scuttlebutt News, interview with Manouch Moshayedi] Building a new class organization is hard work under the best of circumstances, but when a new boat can cost a couple million and the owners are used to getting their way in big business, fostering a congenial fleet atmosphere would seem to be a challenge. Taking on this challenge is the new Pac52 class which has four boats – three new in 2017 – that are working together to promote and encourage Pac52 class racing. Based on the TP52 class design with some tweaks, the fleet got its first trial at the Yachting Cup in San Diego, CA. Manouch Moshayedi and his Rio team won the inaugural event and shares some insight into the class. The start of the class. I used to have a TP52 that I’d raced so I was familiar with the boat and I’ve known Victor Wild for quite a few years through racing. We became friends and he asked me about buying a second-hand TP52. I got Gavin Brady involved and we sat down, talked about it, and Victor decided he wanted to build a brand new one. So he built Fox, and then I talked […]

Manouch Moshayedi and his Rio Racing Team finished the final day of Yachting Cup with a 1st place in Race #7, followed by Fox placing 2nd. Due to the extreme weather conditions, including heavy rain and 6-8 foot swell on the Ocean Courses, the SDYC Race Committee chose run the final day of racing in San Diego Bay on the 10 mile  “Hot Rum Heavy Weather Course”. Because of these heavy weather conditions, BadPak and Invisible Hand did not race on the final day because of minor issues with underwater faring components that were non structural. After a quick owners meeting, members of the BadPak and Invisible Hand teams hopped on board with the Rio and Fox teams for a fun final race day that will count towards Yachting Cup but will not count towards the Pac52 season scoring. BadPak finished 3rd in the Regatta and Invisible Hand Finished 4th. Next up for the Pac52 Class is the Offshore One Design Championship in Newport Beach, California in June. Here is a link to the final scores from Yachting Cup

Team Rio is exited to have the fleet of Pac52s together in San Diego. We start with a practice racing day on Thursday and a kick off party on the SDYC deck. Friday racing out in the ocean with some stronger conditions expected late Saturday and into Sunday. Looking forward to racing against Bad Pak, Fox and Invisible Hand all year long. Follow the Yachting Cup racing progress at www.yachtingcup.com and www.pac52class.com.           View Results ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

Rio100 headed towards the start line at the NHYC Cabo Race today. We’re in Class 1 sailing against Aszhou, Medicine Man and Zephyrus. Follow along on the race tracker at http://yb.tl/caborace2017.