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 […]

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.

The biennial Pacific Cup attracted 64 entrants for the 2070 nm course from San Francisco to Hawaii, with the fleet divided among four staggered starts on July 11, 12, 14, and 15. Here’s a report from July 21. Strong winds propelled Manouch Moshayedi’s super maxi Rio 100 across the Pacific to set a new Pacific Cup elapsed time record. Crossing the finish on July 20 at 13:51:13 local Hawaii time (15:51:13 PDT), Rio 100 posted an elapsed time of 5 days, 3 hours, 41 mins and 13 seconds, knocking two hours off the record set in 2004 by Robert Miller, whose 139-foot Mari Cha IV finished with an elapsed time of 5 days, 5 hours, 38 minutes and 10 seconds. Rio 100 sailed a course slightly above the rhumb line for the entire race, taking advantage of breezes fed by the well-behaved Pacific High as well as remnants of Hurricane Celia. Many of this year’s crew of 16, including navigator Christopher Branning, were also onboard for the 2015 Transpac when Rio won the prestigious Barn Door Trophy with an elapsed time of 7 days, 5 hours, 34 minutes, and 07 seconds. We’re watching tropical depression Darby which has not dissipated […]

Congratulations to Manouch Moshayedi and the crew of 19 aboard Rio 100, who set the monohull course record by completing the Vallarta Race course in 77.7 hours. Navigator Chris Branning checked in with SDYC prior to the race to make sure they knew what the record was, to set their strategy and make decisions to potentially eclipse the record. The previous record was set in 2010 by Bill Turpin’s Akela at 80.87 hours. Rio 100 managed to finish the race at 1900 local time, avoiding the Tuesday night light air that tends to set in on the approach to Banderas Bay. PV Race Results ” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]