Transpac is one of the best and most important yacht races in the world and the Barn Door trophy is one of the most coveted.
The organization did a great job of organizing the race from the kickoff party to assigning us a great host here in Hawaii.
This race was unusual in that at the time of our start there were three different weather anomalies that affected our routing and the amount of wind on the race course.
We ended up finishing ten hours after the record time which forces us to come back again next time to see if we can break the record.
A year and half ago we decided to build a boat that was able to win the Barn Door Trophy, this mission was well executed and achieved.
I have to thank Brett Bakewell-White and the Cookson’s yard for designing and building such a great boat for us.
My special thanks go to our most important team member, Keith Kilpatrick who supervised building the boat as it progressed inch by inch and then taking care of her and customizing her for our races. The boat is always prepared and in top shape.
Keith is also one of our best drivers and all around sailors and in the most challenging times the helm is always passed on to him.
Keith is our MVP and I wouldn’t cross any oceans without him.
Despite the difficult weather conditions, Chris Branning, our navigator did a great job of keeping us away from the doldrums and like threading a needle, kept us moving at optimum speeds, we are certainly lucky to have had him with us on this race.
Our team over all is fantastic and even though it comprises of professional sailors and amateurs, it’s a very cohesive and fun group. One week on a boat with 19 people could be a very long trip if one has the wrong crowd. But in our case we all enjoyed our ride, at times laughed out loud and at times we all worked in unison to keep the boat in good shape while going as fast as we could.
Gavin Brady who is of course very well known world wide is our leader and our sailing guru and the “to go” man for every maneuver. The team has full respect for Gavin and follows his orders without question which is great as there is no second guessing.
I can say that without a doubt our team really enjoys sailing together and has a lot of fun while doing it.
This race was very special for me as I had my son Sebastian along for the ride and seeing him drive through the Molokai Channel was a great pleasure.
I’d like to thank all of our nineteen team members (Keith Kilpatrick, Gavin Brady, Mike Howard, Chris Branning, Bill Jenkins, Mike Van Dyke, Alastair Campbell, Brad Ferrand, Ben Bardwell, Morgan Gutenkunst, Joe Penrod, Tyler Wolk, Sebastian Moshayedi Jeff Messano, Mike Mottl, Peter Van Niekerk, Peter Kinney and Mike Pentecost) for doing such an outstanding job and helping us get the Barn Door Trophy, I specially thank Jeff Messano who was alway the life of the party and kept our morales up throughout the crossing.