This Friday is the deadline set for receiving entry fees for the 41st Transpacific Yacht Race at the discounted rate. After Friday all entries received will be subject to the standard charges of 750 dollars for boats under 50 feet and 1,000 dollars for those boats over (instead of 600 and 800 dollars respectively).

Classes are scheduled to start from June 25 through to July 4, leaving the Palos Verdes peninsula at Point Fermin for the finish line off Diamond Head 2,225 nautical miles away. The Barn Door trophy awarded to the monohull with the fastest elapsed time is the foundation of Transpac’s tradition, and Roy Disney’s record holder Pyewacket appears destined to face some especially formidable challengers this year. But the heavy hitters typically are among the last to fulfill the formality of filing official entries, preferring to lie low until the final minute.

Ultimately, the final overall entry list will break down not only into divisions arranged by size but new no-handicap, first-to-finish contests within the overall competition: the Transpac 40s and 50s, Open 50s and the Clothier Trophy for the first boat under 49 feet with a fully furnished interior. Also, Santa Cruz 50s and 52s will race as a class on a handicap format.

Transpacific Yacht Club directors have determined that the Transpac rating limit, calculated from a yacht’s IMS certificate and the Transpac Wind Matrix, will be 339.165 seconds per mile for the 2001 event. The figure is based on the ratings of the first five finishers in 1999. What that means is that no entry may be configured by the size of its sails, the length of its spinnaker pole or other factors to attain a potential of higher speed in the base conditions.

Legendary designer Bill Lee, who’s ultralight Merlin revolutionised the race in 1977, said, “The rating limit has been an element in Transpac since 1983. The purpose of a rating limit is to form a level class, which will race without handicap for the shortest elapsed time on the course. “The other purpose of the limit is to make sure no single boat is much faster than the others who are also racing for the shortest elapsed-time honours. The original rating limit was an IOR rating of 70.0, which was the worldwide limit at the time. This rating limit has evolved over time, first by adding an IMS equivalent and then increasing the limit substantially when the ILC Maxis raced the course in 1995.”

The Aloha, formerly cruising class, will start on Monday, June 25 – not on Tuesday, June 26, as initially published in the Notice and Conditions of Race. Transpacific Yacht Club Commodore Sandy Martin said, “This gives us the one extra day we felt we needed after the last race in 1999.”

Starting dates and pre-race send-off parties:

Aloha: party June 24, start June 25, 2001.

Under 50-footers: party June 29, start June 30.

Over 50-footers: party June 29, start July 1.

Multihulls : party June 29, start July 4.

Download your entry form or find out more from the Transpac Web site by clicking here.