Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
The Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac) is a biennial offshore yacht race held in odd-numbered years starting off the Pt. Fermin buoy in San Pedro, California and ending off Diamond Head in Hawaii, a distance of around 2,225 nautical miles. In even-numbered years the Pacific Cup race starts out of San Francisco and is run by the Pacific Cup Yacht Club. Started in 1906 by Clarence W. Macfarlane and hosted by Los Angeles Yacht Club, it is one of yachting's premier offshore races and attracts entrants from all over the world. The race is organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club.
Hobie Cat is a company that manufactures sailing catamarans, surfboards, sailboats, kayaks, stand-up paddle boards, and pedalboards as the Hobie Cat Company. It was founded in 1961 by Hobart Alter, who originally manufactured surfboards. Its line of products has included more than twenty sailing craft, plus a variety of other watercraft.
Philippe Kahn is an engineer, entrepreneur and founder of four technology companies: Borland, Starfish Software, LightSurf Technologies, and Fullpower Technologies. Kahn is credited with creating the first camera phone, being a pioneer for wearable technology intellectual property, and is the author of dozens of technology patents covering Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) modeling, wearable, eyewear, smartphone, mobile, imaging, wireless, synchronization and medical technologies.
Santa Cruz Yachts was a U.S.-based yacht design and manufacturing company. The offices and production facilities were located in Santa Cruz, California before being moved to Greencove Springs, Florida.
The Olson 30 is a sailboat designed by George Olson of Santa Cruz, CA around 1978. Olson was a surfer and surfboard shaper who decided to design a 30' ultra light displacement boat while on a delivery from Honolulu to Santa Cruz on Merlin, a 68' Bill Lee designed and built ultralight sailboat which had competed in the biennial Transpac race in 1977. During this delivery, Olson came up with the idea while sailing with Denis Bassano and Don Snyder, who lent their initials to the prototype's name, SOB 30. The resulting boat was christened Pacific High, and it was launched in 1978.
Ron Moore is largely credited, along with George Olson and Bill Lee, to have given rise to the modern ULDB, or ultralight displacement boat. This yacht type revolutionized sailing as the modern world knows it, especially in downwind races as are common on California's West Coast.
Morning Light is a 2008 film written and directed by Mark Monroe and executive produced by Roy E. Disney. The film was released on October 17, 2008 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film chronicles a real-life crew training and competing in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race aboard a TP52 class sailing yacht, Morning Light.
The Transpacific Yacht Club (TPYC) is responsible for organizing the world-renowned Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
The Transpac 52 (TP52) is a class of yacht used for competitive 52 Super Series yacht racing, and the Audi MedCup previously, besides the world championship of the class. The class is recognised by the International Sailing Federation which entitles the class to hold an Official World Championships.
Wilderness Boat Works was an American boat manufacturing company in Santa Cruz, California producing hand laid fiberglass monohull masthead sloops. They produced three boat designs, the 21 foot, 30 foot, and 40 foot Wilderness.
An ultra light displacement boat is a modern form of watercraft with limited displacement relative to the hull size.
The possibility of further speed increase [...] will always attract ardent believers in their speed virtues, just as they have done in the past. The ULDB are, however, very capricious creatures in terms of performance. They may deliver the goods, provided there is just a right kind of wind and from the right direction to sail 'full and by'. And since weather is also capricious, the ULDB and weather seldom suit each other. 'Light displacement craft', Davidson remarked, 'are not new in principle'. For many centuries there have been canoes, proas and the like in the South Pacific and other places, with similar displacement in proportion to the sail area and hull length. Racing dinghies, or dinghy-like modern offshore racers, so common today, are typical examples of the same principle. In all instances the combination of the major design features: displacement, sail area, length and stability [i.e. —] power to carry sails effectively, is radically different from the combination found in the traditional seaworthy and wholesome yachts.
The Santa Cruz Yacht Club (SCYC) is a yacht club founded in 1928 and is the oldest, and currently the only, yacht club in Santa Cruz, California.
Alfa Romeo II is a maxi yacht designed in 2005 by Reichel/Pugh for yachtsman Neville Crichton. First-to-finish in the 2009 Transpacific Yacht Race, she also set a new elapsed-time Transpac race record for monohulls.
Commodore Clarence William Macfarlane, was a businessman and yachtsman of Hawaii. He founded the Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac) in 1906 by sailing from San Pedro/Los Angeles, California to Honolulu, Hawaii.
Merlin was designed by Bill Lee. Merlin is considered to an Ultra Light Displacement (ULDB). The racing yacht has won numerous offshore yacht races including the Transpac in 1977 establishing a course record that stood for 20 years. She is a 68 foot long by 12 foot wide monohull weighing in at 25,000 pounds. Merlin is currently owned and raced by William F. "Chip" Merlin, founder of Merlin Law Group, for his team Merlin Yacht Racing.
Charles William Lapworth was an American naval architect who designed a large number of sailboats, many of them for Cal Yachts. He was active as a designer from the early 1950s until the 1980s. Described as "one of the foremost West Coast naval architects in the post-World War II period", he has been nominated to the US National Sailing Hall of Fame.
The Cal 40 is an American sailboat that was designed by Bill Lapworth as an offshore racer and first built in 1963.
The Lancer 36 is an American sailboat that was designed by Bill Lee as a racer-cruiser and first built in 1973.
The Olson 25 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by George Olson as a one design and Midget Ocean Racing Club racer-cruiser and first built in 1984.
