Newport-Mesa sailors rule the seas

Danette Goulet

A brand new boat with the fierce snorting bull on the hull and a

Californian crew on board, including two brothers from Newport-Mesa, took

the overall win in the 41st Transpacific Yacht Race on Wednesday.

The Bull, a new 40-foot, Australian-built Sydney 40, skippered and

owned by Seth Radow of Marina del Rey, crossed the Diamond Head finish

line at 3:49 a.m. Wednesday to claim the best overall corrected time and

first in its class.

One of the most prestigious yacht races in the world, the Transpac is

a 2,225-mile journey from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii.

The biennial race was the vision of a Hawaiian king in the 19th

century and continues to be the premier race of the Pacific.

The victorious Bull was neck and neck for the title of overall win

with corrected time with the Pegasus, a 75-foot Reichel/Pugh skippered by

Phillippe Kahn out of Santa Cruz.

At a mere eight days, two hours, 34 minutes and three seconds, the

Pegasus had the fastest overall time. But when all handicaps were

considered, the Bull came out the front-runner.

Among the seven-member crew aboard the Bull for 10 days, 17 hours, 49

minutes and 19 seconds were Rick and Vince Valdes. Rick, a sailmaker who

lives in Costa Mesa, and Vince, a trust fund account executive from

Newport Beach, have never sailed in the Transpac before but grew up

around boats, said their sister, Heather Spears.

“My brothers have been sailing since they could walk and have both

built their own boats,” Spears said.

It’s also not a surprise, she added, considering their father, Dick

Valdes, was one of the founders of Columbia Yachts and a pioneer in the

construction of fiberglass boats.

The crew is still in Hawaii celebrating the safe and triumphant

journey and will return to a hero’s welcome Sunday, Spears said.