Matt Paskerian Completes Los Angeles to Tahiti Sailboat Race on Ragtime

13th Transpacific Yacht Race / Los Angeles to Papeete, Tahiti

All four boats shared in the glory in the first Tahiti Race in 14 years.

Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 claimed a new record---11 days 10 hours 13 minutes 18 seconds---and Tahiti Yacht Club officials dusted off the Fritz Overton Perpetual Trophy for first to finish.

Bob Lane's Medicine Man and Chris Welsh's ageless Ragtime also beat Kathmandu's record of 14:21:15:26 set in 1994, while Ragtime and Jim Morgan's Fortaleza corrected out for first and second place overall on time-on-time handicap ratings.

But the numbers tell only part of the tale of sailing 3,571 nautical miles through the ITCZ (i.e., the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a.k.a. the dreaded Doldrums)---and across the equator into the Southern Hemisphere, an achievement claimed by all Tahiti racers who have been transformed from Pollywogs into Shellbacks. More people have flown in space.

The race was organized by the Transpacific Yacht Club and hosted by the Tahiti Yacht Club at the deep end. It started in dense fog off Point Fermin at the edge of Los Angeles on June 22 and everyone finished not in French Polynesian sunshine but under dazzling starry skies.

Members of the Ragtime crew this time were owner/skipper Chris Welsh, Daniel Caponetto, Genny Tulloch, Erik Berzins, Matt Paskerian, Devin Vaughn, Hubie Laugharn and Mark Ivey.

Another note: Caponetto is 16, apparently the youngest person to sail the race this year ... or perhaps any year? There are no known records to verify that.

Identifications, as available, for photo at top: Local race officials hold awards, including the Fritz Overton Perpetual Trophy for first to finish. Jean Szylagi, president of the Tahiti YC, and Nancy Morgan of the Tahiti Pearl Market are at left; Ragtime's Chris Welsh center; Mag 8'0's Ty Pryne and Medicine Man's Mike Priest in white and blue shirts, then Manuel Terai, Director of Operations for Tahiti Tourisme, and race chairman Dave Cort of Transpacific Yacht Club.

Tahiti Race 2008 final standings

(boat for boat at 6 a.m. PDT Wednesday)


Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach, finished, elapsed time 11 days 10 hours 13 minutes 18 seconds (betters record of 14:21:15:26 by Kathmandu, Santa Cruz 70, Fred Kirschner, 1994); corrected time same.

Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, Long Beach, ET 13:08:35:23; CT 11:13:57:05.

Ragtime (Spencer 65), Chris Welsh, Newport Beach, ET 14:16:24:23; CT 10:22:11:18.