Was this gross misconduct or ignorance?

According to the 2025 Transpac Race press release, “Bryon Ehrhart and his talented team aboard Lucky, his 88-foot Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed maxi, etched their names in history and on the prestigious Barn Door Trophy, for the fastest elapsed time of any monohull.”

Given the 53-boat fleet, no one was betting against Lucky, and while they set no records, their time of 06d 06:23:50 was over a day faster than the second boat, Tom Holthus’ Botin 56 BadPak (07d 10:43:05). But when it was learned that Lucky broke significant rules, the BadPak team protested.

Lucky competed in non-compliance with her rating and the event rules, and after a protest hearing was assigned a 9-hour discretionary penalty to her elapsed time. While BadPak’s protest was denied for procedural reasons, here’s an excerpt from their submission:

BadPak contests that the facts found are not simply an infraction on RRS 78.1, but instead are gross misconduct. With the caliber of crew and past Transpac champions onboard, there is no way that they can plead ignorance to multiple infractions of both the NOR and ORR rules.

If the infractions were egregious enough to be noticed by outside sources looking at a finish line photo, a crew of world class sailors should obviously know the same. Outriggers and LRH (large roach) headsails are clearly and specifically referenced in both NOR and ORR documents.

As Lucky did not comply with the NOR and sailed with a non-compliant certificate / configuration for Transpac 2025, Lucky should be considered a non-compliant entry and no longer be eligible for any trophies in the 2025 race; this includes the ‘Barn Door’

The boat that competed was not that same boat as entered; a very radically different configuration, who didn’t comply with the NOR: 1.8, 4.3.1K, 7.6, 13.2. RRS 78.2 requires a “valid” certificate be produced before a boat races. Lucky to this day has not produced a “valid” certificate in the configuration that she was sailed (two LRH sheeted to outriggers).

Indeed, such a configuration is impossible as it is not allowed in Transpac. Per RRS 78.2, “The penalty for breaking this rule is disqualification without a hearing from all races of the event.” NOR 7.8 holds the owner/charterer responsible for the accuracy of the data in the certificate. A discretionary penalty is not applicable under this infraction

Any discretionary penalty that allows Lucky to win the Barn Door is effectively no penalty at all.

Event information – Race details – Results – Tracker

The 53-boat fleet began the 2025 Transpac Race with staggered starts on July 1, July 3 and July 5 for the 53rd edition of the biennial 2225 nm crossing from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

Elapsed records:
Monohull: 2017, Comanche, VPLP 100, Jim Clark – 05d 01:55:26
Multihull: 2017, Mighty Merloe, ORMA 60, Hl Enloe – 04d 06:32:30

Source: TYC