Swift spirit

Hailing from Washington, the Evergreen State, Zvi, the Reichel/Pugh 55 representing the Seattle Yacht Club, made its transoceanic debut in the summer of 2021. While big boat racing was effectively grounded during the pandemic, skipper Alan Lubner took the opportunity to put his 2007 McConaghy-built acquisition through a refit and weightloss program in the winter of 2020-21 to enter Transpac 2021.

It was this R/P 55's first time to compete in this race and a successful Pacific crossing. Zvi was re-dedicated after the refit. Her original built name out of Newport, Rhode Island, was Rima, which is Arabic for “white antelope” or “gazelle.” Zvi means “gazelle” in old Hebrew. And so it was fitting that the re-dedication has brought the boat and her spirit back to her roots.

The team’s goals for Transpac were to “compete at the highest level and finish in Hawaii with the knowledge that we did everything we could to get there as quickly and safely as possible.”