Taking on the 'barn door'

Alfa Romeo II is after Morning Glory's Transpac record

The supermaxi Alfa Romeo II is gearing up for her first ever US event, the Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac), a legendary challenge which sees 48 teams cover the Los Angeles – Honolulu course.

Owner and skipper Neville Crichton will be setting sail on 5 July with the same competitive spirit that has always marked him out as a sailor, fully aware of the responsibility that comes with his long and successful track record. All eyes will be on him and on his Alfa Romeo, who with their 140 Line Honours (first across the line) are the self-proclaimed serial winners of the seas, making this the craft to beat in the US event also.

Apart from finishing fastest in the fleet, Neville Crichton is also hoping for the sort of weather conditions which would allow him to beat the current record for the course, set in 2005 by Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory: 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes and 11 seconds for 2225 nautical miles, almost the same distance separating Trapani from Korvanturi in the far north of Finland. In 2005 Morning Glory covered the long ocean course at an average speed of almost 14 knots, a really outstanding performance.

The Transpac brings together teams of the highest professional calibre every two years to bid for this very prestigious trophy. Alfa Romeo will be crewed by some of the biggest names on the international yacht racing scene, with several members fresh from the team that sailed Ericsson 4 to victory in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009. Also on board will be Stan Honey, who holds the world record for the number of Transpacs won as navigator.

Ben Ainslie will be back on board the super high-tech maxi yacht after a number of successful seasons with Alfa Romeo. His personal medals tally includes an Olympic silver and three golds won at the last four editions of the Games.

Back at the tiller of Alfa Romeo following a 2008 season which concluded in Trieste and a fifth victory at the Barcolana event, Neville Crichton had this to say: “I've wanted to bring Alfa Romeo here for years and if we get the right sort of wind, I'm convinced we cannot just win but set a new record. With all of her victories, Alfa Romeo will be the boat the whole fleet will be watching, and the Transpac represents a new challenge for the 17 members of our team. In fact this is a completely different kind of race to the ones we're used to in Europe. Both sea and weather conditions will be unlike anything we saw in 2008. And we'll be meeting boats and crews who know the course well. This will require a different kind of racing and a different type of commitment than we're called on to produce in Europe, so there are lots of reasons for us to really concentrate and pull out our best performance.”

Alfa Romeo will set sail from Point Fermin, the southernmost tip of L.A, on Saturday 5 July at 13.00 local time.

Neville Crichton and his team will have to deal with unpredictable weather conditions, in particular the transition from a cool and wet Pacific offshore climate to the quite different conditions to be found out in the calmer mid-ocean waters, before running into the strong trade winds blowing at this time of year in the Molokai Channel, close to the finish line.

Alfa Romeo II, whose eagerly waited arrival in Los Angeles was greeted from the shore by yachting enthusiasts and curious onlookers alike, has already made the biggest splash in the US sailing season.