Photos: Sharon Green

On July 13, 2025, the Vice Commodore of San Diego Yacht Club Alli Bell and the crew of her Cal 40 Restless took a winch handle to the notion that winning the Transpacific Yacht Race’s top corrected-time prize requires membership in an old-boys club or a mighty war chest. Bell skippered her Cal 40 across the race’s storied finish line off Honolulu’s Diamond Head with a corrected finish time of 8 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes and 49 seconds—the fastest overall among the 53 boats that competed in 10 divisions. In elapsed time, Restless raced just over 12 and a half days to complete the 2,225nm race from Los Angeles to Hawaii.

Alli Bell is the first female skipper to claim the King Kalakaua Trophy for winning the Transpac Race overall. Alli has sailed the Transpac four previous times, aboard the Bell family’s classic Lapworth 50 Westward, on the J/125 Resolute and the Santa Cruz 50 Hula Girl. This was her first time skippering her own boat on the race.

Alli shared her experience on this dream-come-true race:

Overall, our race strategy was pretty simple: sail the shortest distance we could, going as fast as we could, which in a Cal 40 isn’t all that fast by today’s standards. Stan Honey, a veteran Cal 40 sailor, reiterated that with me before the race. His advice was that unless the boat is going slower than six knots, point the bow at Honolulu. Even in the Molokai Channel, where we saw wind up to 35 knots, we were still averaging about 8 knots.

Restless sailed the least total miles to complete this year’s race, following the rhumbline and Honey’s advice as much as possible.

Before the race, I was asked about my philosophy and how we would keep morale up. I sail for fun and try to make sure the people around me are having fun. And, that’s doubly important when things get tough. Well, we laughed pretty much the entire way across the ocean. Pranks and jokes help pass the time. There are physical and mental demands of the race. Anyone who saw my Instagram posts during the race knows you just sort of give in to the exhaustion and just end up having fun with it. Staying fueled and hydrated were key. Your life just boils down to its simplest components.

I attribute our success to preparation, crew work, luck and a little bit of magic. It’s not lost on us that the conditions were just perfect for us to win, and they needed to be.  In many ways it was just time for a Cal 40 to do well and for a woman to get her name on the trophy. We were so lucky to have a huge community of people supporting us. My parents and family, Stephen’s family, the Cal 40 crowd, our SDYC friends, strangers…a lot of people were pulling for us.

When we were at the top of the leaderboard after the first day, I thought “Oh, this is kinda fun!” I assumed that once we squared back the faster boats would probably get around us. Especially once the sleds were bearing down on us, I thought, “yeah, that was fun while it lasted.” I had a response ready for when people would say that we were winning the race for a while, and thought we had it. I was prepared to say: “Yes! It was really great to be leading all that time and I’m so proud of the boat. She really held her own against all those newer designs for a long time!” Turns out, I never had to use that speech!

By the time we entered the Molokai Channel, I wasn’t confident we would correct out on top. We just pushed the boat to finish quickly. We did three high-wind gybes and for me, those were the final proof that we deserved to win.

In the 2025 Transpac Race, six boats were sailed by female owner/skippers. Nine boats were racing under the San Diego Yacht Club burgee.

I’m so proud to be part of Transpac history as the first female skipper to win overall. And, I’m proud that I’ve shown that anyone with a dream can do it with a little hard work and a lot of luck. I’ve always said my strategy for promoting sailing and women sailing is just go do it and show what’s possible. Racing and being involved in leadership positions, it’s all just a way of showing the SDYC junior girls like Lorelei Heim, Clara Hannum, Poppy Card, Quinn Reynolds, Victoria and Celeste Stout, Elle Wheeler, Madeline Perich, Elizabeth Szabo and everyone else that if Alli can do it, so can they.

There are so many people to thank. First, my crew. We were all amateur aboard (save the one pro, who didn’t get paid). Everyone worked so hard to make this happen and I’m so  appreciative for their time and sacrifices. Next, our families and friends, who supported us, especially my parents who made a huge contribution by getting the boat home. Finally, there are hundreds of volunteers who make this event possible.

Watch the Transpac Recap Video >>