The crew of the Peligroso arrives in West Maui during the Vic-Maui International Yacht Race on the morning of July 16, 2022. The 2024 edition of the trans-Pacific race has been canceled. Renee Meyer photo
The Maui News
The 2024 edition of the Vic-Maui International Yacht Race has been canceled, race organizers announced Sunday.
The cancellation of the biennial trans-Pacific race was made “with heavy hearts and challenging emotions,” stated a race newsletter from event chairs Jim Innes of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and Lars Bertelsen of Lahaina Yacht Club.
“The August 8th, 2023 wildfires on Maui were devastating. In addition to the complete loss of shoreside supports — the losses to residences, family, and friends of Lahaina — our Lahaina Yacht Club family — are monumental,” the newsletter read. “Our LYC family needs our help and requires time to heal.”
Organizers noted they are fully committed to and will immediately start work on the 2026 Vic-Maui.
“Our goal is to make 2026 a very special race, celebrating the rebuilding of Lahaina and celebrating the 60th anniversary of both the founding of LYC and of the first Vic-Maui in 1965,” the newsletter stated.
The Vic-Maui — which every two years starts in early July in Victoria, British Columbia, and concludes weeks later in Lahaina — celebrated its return in 2022, holding its first race since 2018 after being canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
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- The crew of the Peligroso arrives in West Maui during the Vic-Maui International Yacht Race on the morning of July 16, 2022. The 2024 edition of the trans-Pacific race has been canceled. Renee Meyer photo
