Press Release No. 13

Japan's Bengal II Completes a Long Sail to the Starting Line

Japan's Bengal II Completes a Long Sail to the Starting Line

How serious is the crew of Bengal II about the 41st Transpacific Yacht Race? To get to the starting line, three of them sailed the boat all the way across the Pacific from Japan. That's 5,200 nautical miles, the equivalent of 2 1/2 Transpacs.

Bengal II, one of two Japanese and five foreign entries, will start with Divisions III and IV Saturday, June 30. Nine Aloha Division boats will start Monday, June 25, and the largest boats in Divisions I and II will start Sunday, July 1. All starts will be off the Palos Verdes Peninsula at 1 p.m.

A press boat will be available for accredited reporters and photographers for the June 30 and July 1 starts. It will depart from San Pedro at about 10:45 a.m. each day. Media interested are urged to contact the publicity officer listed below.

In the early days of the race nearly 100 years ago, before the Panama Canal was built, a few competitors sailed from the East Coast around Cape Horn, and Bruno Peyron sailed his 86-foot catamaran Explorer from Europe to do the race in 1997. Bengal II can lay claim to this year's award for dedication.

The Ohashi 52 arrived last weekend in Long Beach where seven other crew members met the boat to start final preparations. The optimum route entailed sailing well north of the Hawaiian Islands to 42 degrees north latitude, about the same latitude as the California-Oregon border.

The Bengal II's co-owner/skippers are Yoshiko Murase and Yoichi Ito, who were not aboard. Yasuharu Ando was captain for the delivery trip, accompanied by Fumihiko Tominaga and Masaki Takasu. The trip took 32 days, an average of 162 miles per day.

The nice part, said Ando, who speaks a little English, was that "it was only 20 per cent upwind and 80 per cent downwind." They experienced two storms but suffered no serious damage.

Asked why they sailed the boat rather than shipping it, Ando explained with a smile, "We have no money."

Bengal II represents the Hekinan Yacht Club near Nagoya and has competed in various ocean races since 1995, the latest from Okinawa to Osaka in 2000. A photo of the delivery crew on the boat may be seen on the race Web site, www.transpacificyc.org.

A Very Large Sleeper in This Transpac

Roller-furling sails, electric winches, refrigeration and air-conditioning - Shanakee II will be the largest and probably the most comfortable boat in Transpac 2001, and it also may be the first to finish.

For its maiden race, James Warmington's 75-foot cutter from Balboa, Calif., which was designed by David Pedrick, is entered in the Aloha Division. Those eight boats start next Monday, June 25, giving them a five-day headstart on the Division III and IV boats and a six-day jump on the Division I and II fleets. Shanakee II's crew will include former Transpacific Yacht Club commodore L.J. Edgcomb as navigator and current vice commodore Brad Avery as a watch captain.

"The boat could be first to finish, given the headstart," Avery said. "'It's a performance cruiser, fairly quick, but it still needs a breeze. It's about the same length as Pyewacket, Chance and Pegasus but has a 20-foot beam and weighs 100,000 pounds, about four times as much. If the winds are steady the boat could be first to finish."

However, to win the Barn Door trophy, a boat also must log the fastest elapsed time, and Shanakee II is unlikely to do that. It couldn't even claim first overall on corrected time if it uses the power on its winches.

"That depends on how tired we get," Avery said, tongue in cheek. "It does have a very large dining table where you can sit down and see the ocean racing by."

Transpac Publicity:

Rich Roberts
Phone: (310) 835-2526
e-mail: richsail@earthlink.net

Entry Information:

Jerry Montgomery
e-mail: mmmont@aol.com

WEB Page:

Walt Niemczura, Web Master
www.transpacificyc.org
e-mail: walt@hawaii.rr.com