Trans Pac Day 12

Hawaii's Doyle Living Big Dream in Smallest Boat

Hawaii's Doyle Living Big Dream in Smallest Boat

Dan Doyle is almost halfway home and having the time of his life on the smallest boat in the 41st Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii. He could almost smell the islands as his 30-foot sloop Two Guys On the Edge soared southwest in the trade winds Friday.

Doyle, sailing doublehanded with Bruce Burgess, reported by Stratos satellite telephone, "We are finally surfing! We have finally set the big spinnaker. The wind is up to 16 knots and then down to 6 knots, but so far our top speed is 14.4 knots."

Elsewhere on the course, in the battle of the big boats the Thursday night positions report showed Bob McNulty's 74-foot Chance hanging on to a two-mile lead over Philippe Kahn's 75-foot Pegasus, which regained second place from Roy E. Disney's 73-foot Pyewacket by a mile. If not quite in sight of one another, they are close enough to continue their three-way tactical sparring.

Winds had diminished again, but farther back Bob Lane's Medicine Man from Long Beach continued its recent surge with 293 miles in the previous 24 hours - the best day's run by any of the 32 boats remaining in the race. Lane feels that his 61-foot boat - five feet longer after a massive modification - is now in its element as it enters the trades.

"We have more sail area than the normal [ULDB 70] sleds and we weigh one-third less," he said.

Doyle's boat isn't in that class. "After five days of reaching our bunk is dripping wet and the one sleeping bag is soaking," he said.

But he wasn't complaining. For him, the race almost didn't happen - again. Doyle, a Honolulu-based real estate investor, had his hopes dashed for the two previous Transpacs by a broken rudder in 1997 and by a sudden business crisis in '99. In the latter race, Burgess stepped in to sail with Les Vasconcellos in an impressive performance by the Sonoma 30, which outsailed several larger, fully crewed boats.

Doyle's only crew this time is Burgess, and for a few minutes at the June 30 start of their Division 4 class off the Palos Verdes Peninsula it seemed the Doyle curse had struck again. They couldn't get the headsail up. It didn't fit the slot in their new headfoil. But San Pedro sailor Kirk Wilson, a spectator that day, removed one from his larger boat, passed it over and off they went.

Doyle said, "We are south of the rhumb line sailing a course of 240 [southwest] direct to the Diamond Head [finish line]. The sled class has joined us on our track south of rhumb. Our weak point of sail is reaching [wind coming from one side]. The larger boats with longer waterlines will reach faster. Now that we have turned the corner our speeds have picked up and we are now in the strong point for our boat. Look for our ETA to start changing."

The latest ETA for Doyle and Burgess is about 4 o'clock the afternoon of Saturday, July 14, but it could be earlier if the winds keep improving. They may miss the awards banquet July 13, but it should be quite a welcome home.

Brookfield Homes' Coconut Plantation at Ko Olina is a supporter of Transpac 2001. Stratos Mobile Networks is the official communications supplier, providing satellite telephones to facilitate monitoring of the fleet. For more information please contact Stephanie Thomassen at (800) 250-8962 or (206) 633-5888.

1. Chance (R/P 74), Bob McNulty, Corona del Mar, Calif., 266 miles past 24 hours/1,200 miles to go.
2. Pegasus (R/P 75), Philippe Kahn, Santa Cruz, Calif., 263/1,202.
3. Pyewacket (Reichel/Pugh 73), Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles, Calif., 269/1,203.
4. Merlin's Reata (Lee 68), Al Micallef, Ft. Worth, Tex., 280/1,282.

1. Grand Illusion (Santa Cruz 70), James McDowell, Haiku, H.I. 1,290.
2. Bird III (Transpac 52), David Janes, Newport Beach, Calif., 1,306.
3. Taxi Dancer (R/P 68), Brian W. Mock, Corona del Mar, Calif., 1,324.
4. Ragtime (Spencer 65), Hui Holokai Syndicate, Owen Minney/Trisha Steele, Honolulu, 1,377.
5. Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach, Calif., 1,373.
6. Yassou (Transpac 52), Jim and Nancy Demetriades, Beverly Hills, Calif., 1,394.
7. Mongoose (SC 70), Robert Saielli, La Jolla, Calif., 1,431.
8. DH--Étranger (Jutson 50), Howard Gordon, San Luis Obispo, Calif., 1,480.

1. Bengal II (Ohashi 52), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan, 1,023.
2. Cantata (Andrews 53), Brent Vaughan, Oceanside, Calif., 1,119.
3. Firebird (Nelson/Marek 55), Greg Sands, Long Beach, Calif., 1,136.
4. Rocket Science (Riptide 55), Nguyen Le, Amsterdam, 1,075.
5. Baronesa V (Open 40), Shuichi Ogasawara, Miyagi, Japan, 1,133.

1. Bull (Sydney 40 OD-T), Seth Radow, Marina del Rey, Calif., 1,193.
2. Sensation (1D35), Mike Thomas, Detroit, Mich., 1,232.
3. Ouch (J/120), Ted Mayes, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., 1,344.
4. DH--Watercolors (Sabre 402), Michael Abraham, Newport Beach, Calif., 1,344.
5. Uproarious (Olson 40), Robert Bussard, Santa Fe, N.M., 1,317.
6. DH--Two Guys On the Edge (Sonoma 30), Dan Doyle, Honolulu, H.I., 1,404.
7. Mystere (Swan 42), Jorge Morales, Laguna Niguel, Calif., 1,393.

1. Willow Wind (Cal 40), Wendy Siegal, Sunset Beach, Calif., 660.
2. Shanakee II (Pedrick 75), Jim Warmington, Balboa, 318.
3. Seda (Ericson 41), Josef Sedivec, Bonita, Calif., 766
4. Sea Dancer (Ericson 35), Al Wheatman, Marina del Rey, 858.
5. Gecko (Tartan 41), Jim Fabrick, Laguna Beach, 790.
6. Bonaire (Moody 65), Gil Jones and Associates, Newport Beach, 691.

1. Stardust (Wylie 46), Peter and Patricia Anderson, Laguna Beach, 535.
2. Axapac (Wylie 39), Barry Ruff, Vancouver, B.C., 648.

Transpac Publicity:

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