The 2001 Transpac

July 13, 2001

TWO GUYS FINISHES VICTORIOUSLY ON THE EDGE

HONOLULU – Dan Doyle and Bruce Burgess would tell you to think twice – maybe three times – before you consider sailing the Transpacific Yacht Race in a small boat with only one other person. They did it in Doyle's Sonoma 30, Two Guys On the Edge, finishing off Diamond Head before dawn Friday after 12 days 18 hours 46 minutes 19 seconds.

That was 8 hours 42 minutes slower than Burgess and Les Vasconcellos did it on the same 30-foot sloop in 1999, but it was fast enough to win the three-boat Doublehanded Division overall on corrected handicap time over the Howard Gordon/Jay Crum Jutson 50 that set a doublehanded elapsed time record of 10:04:04:01.

Two Guys was third overall in Division 4, which included one other doublehander, Watercolors, and six fully crewed boats.

"It was too nice a trip," said Burgess, who replaced Doyle two years ago when the owner had a last-minute business conflict. "All that was missing was a bottle of wine and music. It was easy."

They never saw wind stronger than 17.6 knots until they found 25 knots in the Molokai Channel Thursday night – a common story in this 41st Transpac.

"Last night made the whole trip worth it," Doyle said. "We were surfing."

They were out of gas and had to be towed all the way in to Ala Wai Yacht Harbor, but that wasn't the worst shortage. They also were out of food.

"We haven't eaten in two days," Doyle said as they tidied up their boat and then dived into the luau spread prepared by their welcome committee. "The freeze-dried food was horrible. The last night we had this orange mandarin chicken stuff. We each took one bite and thew it out."

They were also met with leis by Natalie Frazier, a 12-year-old lymphoma survivor from the Honolulu suburb of Mililani. They had dedicated their effort to the San Diego/Hawaii Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and appointed Frazier an honorary crew member.

Attached to their name sign on their bow rail was a notice: "Head Foil by Santa Cruz 50 Bay Wolf. Huge Mahalos (thank yous)."

Burgess said, "Without them we wouldn't be here."

His reference was to the headfoil loaned by Bay Wolf owner Kirk Wilson when Two Guys learned at the five-minute warning gun for the start June 30 that their headsail didn't fit their new headfoil. Wilson removed his, passed it over and Two Guys started 347 minutes late – a delay that didn't matter by the end of the race.

"We broke it in two places putting it on but we had one track left," Doyle said.

Their only other problem was a bad spinnaker wrap that they managed to untangle in the face of an approaching squall.

"We're really pleased with the way the boat handled," Doyle said. "Finding ourselves in eighth place after the start, we thought coming back would be more difficult."

The last two boats – Mystere and Watercolors – were expected to finish Saturday.

The Renaissance Ilikai Waikiki is the official Transpac hotel. 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.

Standings in order of handicap ratings at 8:30 a.m. PDT July 13:

DIVISION 1 (started July 1)

1. Pegasus (Reichel/Pugh 75), Philippe Kahn, Santa Cruz, Calif., finished 8 days 2 hours 34 minutes 3 seconds.
   
2. Pyewacket (Reichel/Pugh 73), Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles, Calif., 8:03:36:58.
   
3. Chance (Reichel/Pugh 74), Bob McNulty, Corona del Mar, Calif., 8:05:08:24.
   
4. Merlin's Reata (Lee 68), Al Micallef, Ft. Worth, Tex., 8:17:45:35.
   
   

DIVISION 2 (started July 1)

1. Grand Illusion (Santa Cruz 70), James McDowell, Haiku, H.I., 9:02:34:24.
   
2. J-Bird III (Transpac 52), David Janes, Newport Beach, Calif., 8:23:36:10.
   
3. Taxi Dancer (R/P 68), Brian W. Mock, Corona del Mar, Calif., 9:04:17:13.
   
4. Yassou (Transpac 52), Jim and Nancy Demetriades, Beverly Hills, Calif., 9:05:50:42.
   
5. Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach, Calif., 9:02:47:43.
   
6. Ragtime (Spencer 65), Hui Holokai Syndicate, Owen Minney/Trisha Steele, Honolulu, 9:17:20:25.
   
7. Mongoose (SC 70), Robert Saielli, La Jolla, Calif., 9:16:18:32.
   
8. DH--Étranger (Jutson 50), Howard Gordon, San Luis Obispo, Calif., 10:04:04:01.
   
   

DIVISION 3 (started June 30)

1. Cantata (Andrews 53), Brent Vaughan, Oceanside, Calif., 10:07:44:54.
   
2. Firebird (Nelson/Marek 55), Greg Sands, Long Beach, Calif., 10:08:16:10.
   
3. Bengal II (Ohashi 52), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan, 9:16:20:56.
   
4. Baronesa V (Open 40), Shuichi Ogasawara, Miyagi, Japan, 10:00:49:34.
   
5. Rocket Science (Riptide 55), Nguyen Le, Amsterdam, 10:01:26:49.
   

DIVISION 4 (started June 30)

1. Bull (Sydney 40 OD-T), Seth Radow, Marina del Rey, Calif., 10:17:49:19.
   
2. Sensation (1D35), Mike Thomas, Detroit, Mich., 11:01:07:05.
   
3. DH--Two Guys On the Edge (Sonoma 30), Dan Doyle, Honolulu, H.I., 12:18:46:19.
   
4. Ouch (J/120), Ted Mayes, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., 11:13:35:47.
   
5. Uproarious (Olson 40), Robert Bussard, Santa Fe, N.M., 11:22:07:58.
   
6. Mystere (Swan 42), Jorge Morales, Laguna Niguel, Calif., 190 miles in last 24 hours/166 miles to go.
   
7. DH --Watercolors (Sabre 402), Michael Abraham, Newport Beach, Calif., 205/161.
   

RETIRED -- LawnDart (Fast 40), Bill Allan, Nanaimo, B.C., 2,175.

DH-Doublehanded

ALOHA DIVISION A (started June 25)

1. Willow Wind (Cal 40), Wendy Siegal, Sunset Beach, Calif., 14:06:01:24.
   
2. Shanakee II (Pedrick 75), Jim Warmington, Balboa, 11:15:51:38.
   
3. Seda (Ericson 41), Josef Sedivec, Bonita, Calif., 15:11:48:05.
   
4. Sea Dancer (Ericson 35), Al Wheatman, Marina del Rey, 16:03:44:57.
   
5. Bonaire (Moody 65), Gil Jones and Associates, Newport Beach, 13:22:53:56.
   
6. Gecko (Tartan 41), Jim Fabrick, Laguna Beach, 15:15:09:09.
   
   

ALOHA DIVISION B (started June 25)

1. Axapac (Wylie 39), Barry Ruff, Vancouver, B.C., 3:23:55:26.
   
2. Stardust (Wylie 46), Peter and Patricia Anderson, Laguna Beach, 13:05:01:24.
   
   

TRACKING CHART

Check the courses your favorite boats followed across the Pacific with the Transpac tracking chart on the official Web site at www.transpacificyc.org.

TRANSPAC PUBLICITY

Rich Roberts

cell phone (310) 213-2526

Information center (808) 946-9061

richroberts@compuserve.com