42th Biennial Transpacific Yacht Race / Los Angeles to Hawaii Transpacific Yacht Club, Brad Avery, Commodore May 27, 2003 TRANSPAC HITS 18-YEAR HIGH WITH 61 ENTRIES LONG BEACH, Calif.---Sixty-one boats---the largest fleet since 1985 and the 10th largest ever---are signed up to start the 42nd biennial Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu in July. Four that just made last week's final entry deadline reflect the character of this year's fleet: Dan Sinclair's Andrews 70, Renegade, from Canada; Francisco Guzman's J/145, Jeito, from Mexico; John Harrison's Cal 40, Seafire, from Honolulu, and Tom and Doug Jorgensen's 39-foot J/120, Hot Tamale, from California. Big and small, old and new, and from everywhere on the map---this Transpac has it all. There are boats from 77 feet (Philippe Kahn's defending Barn Door winner, Pegasus) to 31 feet (Greg Nelsen's doublehanded Black Soo 31, Starbuck) and from every corner of the U.S. and five foreign countries, including three from Australia.
"It's very healthy that the fleet is so diverse," said Brad Avery, the Transpacific Yacht Club commodore. "It's a grass roots phenomenon. People are starting to feel again that they can sail Transpac and win, no matter what kind of boat they have. It's not just a Grand Prix event." Trophies will be awarded by divisions, and any boat is eligible to win the Governor of Hawaii Trophy for first overall on corrected handicap time. Division assignments are currently provisional and will be finalized within the next two or three weeks. The match race for the Barn Door (fastest elapsed time) between Pegasus 77 and Roy E. Disney's record holder, Pyewacket, will command international attention, but there figures to be lively competition in Divisions 1 through 4, as well as among the Cal 40s and nine Aloha entries. Harrison's entry boosted the Cal 40 group to 10 boats for the 40th anniversary celebration of its glory days when it dominated Transpac on corrected time for three successive races. "That's from the efforts of Wendy Siegal," Avery said. Siegal, of Sunset Beach, Calif., sailed the only Cal 40, Willow Wind, when she won the Aloha class in 2001. Then she launched a campaign to round up a full fleet for 2003. Her biggest catch was Stan and Sally Honey's Illusion. Honey, himself a Transpac icon as a navigator, would normally be on Pyewacket but has given up his spot to another world-class competitor, Peter Isler, to join the Cal 40 group. Ironically, 40 years after its inception the Cal 40 is the first Transpac class devoted to a single production boat. Transpac hasn't topped 60 entries since 64 boats raced in 1985. The record is 80 in 1979. TRANSPAC NOTES Hawaii's DAN DOYLE and BRUCE BURGESS, sailing the Sonoma 30 Two Guys On the Edge, dedicated their doublehanded success in 2001 to lymphoma survivor NATALIE FRAZIER, then 12. This time, sailing a 1D35 of the same name, they have a similar motivation, according to an interview with RAY PENDLETON of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. "By sailing on [GARY] JOBSON'S behalf, it is our hope to raise at least $10,000 between Bruce and I," Doyle said, "and then look to other Transpac participants and the sailing community at large for additional donations. And because there has been no Transpac trophy for the Doublehanded class, we also hope to establish one this year and have it dedicated as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Gary Jobson Perpetual Trophy." Jobson was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and has been receiving chemotherapy treatments. Recent reports indicate he is recovering. . . . ROY E. DISNEY discusses Transpac and other issues in an interview with Sailing World magazine editor JOHN BURNHAM in the current June edition. It also may be read at www.sailingworld.com. . . . The Sailing Instructions are now posted at www.transpacificyc.org. . . . Pegasus 77, Pyewacket and KARL KWOK'S new Transpac 52, Beau Geste---all with world-class crews---will race the Coastal Cap as a tune-up for Transpac. The 360-nautical mile race starts June 14 from San Francisco to Santa Catalina Island. . . . The last Safety at Sea seminar before Transpac---required of 30 per cent of the crew and both members of a doublehanded crew within the last five years---is scheduled June 28 at the Orange Coast College of Sailing and Seamanship in Newport Beach. The most recent one in March drew a full house of 126 people, most of them Transpac participants, so those interested are urged to sign up by phone at (949) 645-9412, ext. 2. Pyewacket, Medicine Man Lead Slow Transpac Tuneup. DANA POINT, Calif.---Roy E. Disney's Pyewacket and Bob Lane's Medicine Man were the first two finishers in the annual Around Catalina Race run by Cabrillo Beach and Dana Point YCs on Memorial Day weekend, but it wasn't the tune-up to Transpac 2003 they had hoped for.
Struggling in light winds, Disney's Reichel/Pugh 75 needed 13 hours 5 minutes 1 second to complete the 75 nautical miles from L.A. Harbor around Santa Catalina Island to Dana Point---an average of about 5.8 knots. Pyewacket averaged 12.4 knots when it set the Transpac record in 1999. Medicine Man, an Andrews 61 upgraded with a taller carbon fiber rig, was 1 hour 3 minutes 52 seconds behind Pyewacket but led the larger boat out of Angel's Gate 25 minutes after the start in 3 knots of wind. The only other two PHRF-AA boats---Greg Sands' Nelson/Marek 55, Firebird, and Jack Taylor's Santa Cruz 50, Horizon---were another five and six hours back. Twenty-four of the 54 starters failed to finish. Pyewacket, despite a rating of minus-135, and Medicine Man, now rated minus-106, corrected out 1-2 on the fleet by seizing the last of the decent breeze past Catalina, which is the only mark of the course for Transpac. Horizon also is a Transpac entry. Taylor said, "We did find wind at the west end and on the back side, but when it shut down the boats behind got stuck back there. We made a [navigational] mistake and fell into the transition zone. It took us three hours to go six miles at one point. I'm glad this was only a tune-up for Transpac." Sailing master Robbie Haines reported that Pyewacket found 10-12 knots at the west end and 15 on the back side, "but from Catalina to Dana Point it was very light," he said. Besides Pyewacket and Medicine Man, of the seven boats using the race to prep for Transpac in July, Harrell Jones' Sydney 38OD, Cool Man Cool2, from Dana West YC had the strongest finish---second in PHRF-A and fourth overall on corrected time. Complete results: www.dpyc.org. OFFICIAL ENTRIES (as of May 26, 2003):(Division assignments provisional) RACING DIVISION
Division 1 (starts July 6)
DH - Doublehanded ALOHA DIVISION (starts July 1)Aloha A
Aloha B
Transpac Documentary Video/DVD The two-hour historical documentary "Transpac/A Century Across the Pacific" is on sale in marine stores and nautical museums or may be ordered online with a credit card through a link on the Web site home page www.transpacificyc.org. The Web site also has a mail-order form. The video format $39.95, DVD $49.95 and PAL $49.95 for countries requiring that medium. COMMODOREBrad Avery (949) 645-9412 brad@occsailing.com ENTRIES PRESS OFFICER WEB PAGE
The official 2003 TransPac Yacht Race Website http://www.transpacificyc.org
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