HONOLULU---If it's true that praise from one's peers is the most meaningful, Mike Mottl has received one of sailing's top individual awards: the selection by his mates on Pegasus 77 for the Don Vaughn Memorial Trophy as the most valuable crew member on the boat with the fastest elapsed time in the Transpacific Yacht Race.

Pegasus 77 crew with its second successive Barn Door. Owner/skipper Philippe Kahn is in the center, holding a plaque. Cy Gillette of the race committee is at the left.

Philippe Kahn's team also was presented with the coffee table-size Barn Door symbolic of that achievement for the second successive race in ceremonies attended by nearly 900 people at the Renaissance Ilikai Hotel in Waikiki Friday night. Bill Turpin and his Alta Vita crew received the King Kalakaua Trophy for first overall on corrected handicap time.

It was the largest turnout for the awards dinner in more than a decade, a reflection of the largest list of starters---57 boats---since 1985. Transpac 2003 Commodore Brad Avery presided. Preceding the awards presentations, the crowd was entertained by Polynesian dancers and a fire-baton twirler.

The first of several standing ovations was for Illusion co-skippers Stan and Sally Honey and crew Skip Allan and Jon Andron for their runaway win in the revived Cal 40 class.

Mottl also sailed with Pegasus in 2001. An Australian among five nationalities on the upgraded Pegasus 77 this year, he succeeds teammate Zan Drejes, who won the crew honor in 2001 on Pegasus and in 1999 on Roy E. Disney's Pyewacket.

Kahn said, "Mike was involved in our sail program and was also a trimmer and a driver. Winning Transpac 2003 and 2001 was a total team effort and every team member deserved the award. At the end we had to choose one, and Mike was recognized for his outstanding performance in winning two Transpacs in a row."

Other special award recipients included Dan Doyle and Bruce Burgess, Two Guys On the Edge, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Gary Jobson Perpetual Trophy for first doublehanded on corrected time; Anthony Barran, Tera's XL, Fast 40s; Tom Garnier, Reinrag2, J/Boats (not including J/160s); Division 4 winner Chris Busch, Wild Thing, Pocket Rockets Award, and John MacLaurin, Pendragon 4, Fast 50s.

The Karl Kwok/Gavin Brady Beau Geste won the International Perpetual Trophy as first corrected among nine foreign entries, as well as the first Transpac 52 to finish---although Alta Vita edged it on corrected time.

Roger Kuske's Lady Bleu II won the Pacific High Trophy as the boat that ventured farthest north of the rhumb line. With its head start, the Dynamique 62 cutter from San Diego, competing in the Aloha A class, was the first boat to reach the Diamond Head finish line.

John Davis' Pipe Dream, a Choate/Feo 37 in Aloha B from Seal Beach, Calif., received the Tail-End Charlie Trophy as the last boat to finish.

Kim and Lou Ickler, who managed the race headquarters, were awarded the Claire Lang Memorial Trophy for volunteer service.

Final results, tracking charts, boats' handicap ratings, daily press releases and other information are posted at www.transpacificyc.org