Transpac 2003

Seafire Completes First Half of Transpac Round Trip.

For C.W. MacFarlane's La Paloma, the boat that pioneered the Transpac in 1906, the only way to race to Hawaii was by way of California. So it is with Seafire, John Harrison's Cal 40 representing the Kaneohe Yacht Club.

Harrison was waiting Tuesday evening when a delivery crew led by skipper Robby Buck sailed the boat into Long Beach after an 18-day voyage from Honolulu. "I'm delighted," Harrison said. "When I saw them leave Honolulu it was like separation anxiety."

Buck said, "We had beautiful weather except for two days in a gale last weekend, and we sailed just under 2,500 [nautical] miles---a beam reach most of the way, almost on the rhumb line."

Usually, eastward voyages require sailboats to go well north to avoid beating into the trade winds that are so helpful in the race. But Buck's chart showed that Seafire reached 33 degrees latitude midway and then headed due east to Long Beach.

Seafire will start the 2,225-mile race July 1 with nine other Cal 40s. The rest of the delivery crew members were Hawaii residents Casey Cameron, Carleton Kinkade and Michael Lee Berry, but only Buck will do the race, with Gary Brookins stepping in as skipper. Harrison won't be sailing the race, either.

"I had to drop out because of back surgery a month ago," he said. "But this has always been more about a special boat than me. This is the 40th anniversary and it's an honor to have the boat going."

Hawaii's John Harrison flashes an island OK as delivery crew sails his Cal 40 Seafire from Kaneohe Yacht Club into Long Beach.

Delivery skipper Robby Buck shows Seafire owner John Harrison (left) his route to the mainland.

Seafire's delivery crew (from left) Carleton Kinkade, Robby Buck, Michael Lee Berry and Casey Cameron after a safe arrival in Long Beach.