Transpac 2003

The Right Medicine For An Old Warrior.

Which was the first boat to break Merlin's 20-year-old elapsed time record for a Transpac monohull in 1997?

Roy E. Disney's former Pyewacket, you say?

Yes . . . and no.

Medicine Man was the first boat to break Merlin's 20-year-old Transpac record . . . technically.

Pyewacket was the fastest of six boats that broke Merlin's record that year, but Bob Lane's Andrews 56 Medicine Man was the first. Lane's boat started three days ahead of the larger boats and finished in 8 days 6 hours 31 minutes---4 1/2 hours faster than the Merlin mark of 8:11:01:45.

But as Lane waited in Waikiki and prayed for the wind to die, Pyewacket blew past Diamond Head two days later in 7:15:24:40, followed by Hal Ward's Cheval, Mike Campbell's Victoria, Anthony Sessions' Luna Barbara and Merlin itself, sailed by the "Alliance Syndicate"---all faster than the '77 record and, alas, Medicine Man.

Two years later a new Pyewacket and Doug Baker's Magnitude beat the '97 time, dropping the current record to 7:11:41:27.

But Medicine Man, built in 1991, hasn't gone away. Since '97 it has gone through various tweaks and transformations---three keels, three rigs and a hull stretched to 61 feet---until Lane is highly confident about his prospects for the 2003 race, which he'll start Sunday in Div. 2.

"We should be the third fastest boat out there," the Long Beach pharmacist said, conceding an edge only to two much larger boats: Pyewacket and Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 77.

The most recent upgrade was a new carbon fiber mast by Hall Spars that is stiffer and 2.7 feet taller than the former aluminum mast. With PBO fiber replacing rod rigging, the new rig weighs only 606 pounds---214 pounds lighter than the old one. Without that old weight aloft, designer Alan Andrews was able to take 500 pounds out of the keel without sacrificing stability.

"It's more stable than it was," Lane said.

"And," Andrews said, "now the rig is strong enough to use maximum water ballast." That was added in 1999.

With all of that high-tech upgrading, Medicine Man is still one of the biggest boats around without a steering wheel.

"Bob likes a tiller," Andrews said, "and the boat's a dream to drive."