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43rd Biennial Transpacific Yacht Race / Los Angeles to Hawaii Transpacific Yacht Club, Jerry Montgomery, Commodore April 6, 2005 At Last --- A Mainland 'Home Port' for Transpac LONG BEACH, Calif.---Transpacific Yacht Race participants have long enjoyed the warmest welcome in sailing. What they haven't had in the first 100 years is a rousing sendoff.
Wednesday that the Transpac board of directors has accepted the offer of the City of Long Beach to use the downtown Rainbow Harbor as a staging area. The race will still start off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, but competitors will find free mooring for their boats before the race in a leisure venue surrounded by the Queen Mary, the Aquarium of the Pacific, the historic Pike at Rainbow Harbor theme park and the Shoreline Village complex of waterfront shops and restaurants. Transpac Commodore Jerry Montgomery said, "The opportunity to have an area where the boats can come prior to the start of the race is really exciting for Transpac. It's the first time we've had that opportunity. It will add a lot of prestige to the race and fun for the competitors to have a place where they can all get together." "There will be people on the boats most days preparing them for the race and provisioning," Montgomery said, "and the sailors will be very happy to show people their boats." Shoreline Yacht Club, the youngest club in Long Beach and the only one located near downtown, will actively host the visiting boats in the harbor. Commodore Gary Schneider said, "We're looking forward to showing the crew and skippers the type of hospitality Long Beach is noted for."
Long Beach is in Los Angeles County with a population of about 481,000. USA Today has called it the “most diverse city” out of the 65 most populous cities in the nation. The integrated ethnic diversity is of African American, Asian, Caucasian, Native American/Alaskan, Hispanic and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Island descents, which fits right in with Transpac's international diversity.
Phil Hester, director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine for Long Beach, sees no problem in finding room for Transpac boats in Rainbow Harbor, which is adjacent to the downtown Marina---especially, as Montgomery pointed out, that "because of our starts staggered from July 11 to 17, all 70 or so won't be there at the same time." Hester said, "All of our tenants have leases, and we'll be shifting them around during that period of time once we learn the exact number that we need to accommodate. We have a lot of flexibility in the marina at this time with a number of open slips that we've been holding as part of the rebuilding of the Downtown Marina which is under way at this time." The overall plan is to blend Transpac into the city's annual Sea Festival, a fixture for five decades that includes various shoreside activities. During the Transpac buildup Long Beach Yacht Club, which will present its 41st Congressional Cup match racing classic next week, will introduce the Mayor's Cup, an international women's match racing event. The women's Catalina 37s also will be based in Rainbow Harbor during their event. LBYC Commodore Terry Krauss said, "We will start off with the Mayor's Cup, lead into the Transpac, turn the hosting over to Shoreline and should put together as good a racing event as we've ever had in Long Beach." Vice Mayor Jackie Kell (Mayor Beverly O'Neill was out of town) commented, "Our City Council will be especially interested in hearing about the Mayor's Cup because of the 10 of us on that council, six of us are women." Women, as ever, also will be prominent in Transpac. Sally Lindsay Honey will race the Cal 40 Illusion with an all-woman crew---the boat was third overall in 2003 with husband Stan navigating---and Patricia Garfield and Diane Murray of San Francisco will sail their Catalina 470, Charmed Life, doublehanded. Montgomery sees fan clubs springing up that will root their boats all way to Honolulu. "Very honestly, I don't think this ever occurred to us, " he said, "but I'm glad it's come about." Boat owners interested in mooring in Rainbow Harbor before the race may contact Shoreline Yacht Club for information: syclb@hotmail.com Transpac Trivia Quiz Bill Lee, a.k.a. "The Wizard," is well known for his achievements in the race. What other "wizard" made Transpac history? Answer below.
Entries Reach 71 – 3rd Highest Ever Bill Lee, by the way, continues to have his hands full as Transpac's entries chairman. The count of official entries is now at 71. If at least that many start, it would be the most boats since 1981, exceeded only by the record of 80 in '79. The latest entries include Two Guys On the Edge, a 1D35 and the latest in a series of boats by that name sailed by Hawaii businessman Dan Doyle, with longtime sidekick Bruce Burgess as crew. They are one of seven doublehanded entries and one of five teams that list Hawaiian home ports and won't have to worry about delivering their boats home afterward. This will be Doyle's third doublehanded effort and fourth Transpac overall. He and Burgess were really "Two Guys On the Edge" in 1999 when they almost didn't make the race. They discovered minutes before the start that their new jib didn't fit their headfoil. Former Transpac competitor Kirk Wilson of San Pedro, just out watching the start, quickly realized their predicament, took the headfoil off his Santa Cruz 50 and passed it over to Doyle and Burgess, who started only a few minutes late. Trivia Answer Frank Morgan, who played the title role in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," sailed Dolphin II to first place overall on handicap time in 1947. Paid entries as of 06 April, 2005
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 here. 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. COMMODOREJerry Montgomery (562) 427-3116 mmmont@aol.com HONOLULU CHAIRMAN ENTRIES PRESS OFFICER WEB PAGE
The official 2005 TransPac Yacht Race Website http://www.transpacificyc.org
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