Transpac 2005 Press Release 7

LONG BEACH, Calif.---Was the smallest boat the smartest?

That question lingered long after the 33 boats that took the first start of the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii sailed into the fickle mists of the San Pedro channel amid schools of dancing dolphins Monday.

Soap Opera, a Hobie 33 with green sails sailed doublehanded by Scott Self and Nigel Brown of Rockwall, Tex., appeared to be gaining leverage to the right as most of the fleet went left in the 4-knot southerly zephyrs off the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The Cal 40 Psyche (right) leads to the pin end at the start.

If the gray marine layer were to dissolve into sunshine and the channel's celebrated southwesterly sea breeze were to fill and swing their way, the Texans looked golden. But the outcome was still so uncertain more than an hour after the start that only the dolphins had a clue.

The 33 boats comprised Division 5, the 14 Cal 40s and Aloha A and B classes. Divisions III and IV will start Friday, followed by the biggest and fastest boats in Divisions 1 and II Sunday.

One entry---doublehanders James and Ann Read's Stewart 42, Camille, in Aloha B---failed to make Monday's gun after blowing out its main sail and a jib on the way down from San Francisco last week. They will start as soon as they can, but the clock started for them Monday.

Texans Nigel Brown (left) and Scott Self looked smart on Soap Opera soon after the start.

Another of the seven doublehanded boats---Patricia Garfield and Diane Murray's Catalina 47, Charmed Life, from San Francisco---almost missed the start for a reason seldom heard in sailboat racing: a lost dog.

Garfield's mother had her pooch on a leash to watch the sendoff from Rainbow Harbor. The dog was spooked by the repeated shotgun blasts saluting the departing boats, and Garfield was well on her way to the starting line when she heard by cell phone from her mother that the animal was lost. She returned to the harbor and after a frantic search found the dog, then reached the start with a half-hour to spare.

Challenged America, the team of disabled sailors from San Diego, started its second successive Transpac unexpectedly shorthanded. They suffered a blow only a day earlier when they learned they'd be sailing with only five men. Jeff Reinhold, a paraplegic from Kirkland, Wash., had an infection in his left elbow serious enough that medical attendants advised him not to go.

Challenged America's disabled sailors are sailing one crew member short.

"Chances are it would be OK," the disheartened Reinhold said, "but if it wasn't it could be a problem."

The possibility of the infection getting worse could find the team in mid-ocean far from professional medical care or, at best, could force the team to abandon the race. Reinhold agreed it wasn't worth the risk.

"I don't even know what I did," he said, "probably just a scratch I got from crawling around inside the boat."

It was too late to get a replacement. The loss of Reinhold, a 20-year racing veteran, leaves the team with Challenged America co-founder Urban Miyares, who is blind and diabetic; Kevin Wixom, leg amputee; Jim Halverson, leg amputee; Scott Meide, arm amputee and able-bodied skipper Joshua Ross.

Miyares, Meide and Ross were on the boat in 2003. Reinhold, Wixom and Halverson were new crew members.

Stan Honey, who will return as navigator on Roy Disney's Pyewacket Sunday, watched the start from the US Sailing Center's press boat. His wife Sally is sailing their Cal 40, Illusion, with three other very capable women. The early conditions were as much a puzzle to Stan Honey as anyone, but he liked the fact that Illusion had followed Soap Opera to the right, well past Point Vicente into open ocean.

"It worked great for us [in 2003, when the Honeys raced Illusion together]," Stan Honey said.

Otherwise, he said, prospects were good for a straight-line race to Hawaii.

"The Pacific High is farther northwest than usual, so it looks like a cautious rhumb line race," he said---with some reservation.

Another Cal 40, Steve Calhoun's Psyche from Palos Verdes Estates, played the pin end of the line at the start, then tacked across transoms to reach the right behind Soap Opera as most of the fleet---including the 67-year-old Odyssey---crept into mid-channel to the left.

Time---and Tuesday morning's position report roll call---would tell who got it right.

Official entries
(With total handicap time allowances in hours:minutes:seconds)

Division I (starts July 17)

Morning Glory (R/P maxZ86), Hasso Plattner, Kiel, Germany (0:00:00)
Pyewacket (R/P maxZ86), Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles. (0:00:00)
Genuine Risk (Dubois 90), Randall Pittman, La Jolla, Calif. (0.00:23)
Windquest (R/P maxZ86), Dick & Doug DeVos, Holland, Mich. (6:51:07)
Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach. (9:44:58)
Beecom (Reichel/Pugh 72), Isao Mita, Yokohama, Japan (30:16:07)
Scout Spirit (R/P 77), Bill Turpin, Newport Beach, Calif. (32:21:35)

Division II (Starts July 17)

Renegade (Andrews 70), Dan Sinclair, Vancouver, B.C. (40:03:46)
Merlin (Lee 68), Patricia Steele, Maui, H.I. (41:54:03)
Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach. (45:59:58)
Pegasus 52 (Transpac 52), Philippe Kahn, Honolulu. (51:49:29)
Trader (Transpac 52), Fred Detwiler, Pompano Beach, Fla. (52:18:39)
Skylark (S/C 70), Doug Ayres, Newport Beach. (52:18:53)
Rosebud (Transpac 52), Roger Sturgeon, San Francisco. (55:04:54)
Braveheart (Transpac 52), Charles Burnet, Seattle. (55:23:53)
Mongoose (Santa Cruz 70), Bradley Thorson, Bellevue, Wash. (57:38:37)
Coruba (N/M 68), Rob and Suzanne Fleming, Seattle. (57:52:37)
Bengal 2 (Ohashi 52), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan (64:07:15)
Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Encino, Calif. (65:20:10)
Ragtime (Spencer 66), Peterson/Richards/Welsh, Honolulu. (69:08:37)

Division III (Starts July 15)

Barking Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (74:38:45)
Stealth Chicken (Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (80:52:12)
The Cone of Silence (Super 30), Jamie and Jenny Neill, Sydney, Australia. (83:69:39)
Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, San Francisco. (84:08:21)
DH-Serena (T1150), David Kuettel, Bel Marin, Calif. (84:32:16)
Jeito (J/145), Francisco Guzman, Acapulco, Mexico. (86:10:42)
Dasher (S/C 50), Roger Groh, Sausalito, Calif. (89:38:24)
Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Portland, Ore. (90:15:09)
Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach, Calif. (90:16:35)
Artemis (Andrews 53), Louis Bianco, Seattle. (90:58:29)
Innocent Merriment (J/160), Myron Lyon, San Diego. (91:10:54)
Blue (J/160), Ken and /Cheryl Sears, Nashville, Tenn. (93:03:17)
Chasch Mer (S/C 50), Gib Black, Honolulu. (95:31:20)

Division IV (Starts July 15)

DH-Two Guys On the Edge (1D35), Dan Doyle, Kailua, H.I. (114:54:33)
Sensation (1D35), Gary Fanger, San Francisco. (115:11:28)
Tabasco (1D35), Alamitos Bay Syndicate, Long Beach. (115:31:05)
Kahoots (Andrews 43), Kerry Deaver/Bob Williamson, Newport Beach. (119:24:28)
Pursuit (Custom 48), Norman and Rosemary Dawley, Solomons, Md. (121:24:04)
Wild Impulse (J/120), Larry Barels, Santa Barbara, Calif. (122:19:04)
Uproarious (Olson 40), Robert Bussard, San Diego. (123:41:45)

Division V (Starts July 11)

Super Gnat (Beneteau First 40.7), Cliff Thompson, San Diego (132:16:04)
Iataia (Beneteau First 40.7), Marcos Rodriguez, Acapulco, Mexico. (133:59:14)
Showdown (IMX 38), Pete Meade/Mike Luna/ Paul McDonald, Irvine, Calif. (136:02:44)
B'Quest (Tripp 40), Challenged America, San Diego. (136:41:18)
Brown Sugar (Express 37), Steve Brown, Santa Ana, Calif. (141:30:59)
DH-Soap Opera (Hobie 33), Scott Self/Nigel Brown, Rockwall, Tex. (141:56:43)
DH-Jacaré (J/35), Jeff Young/Rich Blackman, San Diego. (148:46:04)
DH-Diablo (J/35), Reed Barnard, Anacortes, Wash. (150:24:54)

Cal 40 (Starts July 11)

California Girl (Cal 40), Don and Betty Lessley, Richmond, Calif. (163:20:29)
Radiant (Cal 40), Fin Beven, Pasadena, Calif. (164:09:20)
Callisto (Cal 40), Jim Eddy, Glendale, Calif. (164:44:47)
Far Far (Cal 40), Don Grind, Naples, Fla. (164:53:27)
Dancing Bear (Cal 40), Mark Schrader, Sitka, Alaska. (165:01:55)
Spectre (Cal 40), Lee Rogge, Seattle. (165:13:28)
Ralphie (Cal 40), Davis Pillsbury, Woody Creek, Colo. (165:37:14)
Azure (Cal 40), Rodney Pimentel, Alameda, Calif. (165:50:20)
Psyche (Cal 40), Steve Calhoun, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. (166:05:17)
Shaman (Cal 40), Steve Waterloo, Alameda, Calif. (166:13:50)
Willow Wind (Cal 40), Wendy Siegal, Sunset Beach, Calif. (166:28:31)
Illusion (Cal 40), Sally Honey, Palo Alto, Calif. (167:07:37)
Seafire (Cal 40), John Harrison, Honolulu. (168:13:35)
Bubala (Cal 40), Lloyd Sellinger, Newport Beach. (168:51:37)

Aloha A (Starts July 11)

*Shanakee II (Pedrick 74), James Warmington, Costa Mesa, Calif. (83:26:25)
Enchilado (Jeanneau 54), Cesar de Saracho, Mazatlan, Mexico. (112:22:50)
Madrina (Cabo Rico 56), Dick Simon, Dana Point, Calif. (124:52:04)
Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey, Calif. (126:13:17)
Incredible (Swan 53), Rick Gorman, Los Alamitos, Calif. (126:14:24)
Odyssey (58' yawl), Audrey Steele Burnand, Newport Beach. (128:53:47)
Plan B (Peterson 48), David Johnson, Long Beach. (129:07:19)
DH-Charmed Life (Catalina 470), Patricia Garfield, San Francisco. (131:54:20)

Aloha B (Starts July 11)

Azure (Swan 441), Samuel Beckey, San Diego. (138:17:59)
DH-Camille (Stewart 42), James Read, San Francisco. (141:52:48)
So Far (Swan 48), Larry Hillman, Chicago. (147:28:54)
Wind Dancer (Catalina 42), Paul Edwards, Ventura, Calif. (149:50:14)
Pipe Dream (CF 37), John Davis, Long Beach. (164:43:08)

DH---Doublehanded.

*---Starts July 15.


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