Transpac 2005 Press Release 7

LONG BEACH, Calif.---As the first day at sea dawned in the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii, the leading boat in the forerunner fleet had sailed a mere 39 nautical miles in the 19 hours between Monday's start and Tuesday morning's initial daily roll call position reports.

That was a 2-knot average for Plan B, a Peterson 48 entered in Aloha A class by David Johnson of Long Beach. Soap Opera, the Hobie 33 from Rockwall, Tex. doublehanded by Scott Self and Nigel Brown that appeared to be the early leader Monday, was slightly northwest of Plan B and marked a mile behind.

Only 14 miles separated them and the stragglers.

James Read of Inverness, Calif. and wife Ann are off to a late start.

After 33 Division V, Aloha A and B and Cal 40 boats struggled off the line in 4 knots of wind, it was hoped that conditions would improve. Instead, they got worse.

Cruising World magazine editor Herb McCormick, sailing on Mark Schrader's Cal 40, Dancing Bear, reported by e-mail: "At this rate, we’re confident of landfall in Honolulu sometime just before the 200th anniversary of the race. We are currently making about 3 knots and have just passed Santa Barbara Island. The good news: We’ve seen an abundance of sea life---porpoises, seals, sea lions, grand schools of fish. I’ve actually seen more wildlife so far than in the last two Bermuda races I’ve sailed combined."

Grant Baldwin reported from the communications vessel Alaska Eagle that it had been "a long night without much wind and quite cold. Morning found the fleet in fog and wind in the 3-4 knot range. Seas are calm."

But there was a note of hope. Baldwin also said, "AM forecast from Commanders Weather projects improved conditions with winds from [northwest to north at] 15-25 [knots]. Stay tuned."

The next start will be the division III and IV boats Friday, followed by the biggest and fastest Division I and II boats Sunday. Both starts will be at 1 p.m. within view of shore off the Palos Verdes Peninsula at 33-42.8 N latitude and 118-20.3 W longitude.

All of the boats in Transpac Village at Rainbow Harbor in downtown Long Beach are receiving ceremonial sendoffs between 9 and 10:30 a.m. Crew members are introduced as the boats sail past the end of the Pine Avenue Pier and saluted by shotgun fire.

On Sunday the big boats---including Morning Glory, Windquest, Scout Spirit, Beecom and Renegade---will be led out of Rainbow Harbor by the local outrigger canoe club at 9:30 a.m. Windward Passage, one of the more historic Transpac winners, will join a ceremonial fleet as part of the procession to the starting line.

Dolphins play amid the fleet after the first start Monday.

Camille left quietly by itself Tuesday. James and Ann Read's 37-year-old wooden Stewart 42 from Inverness in Northern California was supposed to start Monday but was left behind to gets its sail repaired. The Reads suffered damage to their main sail and roller furling headsail en route down from San Francisco last week, but after quick repairs they were almost ready to go.

"My wife isn't as ready as I am," Read said Tuesday morning. "She wants to get things a little more organized."

It's their first voyage offshore after a decade of day sailing the boat on San Francisco Bay. They are not hardcore racers, so they weren't concerned that their scoring clock started Monday when the rest of the Aloha B fleet started—although it appeared that they hadn't missed much the first day.

"We didn't really expect to be competitive," said Read a retired IBM test engineer. "We're complete greenhorns, but you have to start somewhere. People shouldn't worry about us. We'll fly the [spinnaker] during the day, not at night. We just wanted to pry loose from the shore and start cruising."

The only other member of the crew is Sweetie Pie, a Havanese dog.

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.


Ayres Hotels Participating sponsor		Warmington Homes Participating Sponsor		Community Bank Participating sponsor


West Marine Participating Sponsor		Official Airlines for the Centennial Transpac

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.

HONOLULU CHAIRMAN
     Don Brown
     h. (808) 262-7001/b. 438-8633
     browndr@shafter.army.mil

PRESS OFFICER
      Rich Roberts
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