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43rd Biennial Transpacific Yacht Race / Los Angeles to Hawaii Transpacific Yacht Club, Jerry Montgomery, Commodore July 24, 2005 An E-Ticket Ride To a Transpac Record HONOLULU---In the old days of Disneyland the maxZ86 would have been sailing's version of an E-ticket ride, the ultimate in thrills and performance. But, then, the Transpacific Yacht Race is no longer Disneyland. Early Sunday morning on a moonlit sea the torch was passed to Hasso Plattner, the man whose team outsailed Roy Disney's and broke his record in the latter's 15th and final Transpac.
Their average speeds were 13.9 and 13.7 knots for the 2,225 nautical miles from California's Palos Verdes Peninsula to the volcanic landmark called Diamond Head just east of Waikiki. Randall Pittman's Genuine Risk, a Dubois 90 with similar lines, also beat the record with an elapsed time of 6:22:02:35, and Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 and Doug DeVos's Windquest were expected to join the club later in the day. Their performances were remarkable because it wasn't a particularly windy Transpac. Grant Baldwin, the retiring communications chief, referred repeatedly to "wimpy trade winds," and Peter Isler, who co-navigated Morning Glory with Ian Moore, said, "We didn't see 20 knots [of breeze] until the Molokai Channel." And yet the maxZ86s often exceeded that speed along the way."These boats are fantastic," Plattner said. "With the canting keels we have less weight and better righting moment. It's a pity that more people aren't joining in." Isler said, "This boat goes so fast effortlessly it's amazing . . . 21, 22, 23 knots, and you don't have the sensation of speed you have on a smaller boat. Everybody got a lot of sleep. It's a pretty painless way to go on this boat in these [relatively mild] conditions." It was the longest race ever sailed by Russell Coutts, the three-time America's Cup winner who sailed as a watch captain with Morgan Larson and said, "I really enjoyed it. It's pretty easy to go 20 knots." Larson joked, "It's not fair. It shouldn’t be allowed. It's too fast." Morning Glory led most of the way after the three top boats surprised some observers by going their own ways as soon as they passed Santa Catalina Island 22 miles off the California coast. "We stayed together for the first five hours," Plattner said, smiling. "Then we saw that Pyewacket was going north and we were heading south. Then the next day we swapped." The gamesmanship continued until Genuine Risk dropped off the pace and Morning Glory was able to put Pyewacket behind it by as much as 71 miles, but then Pyewacket steadily cut that deficit in half the last couple of days. "It was great fun until the last minutes when we had a little adrenaline rush with Pyewacket," Plattner said. "When they came back [Saturday] we were worried." Isler sailed the previous race on Pyewacket when Philippe Kahn's Pegasus ducked south early to gain an edge it never relinquished. Asked if he was thinking about that, Isler said, "Oh, yeah. Having got stung once by just relying on [technical data], we relied more on what was the best path to take." Plattner drove the windiest part of the race the final night through the Molokai Channel to the finish, but Morning Glory was a rare Transpac sight when it passed Diamond Head without flying a spinnaker. Plattner and Isler explained that they overstood by delaying their final jibe to be sure they could lay the finishing buoy and had to sail too high an angle to keep the asymmetrical chute filled. "But we still crossed the line doing 16 knots," Isler said. Boats That Go Fast In the Night More key middle-of-the-night finishes loomed on the horizon. Kahn's new boat, the Transpac 52 Pegasus, had an ETA around midnight Monday night to secure its bid for the King Kalakaua Trophy for first overall on handicap time, currently holding a 33-minute edge on Roger Sturgeon's Rosebud and six hours on Morning Glory.
The title outcome in that class was settled Sunday when the doublehanded Soap Opera from Texas finished at 11:10 a.m. with solid leads over Cliff Thompson's Super Gnat in miles and handicap time. Making the most of a six-day head start on the big boats, Ross Pearlman's Jeanneau 52, Between the Sheets, repeated as the Aloha A class winner by a mere 8 minutes 10 seconds over Odyssey after outrunning the 68-year-old yawl the last two days. Both boats preceded Morning Glory across the line.
"We went rhumb line," he said. "We did not go south. [In that sense,] we split from the fleet and had our conditions." Quotes from the Boats Urban Miyares, B'Quest: "I have not been working the boat at all. Ten days ago, I up-chucked a little and evidently tore my esophagus. I’ve had difficulty swallowing and eating so I’ve been down below. I’ve been in touch with doctors both in Hawaii as well as San Diego so everything’s cool. It’s just been extra burden on the crew, and because of it we now have two new foredeck crew who are amputees. They’ve been learning how to do foredeck on Transpac, a little on-the-job training. Other than that, everybody is doing well here. Everyone’s tired and has been working hard and we’re anxious to get to Hawaii. It’s been an amazing run as we have been more conservative and not so aggressive, keeping high. We wanted to keep things a little more stable, especially with the new guys on foredeck. We didn’t want to bang things up with the strong winds---and wouldn’t you know it, we’re staying up with everyone." (Editor's note: Miyares, a Vietnam veteran who sailed the race in 2003, was co-founder of Challenged America. He is blind, hearing impaired, a diabetic, stroke survivor, has had a kidney transplant and suffers other military-related medical conditions.) Andrew Holdsworth, Ralphie: "Many thanks for the emails over the last 24 hours as well as the snoring cures. None of them include physical assault with a winch handle. The crew is tired and just wanting to finish now. We will probably get in on Monday so two more nights at sea and then we party. There is less than 500 miles to go. The big Grand Prix boats should sail past us in the next 36 hours and will probably finish a day later. It is interesting that they emulated Ralphie in taking a southern route immediately. Nice to see the pros do what we office boys did!" Special note from Lance McCabe, Transpac 1969 and 1971: "We are celebrating and memorializing the life of Bill Lawhorn, who raced 20 Transpac races, on Sunday on the waters off Dana Point, Calif. Bill, who started sailing with his father in 1938, touched the lives of countless sailors during his Transpacs, 50 Ensenada races, Transatlantic and too many other races to recall. Transpacs were always his favorite, and he treasured the race he sailed with his brother and father. In honor of his love of Transpac Races, 20 Hawaiian Leis are being flown in from Hawaii to be laid on the water with his ashes on Sunday. Daily Standings for July 24, 2005. Official entries Division I (starts July 17)
Division II (Starts July 17)
Division III (Starts July 15)
Division IV (Starts July 15)
Division V (Starts July 11)
Cal 40 (Starts July 11)
Aloha A (Starts July 11)
Aloha B (Starts July 11)
DH---Doublehanded. *---Starts July 15.
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
07/24/05 |
