Transpac 2005 Press Release 32

HONOLULU---Rose...bud!

Citizen Kahn knew it before Roger Sturgeon did.

"I think they probably won," Philippe Kahn said after sailing his new Pegasus past the Diamond Head finish line far ahead---but not quite far enough ahead---of Sturgeon's three-year-old Rosebud in the final battle between Transpac 52s for the coveted King Kalakaua Trophy in the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race. "They did a good job," Kahn said.

Pegasus finished at 11:14 p.m. HST Monday night and Rosebud followed at 2:25 a.m. Tuesday with 39 minutes to spare on the 3 hours 50 minutes Pegasus owed her in corrected handicap time as an older generation member of the TP 52 class.

Merlin, a Transpac legend, had a wild finish off Diamond Head Tuesday.
(Geri Conser photos)).

""I didn't know if we'd won until we crossed the finish line," Sturgeon said. "We didn't know when [Pegasus] finished. We were blasting all out up to 23 knots off Molokai. The winds were over 25 with gusts to 30."

So Transpac's big winners duplicated last year's Newport-Bermuda Race when Hasso Plattner's maxZ86 Morning Glory was first to finish in record time, as it won the Barn Door here, and Rosebud won overall---the latter a rare double in America's premier ocean races believed to be last achieved by Dorade in the 1930s.

Rosebud, whose home port is Santa Cruz, Calif., said the contest "was for the most part like leapfrog," although he thought the daily position reports were often misleading.

"You have to think of the angles," he said. "All the way you're trying to beat somebody you can't even see."

Kahn, who switched to a TP 52 after winning the Barn Door with a bigger boat the last two years, said, "It was a tough race from a competition standpoint when you don't know who wins [at the end]. But these boats are fun to sail. It's more of a sailing challenge.

"The handicapping is tricky. We're all right with it, but to put [almost] four hours on an almost identical boat is difficult."

Both boats spent the last few days before their start in Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor, the new mainland home for Transpac.

Kahn told a Transpac official, "The sendoff in Long Beach was fantastic. You guys ought to start the race right off Long Beach."

For years the race has started 13 miles away off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, offshore from Donald Trump's golf course reconstruction project.

Reinrag2 Repeats Against The Cone's Flying Finish

Australia's The Cone of Silence, the smallest of 75 boats in the race, reeled off some of the largest daily mileage numbers over the final week---223, 210, 255, 246, 263, 216---and finished well ahead of everybody in Division III Tuesday, but it wasn't quite enough to eclipse Reinrag2 on handicap time.

Merlin, the three-time Transpacific Yacht Race winner and former record holder, had a wild finish to its 13th Transpac off Diamond Head Tuesday when its spinnaker flew out of control in 25-knot winds gusting to 30.

The Garnier family's J/125 from Portland, Ore., finished about 2 ½ hours later to easily save the six hours owed by Jamie Neill's Down Under flyer, which wound up second overall. It was the third division win in four years for Reinrag2.

Details and photos Wednesday.

Ralphie's Lesson: You Gotta Believe

Davis Pillsbury, 67, had said this would be his last Transpac, and he went out a winner on his Cal 40, Ralphie, after sailing five of the races over 32 years.

Ralphie took the southern route to finish more than 10 hours ahead of the next fastest boats---Steve Calhoun's 1965 winner, Psyche, and Sally Honey's 2003 winner, Illusion---in the 14-boat fleet.

Pillsbury said, "In 1991 when I sailed Holua (S/C 70) we spent a day in a high by going south. This time the high was 37N moving to 45N, nowhere near us, so there appeared to be less risk going south than in 1991. Andrew [Holdsworth] thought there was more wind to the south, but he couldn't be sure, so I agreed to go south, and I gave him credit."

Ralphie had finished fourth overall in a 10-boat Cal 40 fleet in 2003, but this time he wasn't exactly sailing a 40-year-old boat.

"I did completely rebuild the boat after 2003," Pillsbury said. "I replaced the old engine which had a separate V drive with a combo unit, shoving it forward like [Illusion's], and I replaced a two-year-old rudder that had questionable bearings in order to get the larger needle bearings from Seattle. We added a rudder viewing window. We doubled the strength of all the deck gear, turning blocks, etc., and all the running rigging was new. Electronics were all new."

Next Time You Feel Like Complaining . . .

Take five sailors with disabilities racing a 40-foot boat to Hawaii with one able-bodied skipper, subtract one crew member the day before the start and another soon after and you have B'Quest, the Challenged America entry from San Diego.

Jeff Reinhold, a paraplegic, didn't go because of an infected elbow and it was too late to replace him. Urban Miyares, the organization's blind co-founder with multiple ailments, soon became so violently seasick that he tore his esophagus.

"For 10 days I wasn't part of the crew," he said.

Jim Halverson, who is missing a leg, said, "He was a stowaway."

And Halverson cracked a rib falling out of his bunk one night.

Miyares said, "I couldn't eat or swallow a drink of water for about five days. Even now I can't take a handful of pills, I have to take one at a time, and I have about 90 pills I take in a day. My role was not to become a medical emergency."

That left Halverson, Kevin Wixom---also one-legged---and one-armed Scott Meide to carry on with skipper Josh Ross, and somehow, this remarkable group of men finished fourth boat for boat and on corrected time among eight competitors in Division IV.

Miyares saw one benefit of the experience.

"They found out what the two most difficult positions on the boat are," he said. "Foredeck and galley. I had some wonderful meals planned, too."

Daily Standings for July 26, 2005.

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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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
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PRESS OFFICER
      Rich Roberts
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