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43rd Biennial Transpacific Yacht Race / Los Angeles to Hawaii Transpacific Yacht Club, Jerry Montgomery, Commodore March 18, 2005 68 Entries and A Barn Door Blast: 'Glory vs. Pyewacket LONG BEACH, Calif.---With the starts still four months away, the official entry list for the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race has soared to 68 boats---the most in a quarter century---and brought prospects of a blistering Barn Door battle between sailing superstars for the record.
Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory, with three-time America's Cup winning skipper Russell Coutts on board, is among
the latest to sign in. The German industrial software magnate will line up against Roy Disney's Pyewacket in a duel of Reichel/Pugh maxZ86s. They'll try to beat the fastest elapsed time by a monohull set by Disney's previous Pyewacket in 1999---7 days 11 hours 41 minutes 27 seconds---or at least claim the 3 1/2x4-foot slab of carved koa wood known as the Barn Door that goes to the fastest monohull. Philippe Kahn's Pegasus boats won it in 2001 and 2003, Disney's Pyewackets the previous two races.
Besides Coutts, Morning Glory's crew will include world 505 champion Morgan Larson as a watch captain and all-round world-class competitor Peter Isler as navigator. Larson sailed on the two Pegasus winners. Pyewacket regulars include Olympic gold medalist Robbie Haines and record-setting navigator Stan Honey. There also are 14 Cal 40s---the 40-year revival seems boundless---and, in all, boats from six countries and four continents.
Australians Jamie and Jenny O'Neill have re-entered The Cone of Silence, their radical Super 30 that broke down early two years ago and returned to Long Beach. They noted that they had completed their required 160-mile offshore passage: "500 miles out and back in Transpac 2003." Yoshihiko Murase's Ohashi 52, Bengal 2, from Japan is back after a seventh-place Division 2 finish in 2003 when it gracefully accepted the "northernmost" award for defying conventional Transpac navigational wisdom. Also, Transpac historians believe this race will have the first doublehanded women's entry: Patricia Garfield and Diane Murray of San Francisco, sailing a Catalina 470, Charmed Life. Both of the Aloha class winners are returning: Ross Pearlman's Jeanneau 52, Between the Sheets, in Class A, and David Kory in Class B, although his current Barking Spider 3 is a MacGregor 65, a step up from the 38-foot sloop he sailed last time. Entries close on June 3. Measurement is also required by that date. Transpac Trivia Quiz Who was the first woman skipper to win her class? Answer below. Sailors' Seminar May 1 at Alamitos Bay YC Transpac has scheduled a seminar for all participants Sunday, May 1, at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Subjects will include communication, weather information, provisioning, rigging, ratings, insurance, return boat delivery and ratings. The event is free and will be hosted by Commodore Jerry Montgomery. Experts in various fields are expected to appear. Lunch will be available. Those interested are asked to contact Montgomery at mmmont@aol.com Challenged America Announces the 2005 Crew Challenged America, a team of disabled sailors returning from its historic 2003 Transpac debut, has announced its 2005 team selected from 44 original candidates with disabilities living throughout the United States and Canada, Mexico, Europe and South Africa.
The crew members are (above from left): Kevin Wixom, leg amputee, San Diego; Ryan Baker, paraplegic, San Diego; Joshua Ross, able-bodied, skipper, San Diego (behind Baker); "B" team member Linda Woodbury, totally blind, San Diego; Jeff Reinhold, quadriplegic, Seattle; Urban Miyares, totally blind, hearing impaired, organ transplant recipient and diabetes, San Diego; Miyares' guide dog, Duchess; Jim Halverson, leg amputee and cancer survivor, San Juan Capistrano, Calif. They'll sail the same Tripp 40, B'Quest, that the original team sailed in Racing Division 5 two years ago, finishing in a respectable 13-plus days. Woodbury is first alternate. Duchess' talents will not be needed. "GPS has taken her place," Ross said. Challenged America, based in San Diego, was founded in the late 1970s by disabled veterans desiring to further their own rehabilitation. In 1991 they expressed the intention of racing Transpac. After two failed attempts due to funding shortfall, the goal became a reality in 2003 when two of the original founders---Bob Hettiger, paraplegic, and Miyares, both disabled veterans---realized their dream with three other sailors with disabilities, plus Ross, the able-bodied skipper. Making Waves Productions will film the campaign for an independent documentary. Progress may be followed with daily reports on www.YachtRacing.com starting July 11. More information: www.ChallengedAmerica.org/ Trivia Answer In 1959, socialite sailor Sally Blair Ames took the 76-foot schooner Constellation to first place overall in Class A on corrected handicap time. Paid entries to date
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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