LONG BEACH, Calif.---Six of the 74 owner/skippers in this 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii picked their crews from a short list---a very short list. They're racing with only one other guy on the boat to trim sails, help set spinnakers, operate the radio, make sandwiches, clean any fish they might catch and take over completely when you desperately need a nap.

Special Olympics youngsters get a ride on legendary Ragtime with skipper Chris Welsh

It's not necessarily that they can't afford to pay or provide for a full crew; most just prefer it that way.

Philippe Kahn, the software entrepreneur who created the camera phone, has raced other Transpacs with, as one once said, some of the best crews money can buy. His other Pegasus boats won the Barn Door trophy for fastest elapsed time in 2001 and 2003, but he is doing this one doublehanded on an Open 50, Pegasus 101, with Richard Clarke, a Canadian member of Kahn's Pegasus Racing syndicate. They'll start Sunday at 1 p.m. PDT with the other biggest and fastest off Point Fermin in San Pedro.

Most of the remaining starters may be viewed up close at Rainbow Harbor, now Transpac's mainland home port. One of the premier local entries---Bob Lane's Medicine Man---will drop in early Sunday morning to participate in the spirited sendoff ceremonies at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Philippe Kahn's Pegasus 101, an Open 50, sits tilted with its keel canted to port

"This is going to be a fun adventure," Kahn said, with some trepidation.

Five other doublehanders are already at sea after the first two starts Monday and Thursday, and one team---Tim Fuller and Erik Shampain on Brilliant from Murrietta, Calif.---was leading Division 6 on the fifth day out. Another---septuagenarians Mike Abraham and Phillip Rowe on Tango from Newport Beach---were in fourth place in Division 5, perhaps buoyed by a crowd singing a happy 70th birthday to Rowe on their way out of Rainbow Harbor Thursday.

The other doublehanders are Allen Lehman Sr. and Jr. on Narrow Escape in Division 5, Steen Moller and Bob MacDonald on X-Dream in Division 6 and tuba playing siblings Bob and Mike Webster on their catamaran The Minnow.

In Friday morning's position reports Brilliant was as close to Honolulu as anybody, tied with Ho'okolohe at 1,919 nautical miles to go, with Cesar de Saracho's Enchilado---both in Aloha A---only one mile behind. However, the early positions were still too tricky to project final finishing positions with much certainty; boats to the south generally trailed in the standings but were sailing faster and could be gaining leverage for their eventual turns toward the islands when---if?---they find the trade winds.

Phillip Rowe (r.) acknowledges 70th birthday salute. Buddy Mike Abraham is already 70

For example, the boats that logged the most miles over the 24 hours preceding Friday's morning roll call tended to be low in the standings. Chip McGeath's Santa Cruz 52 Kokopelli 2 had the best day of any boat with 180 miles at 10.6 knots, but Cirrus, Traveler and Lady Liberty ranked last in Aloha B, despite sailing much farther than the leaders.

This will be Kahn's 10th race across the Pacific, so he knows the drill well.

"I think the weather systems may be more complex than they have ever been," he said. "The [fastest] track today goes right through the [Pacific] High. Some routes even want you to go north, while others want you to sail minimum distance. Usually, that option leads to challenging light conditions."

That's what Kahn and Clarke must deal with in their quest for Transpac's doublehanded record: 10 days 4 hours 4 minutes 19 seconds by Howard Gordon and Jay Crum, also on an Open 50, Etranger, in 2001. Open 50s, with canting keels and huge dagger boards projecting from their cabin tops when not employed, are often sailed singlehanded, but even with two crew they're a handful.

Erik Shampain (r.), with Tim Fuller, points the way to Hawaii

"This has truly turned into a personal Everest," Kahn said. "Doublehanded is very intense because you want to push all the time, as opposed to singlehanded when you naturally throttle down. Literally, I'm a big guy for training to get up that mast, but we're doing it. Heck, I even have to go up the mast for rig checks. So it’s the full package. I'd never spent much time up the mast before.

"For now we are a bit slower than the polars [speed projections] that we were told by the designer. These boats love to reach and you can’t be afraid of sailing extra miles. Yet doublehanded, you really can’t sail the same ways as a crew. When we sail with five we just whip jibes and tacks. With just two it’s a totally different story. Jibing is a major move that needs to be planned 30 minutes in advance and carefully executed. Over 28 knots it’s a real challenge."

Clarke is a world-class Finn sailor so he's used to sailing shorthanded.

"We figure we'll lose 30 miles overall to the fully crewed boats just doing tacks, jibes and sail changes," he said.

The Transpacific Yacht Club has joined with Casio Computer Co., Ltd., in a sponsorship agreement to make the company's Oceanus watch the official timekeeper of the 44th biennial race. The Oceanus is a solar-powered chronograph watch with a time signal-calibration function developed by making full use of Casio's advanced electronic technologies. News and product information: http://world.casio.com/

Transpac supporters also include the Long Beach Sea Festival 2007, Gladstone's Restaurant, Ayres Hotels and L. Gaylord Sportswear.

Transpac 2007 entries
(ORR rating allowances in days:hours:minutes:seconds based on handicap distance of 2,300 n.m.; subtract time allowance from actual elapsed time to determine corrected handicap time)

Division 1 (Starts July 15)

• Pyewacket (Reichel/Pugh 90), Roy E. Disney, Burbank, Calif. (minus-21 hours, 9 minutes, 13 seconds)
  
• Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach, Calif. (00:4:32:33)
  
• Rosebud (STP 65), Roger Sturgeon, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (1:00:09:46)
  
• Peligroso (Kernan 70), Mike Campbell/Dale Williams, Long Beach (1:05:17:12)
  
• Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, Long Beach (1:07:02:37)

Division 2 (Starts July 15)

• Hugo Boss (Volvo 60), Andy Tourell, Gosport, UK (1:23:10:32)
  
• DH-Pegasus 101 (Open 50), Philippe Kahn, Honolulu (2:00:47:54)
  
• Samba Pa Ti (Transpac 52), John Kilroy Jr., Los Angeles (2:04:02:17)
  
• Lucky (Transpac 52), Bryon Ehrhart, Chicago (2:05:26:28)
  
• Morning Light (Transpac 52), Jeremy Wilmot, Honolulu (2:05:27:19)
  
• Westerly (Santa Cruz 70), Thomas and Timothy Hogan, Newport Beach (2:06:06:45)
  
• Skylark (Santa Cruz 70), Doug Ayres, Newport Beach, Calif. (2:06:24:05)
  
• Holua (Santa Cruz 70), Brack Duker, Pasadena, Calif. (2:08:51:12)
  
• Trader (Transpac 52), Fred Detwiler, Pompano Beach, Fla. (2:09:31:32)
  

Division 3 (Starts July 15)

• Denali (Nelson/Marek 70), William McKinley, Grosse Pointe, Mich. (2:15:53:03)
• It's OK (Andrews 50), Tres Gordo Sailing, Glendora, Calif. (2:14:25:31)
  
• Cheetah (ULDB 70), Chris Slagerman, Los Angeles (2:18:18:28)
  
• Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Encino, Calif. 2:197:54:52)
  
• Yumehyotan (Nelson/Marek 68), Yasuo Sano, Osaka, Japan (2:22:57:25)
  
• Ragtime (Spencer 65), Chris Welsh, Newport Beach 2:23:51:49)
  
• Bengal 7 (Ohashi 46), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan (3:03:43:16)
  
• Locomotion (Andrews 45), Ed Feo, Long Beach (3:03:56:13)

Division 4 (Starts July 12)

• Verizon Wireless (ex-Stealth Chicken; Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (3:08:33:34)
  
• Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, Santa Rosa, Calif. (3:16:51:29)
  
• Delicate Balance (Andrews 56), DBB Transpac LLC, San Rafael, Calif. (3:20:58:21)
  
• Lucky Dog (J/125), Colin Shanner, San Diego (3:21:37:33)
  
• The Secret (MacGregor 65), Cheryle Rayson/Garry Golding, Salisbury Downs, Australia (3:21:57:52)
  
• Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Wilsonville, Ore. (3:22:20:02)
  
• Raincloud (J/48), Lorenzo Berho Corona, San Diego (3:22:26:21)
  
• Ruahatú (Concordia 47), Ricardo Brockmann, Acapulco, Mexico (3:23:58:37)
  
• Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach (4:00:24:09)

Division 50/52 (Starts July 12)

• Kokopelli 2 (Santa Cruz 52), S.A. (Chip) Megeath, Tiburon, Calif. (3:03:55:25)
  
• Relentless (Santa Cruz 52), Will Durant/Rick Brizendine, Long Beach (3:16:42:19)
  
• Hula Girl (Santa Cruz 50T), Beau Gayner, Newport Beach (3:17:23:38)
  
• Tachyon III (Santa Cruz 52), Kazumasa Nishioka, Tokyo (3:18:57:36)
  
• Adrenalin (Santa Cruz 50), David Clark, Newport Beach (3:19:43:59)
  
• Passion (Santa Cruz 50), Steve Hastings, Corpus Christi, Tex. (3:20:35:39)
  
• Fortaleza (Santa Cruz 50), Jim Morgan, Long Beach (4:00:12:42)
  
• Horizon (Santa Cruz 50), Jack Taylor, Dana Point, Calif. (4:00:14:46)
  
• Stags' Leap Winery (ex-Chasch Mer; Santa Cruz 50), Gib Black, Honolulu (4:05:22:35)

Division 5 (Starts July 12)

• Rancho Deluxe (Swan 45), Mike Diepenbrock, Sacramento, Calif. (4:10:34:37)
  
• Tower (Lidgard 45), Doug Grant, San Pedro, Calif. (4:10:51:22)
  
• Paddy Wagon (Ross 40), Richard Mainland, Los Angeles (4:15:58:16)
  
• DH-Tango (J/133), Michael Abraham, Newport Beach (4:19:58:16)
  
• DH-Narrow Escape (Fast 40), Allen Lehman Jr., Payson, Ariz. (4:20:59:25)
  
• Uncontrollable Urge (Columbia 30), James/Chris Gilmore, Carlsbad, Calif. (4:23:42:31)
  
• On the Edge of Destiny (1D35), Sean Doyle, Kailua, H.I. (5:00:05:40)
  
• Tabasco (1D35), Gary Fanger, San Francisco (5:02:01:10)
  
• Recidivist (Schumacher 39), Ken Olcott, Los Altos, Calif. (5:09:17:24)

Division 6 (Starts July 9)

• DH-X Dream (X-119), Steen Moller, Point Richmond, Calif. (5:12:37:00)
  
• Inspired Environments (Beneteau First 40.7), Timothy Ballard, Sausalito, Calif. (5:20:14:31)
  
• Peregrine (Hobie 33), Simon Garland, San Diego (5:21:13:46)
  
• DH-Brilliant (J/100), Tim Fuller, Murrieta, Calif. (5:21:44:43)
  
• Brown Sugar (Express 37), Steve Brown, Santa Ana, Calif. (6:03:41:56)
  
• California Girl (Cal 40), Don and Betty Lessley, Novato, Calif. (7:01:16:11)
  
• Far Far (Cal 40), Don Grind, Placerville, Calif. (7:02:47:32)
  
• Psyche (Cal 40), Steve Calhoun, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. (7:03:57:50)
  
• Shanti (Olson 911S), Jon Eberly, Greenbrae, Calif. (7:17:47:09)

Aloha A (Starts July 9)

• Ariadne (Ladd 73), Frank Easterbrook, Newport Beach (4:08:39:09)
  
• Ho'okolohe (Farr 58), Alyson and Cecil Rossi, Novato, Calif. (4:10:58:57)
  
• Alsumar (S&S 70), Bill and Ted Davis, Las Vegas, Nev. (4:22:27:48)
  
• Enchilado (Jeanneau 54), Cesar de Saracho, Tucson, Ariz. (4:23:43:58)
  
• Windswept (Sean 57), Maxwell Phelps, Jamul, Calif. (5:06:21:29)
  
• Anna Katarina (First 47.7), John Otterson, La Jolla, Calif. (5:08:31:43)
  
• French Kiss (Beneteau 50), Bryan Daniels, Alamo, Calif. (5:11:59:45)
  
• Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey (5:12:56:15)

Aloha B (Starts July 9)

• Ginny (Calkins 50), Chris Calkins/Norm Reynolds, Encinitas, Calif. (5:18:26:52)
  
• Mysteré (Swan 42), Jorge Morales, Dana Point, Calif. (6:12:14:02)
  
• Traveler (North Wind 47), Michael Lawler, Newport Beach (6:14:37:49)
  
• Gaviota (Cal 2-46), Jim Partridge, Pasadena, Calif. (6:20:18:32)
  
• Cirrus (Standfast 40), William D. Myers, Honolulu (7:02:14:16)
  
• Lady Liberty (Catalina 36), John Wallner, Calabasas, Calif. (8:12:05:44)

DH-Doublehanded.

Multihull

• LoeReal (Jeanneau 60 trimaran), H.L. Enloe, El Paso, Tex. (July 15)
  
• Minnow (Catana 52 catamaran), Bob Webster, Pryor, Okla. (July 12)

The official 2007 TransPac Yacht Race Website http://www.transpacificyc.org
Website © 2006/2007
Doug Vann, Lisa Niemczura, Walt Niemczura