Press Release No. 1

Transpac to Upgrade Safety Measures

Transpac to Upgrade Safety Measures

Only the wind gods can say whether the 40th Transpacific Yacht Race in 1999 will be blessed by the breezes that made '97 a record-shattering year, but organizers have taken steps to continue a tradition they can control: safety.

No life has been lost during the passage from Los Angeles to Hawaii-a remarkable record for an endeavor dating to 1906 that isolates competitors against the elements.

"The race has had an exemplary safety record over the years," Transpacific Yacht Club Commodore L.J. Edgcomb said. "We will do anything to ensure that continues."

US Sailing, the national authority for sailboat racing, has issued a manual "Safety Recommendations for Offshore Sailing" for 1998-99 that requires, under Rule 5.01, that "all personnel on deck shall wear personal flotation while starting and finishing without exception, and at all other times except when the Captain of the boat directs that it may be set aside."

Personal flotation is described as a life jacket or a less cumbersome inflatable device.

The Transpac has invoked US Sailing's offshore regulations, but the board of directors feels they may not go far enough by leaving some precautions to the captain's discretion, in that the most danger in their race is not at the start or finish but during the 2,225 nautical miles in between,especially at night. The directors are considering suggestions from some of sailing's influential leaders that may result in a rule requiring crew to wear personal flotation devices (PFDs) and tethered harnesses while on deck from dusk to dawn.

The latest step was prompted by Robbie Haines, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist and veteran Transpac campaigner who was aboard Roy E. Disney's turbo sled 70 Pyewacket when it set a record of 7 days 15 hours 24 minutes 40 seconds last summer.

"I encourage the committee to adopt the mandatory life jacket-at-night rule," Haines wrote. "And I think a water-activated strobe should be attached to each jacket, providing there is a compact size available."

Also, Bill Lee, who designed and built former record holder Merlin and the series of Santa Cruz 70 ultralight displacement boats (ULDBs) that revolutionized the race in the 80s, urged a mandatory harness rule that would require on-deck personnel to be attached to the boat at night.

"Transpac is different from local fleet racing, [where] if someone falls overboard, 10 or 20 boats may see it," Lee said. "In Transpac, one often doesn't see another boat for days. Keeping people on the boat is far superior to just making them float."

A specific decision will be voted at a meeting within the next few weeks.

The Transpacific Yacht Club strengthened its safety rules after the 1951 race when Ted Sierks, a crewman aboard L'Apache, fell overboard in daylight 875 miles from Hawaii. Sierks was adrift for about 30 hours with only a hastily thrown life ring until a Navy search team found him. That was the closest call the race has ever had.

Transpac has long required that at fewest one crew member from each boat will have attended a US Sailing Safety at Sea seminar or its equivalent,that life rafts be carried on deck and "quickly releasable" and, of course,that all entries be seaworthy. But there never has been a provision that PFDs be worn at any particular time.

Edgcomb said, "We want to be supportive of the US Sailing prescriptions for personal safety, and we believe the issue is important enough to take these additional steps."

Transpac Notes:

The Sailing Instructions, with entry information, are available on the race website - transpacificyc.org - or by writing to entry chairman Dan Nowlan at 4224 Point Loma Ave., San Diego, CA 92107. Nowlan also may be contacted by phone or fax at (619) 224-0198, pager/cellular at (619)300-5950 or e-mail at dtnowlan@earthlink.net . . . . The Cruising Class for heavier displacement monohulls will return in '99, along with the standard monohulls and multihulls. Cruisers must be a minimum of 34 feet in length overall with a Southern California Region PHRF Random Leg rating between 27 and 195. Standard monohulls must have a rating of 140 or lower.Multihulls must be 45 feet LOA. . . . Entry fees paid before March 1 are$600 for boats under 50 feet, $800 for 50 feet and longer and $2,500 for Category C advertising entries. After March 1 the fees jump to $750 and$1,000 for under and over 50 feet. Members of US Sailing receive $50 discounts. . . . The Cruisers will start June 29, 1999; the monohulls July 3 and the multihulls July 6.

Publicity:

Rich Roberts
1258 Lakme Ave.
Wilmington, CA 90744
Phone: (310) 835-2526
Fax: (310) 513-1664
e-mail: richroberts@compuserve.com

Race records:

Monohull: Pyewacket, Roy Disney, 7 days 15 hours 24 minutes 40 seconds,1997.
Multihull: Explorer, Bruno Peyron, 5 days 9 hours 18 minutes 26 seconds,1997.
Cruising: Salsipuedes, Fred Frye, 12 days 6 hours 57 minutes 57 seconds,1997.