Forecast: One man's misery is another's delight

Transpac weather guru Earl Seagars is not a ray of sunshine as the race to Paradise approaches. "It's a screwball year," he said, noting recent gale-force winds off the coast. "It could be miserable for the first four days."

But Stan Honey, who won the Ben Mitchell trophy for navigating Pyewacket to an elapsed time record for monohulls of 7 days 15 hours 24 minutes 40 seconds in 1997, said, "It looks like a good race. Gale-force winds would be delightful."

Both men emphasize that conditions change day to day. "It's June," Honey said.

Seagars' worst-case scenario for the eight Cruisers and two Doublehanders starting June 29 was, "It's going to be blustery and choppy and cold. [Crew] may not want to spend much time below."

Then the trade winds should offer some relief and following winds of 15 to 20 knots, which Honey said is "more than normal."

Honey said his long-range charts for the monohulls starting July 2 and 3 indicate "a fair amount of reaching the first half of the race. The spinnakers are going to go up later than normal."

Asked if it looked like another record year, Honey said, "It's too early to tell."

Starting list back up to 34

Two recent dropouts have rejoined the race, bringing the apparent final starting fleet back up to 34 boats. The first 10 boats—eight Cruisers and two Doublehanded entries—will start Tuesday, June 29, followed by monohulls July 2 and 3 and two multihulls July 6.

Seth Radow of California Yacht Club re-entered his Sydney 41 Glama! and Clive Armitage, Eugene, Ore., came back with his 60-foot trimaran Pacific Challenge. Earlier, Radow said business pressures forced him to pull out, but then he reconsidered because "the crew really wanted to go."

The fleet is the smallest since 32 in 1963. There were 38 in each of the last two races.

Estupendo, the first production Schock 40 modeled on the prototype Red Hornet with the canting ballast bulb, also withdrew but apparently not because of any technical problems, as reported. "We just ran out of time," said Alfonso Sosa, project manager for owner Antonio Luttman of the Acapulco YC.

"The boat is perfect," said Sosa, who operates the Corso Marine boat brokerage in Sausalito where the boat was being prepared. "It could be sailed, but we had no time for testing except to sail it down to Los Angeles, and it would be irresponsible for me to send a crew off to Hawaii into harm's way without being properly prepared."

Where to watch the starts from shore

Want to watch the starts without getting on a plane or boat? For the larger monohulls starting Saturday, July 3, the new Ocean Trails golf course on the south side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula offers an elevated view from the area of its 14th tee, which will be directly opposite the starting line. Visitors are directed to follow Western Ave. to Palos Verdes Drive, turn right to La Rotonda, turn left and follow the signs to parking and viewing sites.

An alternate site for any of the four starts is the Royal Palms overlook just east of the end of Western Ave., but it's not as close. For either site, binoculars are recommended.

For those with boats, the navigational location of the starting line is pinpointed at N 33 42.8 and W 118 20.3. All starts are at 1 p.m.

New 'Personal EPIRB' sails in Transpac

No sailor has been lost at sea in the 93 years of the Transpac, which added a safety rule this year requiring any crew on deck at night to wear a personal flotation device (PFD). A couple of boats have taken an additional precaution that may mark a first for offshore racing.

Attached to a life jacket, it floats, it glows and it sends out a homing signal. It's the SMRS8 from Sea Marshall Rescue Systems, originally developed in Europe for crews working North Sea oil rigs. The distributor calls it the first personal Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. They'll be aboard Bill LeRoy and Jim Caseino's Santa Cruz 50 turbo Gone With the Wind, St. Francis YC, in the 50s division, and Tom Garnier's J/35 Great Scot, Los Angeles YC, in the 40s division. The Transpac communications vessel, Alaska Eagle, also has one.

EPIRBs have been around for a while, but the SMRS8 not only sends out a homing beacon on 121.5MHz, but its antenna is integrated with an electroluminescent collar visible for 3 to 5 miles, without refracting in fog. The whole system is about the size of a pack of cigarettes and operates on a 9-volt lithium battery good for 40 hours or more. It's water-activated but with a 10-to-20-second delay during which it can be shut off to avoid false alarms from accidental splashes.

Units cost $99 and also may be rented. More information: (818) 998-1100 or nickbarran@earthlink.net.

Annapolis-Newport record for old Pye

The old Pyewacket is still setting records, now in the Atlantic. Roy E. Disney, who will sail his new Pyewacket this year, sold the Transpac record holder to Baltimore's George Collins, who backed the Chessie Racing campaign in the Whitbread Round the World Race. Collins renamed it Chessie Racing and recently broke the record for the 473 miles from Annapolis to Newport, R.I. The time was 47 hours 45 minutes (average 9.85 knots) and beat the record held by another former West Coast sled, Starlight Express.

Disney said, "That keeps the string going. The boat has set a record in every race it has sailed since 1996."

Last-minute notes

Crew lists are posted on the race web site, www.transpacificyc.org. . . . Transpac-related travelers to Hawaii are offered special rates by Tradewinds U-Drive Inc., the official host car rental company. Advance reservations are advised by phoning 1-888-388-7368 or by e-mail at tradewinds@drive-me.com. . . . The Diamond Head lighthouse—long the finish line of the Transpac—is 100 years old this year. . . . Long Beach sailor Linda Elias, who has missed the last two Transpacs because of cancer flare-ups, will be a helmsperson on Cheval, a ULDB 70 owned by Steve Popovich of Cabrillo Beach YC. Elias was supposed to lead her all-woman crew in '97 until learning she needed emergency surgery four days before the start. . . . Maintenance tip: Last chance for post-race sail repair for competitors heading back to the mainland may be Aloha Canvas and Sail Repair on Kauai at (808) 635-1100 or at aguilar@hawaiian.net.

More Transpac information, including past results and press releases, is available on the race website: www.transpacificyc.org.

Publicity: Rich Roberts

1258 Lakme Ave.

Wilmington, CA 90744

Phone: (310) 835-2526

Fax: (310) 513-1664

e-mail: richroberts@compuserve.com

NOTE: Any recipients wishing to receive Transpac releases by other means (e-mail, fax or regular mail) please contact me. --Thanks, RR).