JUNE 24, 1999 Press Release No. 12

Trimaran dismasted during delivery, will miss Transpac

The 60-foot trimaran Pacific Challenge, dismasted and adrift off the northern California coast, is out of the Transpacific Yacht Race again—this time, apparently, for certain.

"I'm still kind of dazed," said owner Clive Armitage of Eugene, Ore., who was not aboard when a delivery crew bringing the boat to San Pedro encountered disaster.

The Coast Guard took the three delivery sailors off the boat, and a private towing service was trying to locate it today (Thursday). Armitage said the crew was unable to cut away the mast and there were 45-knot winds and seas of 12-14 feet in the area where the boat was believed to be.

"I don't know if I want to look at if they do find it," Armitage said.

Armitage originally withdrew the boat after it ran into rough weather in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and later put in to Newport, Ore. "My window of time to deliver the boat [to San Pedro] had run out," he said.

But then a friend, Bernardo Herzer, offered to bring it the rest of the way, joined by Mark Simmons and Mike Peterson of Los Angeles. When the mast fell, Simmons was knocked unconscious by the boom and driven into a winch, fracturing some ribs. He was released after treatment at Mendocino Coast Hospital.

The boat, previously named We and then Sebago, was built in England in 1988. After it broke down returning to Europe after the '88 C-Star transatlantic race, it also was dismasted in an attempt to tow it. Armitage, who is originally from Hawaii, restored it in Ireland, later bought it and sailed it back across the Atlantic in '95 with the intent to compete in the Transpac.

"That's the reason the boat was purchased," he said, sadly.

His Transpac crew was scheduled to be Dave Goto of Hawaii and Clarence Roman of Tucson, Ariz.

The loss of Pacific Challenge leaves the total number of racers at 33, including only one multihull: Bob Hanel's 76-foot catamaran Double Bullet II, which was dismasted early in the '97 Transpac. The multihulls were scheduled to start July 6.

Sorry, wrong number

The phone number listed for Tradewinds U-Drive Inc., the official Transpac host car rental company, was incorrect in a previous release. The number for advance reservations, which are advised, is 1-888-388-7368. The company also may be contacted at tradewinds@drive-me.com.