JULY 5, 1999 PRESS RELEASE #19 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pyewacket ties record, but 30-footer Two Guys leads way to Hawaii

Roy E. Disney's new Pyewacket maxi sled sailed a record-tying 337 miles in the past 24 hours, but one of the two smallest crews with one of the smallest boats ever to sail the Transpacific Yacht Race was leading everybody Monday as good winds continued to blow the fleets along at a possible record pace.

Two Guys On the Edge, a Sonoma 30-footer from Waikiki Yacht Club with Les Vasconcellos and Bruce Burgess aboard, logged 182 miles at an average speed of 7.6 knots. It passed two Cruising division entries--Kim Stebbens' 41-foot Hurricane and Bob Pace's 46-foot Esprit--for the overall lead as it neared the midway point to Hawaii with 1,266 nautical miles to go. Esprit was next at 1,274, two miles in front of Hurricane.

Two Guys is in the new Doublehanded division, along with Vapor, from Long Beach, which at 25 feet is the smallest competitor ever and has been out of radio contact from the start. They started alongside eight larger Cruisers last Tuesday off the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

How long Two Guys' lead lasts may depend on when Pyewacket and the other big boats that started four days later appear on the horizon. Pyewacket still trailed the rival maxi sled Zephyrus IV by two miles but equaled the 24-hour run set by Mike Campbell's turbo sled Victoria in the record-smashing 1997 race. Victoria is now sailing as Front Runner under charter to Lou Grasso and Craig Lyons.

Vasconcellos, talking by Iridium satellite phone to the Ko Olina Resort & Marina Media Center, said, "It's nice to be leading, but we aren't kidding ourselves. As far as the overall race goes, we're still getting our butts kicked [on corrected handicap time]."

In other words, Two Guys' lead over the boats that started later isn't large enough to cover the projected finish times. Also, they have had other problems, such as their radio going out on the second day.

"It got some salt water in it, so Bruce [Burgess] took it all apart, rinsed it in fresh water, dried it on the stove and it works better than it did before," Vasconcellos said. "But today our generator blew up and we're trying to fix that."

Vasconcellos said, "We are concerned about Vapor. [Skipper Bill Boyd] said before the race he expected some radio problems and asked us to try to call him by VHF [marine radio] after we started. But we haven't seen any other boats since the first day."

As Vasconcellos spoke, he was sailing in following winds of 15 knots with a spinnaker up since the third day out.. He explained why they went farther south than anyone else, where they fell into light wind for a day.

"The boat's very tender, and for us to go north with the other boats would slow us down too much," he said. "We were sailing as [much into the wind] as we could without killing the boat."

Roy Disney, also calling in via Iridium satellite phone, told KSSK radio in Honolulu Monday that Pyewacket and Zephyrus IV were back on the same track within sight of each other. Both had already overtaken all but two of the smaller monohulls that started one day ahead of them. Scattered boats reported winds of 16 to 22 knots.

One boat dropped out Monday. Manouch Moshayedi's 50-foot M-Project from Bahia Corinthian YC reported a broken rudder post at 11 o'clock Sunday night and said it was returning to Newport Beach under power. It expected to reach port at 6 Tuesday night.

Earlier, Two Guys was farther south than any other boat and was seen as going too far out of its way to avoid the Pacific High, the light-wind zone that is farther north than usual this year. But it altered course northward to improve its position and was sailing in following winds of 17 knots. Dan Doyle, a Hawaii real estate developer who owns the boat, was unable to sail because of business pressures and was delighted to learn it was leading.

"No kidding," he said. "Good for them."

Photos of the starts, e-mail from boats, daily position reports, crew lists and other information are available on the race web page, www.transpacificyc.org.

The 40th Transpac is sponsored by Iridium North America, the world's first global telephone and paging company. Several boats are carrying the phones. Through a constellation of 66 low-earth-orbit satellites circling the globe, customers can make or take calls and receive pages in the most remote regions on Earth. Additional information regarding the Iridium system is available at the web site at www.iridium.com or by calling 1-888-Iridium.

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


Standings (according to corrected handicap time):
DIV. 1 (started July 3)—1. Zephyrus IV, Bob McNeil/John Parrish, St. Francis/San Diego YCs, 1,692 miles to go; 2. Pyewacket, Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles YC, 1,694; 3. Magnitude, Doug Baker, Long Beach YC, 1,717; 4. Pegasus, Philippe Kahn, UC Santa Cruz Sailing Club, 1,739; 5. Front Runner, Lou Grasso/Craig Lyons, Newport Harbor YC, 1,780.
DIV. 2 (started July 3)—1. Velos, Kjeld Hestehave, SDYC, 1,793; 2. Grand Illusion, James McDowell, Lahaina YC, 1,762; 3. Mongoose, Robert Saielli, SDYC, 1,774; 4. Cheval, Steve Popovich, Cabrillo Beach YC, 1,775; 5. Medicine Man, Bob Lane, LBYC, 1,779.
DIV. 3 (started July 3)—1. Gone With the Wind, Bill LeRoy/Jim Cascino, StFYC, 1,832; 2. . Stealth Chicken, Alamitos Bay Syndicate, Alamitos Bay YC, 1,826; 3. Warpath, Fred Howe, Santa Cruz YC, 1,830; 4. M-Project, Manouch Moshayedi, Bahia Corinthian YC, retired.
DIV. 4 (started July 2)—1. Tower, Don Clothier, Waikiki YC, 1656; 2. Glama!, Seth Radow, California YC, 1,689; 3. Great Scot, Tom Garnier, LAYC, 1,757; 4. Prime Time, John Borkowski/Richard Sherlock, Channel Islands YC, 1,716; 5. Sweet Caroline, William Rawson, Royal YC, Australia, 1,757; 6. Uproarious, Robert Bussard, Silver Gate YC, 1,751; 7. Apollo V, Ned Knight, Point Loma YC, 1,777; 8. Bolt, Craig Reynolds, Balboa YC, 1,794.
DOUBLEHANDED DIV. (started June 29)—1. Two Guys On the Edge, Les Vasconcellos/Bruce Burgees, Waikiki YC, 1,266; 2. Vapor, Bill Boyd/Scott Atwood, Alamitos Bay YC, no report.
CRUISING DIV. (started June 29)—1. Hurricane, Kim Stebbens, Sloop Tavern YC, 1,274; 2. Esprit, Bob Pace, Oceanside YC, 1,276; 3. Endeavor III, Randy Bell/Eleanor Clitheroe, Royal Canadian YC, 1,305; 4. Pacifica, Doug Jones, Southwestern YC, 1,295; 5. Willow Wind, Wendy Siegal, Cortez Racing Assn., 1,301; 6. Tango, Howard Raphael, Palo Alto, Calif., 1,379; 7. Goodnight Moon, Carlton Vanderbeek, Dana Point YC, 1,319; 8. Derivative,, John Robert Misko, Seattle, Wash., 1,413.