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1999 Start Dates:
Cruising Class: June 29
Monohulls: July 2 and July 3
Multihulls: July 6
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May 13, 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Corrected time: Everyman's prize in the Transpac
For most of the thirtysome boats that will start the 40th Transpacific Yacht Race from June 29 through July 6, the Barn Door is irrelevant.
"It's beyond any of our pocketbooks," says Jerry Montgomery, laughing.
The Barn Door goes to the monohull with the best elapsed time for the 2,225 nautical miles between Point Fermin and Diamond Head. In 1997, Roy Disney's turbo sled 70 Pyewacket got the glory—and a record. But Montgomery's chartered Ralphie, a Santa Cruz 50, claimed the Governor of Hawaii trophy—a beautifully sculpted wood and brass canoe—for having the best corrected time according to handicap ratings.
"It was a huge deal for us," Montgomery said as he prepared for this summer's race. "It was quite unexpected. The first-corrected is something that anyone can win. Anyone in the race has a shot at it. The first-to-finish [trophy]--the Barn Door--is limited to a very small portion of the fleet."
In fact, handicap scoring in Transpac preceded the Barn Door by almost half a century—from the first race in 1906 when Harold Sinclair established a rough system based on a half-hour for every foot of boat length. Sinclair's Lurline beat the scratch boat, Charles Tutt's larger Anenome, as well as Clarence MacFarlane's smaller La Paloma straight up and on corrected time.
Handicapping is much more sophisticated now. Ralphie's corrected time of 7 days 15 minutes 51 seconds was the second fastest ever, behind only Argonaut's 6:20:44:07 in 1969. Montgomery's closest competition was Bob Lane's Andrews 56 Medicine Man.
"With two days to go at the morning roll call we ended up 60 miles north of her," Montgomery said. "When I saw that, my heart kind of stopped because we had allowed her to get in such a different part of the ocean. But we got a lift and jibed over, going right toward the barn with a good angle, so it worked out for us."
Medicine Man, with a three-day head start over Pyewacket and the other sleds, finished 22 1/2 hours ahead of Ralphie and was first to break Merlin's 20-year-old elapsed time record. But she "owed" Ralphie about 24 hours and missed correcting out on her smaller rival by an hour and a half. Third in Class III was Stealth Chicken, a Perry 56 that Montgomery and a few friends from Alamitos Bay Yacht Club will charter this time.
"We call it the Alamitos Bay Syndicate," Montgomery said, at the risk of sounding pretentious. "We share expenses. Four of us--navigator Steve Rossi, Dave Thompson, Jim McLeod and myself--have gone together for the last three Transpacs. Ralphie was a great boat for the conditions we had two years ago. The breeze went aft early. But as far as reaching conditions, Stealth Chicken is a much more powerful boat."
Ray Wallace, No. 19 TPYC member, dies at 81
Transpac veteran Ray Wallace of San Pedro died in April after a brief illness. He was 81. Wallace sailed several Transpacs in the 50s as navigator on various boats and was No. 19 on the Transpacific Yacht Club seniority list.
Wallace, a renowned designer of classic boats and waterfront theme villages, is survived by his wife, Barbara; sons Jim and Rob, daughter Mari, brother Bill Steel and sister Marilynn Matisevich.
Entries on pace with '97 race
After two withdrawals, the entry list of 25 boats is virtually what it was at the same point for the previous race in 1997 when 26 were listed and 38 showed up to start. Entry chairman Dan Nowlan reported up to 40 "possibles" but only 25 with entry fees paid.
Entry forms are available by writing to Nowlan at 4224 Point Loma Ave., San Diego, CA 92107. Nowlan also may be contacted by phone or fax at (619) 224-0198 or by e-mail at < dtnowlan@earthlink.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). |
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