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From the Ko Olina Resort and Marina Media Center  |
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| JULY 15, 1999 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SPECIAL RELEASE Vapor checks in, should finish Saturday morning HONOLULU, H.I.-"Vapor." That was the word Transpacific Yacht Race communicators had been waiting to hear for 16 days, and it finally came at Thursday morning's daily roll call. The tiny two-man boat from Long Beach, sailed by Bill Boyd and Scott Atwood of Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, reported that it had a broken rudder but was proceeding under sail at 5.2 knots, 262 miles from the Diamond Head finish line. It was expected to finish at about 7:30 a.m. HST Saturday. At 25 feet, the B25 sloop is the smallest boat ever to race in the Transpac. As three other boats finished in the last 24 hours-including Australia's Sweet Caroline, which also had not reported the last few days because of dead batteries-only Vapor and Ned Knight's Apollo V of San Diego were still at sea. Apollo V was due in Thursday night. Race communicator Mike Berger, atop the 100-year-old Coast Guard lighthouse at Diamond Head, had joined Alaska Eagle for roll call duties since the race communicsations vessel arrived in Honolulu Tuesday. Berger said, "We had three boats to contact: Apollo V, Bolt and Vapor, and Bolt was finishing at the time. After I called Vapor, expecting dead air like every other day, I heard some kind of signal . . . rather faint, nothing intelligible." Berger tried again. "When they responded, I heard 'Vapor' three times-the only thing I could make out. "Ten minutes later Vapor called again and this time the reception was spotty and broken. The next time he came back I heard 'broken rudder.' I asked if they required assistance, and they came back very strong, 'Negative!' " Berger said he didn't know whether he was talking to Boyd or Atwood, only that it was "a male voice." "They certainly didn't sound discouraged or anything [but] solid and in good condition from the tone of voice. I asked them if they were continuing to race, and they did 'roger' that." Vapor left the Palos Verdes peninsula June 29 as one of two entries in the Doublehanded class. The other entry, Two Guys On the Edge from Waikiki YC, finished Monday. Photos, e-mail from boats, daily progress and position reports, charts, 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 www.iridium.com or by calling 1-888-Iridium. Publicity: Rich Roberts Media center: (808) 946-0020 Cell ph: (808) 366-0959 e-mail: richroberts@compuserve.com |
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Website © 1999 Tiare Marine Sciences |
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| 7/15/99 | |||||||||||