Transpac 2003 Summary

(Transpac 2003 summary)

Despite 57 boats---the most starters since 1985---Transpac 2003 was less a race for records than milestones. Software entrepreneur Philippe Kahn, sailing a turbocharged Pegasus 77, collected his second consecutive Barn Door in a two-boat battle with Roy Disney's Pyewacket but didn't find enough wind to threaten Disney's elapsed time record for a monohull set in 1999 (7 days 11 hours 41 minutes 27 seconds). Pegasus 77's ET: 7:16:31:17.

Along the way, Pegasus 77, one of four entries listing Hawaiian home ports, did log a race record 24-hour run of 356 nautical miles, topping Magnitude's '99 record by three miles.

"Records aren't something you can control," Kahn said. "Either the weather was going to cooperate or not. We did break a record for the daily run, and what was interesting about that is we did it without a lot of wind."

Otherwise, the 42nd Transpac was a tale of diversity, nostalgia, perseverance and victories of the human spirit. The fleet included an all-time high of nine foreign entries, a clear sign of Transpac's global expansion in the 21st century.

Pegasus 77, with five nationalities on board, flew past the Diamond Head finish line under a full moon at 3:15 a.m. local time, followed by Pyewacket shortly after dawn. Thus, for media punch, neither of their receptions rivaled the prime time arrival later in the day of Challenged America's entry, the Tripp 40 B'Quest, which had won the hearts of race followers. The first crew of disabled sailors in the race's 97-year history was met not only by reporters but by four local TV crews just in time for the early evening news. One did a live remote telecast---a possible first for Transpac.

Urban Miyares, a blind Vietnam veteran who co-founded Challenged America in San Diego 12 years ago with Transpac as the ultimate goal, was a watch captain on B'Quest. The crew also included paraplegics and a one-armed veteran. The only able-bodied crew member was skipper Joshua Ross.

Miyares joked, "If he stays with us he'll be disabled soon enough."

As for hardships, Ross said, "All they complained about was the food---and I'm responsible for that."

Bill Turpin and his Alta Vita crew from Santa Cruz, Calif. received the King Kalakaua Trophy for first overall, clocking the fourth fastest corrected handicap time ever. Another Transpac 52, Karl Kwok's Beau Geste from Hong Kong, finished first in Division 2, 48 minutes earlier, but owed Alta Vita time for a stronger downwind configuration favorable to Transpac. Alta Vita's elapsed time for the 2,225 nautical miles was 8:17:01:25.

"I don't have the means to compete for the Barn Door," Turpin said. "I went into this race with the idea of winning the corrected time."

Key to Alta Vita's success was Jay Crum, the navigator, sailing his 12th Transpac. Afterward, with a lei around his neck and a Polynesian cocktail in his hand, he recalled how an old-time competitor once him early on, "Y'know, kid, when you've done this 12 times you're going to be pretty good at it."

Beau Geste, second overall with Gavin Brady and other world-class New Zealanders among the crew, corrected only 66 minutes better than Illusion, the fastest of 10 Cal 40s. Transpac's first class ever for a single type of boat was organized by Wendy Siegal, owner of the 2001 Aloha winner Willow wind, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their glory days of the 1960s when they dominated the race on corrected time. Owners co-skippers Stan and Sally Honey and their Transpac veteran crew of Skip Allan and Jon Andron received the first of several standing ovations at the awards dinner a few nights later.

Honey was navigator for Pyewacket's record runs in '97 and '99. "It's much more work than sailing on Pyewacket," he said. "But I hope the message that gets communicated to the sailing community is that you can take a good old boat with a good old crew and be competitive in the race."

Illusion led the race on handicap time until the last two days when stronger winds favored the larger ultralight boats.

Roger Kuske's 62-foot cutter Lady Bleu II, an Aloha class boat from San Diego, was the first boat to finish because of its five-day head start, but Ross Pearlman's Between the Sheets, a Sun Odyssey 52.2 from California, was the overall Aloha winner on corrected time.

The outcome of the Pegasus 77-Pyewacket contest was determined early on, not by boat speed but by strategic differences of opinion.

"We led them past [Santa] Catalina [Island] by a mile, but then we went right and they went left, and they were right and we were wrong," Disney said.

The Pyewacket crew was stunned by the second day's morning roll call and position report that showed Pegasus 77 100 miles south of them.

"We were surprised how low [south] they went the second day," said Peter Isler, who replaced Honey as Pyewacket's navigator for this race.

Then, when the shift they were expecting failed to produce a lively breeze, Pyewacket had to eat its error and give up many miles to find better wind south. That's when Pegasus 77 came slightly north to slide into a controlling position directly in front.

Mark Rudiger, Pegasus 77's navigator, said, "Originally our plan was to stay with them, but we decided to sail our own race. I've learned the hard way over the years that the first half of this race you have to go for the pressure and the second half you can start working on angle. So I just tell the guys, 'Send the boat the fastest way it can go.' Speed rules."

Mark Christensen, a Pegasus 77 crew member who was on the winning team in the last two Volvo Ocean Races but had never sailed a Transpac, said, "The first couple of days I was having trouble getting a grasp on how far off course we were going," he said. "Rudi's [saying], 'Get south, get south.' It was kind of scary. We just got every shift. Rudi could do no wrong."

Pegasus 77's Mike Mottl was chosen by his mates for the Don Vaughn Memorial Trophy as the most valuable crew member on the boat with the fastest elapsed time.

Other special award recipients included Dan Doyle and Bruce Burgess, Two Guys On the Edge, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Gary Jobson Perpetual Trophy for first doublehanded on corrected time; Anthony Barran, Tera's XL, Fast 40s; Tom Garnier, Reinrag2, J/Boats (not including J/160s); Division 4 winner Chris Busch, Wild Thing, Pocket Rockets Award, and John MacLaurin, Pendragon 4, Fast 50s.

John Davis' Pipe Dream, a Choate/Feo 37 in Aloha B from Seal Beach, Calif., received the Tail-End Charlie Trophy as the last boat to finish.

Kim and Lou Ickler, who managed the race headquarters, were awarded the Claire Lang Memorial Trophy for volunteer service.

TRANSPAC PUBLICITY

Rich Roberts
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