|
(Transpac 2001 summary) The Flying Horse Wins Race to the Barn (Door) Philippe Kahn acknowledged an assist from Roy E. Disney's Pyewacket for his Barn Door victory in the 41st Transpacific Yacht Race. "Pyewacket was our tuning partner," Kahn said -– but not exactly willingly, he might have noted. Other notable prizewinners included Seth Radow's new Sydney 40 Bull from Marina del Rey, first overall on corrected handicap time; Wendy Siegal's 36-year-old Cal 40 Willow Wind in the Aloha Division, and Howard Gordon's Open 50 Étranger, San Luis Obispo, with a doublehanded record of 10 days 4 hours 4 minutes 1 second. Pegasus, Bull and Étranger were built in Australia. Also, David Janes' new Transpac/Andrews 52, J-Bird III, Newport Beach, beat all the larger boats straight up in Division 2, although James McDowell's Santa Cruz 70 Grand Illusion, Haiku, Hawaii, corrected out. Brent Vaughan's Andrews 53 Cantata, Oceanside, won overall in Division 3. "We only had 15 days of sea trials to learn to sail Pegasus," Kahn said. "The more we sailed next to Pyewacket, the better we got at sailing our boat. After 2,225 nautical miles, we really learned a lot." The most important thing they learned was that their boat, a Reichel/Pugh 75, was just enough faster than Pyewacket, an older R/P 74, and Bob McNulty's new R/P 73, Chance, that the smart strategy was to stay in the same breeze with their rivals. "Everywhere we went they went, too," said Robbie Haines, Pyewacket's sailing manager. One factor was the addition of a second daily roll call at dusk. Compared to 1999 when Pyewacket slipped away from Zephyrus during the 24-hour gap, there was less opportunity for stealth. "It definitely kept the boats closer together," Pegasus crew chief Zan Drejes said. "It was more tactical than a navigator's race. The intensity was relentless. When we had 15 sleds [in past years] you were lucky to see another boat." Disney said, "We were within sight of each other for seven consecutive days. It looked like an ad for North Sails at one point." Drejes noted that a 10-minute penalty for missing a roll call might have been insignificant against the potential gain but said, "We felt that wasn't in the spirit of the competition." The critical time came on the next-to-last day when the three boats sailed into a squall. Pegasus and Pyewacket went one way, Chance the other. Chance sailed into a wind hole from which it never recovered. Pegasus and Pyewacket jibed five times to stay in the pocket of breeze, but Pegasus caught the key puff and was gone for good. Because of light winds early on, Pegasus didn't threaten Pyewacket's record of 7 days 11 hours 41 minutes 27 seconds set in '99, but its time of 8:02:34:03 was the 10th fastest on record and earned Kahn the Barn Door on only his second try. Pyewacket finished 63 minutes later, about an hour and a half ahead of Chance. Kahn had a little help from some friends, including Drejes, recipient of the Don Vaughn award for the second consecutive race as the most valuable crew member on the fastest boat. His former employer was Disney. "Philippe hired a band of mercenaries from around the world," Drejes said. Besides himself, they included navigator Mark Rudiger, bowman Curtis Blewett, Morgan Larson, Jeff Madrigali, Kevin Miller, Adam Beashel, Michael Mottl, Mark Simms, Don McCracken, Ian Smith and Samuel Kahn, a.k.a. Shark, Kahn's 11-year-old son who is believed to be Transpac's youngest participant ever.
Madrigali, a two-time Olympian and veteran of nine Transpacs, said, "These are the greatest sailors I’ve ever sailed with. We had flawless crew work." Despite little more than two years of competitive sailing, Kahn’s eagerness to improve his sailing skills is boundless. He competes in Farr 40s, Melges 24s and other classes and pulls equal weight on the boat with his crew. He also has rules: no tobacco, no alcohol, no drugs and no sailor-type language on his boats. Bull, featuring an angry, smoke-snorting male bovine on the hull, was owed about 65 hours in handicap time by Pegasus and beat the clock by 1 hour 32 minutes 8 seconds with a pre-dawn finish. The King Kalakaua canoe trophy recognizes the crew that theoretically sailed its boat nearest to its potential. Pegasus, about twice Bull's size, had a Transpac rating of 0.21 seconds per mile (X 2,225) to Bull's 104.85. "It was fantastic," Radow said as a jubilant welcome luau got under way before sunrise. "Off we go, and never looked back. The guys sailed like demons for 24 hours a day." Radow praised Steve Steiner as "the best amateur navigator in the world" and noted that the professionals playing catch-up in the maxisleds all followed his lead. "We had wind all the way," Steiner said, then added, facetiously, "I'm sure the real navigators saw it long before I did, but I wish they'd make their own course." Radow said, "When Chance finally passed us on day five, we were talking on VHF and [Chance's navigator] Dale Nordin said, 'I won't know which way to go anymore.' " Altogether 11 boats –- a third of the fleet –- finished the same day. Those included Ragtime, the 1973 and '75 Barn Door winner under charter from Scott Zimmer to Maui resident Trisha Steele and Owen Minney of Newport Beach. The sleek black wooden boat was sixth among eight boats in Division 2. "The old girl just can't keep up with the big guys," Steele said. But Ragtime still made history. The New Zealand-built woody now shares the record for most Transpacs at 12 with another two-time winner, Merlin -– now a colorfully rebuilt Merlin's Reata -- and Steele was the third generation of her family to do the race. The smallest boat was Dan Doyle's Sonoma 30, sailing doublehanded with Bruce Burgess and making its third Transpac start but first finish with the owner aboard. Two Guys was third overall in Division 4, which included one other doublehander, Watercolors, and six fully crewed boats. "It was too nice a trip," said Burgess, who replaced Doyle two years ago when the owner had a last-minute business conflict. "It was easy." They never saw wind stronger than 17.6 knots until they found 25 knots in the Molokai Channel Thursday night -- a common story in this Transpac. As the last boat to finish, Michael Abraham's Watercolors, a Sabre 402 sloop from Newport Beach, won the Tail End Charlie award. Too bad the awards dinner was the night before. Abraham sailed doublehanded with former college chum Phil Rowe. They finished 3 minutes 32 seconds shy of 14 days. Rowe said, "We heard that some guys had won the Ancient Mariner [oldest crew] trophy for an average age of 56 or something. Our average age is 64. We're both 64."
The 65-foot ketch Bonaire claimed a maturity mark of only 55.65 years, but the winner had to be present for that one. Doublehanders are allowed to use autopilot; Watercolors used it about 70 per cent of the time, Abraham said. "Phil and I agreed we're not going to do it again, certainly not doublehanded." Abraham said. "We don't have the balance or the agility or the stamina. We didn't realize what our ages would mean." Most important, their friendship survived. "We never saw each other," Rowe said. "There was only one place to sleep. "When we started we had three objectives: Get there, don't get injured and have a good time. Nowhere on that list was winning."
TRANSPAC PUBLICITY Rich Roberts
The official 2003 TransPac Yacht Race Website http://www.transpacificyc.org
4/20/03 |
