LONG BEACH, California---With three months still remaining until race time, the 60 current entries in the 42nd Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii are already maneuvering in their minds for position on crowded starting lines.

The three staggered starts off the Palos Verdes peninsula July 1, 4 and 6 will present a challenge to find clear air and a fast lane to the west end of Santa Catalina Island, 22 1/2 miles southwest and the only mark of the 2,225-nautical mile course. The race to Diamond Head looks to be a match between Philippe Kahn's defending Barn Door champion, Pegasus 77, and Roy E. Disney's record holder, Pyewacket, but first they'll have to shake off up to a dozen other of the largest boats who will offer them no special privileges on the starting line.

Typical of most competitors, Craig Reynolds of Balboa, Calif. is already excited. For him and several others, the race is a family affair. One of his crew members will be his son Carson, 19, a member of the Orange Coast College sailing team who will experience his first Transpac.

Reynolds, 50, has done only one other Transpac himself, sailing the same Olson 40 called Bolt to fifth place in Division 4 in 1999. But he got the bug much earlier from his grandparents, Charles and Verna Reynolds, who sailed the 63-foot cutter Wetona with less distinction in 1928.

Charles and Verna Reynolds (far left) with their '28 Transpac crew.

Bolt and the other boats in Divisions 3 and 4 will enjoy a special holiday start on the Fourth of July.

"I always wanted to go," Reynolds said. "I spent five years getting ready to go in '99, doing a succession of offshore races leading up to it. So now my son Carson is going. I'm not sure he has an appreciation for what a big deal it is. He's a ranked match racer and has done a couple of Newport-to-Ensenada races and went to New Zealand to do match racing, but I tell him, 'You don't understand. This is Transpac. There's nothing else like it.' "

The two-hour historical documentary "Transpac/A Century Across the Pacific" is on sale in marine stores and nautical museums or may be ordered online with a credit card through a link on the Web site home page above. The Web site also has a mail-order form. The video format $39.95, DVD $49.95 and PAL $49.95 for countries requiring that medium.

2003 TRANSPAC START DATES

• Tuesday, July 1st - lst start - Aloha Division
• Friday, July 4th - 2nd start
• Sunday, July 6th - 3rd start
• Tuesday, July 8th - 4th start