Transpac 2007
44th
Transpacific Yacht Race
Los
Angeles to Honolulu
Starts July 9, 12 and 15,
2007
2,225 nautical miles
A second
century of racing across the Pacific
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EDITORS: Thursday's report will be later than usual while we are in
transit. We have elected to go neither north nor south but directly to
Pyewacket leads but record slipping out of reach
Just
as Roger Sturgeon's new STP 65 Rosebud appeared to be lining up on
The
south was still good for Cirrus and a few others. Tom Garnier's
Reinrag2, a J/125 in Division 4 that at one time was the farthest boat
south of all, tied into breeze that swept it 232 miles---second only for
the day to Mag 80's 237 and Fred Detwiler's 233 on the TP 52 Trader
---and into first place overall on corrected handicap time for the
entire fleet.
"It is
truly weird," Disney said.
And
how did Kahn, the creator of the cell phone, deal with being becalmed?
"I get Richard
[Clarke] to practice singlehanded sailing," Kahn wrote. "I dove off the
boat and went for a magical swim. What a treat. But if you try it, make
sure that you time it right with the puffs, else it is a long swim to
At
about the same time, Pyewacket veered north to get in front of Doug
Baker's Magnitude 80, which fell in 23 miles behind as they continued
southwest directly toward
But
unless the winds increase dramatically, Pyewacket's hopes of reclaiming
the elapsed time record of 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds set by
Morning Glory two years ago are slim.
Disney, who decided not to sail on the boat the day before last Sunday's
start, said from
Good
news for Disney was Morning Light's climb to first place in Division 2
in a head-to-head fight with John Kilroy Jr.'s Samba Pa Ti, another
Transpac 52 descending from the north.
Minutes before departing
"We're
very ready," Wilmot said. "I'm just eager to get started. We hope we can
make him proud."
Seventy-three boats started the race and Ginny, Chris Calkins and Norm
Reynolds' Calkins 50 in Aloha B, became the second to drop out
Wednesday, following Gaviota earlier. The report was that Ginny "got
stuck in a bad high [pressure area], couldn't get out of out [and was]
headed for
Flagship's tracking program---introduced to Transpac for this 44th
race---also ran into difficulties. The transponders it placed on all the
boats were going dead after about five days, meaning that all of the
earlier starters were not transmitting their periodic positions to
satellites, and the big boats that started last were feared to follow
suit.
Transpac has returned to its old system of an 8 a.m. PDT daily radio
roll call to the boats for position reports.
Tom
Garnier's brother, Transpac Commodore Al Garnier, said, "It's
unfortunate. The Pacific satellite coverage is more complex than other
places, but we haven't yet heard an explanation of the problem from
anyone at Flagship."
Kahn
seemed to be taking it all in stride when he wrote: "The
wind vanished. Gone. For several hours we were becalmed, making sail
changes, climbing the mast, seeking the puffs. And now the wind is back.
Light, but it is back. Richard is a fantastic light air sailor and his
superior skills are infinitely precious. It’s going to be tricky getting
out of this light spot and within the next 48 hours into the trades.
That’s a busy night ahead with a lot of concentration and focus."
Meanwhile, special prizes have been offered to winners by
Transblogs from the boats
The
Minnow (Bob Webster):
"Mike broke
out the piano today. We have an electric piano with a full-size keyboard
and weighted keys. That means it plays just about like a real piano.
Mike's planning to play Beethoven's Sonatas 1 through 18 between here
and
Locomotion (Ed Feo):
"We encountered a nice sized herd of dolphin last night, complete
with the added bonus of major bioluminescence making their approaches
appear as nothing less that 'bio-torpedoes.' In the cloudless, dry north
winds at dusk last evening we all witnessed the largest green flash in
our collective flash experience, which is saying a lot given the veteran
sailor status of our squad."
Psyche
(Steve Calhoun):
"I heard this
afternoon that my dad died at home of kidney failure. He was 86 years
old. He is the reason I am here, on Psyche, racing to
Tango (Phil Rowe):
"We all have
a case of the slows (wind
is only 7-8 knots). We will find out if this problem is across the
course when we report this morning. We are still having to give AM
reports as the transponders that we carry have some kind of glitch in
them and do not do that for us as was promised. Today is house-cleaning
day. One of the nice things about two 70 year old men on a boat, you
don't have to clean up a lot of hair. The sea conditions have been
moderate, no big swells, and we have seen very little sea life. (Mike)
Abraham does not qualify as sea life...I am certainly seeing enough of
him.
The
Transpacific Yacht Club has joined with Casio Computer Co., Ltd., in a
sponsorship agreement to make the company's Oceanus watch the official
timekeeper of the 44th biennial race. The Oceanus is a solar-powered
chronograph watch with
a time signal-calibration function developed by making full use of
Casio's advanced electronic technologies.
News and product information:
http://world.casio.com/
Transpac supporters also include the Long Beach Sea Festival 2007,
Archived press releases:
http://www.underthesunphotos.com/Press%20Releases/PR-index.htm
More
information:
www.transpacificyc.org
Transpac 2007 standings
(By
corrected handicap time. ORR rating allowances in parentheses in
days:hours:minutes:seconds based on handicap distance of 2,300 n.m.;
subtract time allowance from actual final elapsed time to determine
corrected handicap time)
(positions at 8 a.m. Wednesday)
Division 1 (Started July 15)
1. Magnitude 80
(Andrews 80), Doug Baker,
2.
Peligroso (Kernan 70), Mike
3. Pyewacket (Reichel/Pugh
90),
4. Rosebud (STP 65),
Roger Sturgeon,
5. Medicine Man
(Andrews 63),
Division 2 (Started
July 15)
1. Morning Light (Transpac
52), Jeremy Wilmot,
2. Samba Pa Ti (Transpac
52), John Kilroy Jr.,
3. Skylark (
4.
5. Lucky (Transpac
52), Bryon Ehrhart, Chicago (2:05:26:28), 1,833. .
6. DH-Pegasus 101
(Open 50),
7. Trader (Transpac
52), Fred Detwiler,
Holua (
Hugo Boss (Volvo 60),
Andy Tourell,
Division 3 (Started
July 15)
1. Denali (Nelson/Marek
70), William McKinley,
2. It's OK (Andrews
50), Tres Gordo Sailing,
3. Locomotion
(Andrews 45), Ed Feo,
5. Cheetah (ULDB 70),
Chris Slagerman,
7. Ragtime (Spencer
65), Chris Welsh,
Yumehyotan (Nelson/Marek
68), Yasuo Sano,
Division 4
(Started July 12)
1. Reinrag2 (J/125),
Tom Garnier,
3. Verizon Wireless
(ex-Stealth Chicken; Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho
4. Ruahatú (Concordia
47), Ricardo Brockmann,
5. Raincloud (J/48),
Lorenzo Berho
6. Delicate Balance
(Andrews 56), DBB Transpac LLC,
7. Bolt (Nelson/Marek
55), Craig Reynolds,
8. Lucky Dog (J/125),
Colin Shanner,
Division 50/52
(Started July 12)
1. Kokopelli 2 (
2. Horizon (
3.
5. Hula Girl (
6. Stags' Leap
Winery (ex-Chasch Mer;
7. Tachyon III (
8. Adrenalin (
9. Relentless (
Division 5 (Started
July 12)
1. Tower (Lidgard
45), Doug Grant,
3. On the Edge of
Destiny (1D35), Sean Doyle,
4. Recidivist
(Schumacher 39), Ken Olcott,
5. Paddy Wagon (Ross
40), Richard Mainland,
6. DH-Tango (J/133),
Michael Abraham/Phillip Rowe,
7. DH-Narrow Escape
(Fast 40), Allen Lehman Sr. and Jr.,
8.
9. Uncontrollable
Urge (
Division 6 (Started
July 9)
1. Far Far (
2. Psyche (
3. Peregrine (Hobie
33), Simon Garland,
4. Inspired
Environments (Beneteau First 40.7), Timothy Ballard,
5. DH-Brilliant
(J/100), Tim Fuller/Erik Shampain,
6. Brown Sugar
(Express 37), Steve Brown,
7.
8. Shanti (Olson
911S), Jon Eberly,
9.
DH-X Dream (X-119), Steen Moller/Bob MacDonald,
Aloha A
(Started July 9)
1. Ariadne (Ladd 73),
Frank Easterbrook,
2. French Kiss (Beneteau
50), Bryan Daniels,
3. Between the Sheets
(Jeanneau 52), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey (5:12:56:15), 1,155.
4. Windswept (Sean
57), Maxwell Phelps,
5. Enchilado (Jeanneau
54), Cesar de Saracho,
6.
Ho'okolohe (Farr 58), Alyson and
Cecil Rossi,
7. Alsumar (S&S 70),
Bill and Ted Davis,
8. Anna Katarina
(First 47.7), John Otterson,
Aloha B (Started July
9)
1. Cirrus (Standfast
40), William D. Myers,
2. Lady Liberty
(Catalina 36), John Wallner,
3. Traveler (North
Wind 47), Michael Lawler,
4. Mysteré (Swan 42),
Jorge Morales, Dana Point,
RETIRED---Ginny
(Calkins 50), Chris Calkins/Norm Reynolds,
RETIRED--Gaviota (Cal
2-46), Jim Partridge,
.
DH-Doublehanded.
Multihull
The Minnow (Catana 52
catamaran), Bob and Mike Webster,
LoeReal (Jeanneau 60
trimaran), H.L. Enloe,
Complete position
reports:
www.transpacificyc.org
COMMODORE
(310) 600-0158
ENTRIES CHAIRMAN
(831) 476-9639
PRESS OFFICER
(310) 835-2526
Cell (310) 766-6547 |
Reinrag2
is the overall leader
Philippe
keeps his cool
Morning
Light's Jeremy Wilmot with Pyewacket's Robbie Haines (l.) and
A
troubled Transponder
Click to
visit websites
Official
timekeeper of Transpac 2007
Shoreline YC
lead mainland host
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