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Pyewacket crosses the finish line at the Diamond Head lighthouse in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race.

A flying finish but no record for Pyewacket

HONOLULU---A flying finish almost made the first half of the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii forgettable as Pyewacket's bid for the record fell 9 hours 7 minutes 44 seconds short Sunday.

Roy Pat Disney, co-skipper with Gregg Hedrick, described the race in brief as "frustrating and exhilarating . . . and sad."

Frustrating in the first 600 miles of light wind struggling, exhilarating in the final days to the finish that saw them blowing past the landmark finish line off the Diamond Head volcano at 26 knots, and sad that his dad, Roy E. Disney, wasn't along for the ride.

The elder Disney stepped off the boat the day it was to sail but was at the Aloha Tower dock in Honolulu Harbor to greet it, along with hula girls, leis and friends and family of the 19-man crew.

Pyewacket missed Morning Glory's record of 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds set in the previous race in 2005.

Chip Megeath's Santa Cruz 52, Kokopelli 2, had a three-day head start and led until late on the final morning when the 94-foot Pyewacket swept past to finish first, 1 hour 42 minutes ahead of its older and smaller rival. That wins no awards in itself, but Pyewacket's claim to this year's fastest elapsed time of 7 days 1 hour 11 minutes 56 seconds will earn it the third Barn Door for a Pyewacket boat, following similar successes in 1997 and '99.

Kokopelli 2 also set the tone for a resurrection of the Santa Cruz 50s and 52s that turned out in nine boats to form their own class this year and currently stand third through eighth on overall corrected handicap time among boats still racing. The leader is an even smaller boat, the J/125 41-footer Reinrag2, which has logged mileage (280, 256) second only to Division 1 leaders Pyewacket (391, 345) and Magnitude 80 (291, 317) on Friday and that pair plus Kokopelli 2 (269) on Saturday.

All of those smaller boats started on Thursday, three days ahead of the big boats, a point not lost on Pyewacket's noted navigator, Stan Honey. Asked what he would do differently, Honey responded, "Start on Thursday."

Divisions 3 and 4 and the 50/52s found a window that was closed for the Monday and Sunday starters who were plagued by a minefield of light air pockets floating around the eastern Pacific.

Even so, Kokopelli 2 skipper Chip Megeath of Tiburon, Calif., said that he and navigator Jeff Thorpe found success going south because "the [Pacific] High was so far south our job was to own the south . . . make it our south."

Thorpe added, "We put a spinnaker up the second day and had one up the whole race. Every time we went right the wind would drop four knots."

Dean Barker, New Zealand's America's Cup helmsman, sailed on Pyewacket as a change of pace from the intensity of match racing, although the light-wind part mirrored what he experienced at Valencia last month.

"It was a good opportunity to do some ocean racing," he said. "It's different to sail a canting keel boat."

Roy Pat Disney said the boat's speed ranged "from zero to 28.8 [knots] this morning before Molokai."

But the highlight was the last wild ride to the finish in following winds of 30 knots gusting to 34.

And if, after Roy E. Disney's efforts to charter his boat back from the Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship and powering it up with massive modifications, it wasn't good enough for the record, Robbie Haines, the sailing manager, said, "It just wasn't to be. The boat performed marvelously."

A record wasn't in the wind.

The race's other remaining drama continued far at sea with the two Transpac 52s, Morning Light and Samba Pa Ti, still locked together in a match race on their own little pond. Sunday morning's roll call reports showed Samba Pa Ti slightly south and still within sight of Morning Light with a one-mile lead.

Transblogs from the boats

Denali (Bill McKinley): Last evening Team Denali experienced one of those nights that sailors fear. Slow sailing for 4-plus hours. At times we were down to less than 2 knots for hours on end. All of this slow sailing was caused by numerous rain cells that flushed themselves and shut off the winds. This slow sailing was interspersed momentarily with high speed sailing as the winds in front of these cells push us to 15-plus knots. This madding cycle finally ended this morning as we found our way out of this rat's nest of cells into clear clean air. As we were exiting the last of the cells, we were being escorted by a small pod of dolphins. I had to wonder if it was a message for the gods or from our fallen fathers (who all sailed) leading us to better winds. After hearing the sked this morning and still finding us first in our division, a great sigh of relief went up. We had survived!

Reinrag2 (Dr. D): Oh OOOhhh.. What a night (oh, what a garden of delight). If you saw our progress on the standings this morning, you probably can guess we had a good day yesterday. We did. We also had a great night last night. Really words can't describe, but let me try. It was what we came for. The moon was out, we were headed straight for Diamond Head and we were surfing down 15-foot seas. About 20-25-knot winds and R^2 just dances. The boat starts off at 12 knots, picks up a wave and suddenly you're doing 15 . . . then you come up on the wave in front, punch in with the spray going both ways and over the deck and you just keep going faster. 17 knots? Sure . . . sometimes 20. Feels like you've broken the sound barrier and speed no longer matters. After a while a lull comes or you bounce off a wave a little hard so you slow down. Then you start all over again. You could spend millions to get a ride on a rocket, and not get the experience we had.

Pegasus 101 Philippe Kahn): Bang! I mean big bang. I’m driving on deck, Richard is sleeping down bellow. The tip of the boom comes up violently. The vang pad-eye just exploded.
I engage the pilot while watching carefully, trim in the main sheet and start looking for attachment points. Once I’m ready, I wake up Richard to see if he agrees with my new rig. We lost two knots of boat speed. That’s the challenge with being doublehanded: Now we got to do some boat building and can’t push the boat as fast. We’ll find a way.

Locomotion: The water shortage situation is tense --- but manageable. We are trying to use less than the rationed 1/2 gallon per day per man, knowing that need will rise as we near the Islands (increasing temperature and more physical sailing in increasing trade winds). A few "low hydration headaches" have afflicted the crew, with cotton mouth for all, but better to be a little uncomfortable now than physiologically incapacitated the last few days. Your author scrapes the salt flecks off of his daily ration of twisted pretzels to reduce sodium intake. We have devised a rain catching regime should any squalls prove sufficiently wet. It involves fashioning a funnel of sorts out of our genoa staysail, directed down the companionway into an empty 6-gallon jerry can with its top cut off. So far no luck finding wet squalls.

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, Gladstone's Restaurant, Ayres Hotels and L. Gaylord Sportswear.

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 6 a.m. PDT Sunday)

Division 1 (Started July 15)

1. Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach, Calif. (00:4:32:33), 380 miles to go.

2. Pyewacket (Reichel/Pugh 90), Roy E. Disney, Burbank, Calif. (minus-00:21:09:13), 142.

3. Peligroso (Kernan 70), Mike Campbell/Dale Williams, Long Beach (1:05:17:12), 712.

4. Rosebud (STP 65), Roger Sturgeon, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (1:04:09:36), 760.

5. Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, Long Beach (1:07:02:37), 819.

Division 2 (Started July 15)

1. Holua (Santa Cruz 70), Brack Duker, Pasadena, Calif. (2:08:51:12), 891.

2. Morning Light (Transpac 52), Jeremy Wilmot, Honolulu (2:05:27:19), 890.

3. Skylark (Santa Cruz 70), Doug Ayres, Newport Beach, Calif. (2:06:24:05), 898.

4. Samba Pa Ti (Transpac 52), John Kilroy Jr., Los Angeles (2:04:02:17), 889.

5. Westerly (Santa Cruz 70), Thomas and Timothy Hogan, Newport Beach (2:06:06:45), 924.

56. DH-Pegasus 101 (Open 50), Philippe Kahn/Richard Clarke, Honolulu (2:00:47:54), 905.

7. Hugo Boss (Volvo 60), Andy Tourell, Gosport, UK (1:23:10:32), 899.

8. Lucky (Transpac 52), Bryon Ehrhart, Chicago (2:05:26:28), 976.

9. Trader (Transpac 52), Fred Detwiler, Pompano Beach, Fla. (2:09:31:32), 1,013.

Division 3 (Started July 15)

1. Denali (Nelson/Marek 70), William McKinley, Grosse Pointe, Mich. (2:13:37:33), 902.

2. It's OK (Andrews 50), Tres Gordo Sailing, Glendora, Calif. (2:14:25:31), 929.

3. Ragtime (Spencer 65), Chris Welsh, Newport Beach (2:23:51:49), 998. 4. Cheetah (ULDB 70), Chris Slagerman, Los Angeles (2:18:18:28), 974.

5. Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Encino, Calif. (2:19:54:52), 1,033.

6. Locomotion (Andrews 45), Ed Feo, Long Beach (3:03:56:13), 1,072.

7. Bengal 7 (Ohashi 46), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan (3:03:43:16), 1,097.

8. Yumehyotan (Nelson/Marek 68), Yasuo Sano, Osaka, Japan (2:22:57:25), 1,090.

Division 4 (Started July 12)

1. Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Wilsonville, Ore. (3:22:20:02), 211.

2. Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, Santa Rosa, Calif. (3:16:51:29), 209.

3. Verizon Wireless (ex-Stealth Chicken; Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (3:08:33:34), 264.

4. Ruahatú (Concordia 47), Ricardo Brockmann, Acapulco, Mexico (3:23:58:37), 433.

5. Raincloud (J/48), Lorenzo Berho Corona, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (3:22:26:21), 635.

6. Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach (4:00:24:09), 724.

RETIRED ---Lucky Dog (J/125), Colin Shanner, San Diego (3:21:37:33).

RETIRED---Delicate Balance (Andrews 56), DBB Transpac LLC, San Rafael, Calif. (3:20:58:21).

Division 50/52 (Started July 12)

1. Kokopelli 2 (Santa Cruz 52), S.A. (Chip) Megeath, Tiburon, Calif. (3:03:55:25), 124.

2. Horizon (Santa Cruz 50), Jack Taylor, Dana Point, Calif. (4:00:14:46), 322.

3. Tachyon III (Santa Cruz 52), Kazumasa Nishioka, Tokyo (3:18:57:36), 298.

4. Fortaleza (Santa Cruz 50), Jim Morgan, Long Beach (4:00:12:42), 346.

5. Passion (Santa Cruz 50), Steve Hastings, Corpus Christi, Tex. (3:20:35:39), 322.

6. Hula Girl (Santa Cruz 50T), Beau Gayner, Newport Beach (3:17:23:38), 307.

7. Stags' Leap Winery (ex-Chasch Mer; Santa Cruz 50), Gib Black, Honolulu (4:05:22:35), 438.

8. Adrenalin (Santa Cruz 50), David Clark, Newport Beach (3:19:43:59), 663.

9. Relentless (Santa Cruz 52), Will Durant/Rick Brizendine, Long Beach (3:16:42:19), 756.

Division 5 (Started July 12)

1. Tower (Lidgard 45), Doug Grant, San Pedro, Calif. (4:10:51:22), 444.

2. Rancho Deluxe (Swan 45), Mike Diepenbrock, Sacramento, Calif. (4:10:34:37), 443.

3. On the Edge of Destiny (1D35), Sean Doyle, Kailua, H.I. (5:00:05:40), 578.

4. Paddy Wagon (Ross 40), Richard Mainland, Los Angeles (4:15:58:16), 540.

5. Recidivist (Schumacher 39), Ken Olcott, Los Altos, Calif. (5:09:17:24), 650.

6. DH-Tango (J/133), Michael Abraham/Phillip Rowe, Newport Beach (4:19:58:16), 706.

7. DH-Narrow Escape (Fast 40), Allen Lehman Sr. and Jr., Payson, Ariz. (4:20:59:25), 733.

8. Tabasco (1D35), Gary Fanger, San Francisco (5:02:01:10), 780.

9. Uncontrollable Urge (Columbia 30), James/Chris Gilmore, Carlsbad, Calif. (4:23:42:31), 954.

Division 6 (Started July 9)

1. Far Far (Cal 40), Don Grind, Placerville, Calif. (7:02:47:32), 495.

2. Psyche (Cal 40), Steve Calhoun, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. (7:03:57:50), 500.

3. Peregrine (Hobie 33), Simon Garland, San Diego (5:21:13:46), 385.

4. Inspired Environments (Beneteau First 40.7), Timothy Ballard, Sausalito, Calif. (5:20:14:31), 485.

5. DH-Brilliant (J/100), Tim Fuller/Erik Shampain, Murrieta, Calif. (5:21:44:43), 518.

6. Brown Sugar (Express 37), Steve Brown, Santa Ana, Calif. (6:03:41:56), 573.

7. California Girl (Cal 40), Don and Betty Lessley, Novato, Calif. (7:01:16:11), 665.

8. DH-X Dream (X-119), Steen Moller/Bob MacDonald, Point Richmond, Calif. (5:12:37:00), 557.

9. Shanti (Olson 911S), Jon Eberly, Greenbrae, Calif. (7:17:47:09), 793.

Aloha A (Started July 9)

1. Ariadne (Ladd 73), Frank Easterbrook, Newport Beach (4:08:39:09), 202.

2. Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey (5:12:56:15), 369.

3. Windswept (Sean 57), Maxwell Phelps, Jamul, Calif. (5:06:21:29), 398. 4. French Kiss (Beneteau 50), Bryan Daniels, Alamo, Calif. (5:11:59:45), 446.