Sunday, July 6th: The Start!

We won the start and 45 minutes into the race I handed the helm to Morgan who did a great job at extending our lead... Maybe too much of a great job as when the wind shifted right and we fell into a light spot things changed a bit.

We started in a Catalina eddy. That means that a local low pressure is stationed around the Santa Catalina Island and that the winds turn counter-clockwise in the LA basin. So the start was in a Southerly wind that would gradually shift right. We started in 4 knots of wind. We started to leeward of Pyewacket. We crossed the line bow to bow. Pyewacket tried to roll us, but we held our lane and pinched them off. Pyewacket then footed to leeward.

We clearly won the start.

However, the wind was so up and down that we fell into a wind-hole and parked the boat enough, that Pyewacket got their bow out from our bad air. They continued footing and kept on getting a huge right shift. The boat to the right with a big right hand shift makes the gains and they did.

2 hours into the race, Pyewacket is ahead of us, 20 boat lengths forward, leading to the Catalina Islands. We won the start but tactically let them get to our right. Now we’re paying the price. We’re about 1.5 minutes behind them. We now need to work on caching up. It’s a yacht race!

Pyewacket did a very good job at translating a losing start into a 20 boat length lead after we fell into a wind-hole. Its a yacht race!

Click more for press coverage from today

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42nd TRANSPACIFIC YACHT RACE Transpacific Yacht Club
Starts July 1-4-6, 2003 www.transpacificyc.org

July 6, 2003 For Immediate Release

PYEWACKET LEADS PEGASUS 77; TWO BOATS DROP OUT

LOS ANGELES— Roy E. Disney’s Pyewacket led Philippe Kahn’s Pegasus 77 past
the West End of Santa Catalina Island and into open ocean as the great match
race of the 42nd Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii unfolded Sunday.

“We’re about a mile ahead of Pegasus, which is dead astern,” Peter Isler,
Pyewacket’s navigator, reported by phone. “I can’t see anybody else right
now in the haze.”

The two lead boats passed the island 23 miles off the Pacific Coast a bit
more than 2 1/2 hours after the start.

Meanwhile, two smaller boats that started Friday dropped out. Lucky Dog, a
J/125 being sailed doublehanded by Peter Putnam and Len Bose of Newport
Beach, Calif., returned to its home port at noon Sunday because of a leak in
the steering column of its rudder.

The Cone of Silence, a Super 30 from Australia and the smallest boat in the
race at 31 feet, withdrew reporting “structural damage.” Skipper James Neill
said he did not require assistance.

Putnam said, “We got out 150 miles and found Saturday afternoon that the
rudder was letting water into the boat. We thought it would be better to
withdraw. We’re OK but disapppointed.”

Another boat transmitted an automatic distress signal early Sunday
morning—apparently accidentally. A Coast Guard C-130 responded to an EPIRB
(emergency position indicator radio beacon) alarm sent by Nick Martin’s
Schock 40, On Point, from Wilmington, Calif. On Point reported later that it
had taken a wave over the side that activated the alarm but caused no
damage.

The last 12 of 57 boats to start (now numbering 55) were surrounded by a
sun-splashed spectator fleet at the end of the Independence Day holiday
weekend in the U.S. They started in light wind off the cliffs of the Palos
Verdes Peninsula. Their destination is the landmark Diamond Head finish line
2,225 nautical miles away.

Among the final starters, the oddity was that all boats started on port
tack, with the wind at 5 knots from the south and coming over their left
(port) sides. Normally, boats prefer to start on starboard tack, which has
right of way over port tack, but the wind direction was such that everyone
was able to sail straight up the course.

James McDowell’s Grand Illusion, the race’s overall handicap winner in 1999,
was hugging the line headed toward the committee boat as the gun fired, but
the race committee hailed “all clear.” However, at the other end of the
line, Bill Turpin’s Alta Vita appeared to be trying to start on starboard
tack but realized too late that it couldn’t clear the inflatable buoy
marking the “pin” end. As the gun sounded, Alta Vita, a Transpac 52 from San
Francisco, was sailing the wrong way to turn around and start properly.

The best start was claimed by another Transpac 52, Karl Kwok’s Beau Geste
from Hong Kong that has Gavin Brady and other world-class New Zealand
sailors on board—all sailing their first Transpacs. Beau Geste started to
windward of Alta Vita and slightly ahead of John MacLaurin’s fire engine-red
Pendragon 4, the Davidson 52 prototype for the Transpac 52s.

Pyewacket started near the middle of the line directly windward of Pegasus
77, which then played the puffs and zephyrs expertly to sail higher and
faster until Pyewacket was directly behind. That changed in mid-channel, and
Pyewacket seized the lead as a fresh westerly breeze of 9-10 knots arrived,
allowing tacks to starboard for the first time.

“It was pretty fickle,” Isler said. “It kept teasing us halfway across [the
San Pedro Channel]. But we’re easily laying the West End by about four
miles.”

Isler, talking within earshot of Ben Mitchell, also a teammate with Team
Dennis Conner’s America’s Cup team last year, said, “Benny Mitchell used his
vast experience to position us to the right of the enemy. He said the right
side has always paid off in every test we did, and he finally had his chance
to prove it.”

To some observers, it appeared that Grand Illusion had jumped the gun. But a
race committee official said, “They were within two inches of being over. We
started to write down their number but they just got back.”

Among the boats already at sea, Peter Johnson’s Maitri, a J/160 from San
Diego that started Friday, had the best 24-hour run of 246 miles, averaging
10.3 knots, to stretch its lead in Division 3. The frontrunner was still
Roger and Brenda Kuske’s Dynamique 62, Lady Bleu II, from San Diego that
started Tuesday in the Aloha fleet. Lady Bleu II was almost halfway, 1,271
miles from Honolulu.

Grant Baldwin reported from the communications vessel Alaska Eagle that the
wind had gone light during the night and the air was “still cold.”

Daily position reports, charts, news summaries, photos will be posted at
www.transpacificyc.org until the completion of the race.

COMMODORE
Brad Avery
(949) 645-9412
brad@occsailing.com

ENTRIES CHAIRMAN
Bill Lee
(831) 464-4782
wizard@fastisfun.com

PRESS OFFICER
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
cell phone (310) 766-6547
richsail@earthlink.net

JULY 6 POSITION REPORTS AND START SCHEDULES

(Listed in order of projected corrected handicap time, noting actual miles
to go)

RACING DIVISION

Division 1 (started July 6)

Pegasus 77 (Reichel/Pugh 77), Philippe Kahn, Honolulu.
Pyewacket (R/P 75), Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles.

Division 2 (started July 6)

Alta Vita (Transpac 52), Bill Turpin, Santa Cruz, Calif.
Beau Geste (Transpac 52), Karl Kwok, Hong Kong.
Bengal II (Ohashi 52 ),Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan.
Grand Illusion (Santa Cruz 70), James McDowell, Lahaina, H.I.
Helsal II (Adams 60), W.E. Rawson, Melbourne, Australia.
Icon (Perry 65), Richard Robbins/Jim Roser, Seattle.
Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach, Calif.
Pendragon 4 (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Marina del Rey, Calif.
Renegade (Andrews 70), Dan Sinclair, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Vicki (Andrews 68), Al and Vicki Schultz, Long Beach.

Division 3 (started July 4)

1. Maitri (J/160), Peter Johnson, San Diego, 1,835 miles to go.
2. Pipe Dream IX (J/160), Scott Piper, Coral Gables, Fla., 1,856.
3. Horizon (Santa Cruz 50), Jack Taylor, Dana Point, Calif., 1,859.
4. Innocent Merriment (J/160), Myron Lyon, San Diego, 1,861.
5. Jeito (J/145), Francisco Guzman, Acapulco, Mexico, 1,860.
6. On Point (Schock 40), Nick Martin, Wilmington, Calif., 1,871.
7. Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Portland, Ore., 1,876.
8. The Cone of Silence (Australian Super 30), James and Jenny Neill,
Newport, NSW, Australia, withdrawn.
9. Lucky Dog (J/125), Peter Putnam, Newport Beach, withdrawn—DH.

Division 4 (started July 4)

1. Hot Tamale (J/120), Tom and Doug Jorgensen, Glendora, Calif., 1,888.
2. Tera’s XL (ILC 40), Antony and Daniel Barran, Northridge, Calif., 1,881.
3. Wild Thing (1D35), Chris and Kara Busch, San Diego, 1,894.
4. Tabasco (1D35), John Wylie, San Diego, 1,897.
5. Krakatoa (Young 32), Rod Skellet, Sydney, Australia, 1,912.
6. Swept Away (J/120), Louis Bianco, Seattle, 1,914.
7. Cool Man Cool2! (Sydney 38), Harrell Jones, Dana Point, Calif., 1,913.
8. Bolt (Olson 40), Craig Reynolds, Balboa, Calif., 1,913.
9. Two Guys On the Edge (1D35M), Dan Doyle, Honolulu, 1,911—DH.
10. Paddy Wagon (Ross 40), Richard Mainland, Marina del Rey, Calif., 1,911.
11. Lawndart (Cape Bay Fast 40), Bill Allan, Nanaimo, B.C., 1,933.

Division 5 (started July 1)

1. Wind Dancer (Catalina 42), Paul Edwards, Wilmington, Del., 1,401.
2. There and Back Again (Tripp 40), Robert Rice, Long Beach, 1,366.
3. B’Quest (Tripp 40), Challenged America/Urban Miyares, San Diego, 1,402.
4. Masquerade (Choate 40), Timothy Coker, San Diego, 1,437.

CAL 40 (started July 1)

1. Illusion, Stan and Sally Honey, Palo Alto, 1,393.
2. Redhead, Andrew Opple, Ketchum, Idaho, 1,421.
3. Flying Cloud, Darrell and Scott Wilson, Long Beach, 1,421.
4. Ralphie, Jill and Taylor Pillsbury, Laguna Beach/Eleanor and Davis
Pillsbury,
Snowmass, Colo., 1,421.
5. California Girl, Don and Betty Lessley, Point Richmond, Calif., 1,420.
6. Seafire, John T. Harrison, Honolulu, 1,437.
7. Ranger, William Partridge, Richmond, Calif., 1,450.
8. John B, Greg Boyer, Newport Beach, Calif., 1,453.
9. Celebrity, Gerald Finnegan, Redondo Beach, Calif., 1,468.
10. Willow Wind, Wendy Siegal, Sunset Beach, Calif., 1,462.

ALOHA DIVISION (started July 1)

Aloha A

1. Between the Sheets (Sun Odyssey 52.2), Ross Pearlman, Calabasas, Calif.,
1,315.
2. Beautiful Day (Beneteau 47.7), William Boyd, San Diego, 1,313.
3. Incredible (Swan 53), Rick Gorman, Los Alamitos, Calif., 1,332.
4. Marla R (Beneteau 50), Jon Richards, Mesa, Ariz., 1,328.
5. Lady Bleu II (Dynamique 62), Roger and Brenda Kuske, San Diego, 1,271.
6. Axapac (Wylie 39), Barry Ruff, Vancouver, B.C., 1,415.
7. Enchanted Lady (Roberts 55 ketch), Andy Sibert, Seal Beach, Calif.,
1,424.
8. Beach Music (Tayana 52), Kirby Coryell, Lafayette, Calif., 1,427—DH.

Aloha B

1. Barking Spider (Catalina 38), David Kory, Point Richmond, Calif., 1,472.
2. Pipe Dream (Choate/Feo 37), John Davis, Long Beach, 1,447.
3. Sea Dancer (Ericson 35), Alvin Wheatman, Marina del Rey, 1,547.

DH—Doublehanded.