Ala Wai Harbor, Waikiki, Hawai`i (13 July 2001) -- Dan Doyle and Bruce Burgess would tell you to think twice - maybe three times - before you consider sailing the Transpacific Yacht Race in a small boat with only one other person. They did it in Doyle's Sonoma 30, Two Guys On the Edge, finishing off Diamond Head before dawn Friday after 12 days 18 hours 46 minutes 19 seconds.

That was 8 hours 42 minutes slower than Burgess and Les Vasconcellos did it on the same 30-foot sloop in 1999, but it was fast enough to win the three-boat Doublehanded Division overall on corrected handicap time over the Howard Gordon/Jay Crum Jutson 50 that set a doublehanded elapsed time record of 10:04:04:01.

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. "All that was missing was a bottle of wine and music. 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 41st Transpac.

"Last night made the whole trip worth it," Doyle said. "We were surfing."

They were out of gas and had to be towed all the way in to Ala Wai Yacht Harbor, but that wasn't the worst shortage. They also were out of food.

"We haven't eaten in two days," Doyle said as they tidied up their boat and then dived into the luau spread prepared by their welcome committee. "The freeze-dried food was horrible. The last night we had this orange mandarin chicken stuff. We each took one bite and thew it out."

They were also met with leis by Natalie Frazier, a 12-year-old lymphoma survivor from the Honolulu suburb of Mililani. They had dedicated their effort to the San Diego/Hawaii Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and appointed Frazier an honorary crew member.

Attached to their name sign on their bow rail was a notice: "Head Foil by Santa Cruz 50 Bay Wolf. Huge Mahalos (thank yous)."

Burgess said, "Without them we wouldn't be here."

His reference was to the headfoil loaned by Bay Wolf owner Kirk Wilson when Two Guys learned at the five-minute warning gun for the start June 30 that their headsail didn't fit their new headfoil. Wilson removed his, passed it over and Two Guys started 47 minutes late - a delay that didn't matter by the end of the race.

"We broke it in two places putting it on but we had one track left," Doyle said.

Their only other problem was a bad spinnaker wrap that they managed to untangle in the face of an approaching squall.

"We're really pleased with the way the boat handled," Doyle said. "Finding ourselves in eighth place after the start, we thought coming back would be more difficult."

The last two boats - Mystere and Watercolors - were expected to finish Saturday.

TRANSPAC PUBLICITY Rich Roberts cell phone (310) 213-2526 Information center (808) 946-9061 richroberts@compuserve.com