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SEE: Transpacific Yacht Club website for all the action...
For Immediate Release
LONG BEACH, CA (May 20, 2003) -- The final entry deadline for the 42nd
Transpacific Yacht Race is this Friday, May 23. The first of three starts will be 39 days
later.
G'day, mates, and no worries, say three Australian entries already signed up
for the 2,225-nautical mile romp from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Uncommitted
contestants are urged to contact entries chairman Bill Lee at (831) 464-4872
or by e-mail.
Entries currently total 60, which would be the most since 64 boats sailed in 1985.
The turnout from Down Under features William Rawson's Helsal II, an Adams 60
from Melbourne; Rod Skellet's Krakatoa, a Young 32 from Sydney, and---just
in this week---James and Jenny Neill's The Cone of Silence, an Australian
Super 30 from Newport, New South Wales. All have extensive ocean racing
records, including the Sydney-Hobart race.
"We poor people who sail small boats are always looking for the next
challenge," Skellet said. "Doing offshore races in small boats sparks a bit
of interest from the yachting media as most of them think we are nuts even contemplating a Hobart or a Transpac."
Not for long. Krakatoa finished the last Sydney-Hobart in 3 days 7
hours---the fastest time ever for a boat less than 10 meters (32 1/2 feet)
long.
"We actually came within 15 minutes of breaking the 40-foot record, but the
wind god was against us," Skellet said. "It took us two hours to cover the
last two miles."
Like Krakatoa, The Cone of Silence also is rated exceptionally fast for its
size, without sacrificing speed---a design concept fostered by the tragic
1998 Sydney-Hobart when six sailors were lost.
Skellet said, "The IMS [rating rule] encouraged tender boats with small
kites and poles, which is both
less seaworthy and slow. I wanted something stiff, strong, seaworthy, fast
and safe so my crew could venture out in all but the worst conditions and
have a pretty good chance of finishing and have a lot of fun at the same
time."
Skellet and the Neills have won several Australian national small boat
championships. At the other end of the scale, Rawson will sail Helsal II
with a 16-person crew including three women. He has competed in five
Sydney-Hobarts, as well as the recent Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro race.
Transpac will mark his third participation in the 13 events considered to be
the top offshore/ocean races, including three in which size doesn't count.
Skellet said, "I have a tremendous crew of experienced offshore small boat
sailors, as compared to
experienced offshore big boat sailors, and a preparedness and commitment to
give our best on the water, and I am really looking forward to that famous
Transpac welcome in Honolulu."
TRANSPAC CAMEOS
Some Transpac boats, including Roy E. Disney's record-holder, Pyewacket, and
Wendy Siegal's 2001 Aloha class winner, the Cal 40 Willow Wind, are expected
to compete in the 23rd annual Around Catalina race organized by Cabrillo
Beach and Dana Point Yacht Clubs this weekend. The 75-nautical mile course
starts near the Los Angeles Harbor entrance lighthouse, leaves Santa
Catalina Island 22 miles offshore to port and finishes at the Dana Point
Harbor breakwater down the coast. . . .
The 2003 Transpac is scheduled for a half-hour presentation Sept. 8, 10 p.m.
Pacific Time, on ESPN2. A re-air is scheduled Sept. 9 at 9 a.m. Pacific.
Advertising opportunities are available by contacting producer Leslie
DeMeuse at (949) 916-7669. . . .
Karl Kwok's new Transpac 52, Beau Geste, is on a ship from New Zealand bound
for San Francisco. The crew includes Gavin Brady and several other
world-class Kiwi sailors. The Hong Kong businessman plans to sail it in the
Coastal Race June 14 from San Francisco to Santa Catalina Island as a
tune-up. . . .
The last Safety at Sea seminar before Transpac---required of 30 per cent of
the crew and both members of a doublehanded crew within the last fiveyears---is scheduled June 28 at the Orange Coast College of Sailing and
Seamanship in Newport Beach. The most recent one in March drew a full house
of 126 people, most of them Transpac participants, so those interested are
urged to sign up by phone at (949) 645-9412, ext. 2.
Divisions to be determined
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