FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
by Rich Roberts

Honolulu Hawai`i (July 13, 1999) - Kim Stebbens and a crew of five sailed Hurricane past Diamond Head Monday night to win the Cruising division of the 40th Transpacific Yacht Race.

The Septre 41 representing Seattle's Sloop Tavern Yacht Club completed the 2,225-nautical mile passage in 14 days 7 hours 42 minutes 9 seconds at an average speed of 7 knots. Roy E. Disney's Pyewacket went almost twice as fast (12.4 knots) in about half the time (7 days) to set a record for monohulls, but that's a high-tech racing machine. Most of the eight Cruisers are older boats with heavier displacement, less sail area - and furniture and refrigerators on board.

Bob Pace's 46-foot Esprit from Oceanside YC finished about five hours after Hurricane, followed by Wendy Siegal's Cal 40 Willow Wind from San Diego's Cortez Racing Association.

Other overnight finishers were Kjeld Hestehave's Tanton 73 Velos, San Diego YC; Don Clothier's Lidgard 45 Tower, Waikiki YC, and three boats in the closely contested Div. 3 for boats in the 50-foot category: Bill LeRoy and Jim Cascino's Santa Cruz 50 turbo Gone With the Wind, St. Francis YC; the Alamitos Bay Syndicate's Perry 56 Stealth Chicken, with Jerry Montgomery as skipper, and Fred Howe's Santa Cruz 52 Warpath, Santa Cruz YC.

Gone With the Wind actually finished almost three hours behind Stealth Chicken and 2 minutes 26 seconds behind Warpath but eclipsed both on corrected handicap time.

Tower was the only finisher in Div. 4 for 40-footers but Tom Garnier's J/35 Great Scot, with 247 miles to go, was ahead of the pace needed to correct out for first place overall in the class.

There was still no radio contact with Vapor, a 25-footer from Long Beach's Alamitos Bay YC sailed by Bill Boyd and Scott Atwood. But the little boat was not expected until Tuesday night or Wednesday and perhaps later depending on wind conditions and possible gear problems.

Photos, e-mail from boats, daily progress and position reports, charts, crew lists and other information are available on the race web page.

Arrival Party Photos are at http://holoholo.org/transpac/99arrivals/