Disabled crew take the lead

Rich Roberts reports from the centennial Transpac race to Hawaii

If the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race had a yellow jersey, the crew of disabled sailors from Challenged America would be sharing it right now.

Like Lance Armstrong in France, the four men and able-bodied skipper Joshua Ross from San Diego climbed a mountain in the Pacific Ocean Wednesday to stand closer to Hawaii than any of the other 32 boats from the four classes of smaller boats that started Monday.

As cold winds increased to 20-25 knots from the northwest, morning position reports had Challenged America's Tripp 40 B'Quest, 2,059 nautical miles from the finish on Day 3 of the 2,225-mile race, despite sailing one man short because Jeff Reinhold had to stay behind because of an elbow infection.

Challenged America co-founder Urban Miyares, sailing his second successive Transpac, reported by e-mail: "We had a great start, but with new mast and rigging it took us about an hour to really get the boat in tune. Currently, it is big swell but overall glassy conditions. Currently, Captain Josh is driving, Jim [Halverson] is trimming and Kevin [Wixom] and Scott [Meide] are down below napping. I'm the lookout."

Miyares, a Vietnam veteran, is blind. "I am trying to get used to the galley and trying to remember where we packed everything," he said. "It has helped that we have cookies. Our thanks go out to all of the supporters who made cookies for us. I think next Transpac we will do it just on cookies."

Two boats were two miles back: Steve Brown's Express 37 Brown Sugar also from San Diego and David Johnson's Plan B. Plan B also led Aloha A class on corrected handicap time. Brown Sugar and B'Quest were second and third in Division V, behind Reed Barnard and Brian VanderZanden sailing the J/35 Diablo doublehanded.

In the 14-boat Cal 40 fleet, Davis Pillsbury's Ralphie had a two-mile lead on Sally Honey's all-woman Illusion with 2,063 miles to go.

The Division III and IV boats plus Shanakee II from Aloha A will start Friday, followed by the Division I and II thoroughbreds on Sunday. Both starts will be off the Palos Verdes Peninsula at 1300 (local time), the latter following a ceremonial start by past Transpac competitors, including the legendary Windward Passage. Several of the boats will be departing from Rainbow Harbor in downtown Long Beach starting at 9:30 a.m.

Former Indy 500 driver Dick Simon, 72, was finding his first sailboat race to be a frustrating adjustment. "It took us 18 hours to pass [Santa] Catalina [Island]," navigator Sue Senescu reported from Madrina, a well-equipped Cabo Rico 56 in Alpha A class. "That is an average of 1 knot! High-energy Dick is frustrated with the light winds.
[Tuesday] we sailed with our whole class in sight all around us, bobbing. Our 27-mile run from the start to the first check-in was an all time screaming start - you could hear us screaming at the wind gods.

Grant Baldwin reported from the communications vessel Alaska Eagle: "Another long cold night with NW winds 20-25 knots, 100% overcast, still no sun. The entire fleet now seems to be in the breeze. Rather unpleasant night with lots of wind and lumpy seas. Some ate dinner twice."