More finishers

Tales from the high seas as boats pour into Hawaii on the centennial Transpac

They bought their combination HAM-SSB radio on the Internet for $550, thoroughly grounded it with aluminum foil off the kitchen self and checked standard weather reports daily to see where the best winds would be.

"We didn't try to be original," said Scott Self, who with Nigel Brown sailed his Hobie 33 Soap Opera to first place in Division V and among seven doublehanded boats in the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii. Oh, and their sails were green. "My favorite color," said Self, a soap manufacturer from Rockwall, Tex. "We didn't have any sail problems at all, and our radio worked better than some of the state-of-the-art stuff on the million-dollar big boats. All that carbon fiber causes problems."

Their only problem was when their heavy duty aluminum tiller broke at the head of the rudder on the 13th and final night as they were about to enter the blustery Molokai Channel with their spinnaker up.

"The boat went on its side, but the hatch was sealed, so we weren't going to sink," Self said. They rigged their emergency wooden tiller in 30 minutes and were under way again, but without a spinnaker. "We knew we had won the division and doublehanded, so we went very conservative," Self said. "But we were still hitting 15 knots."

Their elapsed time for the 2,225 nautical miles was 13 days 1 hour 10 minutes 35 seconds, an average speed of 7.1 knots.

Their watch system was four hours on and four hours . . . on. They finished with a plastic crate still full of food because "it was so rough we could eat only one meal a day," Self said. "One guy couldn't leave the helm and the other had to trim all the time."

Sleep? "About one hour a day," Self said.

Self and Brown have been sailing together for 20 years so obviously are past becoming incompatible during two weeks on a small boat. Brown said, "There's a real risk of that happening with some people, but Scott and I know what to expect from each other."

Among the other finishers, Davis Pillsbury's Ralphie arrived at 2300 HST Sunday, winning the 14 boat Cal 40 class by more than 10 hours, followed by a flood of wrong-way rivals Monday. Steve Calhoun's Psyche, which won overall under Don Salisbury in the Cal 40's historic debut in 1965, was second in its first appearance in the race since.

Challenged America's B'Quest, a team of sailors with disabilities from San Diego, came fourth overall among eight boats in Division V. Despite sailing short one crew and with veteran Urban Miyares ailing, they finished their second successive Transpac a half-hour behind Ralphie.

Larry Hillman's Swan 48 So Far from Chicago, won Aloha B at dusk Sunday for a runaway sweep on both elapsed and handicap time.

As expected, five boats did beat the older Pyewacket's Transpac record of 7 days 11 hours 41 minutes 27 seconds, led by Hasso Plattner's Barn Door win with Morning Glory early Sunday morning in 6:16:04:11. The others were Roy Disney's new Pyewacket in 6:18:32:25, Randall Pittman's Genuine Risk in 6:22:02:35, Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 in 7:03:02:57 and Doug DeVos's Windquest in 7:05:58:03.

Magnitude 80 was second overall to Morning Glory on handicap time in Division 1, but the King Kalakaua winner is now a battle between two Transpac 52s. Philippe Kahn's Pegasus holds a 25-minute handicap lead over Roger Sturgeon's Rosebud. Pegasus led by 40 miles at Monday morning's position report but owes Rosebud, an earlier generation TP 52, more than three hours. Pegasus was due to finish late Monday night or early Tuesday - and then start counting.

Meanwhile, the smallest boat in the race, Jamie and Jenny Neil's Super 30 The Cone of Silence from Australia, threatened to steal the show with its surge to the front of the Division III pack, now 12 miles in front of Tim Beatty's Perry 56 Stealth Chicken. Tom Garnier's J/125 Reinrag2 is next and leads The Cone of Silence by 4½ hours on handicap time. With strong trade winds now blowing in the islands, all are expected to finish Tuesday morning into mid-day.

Standings
(At 8 a.m. PDT Monday in order of corrected handicap time; total handicap time allowances in parentheses by hours/minutes/seconds; actual nautical miles to go for boats still racing listed last.)

Division I (Started July 17)

1. Morning Glory (R/P maxZ86), Hasso Plattner, Kiel, Germany (0:00:00), elapsed time 6 days 16 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds (betters record of 7:11:41:27 by Pyewacket 3, 1999).
2. Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach, ET 7:03:02:57, CT 6:07:17:59. 3. Pyewacket (R/P maxZ86), Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles (0:00:00), ET 6:18:32:25, CT 6:18:32:25.
4. Genuine Risk (Dubois 90), Randall Pittman, La Jolla, Calif. (0.00:23), 6:22:02:35, CT 6:22:02:12.
5. Windquest (R/P maxZ86), Dick & Doug DeVos, Holland, Mich. (6:51:07), ET 7:05:58:03, CT 6:23:06:56.
6. Scout Spirit (R/P 77), Bill Turpin, Newport Beach, Calif. (32:21:35), 141 miles to go.
7. Beecom (Reichel/Pugh 72), Isao Mita, Yokohama, Japan (30:16:07), 163.

Division II (Started July 17)

1. Pegasus 52 (Transpac 52), Philippe Kahn, Honolulu (51:49:29), 225.
2. Rosebud (Transpac 52), Roger Sturgeon, San Francisco (55:04:54), 265.
3. Coruba (N/M 68), Rob and Suzanne Fleming, Seattle (57:52:37), 324.
4. Skylark (S/C 70), Doug Ayres, Newport Beach (52:18:53), 280.
5. Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach (45:59:58), 226.
5. Trader (Transpac 52), Fred Detwiler, Pompano Beach, Fla. (52:18:39), 285.
7. Mongoose (Santa Cruz 70), Bradley Thorson, Bellevue, Wash. (57:38:37), 348.
8. Ragtime (Spencer 66), Peterson/Richards/Welsh, Honolulu (69:08:37), 452.
9. Braveheart (Transpac 52), Charles Burnet, Seattle (55:23:53), 354.
10. Merlin (Lee 68), Patricia Steele, Maui, H.I. (41:54:03), 355.
11. Bengal 2 (Ohashi 52), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan (64:07:15), 567.
12. Renegade (Andrews 70), Dan Sinclair, Vancouver, B.C. (40:03:46), 422.
13. Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Encino, Calif. (65:20:10), RETIRED.

Division III (Started July 15)

1. Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Portland, Ore. (90:15:09), 270.
2. The Cone of Silence (Super 30), Jamie and Jenny Neill, Sydney, Australia (83:69:39), 254.
3. Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, San Francisco (84:08:21), 271.
4. Stealth Chicken (Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (80:52:12), 266.
5. Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach, Calif. (90:16:35), 338.
6. Artemis (Andrews 53), Louis Bianco, Seattle (90:58:29), 352.
7. Chasch Mer (S/C 50), Gib Black, Honolulu (95:31:20), 414.
8. Jeito (J/145), Francisco Guzman, Acapulco, Mexico (86:10:42), 374.
9. Blue (J/160), Ken and /Cheryl Sears, Nashville, Tenn. (93:03:17), 421.
10. Innocent Merriment (J/160), Myron Lyon, San Diego (91:10:54), 431.
11. DH-Serena (T1150), David Kuettel/Dave Van Houten, Bel Marin, Calif. (84:32:16), 439.
12. Barking Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (74:38:45), 427.
13. Dasher (S/C 50), Roger Groh, Sausalito, Calif. (89:38:24), 686.

Division IV (Started July 15)

1. Tabasco (1D35), Alamitos Bay Syndicate, Long Beach. (115:31:05), 404.
2. Wild Impulse (J/120), Larry Barels, Santa Barbara, Calif. (122:19:04), 562.
3. Sensation (1D35), Rodney Hagebols, San Francisco. (115:11:28), 528.
4. Kahoots (Andrews 43), Kerry Deaver/Bob Williamson, Newport Beach (119:24:28), 573.
5. Pursuit (Custom 48), Norman and Rosemary Dawley, Solomons, Md. (121:2:04), 592.
6. Uproarious (Olson 40), Robert Bussard, San Diego. (123:41:45), 679.
DH-Two Guys On the Edge (1D35), Dan Doyle, Kailua, H.I. (114:54:33), NO REPORT.

Division V (Started July 11)

1. DH-Soap Opera (Hobie 33), Scott Self/Nigel Brown, Rockwall, Tex. (141:56:43), ET 13:01:10:45, CT 7:03:14:02.
2. Brown Sugar (Express 37), Steve Brown, Santa Ana, Calif. (141:30:59), ET 13:08:39:23, CT 7:13:08:24.
3. Super Gnat (Beneteau First 40.7), Cliff Thompson, San Diego (132:16:04), ET 13:03:58:12, CT 7:15:42:08.
4. B'Quest (Tripp 40), Challenged America, San Diego (136:41:18), ET 13:13:31:50, CT 7:04:50:32.
5. Showdown (IMX 38), Pete Meade/Mike Luna/ Paul McDonald, Irvine, Calif. (136:02:44), ET 13:15:35:32, CT 7:23:32:48.
6. DH-Diablo (J/35), Reed Bernhard/Brian VanderZanden, Anacortes, Wash. (150:24:54), 132.
7. Iataia (Beneteau First 40.7), Marcos Rodriguez, Acapulco, Mexico (133:59:14), 58.
8. DH-Jacaré (J/35), Jeff Young/Rich Blackman, San Diego (148:46:04), 234.

Cal 40 (Started July 11)

1. Ralphie (Cal 40), Davis Pillsbury, Woody Creek, Colo. (165:37:14), ET 13:12:59:05, CT 6:15:21:51.
2. Illusion (Cal 40), Sally Honey, Palo Alto, Calif. (167:07:37), 41.
3. Psyche (Cal 40), Steve Calhoun, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. (166:05:17), 36.
4. Far Far (Cal 40), Don Grind, Naples, Fla. (164:53:27), 41.
5. Seafire (Cal 40), John Harrison, Honolulu. (168:13:35), 65.
6. Shaman (Cal 40), Steve Waterloo, Alameda, Calif. (166:13:50), 64.
7. Callisto (Cal 40), Jim Eddy, Glendale, Calif. (164:44:47), 62.
8. Radiant (Cal 40), Fin Beven, Pasadena, Calif. (164:09:20), 69.
9. Dancing Bear (Cal 40), Mark Schrader, Sitka, Alaska. (165:01:55), 91. 10. Azure (Cal 40), Rodney Pimentel, Alameda, Calif. (165:50:20), 117.
11. Willow Wind (Cal 40), Wendy Siegal, Sunset Beach, Calif. (166:28:31), 136.
12. Spectre (Cal 40), Lee Rogge, Seattle. (165:13:28), 164.
13. Bubala (Cal 40), Lloyd Sellinger, Newport Beach. (168:51:37), 309.
14. California Girl (Cal 40), Don and Betty Lessley, Richmond, Calif. (163:20:29), RETIRED.

Aloha A (Started July 11)

1. Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey, Calif., ET 12:12:22:08, CT 7:06:08:51.
2. Odyssey (58' yawl), Audrey Steele Burnand, Newport Beach, ET 12:15:10:48, CT 7:06:17:01.
3. Plan B (Peterson 48), David Johnson, Long Beach, ET 12:16:52:51, CT 7:09:45:32.
4. Madrina (Cabo Rico 56), Dick Simon, Dana Point, Calif. (124:52:04), ET 13:02:15:09, CT 7:03:23:05.
5. Incredible (Swan 53), Rick Gorman, Los Alamitos, Calif. (126:14:24), ET 13:08:36:11, CT 8:02:21:47.
6. DH-Charmed Life (Catalina 470), Patricia Garfield/Diane Murray, San Francisco (131:54:20), 165.
7. Enchilado (Jeanneau 54), Cesar de Saracho, Mazatlan, Mexico. (112:22:50), 97.
8. Shanakee II (Pedrick 74), James Warmington, Costa Mesa, Calif. (83:26:25), 328 (started July 15).

Aloha B (Started July 11)

1. So Far (Swan 48), Larry Hillman, Chicago (147:28:54), ET 13:08:18:09, CT 7:04:49:15.
2. Wind Dancer (Catalina 42), Paul Edwards, Ventura, Calif. (149:50:14), 31.
3. Pipe Dream (CF 37), John Davis, Long Beach. (164:43:08), 141.
4. Azure (Swan 441), Samuel Beckey, San Diego. (138:17:59), 408.
5. DH-Camille (Stewart 42), James and Ann Read, San Francisco (141:52:48), 948.