Rousing send-off

Rich Roberts reports on latest developments for this year's Transpac

Transpacific Yacht Race participants have long enjoyed the warmest welcome in sailing. What they haven't had in the first 100 years is a rousing sendoff.

That will change for the Centennial race in July. It was announced at a press conference Wednesday that the Transpac board of directors has accepted the offer of the City of Long Beach to use the downtown Rainbow Harbor as a staging area.

The race will still start off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, but competitors will find free mooring for their boats before the race in a leisure venue surrounded by the Queen Mary, the Aquarium of the Pacific, the historic Pike at Rainbow Harbor theme park and the Shoreline Village complex of waterfront shops and restaurants.

Transpac Commodore Jerry Montgomery said, "the opportunity to have an area where the boats can come prior to the start of the race is really exciting for Transpac. It's the first time we've had that opportunity. It will add a lot of prestige to the race and fun for the competitors to have a place where they can all get together."

But the best part may be the chance for the non-sailing public to interact with a sport that is insular by nature.

"There will be people on the boats most days preparing them for the race and provisioning," Montgomery said, "and the sailors will be very happy to show people their boats."

Shoreline Yacht Club, the youngest club in Long Beach and the only one located near downtown, will actively host the visiting boats in the harbor. Commodore Gary Schneider said, "We're looking forward to showing the crew and skippers the type of hospitality Long Beach is noted for."

Transpac has been closely associated with Long Beach for years. The board of directors meets at Long Beach Yacht Club and the club's radio room serves as the mainland base of communications for the race. Also, the race awards the City of Long Beach trophy to the second fastest finisher.

Long Beach is in Los Angeles County with a population of about 481,000. USA Today has called it the “most diverse city” out of the 65 most populous cities in the nation. The integrated ethnic diversity is of African American, Asian, Caucasian, Native American/Alaskan, Hispanic and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Island descents, which fits right in with Transpac's international diversity.

Montgomery said, "we currently have entries from Mexico, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and from within the United States from Maryland, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, Texas, Hawaii and the Great Lakes - so it is a national and international event."

Phil Hester, director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine for Long Beach, sees no problem in finding room for Transpac boats in Rainbow Harbor, which is adjacent to the downtown Marina - especially, as Montgomery pointed out, that "because of our starts staggered from July 11 to 17, all 70 or so won't be there at the same time."

Hester said, "all of our tenants have leases, and we'll be shifting them around during that period of time once we learn the exact number that we need to accommodate. We have a lot of flexibility in the marina at this time with a number of open slips that we've been holding as part of the rebuilding of the Downtown Marina which is under way at this time."

The overall plan is to blend Transpac into the city's annual Sea Festival, a fixture for five decades that includes various shoreside activities.

During the Transpac buildup Long Beach Yacht Club, which will present its 41st Congressional Cup match racing classic next week, will introduce the Mayor's Cup, an international women's match racing event. The women's Catalina 37s also will be based in Rainbow Harbor during their event.

LBYC Commodore Terry Krauss said, "we will start off with the Mayor's Cup, lead into the Transpac, turn the hosting over to Shoreline and should put together as good a racing event as we've ever had in Long Beach."

Vice Mayor Jackie Kell (Mayor Beverly O'Neill was out of town) commented, "Our City Council will be especially interested in hearing about the Mayor's Cup because of the 10 of us on that council, six of us are women."

Women, as ever, also will be prominent in Transpac. Sally Lindsay Honey will race the Cal 40 Illusion with an all-woman crew - the boat was third overall in 2003 with husband Stan [now with ABN AMRO] navigating - and Patricia Garfield and Diane Murray of San Francisco will sail their Catalina 470 Charmed Life doublehanded.

Montgomery sees fan clubs springing up that will root their boats all way to Honolulu. "Very honestly, I don't think this ever occurred to us, " he said, "but I'm glad it's come about."

Meanwhile Bill Lee continues to have his hands full as Transpac's entries chairman. The count of official entries is now at 71. If at least that many start, it would be the most boats since 1981, exceeded only by the record of 80 in 1979.

The latest entries include Two Guys On the Edge, a 1D35 and the latest in a series of boats by that name sailed by Hawaii businessman Dan Doyle, with longtime sidekick Bruce Burgess as crew. They are one of seven doublehanded entries and one of five teams that list Hawaiian home ports and won't have to worry about delivering their boats home afterward.

This will be Doyle's third doublehanded effort and fourth Transpac overall. He and Burgess were really Two Guys On the Edge in 1999 when they almost didn't make the race. They discovered minutes before the start that their new jib didn't fit their headfoil. Former Transpac competitor Kirk Wilson of San Pedro, just out watching the start, quickly realized their predicament, took the headfoil off his Santa Cruz 50 and passed it over to Doyle and Burgess, who started only a few minutes late.