Game of cat and mouse

Maxis still flat out to Hawaii in centennial Transpac reports Rich Roberts

The mid-Pacific game of cat and mouse was about to play out as five boats remained on record pace in the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii Wednesday.

Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory was still setting the pace now only two miles ahead of Roy Disney's Pyewacket - obviously the cat [Pyewacket was one of the cats in the Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks]. But a big horse - Randall Pittman's Genuine Risk - was stalking both of them from behind and below.

Morning Glory navigator Peter Isler liked his boat's position for its leverage 19 miles south of Pyewacket and well south of the rhumb line to the finish in the moderate northeast trade winds of 12 to 20 knots.

"In an ideal world you'd like to have your competitors dead astern of you," Isler said. "We have a lot of respect for their running speed. They have a little better configuration than us for that. But that said, it looks it's a going to be pretty hard for them to get around is, in the short term."

Both are watching Genuine Risk which paid a price of about 50 miles to get even farther south, hoping to roar up on a strong reaching point of sail from below.

Isler said: "Looking at the weather models, it looks like the south is going to have as much or more breeze than the north. So they're setting up to try to run up on Pyewacket and us by having more wind velocity. They will have some, but they have some distance to get there."

Otherwise, options are few. "We're definitely into 'slot cars' now," Isler said, referring to the course commitment every boat must make at some point.
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Although Morning Glory's speed fell off from the 16.4 knots it averaged on the previous day's race record 24-hour run of 393 miles, the German boat and Pyewacket were each averaging 13.5 knots for the race and had passed all of the Division III and IV boats that started two days ahead of them. Stealth Chicken, the Division III frontrunner, was averaging 7.9 knots in what is not a particularly windy Transpac year.

To beat the previous Pyewacket's record of 7 days 11 hours 41 minutes 27 seconds, a boat would have to finish before 12:41:27 a.m. PDT Monday morning or 9:47:21 p.m. Saturday night Hawaiian time. Besides the lead three, Doug Baker's Magnitude 80 and Doug DeVos's Windquest are on pace to do that. Morning Glory's current ETA is 9:33 a.m. PDT Sunday, but there remained 1,319 nautical miles to go - not quite the halfway stage in the 2,225-mile race.

About 180 miles behind the leaders, Philippe Kahn's new Transpac 52 Pegasus was flying like its equine namesake.

Its 296 mile day seized the lead in Division II and the race for the King Kalakaua trophy for first overall on corrected handicap time. Morning Glory and Pyewacket owe the two-time Barn Door winner almost 52 hours in handicap time, and Pegasus - home port Hawaii - is projected to finish about six hours before that.

Davis Pillsbury's Ralphie was making a rout of the Cal 40 contest with a 51 mile lead and 829 miles to go. Lloyd Sellinger's Bubala, with a crew of six all over age 65, continued to struggle 218 miles to the rear.

A few hours after Wednesday's check-in, Pillsbury reported: "OK, 780 miles from the finish. The passage will be slow. No real wind turning up until Sunday, so it is pure brain sailing . . . physically undemanding other than the sun but mentally draining. Keeping the speed up in the sloppy wave conditions can drive anybody nuts."

Craig Reynolds' Bolt remained the handicap leader in Division III, although Tim Beatty's Stealth Chicken had a 23-mile lead.

Likewise in a fierce Division V duel, Cliff Thompson's Super Gnat led Scott Self and Nigel Brown's doublehanded Soap Opera by 12 miles but trailed in handicap time by almost seven hours.

Tabasco, a 1D35 chartered by the Alamitos Bay syndicate, with Steve Rossi as skipper, burst into the Division IV lead by averaging 8.7 knots over 208 miles. That was an amazing 59 miles better than the former leader, Kerry Deaver and Bob Williamson's Kahoots, which now trails by 32.

Among the dozen Aloha class boats that started on July 11, Cecil Rossi's 68-year-old yawl Odyssey and Ross Pearlman's defending champion Between the Sheets continued to set the overall pace at 720 and 733 miles to go, but probably not for long. Soap Opera and Super Gnat were closing quickly, and Morning Glory and Pyewacket were sailing almost twice as fast.

Pendragon IV, John MacLaurin's Davidson 52 that dropped out the day after Sunday's start because of a rig problem, returned safely to Marina del Rey Tuesday night. The crew planned to fly to Hawaii for post-race festivities.

On board Mark Schrader's Cal 40 Dancing Bear, Cruising World Editor Herb McCormick, reported: "It took us the better part of nine days to get here, but Dancing Bear is finally relishing in the solid northeast trade winds we came out here searching for. . . . [Later], a miraculous thing happened. The glorious orb of a nearly full moon made its first real appearance of the voyage. It cast a glow on the waters like a giant spotlight, and the seas suddenly began to sparkle. By 0400, skipper Mark Schrader was steering Dancing Bear straight down a wet, silver avenue cast by the reflection of that glorious moon making its way around to the east. The Highway to Hawaii. His watch ended but he wouldn’t hand over the tiller, not on this night. He just wanted to steer and steer and steer."

Standings
(by projected corrected handicap time; total handicap time allowances in parentheses by hours/minutes/seconds; actual nautical miles to go also listed)

Division I (Started July 17)

1. Scout Spirit (R/P 77), Bill Turpin, Newport Beach, Calif. (32:21:35), 1,464 miles to go.
2. Morning Glory (R/P maxZ86), Hasso Plattner, Kiel, Germany (0:00:00), 1,319.
3. Pyewacket (R/P maxZ86), Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles (0:00:00), 1,321.
4. Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach (9:44:58), 1,386. 5. Beecom (Reichel/Pugh 72), Isao Mita, Yokohama, Japan (30:16:07), 1,487.
6. Windquest (R/P maxZ86), Dick & Doug DeVos, Holland, Mich. (6:51:07), 1,392.
7. Genuine Risk (Dubois 90), Randall Pittman, La Jolla, Calif. (0.00:23), 1,373.

Division II (Started July 17)

1. Pegasus 52 (Transpac 52), Philippe Kahn, Honolulu (51:49:29), 1,503. 2. Ragtime (Spencer 66), Peterson/Richards/Welsh, Honolulu (69:08:37), 1,569.
3. Rosebud (Transpac 52), Roger Sturgeon, San Francisco (55:04:54), 1,536.
4. Skylark (S/C 70), Doug Ayres, Newport Beach (52:18:53), 1,540.
5. Trader (Transpac 52), Fred Detwiler, Pompano Beach, Fla. (52:18:39), 1,541.
6. Braveheart (Transpac 52), Charles Burnet, Seattle (55:23:53), 1,552.
7. Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach (45:59:58),530.
8. Coruba (N/M 68), Rob and Suzanne Fleming, Seattle (57:52:37), 1,574. 9. Mongoose (Santa Cruz 70), Bradley Thorson, Bellevue, Wash. (57:38:37), 1,585.
10. Merlin (Lee 68), Patricia Steele, Maui, H.I. (41:54:03), 1,549.
11. Renegade (Andrews 70), Dan Sinclair, Vancouver, B.C. (40:03:46), 1,577.
12. Bengal 2 (Ohashi 52), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan (64:07:15), 1,655.
13. Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Encino, Calif. (65:20:10), RETIRED.

Division III (Started July 15)

1. Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach, Calif. (90:16:35), 1,344.
2. Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, San Francisco (84:08:21), 1,326.
3. Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Portland, Ore. (90:15:09), 1,346.
4. Stealth Chicken (Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (80:52:12), 1,321.
5. Blue (J/160), Ken and /Cheryl Sears, Nashville, Tenn. (93:03:17), 1,372.
6. Innocent Merriment (J/160), Myron Lyon, San Diego (91:10:54), 1,395.
7. Jeito (J/145), Francisco Guzman, Acapulco, Mexico (86:10:42), 1,390.
8. Artemis (Andrews 53), Louis Bianco, Seattle (90:58:29), 1,407.
9. The Cone of Silence (Super 30), Jamie and Jenny Neill, Sydney, Australia (83:69:39), 1,404.
10. DH-Serena (T1150), David Kuettel/Dave Van Houten, Bel Marin, Calif. (84:32:16), 1,411.
11. Barking Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (74:38:45), 1,398.
12. Dasher (S/C 50), Roger Groh, Sausalito, Calif. (89:38:24), 1,473.
13. Chasch Mer (S/C 50), Gib Black, Honolulu (95:31:20), NO REPORT.

Division IV (Started July 15)

1. Tabasco (1D35), Alamitos Bay Syndicate, Long Beach. (115:31:05), 1,417.
2. Wild Impulse (J/120), Larry Barels, Santa Barbara, Calif. (122:19:04), 1,445.
3. Kahoots (Andrews 43), Kerry Deaver/Bob Williamson, Newport Beach (119:24:28), 1,449.
4. Pursuit (Custom 48), Norman and Rosemary Dawley, Solomons, Md. (121:24:04), 1,456.
5. DH-Two Guys On the Edge (1D35), Dan Doyle, Kailua, H.I. (114:54:33), 1,460.
6. Sensation (1D35), Rodney Hagebols, San Francisco. (115:11:28), 1,463.
7. Uproarious (Olson 40), Robert Bussard, San Diego. (123:41:45), 1,493.

Division V (Started July 11)

1. DH-Soap Opera (Hobie 33), Scott Self/Nigel Brown, Rockwall, Tex. (141:56:43), 812.
2. Super Gnat (Beneteau First 40.7), Cliff Thompson, San Diego (132:16:04), 800.
3. . Brown Sugar (Express 37), Steve Brown, Santa Ana, Calif. (141:30:59), 862.
4. Showdown (IMX 38), Pete Meade/Mike Luna/ Paul McDonald, Irvine, Calif. (136:02:44) , 846.
5. B'Quest (Tripp 40), Challenged America, San Diego (136:41:18), 851.
6. DH-Diablo (J/35), Reed Bernhard/Brian VanderZanden, Anacortes, Wash. (150:24:54), 946.
7. DH-Jacaré (J/35), Jeff Young/Rich Blackman, San Diego (148:46:04), 963.
8. Iataia (Beneteau First 40.7), Marcos Rodriguez, Acapulco, Mexico (133:59:14), 927.

Cal 40 (Started July 11)

1. Ralphie (Cal 40), Davis Pillsbury, Woody Creek, Colo. (165:37:14), 829.
2. Callisto (Cal 40), Jim Eddy, Glendale, Calif. (164:44:47), 880.
3. Seafire (Cal 40), John Harrison, Honolulu. (168:13:35), 898.
4. Psyche (Cal 40), Steve Calhoun, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. (166:05:17), 893.
5. Radiant (Cal 40), Fin Beven, Pasadena, Calif. (164:09:20), 888.
6. Far Far (Cal 40), Don Grind, Naples, Fla. (164:53:27), 892.
7. Shaman (Cal 40), Steve Waterloo, Alameda, Calif. (166:13:50) , 912.
8. Illusion (Cal 40), Sally Honey, Palo Alto, Calif. (167:07:37), 915.
9. Dancing Bear (Cal 40), Mark Schrader, Sitka, Alaska. (165:01:55), 924. 10. Azure (Cal 40), Rodney Pimentel, Alameda, Calif. (165:50:20), 937.
11. Spectre (Cal 40), Lee Rogge, Seattle. (165:13:28), 938.
12. Willow Wind (Cal 40), Wendy Siegal, Sunset Beach, Calif. (166:28:31), 994.
13. Bubala (Cal 40), Lloyd Sellinger, Newport Beach. (168:51:37), 1,047. 14. California Girl (Cal 40), Don and Betty Lessley, Richmond, Calif. (163:20:29), RETIRED.

Aloha A (Started July 11)

1. Odyssey (58' yawl), Audrey Steele Burnand, Newport Beach. (128:53:47), 720.
2. Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey, Calif. (126:13:17), 733.
3. Plan B (Peterson 48), David Johnson, Long Beach (129:07:19), 764.
4. Madrina (Cabo Rico 56), Dick Simon, Dana Point, Calif. (124:52:04), 766.
5. Incredible (Swan 53), Rick Gorman, Los Alamitos, Calif. (126:14:24), 831.
6. DH-Charmed Life (Catalina 470), Patricia Garfield/Diane Murray, San Francisco (131:54:20), 950.
7. Enchilado (Jeanneau 54), Cesar de Saracho, Mazatlan, Mexico. (112:22:50), 887.
8. Shanakee II (Pedrick 74), James Warmington, Costa Mesa, Calif. (83:26:25), 1,361 (started July 15).

Aloha B (Started July 11)

1. So Far (Swan 48), Larry Hillman, Chicago. (147:28:54), 805.
2. Pipe Dream (CF 37), John Davis, Long Beach. (164:43:08), 969.
3. Azure (Swan 441), Samuel Beckey, San Diego. (138:17:59), 1,100.
4. DH-Camille (Stewart 42), James and Ann Read, San Francisco (141:52:48), 1,419.
5. Wind Dancer (Catalina 42), Paul Edwards, Ventura, Calif. (149:50:14), RETIRED.

DH - Doublehanded.