Alfa and Pegasus updates

Lynn Fitzpatrick looks at two of the most promising contenders in this year's Transpac

As soon as Alfa Romeo took its prominent position at the end of Transpac Pier at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, it became everybody's darling. Its mast towers above the palm trees along Shoreline Drive and it is the first thing that pedestrians and boaters notice when they enter Rainbow Harbor.

There hasn't been a more generous owner or crew at Transpac Pier than Neville Crichton, Murray Spence and the rest of the Alfa Romeo crew. They have hosted everybody - other racing sailors, Transpac Yacht Club Board Members, VIPs, government officials, Alfa Romeo Owners and even some of the super curious and dumbstruck visitors to Rainbow Harbor who marveled at the super maxi as they strolled the docks on their way to restaurants and attractions such as the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Whether Alfa's guests were Transpac Yacht Club Commodore, Tom Garrett; Santa Cruz 70 sled owner, Peter Tong; US Sailing Coach, Mark Ivey or TV news personality, Gayle Anderson; they were impressed by the amount of time and attention Crichton and his crew gave them. Crichton arrived close to sunrise on May 29th and opened Alfa Romeo and yacht racing up to hundreds of thousands of morning news viewers in the LA Basin and around the world.

Transpac 09 and the yachting community owes a great bit of thanks to Neville Crichton and Alfa Romeo for making their decision to participate in the World's most enduring and greatest yacht race. Not long after the news that the rules had been changed, in keeping with many races elsewhere in the world, to allow for super maxis that incorporate the technology found on Alfa Romeo, Crichton committed to entering Transpac 09. Preparations included shipping the 100-footer from Genoa in May to ordering and fitting new sails, making crew arrangements and stepping a new mast at Knight & Carver in San Diego.

Looking at the weather conditions, Murray Spence, Alfa's Captain, suggested that a record is still possible, but it may not be as easy to set as it would have been had the race been sailed in the conditions that existed during the last weeks of May. Long Beach and everyone who has been touched by Alfa Romeo wishes them fair winds in Transpac 09 and a favorable passage during their Hawaii to New Zealand passage and the Sydney Hobart Race later in the year. Thank you for adding to the history of the most enduring and greatest ocean race in the world.

Doublehanded to Hawaii

Pegasus 50 is docked bow to stern with Alfa Romeo. Both are a marvel to look at and both are eyeing Transpac records. The 100ft long Alfa Romeo is monstrous. Its deck is clean and wide and the sheets and halyards lead to powered winches that are trimmed with the push of a button. Down below, the cabin is spacious and designed for moving sails from side to side during shorter races in Europe.

Pegasus 50, on the other hand, is an Open 50 with a rainbow of halyards and lines streaming from the bow into the cockpit. Winches, a pedestal, sheets and the tails must be a confusing mess during maneuvers. Its domed cabin is barely large enough to fit two men inside. Both boats are fitted with some of the most enviable electronics and nav stations on the water and both have impressively compact galleys. Pegasus even has a combined and compact sink and hot water maker.

Philippe Kahn and Mark Christensen are out to set the Transpac doublehanded record of 10:4:4:49 by Howard Gordon and Jay Crum in 2001 with Etranger. Gordon and Crum also sailed an Open 50. It was a Jutson-design with a fixed keel. The red cedar and Kevlar boat did have water ballast and like Pegasus 50, was originally designed for singlehanded sailing. It's former owner, Australian David Adams won Class II of the 1994-5 BOC Challenge in it after a round the world tussle with Giovanni Soldini.

Said Crum, remembering the 1991 race, "It turned out to be a medium air race, and it was light in the beginning. The entire fleet went north of San Nicolas Island."

Crum, who has been prepping Flash since her arrival two weeks ago following a windy Coastal Cup race, said of the experience of doublehanding an Open 50 to Hawaii: "I loved it and I would do it again in a heartbeat."

For Kahn, doublehanding the Open 50 to Hawaii is one of the highlights of the year. His team rushed to prepare the boat for the 2007 Transpac and did a considerable amount of work on it prior to Pacific Cup 2008 in which Kahn and Richard Clarke set a new San Francisco to Hawaii doublehanded record of 7 days 15 hours 17:50 minutes.

This year, the team has pushed perfection to another level. Not only will Kahn and Mark 'Crusty' Christensen have smoothly operating halyards, sheets, dagger boards, rudders, autopilots, a canting keel and redundant instrumentation. They are equipped with communications equipment that will enable them to stay in touch with their very active company, FullPower Technologies. Kahn, a talented mathematician and flutist, will also have more than enough Debussy, Ravel, Faure and Iz to fill days and nights aboard Pegasus 50.

As Kahn runs forecasting models and routing software in advance of his Sunday afternoon start, he is becoming more optimistic about the weather conditions between Los Angeles and Hawaii. Some reports even suggest that racers may see gusts in the 20-30 knot range during their approach to Hawaii next week. Kahn and Christensen have their sights on setting a doublehanded Transpac record and they have added another layer to their quest. Kahn would like to arrive in Hawaii within 72 hours of Alfa Romeo, a boat double its size.