Friday, July 13, 2001
For the 41st Transpacific Yacht Race, it's all over but the shouting. That will come tonight at the official awards banquet at the Ilikai Hotel celebrating the end of the 2,225-mile race from California to Honolulu. Sailors travel 2,225
miles for a partyBy Ray Pendleton
Special to the Star-BulletinTranspac organizers held their post-race press conference yesterday at the Waikiki Yacht Club, where representatives from each of the division-winning boats were introduced.
Missing yesterday was Honolulu businessman Dan Doyle, the winner of the double-handed division. His Sonoma 30, Two Guys on the Edge, should arrive this morning. The boat was, nevertheless, represented by its honorary crew member, 12-year-old leukemia survivor Natalie Frazier from Mililani.
First place in the Aloha Division -- made up of boats designed for cruising rather than racing -- was taken by Willow Wind, a Cal-40 skippered by Wendy Siegal, the first woman to win in any class since 1959.
The Division 4 winner, and overall first place boat on handicap-corrected time, was Seth Radow's Sydney 40 Bull. With an all-volunteer crew, Radow was quick to point out that "it was fantastic to race with, and against, the best and the brightest in his sport whether amateur or professional."
The first-place boat in Division 3 was the Andrews 53 Cantata, chartered by Brent Vaughn. Vaughn was the only one of his crew who had competed in the Transpac before.
"We just decided, what the hell, let's get a boat and maybe we just might beat somebody," Vaughn said.
Division 2 was won by James McDowell's highly successful Santa Cruz 70, Grand Illusion, which was able to get away from the California coast faster than its competitors.
"We were lucky we got ahead early on," McDowell said. "Because if we hadn't, J-Bird III (the second-place finisher) would have certainly won."
Philippe Kahn's Reichel/Pugh 75 Pegasus edged out Roy E. Disney's Transpac record-holding Pyewacket for first in Division 1 and first on elapsed time. And, while it's true that no new records were set with the Pegasus win, there is no question that Kahn and his crew -- which included his 11 year-old son Samuel "Shark" Kahn -- were quite satisfied with the results.
"Pegasus was a brand new boat and Transpac was our first race ever," Kahn said. "We only had 15 days of sea trials to learn to sail Pegasus without a tuning partner."
"The more we sailed next to Pyewacket, the better we got at sailing our boat," Kahn said. "After 2,225 nautical miles, we really learned a lot. Pyewacket was our tuning partner."
Transpac Web site