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B’Quest in the
running this year

This could be the year that at least one boat -- and maybe several -- breaks the elapsed-time record for the 2,225-mile, biennial Transpacific Yacht Race.

Roy Disney's Pyewacket set the current record of 7 days, 11 hours, 41 minutes and 27 seconds, in 1999. Now he's back again this year with a bigger, faster Pyewacket, but he's not alone.

There are at least four other yachts that are the fastest monohull boats to ever race in Transpac.

Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory -- a Reichel-Pugh Max Z86 similar to Disney's -- took the lead a day after the start in California, but it was closely followed by Pyewacket, Randall Pittman's 90-foot sloop Genuine Risk, Doug Baker's turbo sled Magnitude 80, and Doug DeVos's Windquest, another Max Z86.

If any, or all, of these boats cross the Diamond Head finish line before 9:41 tomorrow evening, they will break the old record.

Yet, as exciting as that might be, there is another one of the 75 boats in this year's race that may finish about the same time, but because it started several days earlier, it can only win on corrected time.

Nevertheless, for the crew of that 40-footer named B'Quest-Challenged America, such a win would be more than exciting; it would be the culmination of a dream.

Disabled veterans who wanted to further their own rehabilitation and learn how to sail founded Challenged America in San Diego in the late 1970s.

Today the program provides free learn-to-sail and advanced-sailing lessons, as well as educational programs to hundreds of kids and adults with disabilities -- and their loved ones -- and for professionals in sports therapy and recreational rehabilitation from around the world.

Funding for Challenged America programs comes from charitable gifts from the general public, boat and vehicle donations, fund-raising events, grants and sponsorships.

This is the second Transpac Race for B'Quest, which is crewed by experienced sailors who all have significant disabilities such as quadriplegia, blindness, arm and leg amputation, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, kidney transplant and hearing impairment.

In 2003, their goal was to "just to do it," said B'Quest's skipper Josh Scott, the only person aboard without a disability. "The next time is to be competitive."

So with two of the original crew (Urban Miyares, who is totally blind and one of the founders of Challenged America, and Scott Meide, a leg amputee and cancer survivor) and two new sailors (Kevin Wixom, a leg amputee, and Jim Halverson, a leg amputee and cancer survivor) this is B'Quest's "next time."

The boat made Transpac history in 2003 by having the only crew of sailors to ever race with significant disabilities. It was accomplished with extensive boat modifications that included a motorized companion elevator, a six-way powered helm seat, slide benches below deck and unique seats in the cockpit for wheelchair users.

And they didn't "just do it," but were really quite competitive. Maybe this year's finish will bring them a trophy.