The Cone, Bolt get the jump in Transpac start

by Rich Roberts on 16 Jul 2005 A few hours before 20 Division III and IV boats started the Centennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii Friday, Grant Baldwin forewarned them from the communications vessel Alaska Eagle that ‘they're going to have to put on their track shoes to catch the Cal 40s, who are rocketing.’

The 32 boats remaining from the 33 that started Monday---there has been one dropout---have found little sun but continued to enjoy minimal seas and northerly winds of 18-20 knots---about 16 knots more than Friday's starters found off the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The sun scattered a gloomy marine layer shortly before the 1 p.m. start, but then the wind dropped from 5 to 2 knots and swung so far left to due east that it was impossible to cross the line on a normal starboard tack.

Two boats were quick to pick up on the fluky conditions: Craig Reynolds' Nelson/Marek 55, Bolt, from Newport Beach, Calif., and James Neill's Super 30, The Cone of Silence, from Sydney, Australia. Bolt set an overlapping ‘code zero’ headsail---a cross between a genoa and a spinnaker---and proceeded to walk away from the fleet, while The Cone of Silence, the smallest boat in the race, popped a blue asymmetrical spinnaker on its bowsprit and moved out 200 yards to leeward.

One by one, other boats took the cue, but Bolt and Cone already had the advantage as they sailed toward the west end of Santa Catalina Island 26 miles offshore---the only mark of the 2,225-nautical mile course.

Watching developments with interest from off the pin end of the starting line was Genuine Risk, at 90 feet the biggest boat in the race. Randall Pittman's crew stopped by while out for a final tune-up sail before they go off Sunday among 20 Division I and II boats, the last of 75 entries.

Before leaving Rainbow Harbor in downtown Long Beach for the starting area, one boat, Gary Fanger's 1D35, Sensation, from San Francisco, reported a skipper change. Fanger had to step off a few days earlier because of pressing business concerns and turned command over to watch captain Rodney Hagebols.

Class leaders at sea Friday remained Steve Brown's Express 37, Brown Sugar, from Santa Ana, Calif. in Division V; Sally Honey's Illusion, from Palo Alto, Calif. in Cal 40s; Cecil Rossi's 58-foot yawl Odyssey, Newport Beach, in Aloha A, and Larry Hillman's Swan 48, So Far, Chicago, in Aloha B. Each set its class pace in distance sailed as well as projected corrected handicap time.

Odyssey, sailing its fourth Transpac over 66 years, was nearest the finish with 1,680 miles to go but now will be looking aft for Aloha A rival Shanakee II, James Warmington's bigger and faster Pedrick 74 that started Friday and spots Odyssey nearly two days for the course in handicap time, besides four days in real time.

David Kory's MacGregor 65, Barking Spider 3, from Concord, Calif., owes each of Friday's starters time. It's a step up in class for Kory, who won Aloha B in 2003 with a Catalina 38.

‘It's going to be a challenge for us,’ Kory said. ‘We don't have the experience or the sophisticated racing program that some of the guys have. We'll just put a finger in the air and decide where to go.’

Earlier in the week while rivals were preparing to race, Kory offered Barking Spider 3 as a spectator boat for Monday's start, and 14 friends and family members of the early fleets took advantage.

‘We've had a great time,’ Kory said. ‘We're in this to have fun.’

Also before the start, Jamie Neill reported that on The Cone of Silence's first tune-up sail Tuesday since shipping the 30-footer to California the crew discovered a hairline crack in the headsail track. With the assistance of the local North Sails team, the track was replaced two days before the start.

The Sail-World USA Web site will be providing live tracking of the little Australian boat, a first for Transpac. http://www.sail-world.com/yachttracker.cfm?seid=71

Standings
(by projected corrected handicap time; total handicap time allowances in parentheses by hours/minutes/seconds)

Division I (Starts July 17)

Morning Glory (R/P maxZ86), Hasso Plattner, Kiel, Germany (0:00:00) Pyewacket (R/P maxZ86), Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles. (0:00:00)

Genuine Risk (Dubois 90), Randall Pittman, La Jolla, Calif. (0.00:23)

Windquest (R/P maxZ86), Dick & Doug DeVos, Holland, Mich. (6:51:07)

Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach. (9:44:58)

Beecom (Reichel/Pugh 72), Isao Mita, Yokohama, Japan (30:16:07)

Scout Spirit (R/P 77), Bill Turpin, Newport Beach, Calif. (32:21:35)

Division II (Started July 17)

Renegade (Andrews 70), Dan Sinclair, Vancouver, B.C. (40:03:46)

Merlin (Lee 68), Patricia Steele, Maui, H.I. (41:54:03)

Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach. (45:59:58)

Pegasus 52 (Transpac 52), Philippe Kahn, Honolulu. (51:49:29)

Trader (Transpac 52), Fred Detwiler, Pompano Beach, Fla. (52:18:39)

Skylark (S/C 70), Doug Ayres, Newport Beach. (52:18:53)

Rosebud (Transpac 52), Roger Sturgeon, San Francisco. (55:04:54)

Braveheart (Transpac 52), Charles Burnet, Seattle. (55:23:53)

Mongoose (Santa Cruz 70), Bradley Thorson, Bellevue, Wash.
(57:38:37)

Coruba (N/M 68), Rob and Suzanne Fleming, Seattle. (57:52:37)

Bengal 2 (Ohashi 52), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan (64:07:15)

Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Encino, Calif. (65:20:10)

Ragtime (Spencer 66), Peterson/Richards/Welsh, Honolulu. (69:08:37)

Division III (Started July 15)

Barking Spider 3 (MacGregor 65), David Kory, Concord, Calif. (74:38:45)

Stealth Chicken (Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (80:52:12)

The Cone of Silence (Super 30), Jamie and Jenny Neill, Sydney, Australia. (83:69:39)

Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, San Francisco. (84:08:21)

DH-Serena (T1150), David Kuettel, Bel Marin, Calif. (84:32:16)

Jeito (J/145), Francisco Guzman, Acapulco, Mexico. (86:10:42)

Dasher (S/C 50), Roger Groh, Sausalito, Calif. (89:38:24)

Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Portland, Ore. (90:15:09)

Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach, Calif. (90:16:35)

Artemis (Andrews 53), Louis Bianco, Seattle. (90:58:29)

Innocent Merriment (J/160), Myron Lyon, San Diego. (91:10:54)

Blue (J/160), Ken and /Cheryl Sears, Nashville, Tenn. (93:03:17)

Chasch Mer (S/C 50), Gib Black, Honolulu. (95:31:20)

Division IV (Starts July 15)

DH-Two Guys On the Edge (1D35), Dan Doyle, Kailua, H.I. (114:54:33)

Sensation (1D35), Rodney Hagebols, San Francisco. (115:11:28)

Tabasco (1D35), Alamitos Bay Syndicate, Long Beach. (115:31:05)

Kahoots (Andrews 43), Kerry Deaver/Bob Williamson, Newport Beach. (119:24:28)

Pursuit (Custom 48), Norman and Rosemary Dawley, Solomons, Md. (121:24:04)

Wild Impulse (J/120), Larry Barels, Santa Barbara, Calif. (122:19:04)

Uproarious (Olson 40), Robert Bussard, San Diego. (123:41:45)

Division V (Started July 11)

1. Brown Sugar (Express 37), Steve Brown, Santa Ana, Calif. (141:30:59), 1,694.

2. DH-Soap Opera (Hobie 33), Scott Self/Nigel Brown, Rockwall, Tex. (141:56:43), 1,708.

3. B'Quest (Tripp 40), Challenged America, San Diego. (136:41:18), 1,704.

4. DH-Jacaré (J/35), Jeff Young/Rich Blackman, San Diego (148:46:04), 1,726.

5. Super Gnat (Beneteau First 40.7), Cliff Thompson, San Diego (132:16:04), 1,700.

6. DH-Diablo (J/35), Reed Bernhard/Brian VanderZanden, Anacortes, Wash. (150:24:54), 1,733.

7. Showdown (IMX 38), Pete Meade/Mike Luna/ Paul McDonald, Irvine, Calif. (136:02:44) , 1,716.

8. Iataia (Beneteau First 40.7), Marcos Rodriguez, Acapulco, Mexico. (133:59:14), 1,743.

Cal 40 (Started July 11)

1. Illusion (Cal 40), Sally Honey, Palo Alto, Calif. (167:07:37), 1,703.

2. Callisto (Cal 40), Jim Eddy, Glendale, Calif. (164:44:47), 1,713.

3. Ralph