Hawaii's Dan Doyle living big dream in smallest boat.

by Rich Roberts on 7 Jul 2001 Dan Doyle is almost halfway home and having the time of his life on the
smallest boat in the 41st Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii. He could
almost smell the islands as his 30-foot sloop Two Guys On the Edge soared
southwest in the trade winds Friday.

Doyle, sailing doublehanded with Bruce Burgess, reported by Stratos
satellite telephone, 'We are finally surfing! We have finally set the big
spinnaker. The wind is up to 16 knots and then down to 6 knots, but so far
our top speed is 14.4 knots.'

Elsewhere on the course, in the battle of the big boats the Thursday night
positions report showed Bob McNulty's 74-foot Chance hanging on to a
two-mile lead over Philippe Kahn's 75-foot Pegasus, which regained second
place from Roy E. Disney's 73-foot Pyewacket by a mile. If not quite in
sight of one another, they are close enough to continue their three-way
tactical sparring.

Winds had diminished again, but farther back Bob Lane's Medicine Man from
Long Beach continued its recent surge with 293 miles in the previous 24
hours - the best day's run by any of the 32 boats remaining in the race.
Lane feels that his 61-foot boat - five feet longer after a massive
modification - is now in its element as it enters the trades.

'We have more sail area than the normal [ULDB 70] sleds and we weigh
one-third less,' he said.

Doyle's boat isn't in that class. 'After five days of reaching our bunk is
dripping wet and the one sleeping bag is soaking,' he said.

But he wasn't complaining. For him, the race almost didn't happen - again.
Doyle, a Honolulu-based real estate investor, had his hopes dashed for the
two previous Transpacs by a broken rudder in 1997 and by a sudden business
crisis in '99. In the latter race, Burgess stepped in to sail with Les
Vasconcellos in an impressive performance by the Sonoma 30, which outsailed
several larger, fully crewed boats.

Doyle's only crew this time is Burgess, and for a few minutes at the June
30 start of their Division 4 class off the Palos Verdes Peninsula it seemed
the Doyle curse had struck again. They couldn't get the headsail up. It
didn't fit the slot in their new headfoil. But San Pedro sailor Kirk
Wilson, a spectator that day, removed one from his larger boat, passed it
over and off they went.

Doyle said, 'We are south of the rhumb line sailing a course of 240
[southwest] direct to the Diamond Head [finish line]. The sled class has
joined us on our track south of rhumb. Our weak point of sail is reaching
[wind coming from one side]. The larger boats with longer waterlines will
reach faster. Now that we have turned the corner our speeds have picked up
and we are now in the strong point for our boat. Look for our ETA to start
changing.'

The latest ETA for Doyle and Burgess is about 4 o'clock the afternoon of
Saturday, July 14, but it could be earlier if the winds keep improving.
They may miss the awards banquet July 13, but it should be quite a welcome
home.

Brookfield Homes' Coconut Plantation at Ko Olina is a supporter of Transpac
2001. Stratos Mobile Networks is the official communications supplier,
providing satellite telephones to facilitate monitoring of the fleet. For
more information please contact Stephanie Thomassen at (800) 250-8962 or
(206) 633-5888.

NOTE: Standings by handicap ratings at 6:30 p.m. PDT July 5. July 6 morning
report unavailable at time of release. Go to www.transpacificyc.org for
latest update.

DIVISION 1 (started July 1)

1. Chance (R/P 74), Bob McNulty, Corona del Mar, Calif., 266 miles past 24
hours/1,200 miles to go.
2. Pegasus (R/P 75), Philippe Kahn, Santa Cruz, Calif., 263/1,202.
3. Pyewacket (Reichel/Pugh 73), Roy E. Disney, Los Angeles, Calif.,
269/1,203.
4. Merlin's Reata (Lee 68), Al Micallef, Ft. Worth, Tex., 280/1,282.

DIVISION 2 (started July 1)

1. Grand Illusion (Santa Cruz 70), James McDowell, Haiku, H.I. 1,290.
2. J-Bird III (Transpac 52), David Janes, Newport Beach, Calif., 1,306.
3. Taxi Dancer (R/P 68), Brian W. Mock, Corona del Mar, Calif., 1,324.
4. Ragtime (Spencer 65), Hui Holokai Syndicate, Owen Minney/Trisha Steele,
Honolulu, 1,377.
5. Medicine Man (Andrews 61), Bob Lane, Long Beach, Calif., 1,373.
6. Yassou (Transpac 52), Jim and Nancy Demetriades, Beverly Hills, Calif.,
1,394.
7. Mongoose (SC 70), Robert Saielli, La Jolla, Calif., 1,431.
8. DH--Étranger (Jutson 50), Howard Gordon, San Luis Obispo, Calif., 1,480.

DIVISION 3 (started June 30)

1. Bengal II (Ohashi 52), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan, 1,023.
2. Cantata (Andrews 53), Brent Vaughan, Oceanside, Calif., 1,119.
3. Firebird (Nelson/Marek 55), Greg Sands, Long Beach, Calif., 1,136.
4. Rocket Science (Riptide 55), Nguyen Le, Amsterdam, 1,075.
5. Baronesa V (Open 40), Shuichi Ogasawara, Miyagi, Japan, 1,133.

DIVISION 4 (started June 30)

1. Bull (Sydney 40 OD-T), Seth Radow, Marina del Rey, Calif., 1,193.
2. Sensation (1D35), Mike Thomas, Detroit, Mich., 1,232.
3. Ouch (J/120), Ted Mayes, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., 1,344.
4. DH--Watercolors (Sabre 402), Michael Abraham, Newport Beach, Calif.,
1,344.
5. Uproarious (Olson 40), Robert Bussard, Santa Fe, N.M., 1,317.
6. DH--Two Guys On the Edge (Sonoma 30), Dan Doyle, Honolulu, H.I., 1,404.
7. Mystere (Swan 42), Jorge Morales, Laguna Niguel, Calif., 1,393.
WITHDRAWN -- LawnDart (Fast 40), Bill Allan, Nanaimo, B.C., 2,175.

DH-Doublehanded

ALOHA DIVISION A (started June 25)

1. Willow Wind (Cal 40), Wendy Siegal, Sunset Beach, Calif., 660.
2. Shanakee II (Pedrick 75), Jim Warmington, Balboa, 318.
3. Seda (Ericson 41), Josef Sedivec, Bonita, Calif., 766
4. Sea Dancer (Ericson 35), Al Wheatman, Marina del Rey, 858.
5. Gecko (Tartan 41), Jim Fabrick, Laguna Beach, 790.
6. Bonaire (Moody 65), Gil Jones and Associates, Newport Beach, 691.

ALOHA DIVISION B (started June 25)

1. Stardust (Wylie 46), Peter and Patricia Anderson, Laguna Beach, 535.
2. Axapac (Wylie 39), Barry Ruff, Vancouver, B.C., 648.