Pyewacket (left), without Roy E. Disney on board, leads the fleet shortly after
Sunday's final start of the Transpac

   

  
LONG BEACH, Calif.---It was as if Roy E. Disney's 11th-  hour decision to step off Pyewacket sucked the air right out of the final start of the 44th biennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii Sunday.

A few hours after his news flashed around the docks at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, the fleet met balmy southeast zephyrs of only 3 to 4 knots off the Point Fermin start line in San Pedro that left the high-powered racers gasping for air. With what little wind there was coming from 170 on the compass and the west end of Santa Catalina Island to the right at 215, all 23 boats quickly tacked to port after the gun.

That tactical move also allowed them to avoid a flock of spectator power boats that had intruded well inside the starboard tack course, apparently unaware that sailboats don't sail directly upwind.

Disney, unfortunately, won't be sailing at all in what would have been his 16th Transpac.

"I just decided to let the younger guys do it," Disney, 77, said Sunday morning, "and I'm making a movie, anyway."

The reference was not only to his regular crew---plus, for this race, New Zealand America's Cup skipper Dean Barker---on the powered- up Pyewacket but his team of young sailors ages 18 to 23 sailing the Transpac 52 Morning Light, a documentary movie tale in the making of dedicated youth at work.

"It's been on my mind for several days," Disney said, expressing concern about trying to follow Morning Light's progress and sail Pyewacket at the same time. "I've been apprehensive about it, and when you're worried maybe it's not the smart thing to do."

A Pyewacket spokesperson indicated that Disney's son Roy Pat Disney is now co- skipper with Disney's longtime boat manager, Gregg Hedrick.

"It's very sad," said the younger Disney, who also filled in for his dad 10 years ago when Roy E. broke a leg before the race and that earlier Pyewacket broke Merlin's 20-year-old record.

"With these kids he has a lot on his mind. He was just going to feel too isolated."

Meanwhile, Roy Pat said with a smile, "This makes me the senior with 17 [Transpacs]."

Disney will fly to Hawaii Tuesday to await the arrival of both boats.

Sunday's starters also included Pyewacket's strongest threat, Doug Baker's Magnitude 80, and Philippe Kahn sailing his new Pegasus 101 doublehanded with Richard Clarke. Mag 80 enjoyed a better start to windward of Pyewacket, which soon slid out from underneath and was gone, light as it was.

Pegasus 101, an Open 50 that prefers big breeze, struggled in the rear.

Sunday morning's position reports also were grim news for the boats already at sea following their starts Monday and Thursday. Saturday's upbeat reports of 24- hour runs up to 250 nautical miles at speeds up to 11 knots slipped a bit to 236 tops by Jack Taylor's Horizon, a Santa Cruz 50 from Dana Point, Calif. that averaged 9.8 knots for the day.

But there also were encouraging words Sunday from Steve Calhoun's Cal 40 Psyche from Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.

"We really are in the trade winds now," Calhoun e- mailed. "Wind is coming from the NE, gusting to 18 knots! We love the trade winds. We decided yesterday evening while sipping our box wine during happy hour that we were tired of going south. So while [Don Grind's rival Cal 40] Far Far sailed cold, we sailed hot. Far Far is going south, south. They are the farthest boat south. We say, let's stop fiddling around and head for Hawaii. Naturally, we are second guessing this decision . . . but everyone else in the fleet is north of us. The early west- makers (Brown Sugar, X- Dream) are laying a HUGE egg; the others look pretty good."

Earlier, Kahn's race blog (www.pegasus.com/log.htm) posted before the start read: "Now it's a bit of a game of chicken. There are two tropical depressions active in the eastern Pacific. Both of these systems are forecast to strengthen into tropical storms in the next 24 hours. So now, does anyone have the guts to go south and catch a little lift from the big ones? This is going to be one interesting race."

The Transpacific Yacht Club has joined with Casio Computer Co., Ltd., in a sponsorship agreement to make the company's Oceanus watch the official timekeeper of the 44th biennial race. The Oceanus is a solar-powered chronograph watch with a time signal- calibration function developed by making full use of Casio's advanced electronic technologies. News and product information: http://world.casio.com

Transpac supporters also include the Long Beach Sea Festival 2007, Gladstone's Restaurant, Ayres Hotels and L. Gaylord Sportswear.

Archived press releases: http://www.underthesunphotos.com/Press%20Releases/PR- index.htm

More information: www.transpacificyc.org


Transpac 2007 division assignments
 (Ratings in seconds-per-mile for handicap distance of 2,300 n.m.)

Division 1 (Starts July 15)

Pyewacket (Reichel/Pugh 90), Roy E. Disney, Burbank, Calif. (-- 33.110)

Minnow (Catana 52 catamaran), Bob Webster, Pryor, Okla. (July 12)


COMMODORE

    Al Garnier
    (310) 600-0158
    reinrag@aol.com

ENTRIES CHAIRMAN

    Bill Lee
    (831) 476-9639
    wizard@fastisfun.com


PRESS OFFICER

    Rich Roberts
    (310) 835-2526
    Cell (310) 766-6547
    richsail@earthlink.net

   

Roy E. Disney (r.) turned
Pyewacket over to son
Roy Pat, holding
grandson Aidan




L.A. County fire boat salutes
racers at the start line




Magnitude 80 had the early
lead off the line until
Pyewacket took over




Morning Light crew at work




Philippe Kahn and Richard
Clarke do it doublehanded
 on Pegasus 101

 2007 photo gallery

2005 photo gallery

More Transpac info



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Official timekeeper of
Transpac 2007