Fear and Loving in Honolulu

As awesome as is he is, Chip Megeath isn’t capable of bending clouds. But his navigator Jeff Thorpe was able to read them well enough to lead Megeath’s Tiburon-based R/P 45 Criminal Mischief to a convincing win in Division 3 in the 45th TransPac and a win for ‘their day’. The Criminal crew was the second boat to Hawaii — and first Thursday-starter to finish — following Neville Crichton’s record-setting, Stan Honey-navigated Alfa Romeo by some 15 hours.

After navigating the R/P 100 to an amazing new record — where the crew was left without hotel rooms for their first night in Hawaii because they’d outrun their reservations for the 45th TransPac — Honey was as excited about some of the prominent parent/offspring crew combinations and watching his proteges from the 2007 Morning Light program get to the finish as he was about the record.

"The TransPac was always kind of a family deal," Honey said. "There are more boats that way now than there were a few years ago . . . the race has come around to being more supportive of smaller boats."

One person who had the advantage of the ‘family ride’ from way back was John Kilroy Jr. While he’s the kept the logos and colors, the name change from the family Kialoas to his TP 52 Samba Pa Tí didn’t seem to have a negative effect on his tally for the 2009 race: 1st in class, 1st overall, 1st elapsed time for the ‘barn door.’

We’ll be back with a more comprehensive report, including more on some the multiple generations who sailed the race, after the rest of the fleet arrives in next couple days, so stay tuned . . .