TransPac Arrivals Wind Down

The TransPac has the reputation of being the ‘serious’ race to Hawaii, but that doesn’t mean it excludes family efforts, or isn’t one in and of itself. There were plenty of boats that had multiple generations aboard; there were also siblings spread over different boats throughout the fleet. But the family doesn’t stop at the people — the eight sleds, four TP 52s, five SC 50s and four SC 52s that made the 2,250 mile trip are just as much a part of the TransPac ‘family.’ In the case of the sleds and the TP 52s, they’re family members who went off to different parts of the country, and world, only to come home and remind us of why they were born and bred here — taking the top-five spots overall.

The TP 52s had both types of family connections. When the race started, Tom Akin never guessed that Flash would be in the top two overall by the the time she crossed the finish line off Diamond Head. But the Bay Area-based sailor, who won the ’06 Pacific Cup overall with his SC 52 Lightning, put the pedal down ever since the late-starting effort got going in March. With the help of project manager and Criminal Mischief navigator Jeff Thorpe, Akin recruited the likes of Paul Cayard and Jay Crum. We have it on good authority that the only compensation they took was the chance to bring their respective offspring: Allie and Danny Cayard, and Joe Crum. After first leading Division 1, then the entire race up until the last two days, Flash was ultimately overtaken by John Kilroy’s all-pro team on the TP 52 Samba Pa Tí.

In the Sled branch of the TransPac family tree, longtime class stalwart Peter Tong and his SC 70 OEX took the Division 2 win and third overall with a crew that included son-in-law John Sangmeister. With just under three hours corrected time separating the top three sleds, James McDowell’s SC 70 Grand Illusion finished second in Division 2 and fourth overall after leading the race overall for the first few days, then Division 2 the division until the last two. Roy Pat Disney’s Pyewacket finished third in division and fifth overall.

Bay Area boats also claimed the top two spots in Division 3 with Bob and Rob Barton’s Andrews 56 Cipango finishing in the runner-up slot to Chip Megeath’s R/P 45 Criminal Mischief. Cipango featured not only two generations of Bartons — father Bob and son Rob — but a third in grandson Ted Barton. The Santa Rosa family sailed their blue-hulled pocket sled into second, beating third-place Bengal 7 from Japan, owned by Yoshihiko Murase, by just over eight minutes on corrected time. With nearly all the boats already in Hawaii, the sailing portion of the 45th TransPac is drawing to a close. Only four boats still racing — a fifth, Wayne Zittell’s J/World, retired — remain on the course. That, of course, means that the parties will be winding up. We just don’t have enough space here in ‘Lectronic to go into all the great stories we’ve heard here in Hawai’i, but we will in the August issue of Latitude 38.