Tabasco hot stuff in Division IV

by Rich Roberts on 28 Jul 2005 Tabasco, a chartered 1D35 raced by five Southern Californians calling themselves the Alamitos Bay Syndicate, finished a strong run at 1:31 a.m. Wednesday about 150 miles ahead of the next boat in Division IV, averaging 8 knots for the 2,225 nautical miles and dominating their seven-boat class like no other winner---first to finish and on handicap time.

Thirteen Division III boats also started July 15 but fought a different kind of battle ending Tuesday. Reinrag2, a J/125 from Portland, Ore. sailed by skipper Tom Garnier, four members of his family and Rob Waterman, patiently worked its way to the front and then held onto its handicap time lead by more than three hours after The Cone of Silence from Australia flew past with a string of 200-mile-plus days near the end.

Al Garnier, brother of the owner and Transpac's next commodore for the 2007 race, said, ‘We thought we had 'em when we gained on them Monday.’

It was Reinrag2's third division win in the last four races, missing only 2001 when they didn't sail.

‘We were 100 miles behind our performance in '03, so the race was slow,’ Al Garnier said. ‘We were kind of going with the group and saw a lot of our Division III boats all the way through.’

The Cone of Silence is a 31-foot Super 30 class boat, designed by Reichel/Pugh, as were Morning Glory and this year's overall winner, the Transpac 52 Rosebud. But it's built more on the lines of a skiff than the usual Transpac boat. Skipper Jamie O'Neill said the boat has logged 300-mile days in the Mooloolaba race back home, although its top day in this race was 263---not bad for a 31-footer.

‘We never really had our conditions except for the last few days,’ O'Neill said. ‘When you have a little boat you need to be planing and you need 14 knots [of wind]. We really struggle in light conditions.

‘We had a pretty good last 100 miles, and we got a good squall 200 miles out that carried us for 40 miles.’