Transpac grows younger with age

by Rich Roberts on 30 May 2007 As Transpac becomes more than 100 years old, the sailors are getting younger.

Like Roy E. Disney's Morning Light team, two entries from Hawaii will place the accent on youth in the 44th race starting in July. Sean and Justin Doyle, the 19- and 18-year-old sons of Transpac double handed veteran Dan Doyle, will race with three other young men on Doyle's 1D35---formerly named Two Guys On the Edge, now On the Edge of Destiny.

Lindsey Austin, 22, will be skipper on Bill Myers' Standfast 40, Cirrus, with an all-woman crew, except for Myers. Austin was one of 30 finalists for the Morning Light team before it was trimmed to 15 in tryouts at Long Beach last summer.

'I knew I was going to do Transpac with or without Morning Light,' Austin said. 'I wasn't going to let that stop me.'

Austin, who has a 100-ton Master's license from the Pacific Maritime Center in Hawaii, comes from a family of mariners, including her mother Donna, who also will be on the boat. She met Myers when she delivered his boat to San Francisco for the start of last year's Pacific Cup, after bad weather foiled Myers' earlier effort.

'So when Transpac came around and I didn't have a boat to do it, I asked Bill,' she said.

It is believed that Austin will be the second youngest female skipper in Transpac history after Terri Clapp, who at 21 led the race's first all-woman crew on Concubine in 1979. They plan to leave Honolulu Saturday to bring Myers' boat to Long Beach for final pre-race preparations and activities in Rainbow Harbor, the new mainland home of Transpac.

Myers, 71, spent a 40-year scientific career at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California doing research and development on dynamic nuclear properties. He retired to Hawaii several years ago and started sailing Cirrus seriously. He was keen on giving Austin this opportunity, he said, because of 'my excellent experience with women sailors. I also had friends on the [Linda Elias] all-woman crew that raced in 1997, which was my first Transpac.'

Cirrus' rivals will include On the Edge of Destiny. The Doyle brothers sailed the 2006 Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Kaneohe with their dad, who also has done four Transpacs doublehanded but will not sail this time. Sean will be skipper, Justin navigator, and other crew members will be Tedd White, 23, of Goleta, Calif., and Cameron Biehl, 19, San Diego, watch captains, and Roscoe Fowler, 20, Honolulu, medic.

Their average age of 19.8 could make them the youngest Transpac crew ever. That distinction is currently endowed on the seven young men averaging 22.57 years who sailed on Jon Andron's victorious Cal 40, Argonaut, in the 1969 Transpac.

Dan Doyle can't race this time because of his role on Transpac's Honolulu Committee.

'I have to be here to greet the boats when they come in,' he said. 'I started talking to Sean and Justin and thought it would be a great year for them to take the boat, if they wanted to. Morning Light had a little bit to do with it . . . the inspiration to put a bunch of kids together came from there.'

He said he won't worry about them.

'When we started off in Pac Cup I took one watch and put them together [on the other watch],' Doyle said. 'After about three days it was real clear they were totally confident and reliable, so we split up into three watches.'

Justin said, 'It's gonna be cool because it's a bunch of guys around my age, and I get to sail with my brother. I've spent a lot of time on the boat. We know what it likes to do and how it goes fast.'

With a record number in sight, entries for the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii will close Thursday, June 7.

There are currently 73 registered and paid entries, approaching the total of 75 in 2005 that was the second most ever. The record is 80 in 1979. The complete current list is below.

Online entry and other information is available at www.transpacificyc.org

Transpac activities will start with the July 7 unveiling of 11 Walk of Fame monuments---one for each decade of the race---to be placed around Rainbow Harbor, a popular tourist site surrounded by restaurants, shops and the Aquarium of the Pacific.

This summer's month-long schedule of pre-race activities will be integrated into the city's annual Sea Festival celebration.

As in 2005, complimentary dock space will be provided in Rainbow Harbor for all boats, local and from out of town, to make their final preparations there in the days and weeks before the race. This year they will include Disney's modified 94-foot Pyewacket and the Morning Light team.

On the three start days July 9, 12 and 15 the various divisions will depart amid public fanfare past the Queen Mary and to the starting line below Point Fermin Park in nearby San Pedro.

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/

Official entries to date
(Divisions to be assigned)

DH-Addiction 2 (J/35), Richard Blackburn, Honolulu
Adrenalin (Santa Cruz 50), David Clark, Newport Beach, Calif.
Alsumar (S&S 70), Bill and Ted Davis, Las Vegas, Nev.
Anna Katarina (First 47.7), John Otterson, La Jolla, Calif.
Ariadne (Ladd 73), Frank Easterbrook, Newport Beach, Calif.
Bengal 7 (Ohashi 46), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan
Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey
Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach, Calif.
DH-Brilliant (J/100), Tim Fuller, Murrieta, Calif.
Brown Sugar (Express 37), Steve Brown, Santa Ana, Calif.
California Girl (Cal 40), Don and Betty Lessley, Novato, Calif.
Cheetah (ULDB 70), Chris Slagerman, Los Angeles
Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Cirrus (Standfast 40), William D. Myers, Honolulu
Coyote (Beneteau 39), Tim Bond, Honolulu
Denali (Nelson/Marek 70), William McKinley, Grosse Pointe, Mich.
Enchilado (Jeanneau 54), Cesar de Saracho, Tucson, Ariz.
Far Far (Cal 40), Don Grind, Placerville, Calif.
Fortaleza (Santa Cruz 50), Jim Morgan, Long Beach, Calif.
French Kiss (Beneteau 50), Bryan Daniels, Alamo, Calif.
Gaviota (Cal 2-46-46), Jim Partridge, Pasadena, Calif.
Ginny (Calkins 50), Chris Calkins/Norm Reynolds, Encinitas, Calif.
Holua (Santa Cruz 70), Brack Duker, Pasadena, Calif.
Ho'okolohe (Farr 58), Alyson and Cecil Rossi, Novato, Calif.
Horizon (Santa Cruz 50), Jack Taylor, Dana Point, Calif.
Hugo Boss (Volvo 60), Andy Tourell, Gosport, UK
Hula Girl (Santa Cruz 50T), Beau Gayner, Newport Beach, Calif.
Inspired Environments (Beneteau First 40.7), Timothy Ballard, Sausalito, Calif.
It's OK (Andrews 50), Tres Gordo Sailing, Glendora, Calif.
Kokopelli 2 (Santa Cruz 52), S.A. (Chip) Megeath, Tiburon, Calif.
Lady Liberty (Catalina 36), John Wallner, Calabasas, Calif.
Locomotion (Andrews 45), Ed Feo, Long Beach, Calif.
Lucky (Transpac 52), Bryon Ehrhart, Chicago, Ill.
Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach, Calif.
Mayhem (Transpac 52), Bob Wolfe, Calgary, Canada
Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, Long Beach, Calif.
Morning Light (Transpac 52), Pacific High Productions, Los Angeles
Myster (Swan 42), Jorge Morales, Dana Point, Calif.
DH-Narrow Escape (Fast 40), Allen Lehman Jr., Payson, Ariz.
On the Edge of Destiny (1D35), Sean Doyle, Kailua, H.I.
Paddy Wagon (Ross 40), Richard Mainland, Los Angeles
Passion (Santa Cruz 50), Steve Hastings, Corpus Christi, Tex.
Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Encino, Calif.
Peregrine (Hobie 33), Simon Garland, San Diego
Psyche (Cal 40), Steve Calhoun, Palos Verdes Estates,