Pyewacket shares focus with Mag 80 in Transpac

by Rich Roberts on 21 Jul 2007 Here's where Pyewacket stood at Friday morning's position reports for the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii: Barn Door? With a 109-nautical mile lead over Doug Baker's Magnitude 80, almost certain. Record? Probably not.

As Roy E. Disney waits in Waikiki, his team is urging all speed possible out of the radically modified 94-foot onetime maxZ86, but even with favorable northeast trade winds kicking in for the second half of the race, that apparently won't be enough to get Pyewacket to the finish line off Diamond Head by 2:04 a.m. Hawaii time Sunday and reclaim the record.

Twenty-four hours earlier it was calculated that Pyewacket had to average 17.97 knots the rest of the way; it averaged 15.2 in the latest report.

Also, Mag 80 should win Division 1 on corrected handicap time, although Brack Duker's Santa Cruz 70, Holua, in Division 2 is the overall leader among the 69 boats still racing, recalling the glory days of the 'sleds' of the 80s and 90s.

Better news for Disney is the ding-dong dogfight for second place in Division 2 between his Morning Light team and John Kilroy Jr.'s Samba Pa Ti, both Transpac 52s in lockstep only 19 miles behind Holua and well within sight of each other.

Disney's navigator, Stan Honey, has an interest in both boats. As a coach for the Morning Light team of young sailors he helped to train navigators Piet van Os of La Jolla, Calif. and Chris Branning of Sarasota, Fla.

'It is an unusual Transpac,' said the man who has won a couple, plus the last Volvo Ocean Race---as has, by the way, Mark Rudiger, his friend and counterpart on Holua who navigated Assa Abloy's victory with Paul Cayard in the previous Volvo.

Honey said in a message from the boat: 'As far as I can recall, this is the first time in a July race that it was tempting to try to go north of the eastern lobe of the high and cut across the east-west ridge right at the cold front. All navigators that I chatted with were considering such a move but were sensibly frightened by the fact that it was such an unusual approach for a Transpac.

'On the morning of the start we had a combined Pyewacket and Morning Light weather and strategy meeting at which the Pyewacket afterguard decided to follow the more conventional southern course. The Morning Light afterguard sounded as if they had decided to take the northern route. When I last spoke to the navigators on Morning Light about 30 minutes before the preparatory signal for the start, I confirmed that Pyewacket was heading south.'

Oops!

Honey continued: 'When we analyzed the 18Z GFS model run which we received at 1700 PDT after our start on Sunday, we on Pyewacket changed our plan and off we went on the northern course, [which] looked like it would be very slow in the vicinity of the trough, but if we were able to cross the trough without stopping for too long, the net passage would be as much as 12-18 hours faster than the southern route. It's worth noting that the boats that started earlier really didn't have an attractive option to take the northern course because of the location of the light wind area that was in the eastern lobe of the high. By the time of our start that light air area had moved far enough south so that it was feasible for us to sail over it.

'In working with the kids we discussed that the northern course would likely be more appropriate for Morning Light than it would be for Pyewacket, [which] was configured for a light air downwind race and the upwind work of the northern course would not suit her, whereas Morning Light and her crew were fully prepared for a long upwind thrash. Having completed the Molokai course three times and a trip to Hilo and back, all in over 30 knots, the 'kids' were well prepared to race upwind in a near-gale.

'So the race initially unfolded very differently than we discussed. Pyewacket headed north, the kids headed south, the opposite of what both boats initially planned.'

There has been no communication between Pyewacket and Morning Light since the start last Sunday.

'I was, and in fact still am, a bit concerned that the kids will be upset that I said that Pyewacket was going south and then instead headed north,' Honey said. 'On the other hand, I suppose that is why boats still carry navigators onboard so that they can evolve strategies as new information becomes available.'

Honey also commented on the performance of Steve Manson, a Morning Light alternate who wound up on Pyewacket.

'We've had endless conversations onboard with Steve about the outlook for the kids. They have a real race on their hands with the guys on Samba.

'Steve is working on his bowman techniques with Jerry Kirby and Rick Brent, and has also been adopted by the grinders. Steve is a natural athlete and he only needs to see somebody do something exactly right once or twice and then Steve can nail it. Steve also keeps his eyes open the way that many good sailors do and sees rigging problems early when working on the bow.'

Transblogs from the boats
Denali (Bill McKinley): 'We survived another night and maintained our first-in-division [3] position. So far so good, and we currently like our position on the race track for the next 24 hours. We put our A2 kite up last night and have only had it down for a brief period to thread a line between two rain cells at dawn. It was a dicey position to be in but we dodged a bullet. The next two days are going to really set up the boats for their final push into Hawaii. Fortunes will be won and lost over the next 48 hours.'

Peregrine (Jeff Westbrook): Trade winds continue to build. We're now getting 20K regular breeze and surfing down long rollers at a top speed achieved (by your humble correspondent) of 14.7K, accompanied by a yell of 'yikes!' It's a drag race to the finish.

Psyche (Bill Wright): Steve Calhoun is off watch and is up on deck taking a bath. This is a pretty exciting affair. Not Steve, the bath. You go up on deck with a bucket and a bottle of camp suds, half or completely naked, depending on your level of insecurity. Just the act of standing on the foredeck of a bucking seahorse when the wind is high is quite a trick to keep standing. Sometimes you have to just sit down. First you take a bucket with a strong rope, tied to your hand, and fetch some water, then you pour the bucket over your head. This feels REALLY good. Cool tropical water. Then you get the camp suds and cover yourself. After a couple of suds, rinses, you are ready to rinse yourself with fresh water. Steve has one of those amazingly simple inventions called a solar shower. Nothing more than a plastic sack, clear on one side, and black on the other, full of freshly made water. After a surprisingly short time of this sack sitting on the deck with its clear side up, the water is piping hot. Hoist the sack on the spinnaker pole and open its spigot on the bottom, and out pours really nice hot water for the final rinse. Do it completely, because we are making new water every day. What a luxury this is.
Tango (Phil and Mike, both 70): Halfway there! Martini anyone? Last night a storm came through with a lot of wind and rain. We had to sail conservatively and lost some ground to the young and the brave. Mike is doing such a good job with the food that there will not be the hoped-for weight loss on the trip; in fact, it may be the other way around.

Reinrag2 (Dr. Data?): We had our halfway party yesterday with lots to celebrate. Still going to Hawaii fast and trying to get faster. Can't ask for better weather position with just the right amount of wind to let R^2 fly. All the while lots of great (and not so great) jokes and laughter. We're sorry that you guys can't see us on the transponder anymore. Just imagine us jamming ahead.

The Minnow: (Bob Webster) Mom and Dad tried to raise us not to follow the crowd. As you can see, we are taking the scenic route in