Psyche, Samba Pa Ti cash in down south

by Rich Roberts on 26 Jul 2007 Going south late in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii has paid off dramatically in battles between classic boats of the old and modern eras.

Over a period of 24 hours Steve Calhoun's Psyche won a battle of Cal 40s, and a bold move by John Kilroy Jr.'s Samba Pa Ti apparently put Morning Light's rival Transpac 52 deep in arrears with only a day's sailing to go Wednesday.

Meantime, Hawaii-based On the Edge of Destiny, sailed by five young men comprising the youngest crew ever to sail Transpac---average age 19.8---finished in the light of a bright three-quarter moon floating low on the horizon just after 1 a.m. Wednesday to claim a third-place podium finish in Division 5.

Psyche finished 54 minutes 46 seconds behind Don Grind's rival Far Far, but that was close enough with 15 minutes 32 seconds to spare to cover the handicap time owed it by the other Cal 40 and win Division 6.

But it was Monday's brash call apparently by Samba Pa Ti navigator Nick White that caught everyone---especially the young Morning Light team and its shore supporters---by surprise. In Tuesday morning's roll call position reports, Samba Pa Ti was so far south that knowledgeable observers thought its posted location at Latitude 19-21 east of Hilo on the big island was in error.

Nope, just a desperate but well-calculated end run to shake off Morning Light by sailing farther to gain leverage in stronger winds south of the usual path to Diamond Head. By Wednesday morning Samba Pa Ti, sailing two knots faster at 11.6, had gone from 31 nautical miles behind Morning Light to 19 miles ahead.

Actually, they're competing for second place in Division 2 behind the current leader, Brack Duker's Holua, a Santa Cruz 70 to which the TP52s owe handicap time.

A similar but less drastic move worked for Psyche.

Skipper Steve Calhoun said, 'About five days into the race we dipped south and lost sight of Far Far, but heard through the morning roll calls they were about 35 miles above us. After a couple of days they came down to follow. We couldn't see them all the time, but knew they were there.'

Psyche, which won Transpac overall in the Cal 40s' stunning debut in 1965, then just needed to stay in touch to correct out on handicap time.

[Sorry, this content could not be displayed] Afterward, Calhoun, from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. and Grind, from Placerville, Calif., and their crews met at the Hawaii Yacht Club dock.

'In 2005 it was the same boat, same thing,' Far Far crew member Mark English said. 'We match raced them in that race, too. This was a phenomenal experience, a chess match every morning. After we crossed the edge of Catalina we looked back and there they were, right behind us. They saw us, tacked, we tacked and 'game on'!'

About that time, word was around the dock that Psyche, though finishing behind, had won on corrected time.

'We won?' Calhoun said. 'Wow! This is fantastic. They're [Far Far] a great team and kept us working. We thought at times we were ahead of them. Then [Monday] we lost sight of them. Tonight, coming through the Molokai Channel we kept looking for their light figuring they were either ahead of us or behind. We no idea until we crossed the finish line where they were.'

Roger Sturgeon's new STP65, Rosebud, finished a few hours earlier to take third in Division 1 behind Magnitude 80 and Pyewacket---a strong comeback from a later Sunday start that penalized boats going south too soon.

'Our [weather] program said the north was far more risky to us than others,' said Sturgeon, who won race overall honors on a TP52 called Rosebud two years ago. 'We thought we had more options down south. The tropical depression [Cosme] could have worked in our favor. But I don't remember any wind above 23 [knots].'

The good part was that the boat performed remarkably well for the conditions it was in.

'If the wind was 10 or 11 [knots], we'd go 10 or 11,' Sturgeon said. 'You do what you can with what you have.'

The On the Edge of Destiny team sailed a 1D35 owned by Dan Doyle of Kailua, who won several Transpacs sailing doublehanded. The skipper and navigator were his sons Sean 19, and Justin, 18, with Roscoe Fowler, 20, of Honolulu; Cameron Biehl, 19, of San Diego, and Ted White, 23, of Santa Barbara.

Justin Doyle said, 'The wind was lighter than what we were hoping for, so we went farther south to get around the [Pacific] High. Even the [Molokai] channel was lighter than usual.'

Nevertheless, Fowler said, 'We flew a spinnaker all the way from early morning on the second day.'

The only downside for Biehl, he said, was with three-hour watches 'you just get into that dream state and it's time to get up on deck again.'

The next youngest crew is Morning Light, averaging 21.2 and serving as an inspiration for the Destiny team, which started three days earlier.

'It looks like we may have beaten Morning Light [on corrected time],' Sean Doyle said, 'but that really wasn't our goal.'

Their most serious problem was when the steering system failed and the boat spun out while sailing under spinnaker.

White smiled at the memory.

'The kite was down for about half a minute while we put the emergency rudder on,' he said. 'The most exciting thing was when I jumped off the bow to pull a bag off the rudder.'

Another concern beyond their control was a protest call by David Clark's Santa Cruz 50 Adrenaline over minor contact at the rambunctious start off Point Fermin 13 days earlier. Adrenaline finished a few hours later and said it did not plan to follow through on the protest.

Transblogs from the boats

Locomotion: We are now sailing in 'delivery mode'---out of contention for a podium position, and just about out of water as well. We had some fun last night watching another spectacular green flash, followed by a very long lasting 'Dreamsicle Orange' darkness after the sunset with plenty of cumulus 'garnish' spanning the back lit horizon. Good photo ops! There was enough rain in this AM's squall to permit collection of about a 1/2 gallon of rainwater. Hooray! We will run out of water from our main tank by noon [Wednesday]. We then have to break out our emergency bottled water (8 gallons), which will have to suffice until we finish. That equates to one gallon of water for each man to sail the last 500 miles, plus whatever we can harvest from the life raft-ditch bag (currently under scrutiny; . . . a few more gallons at best). With an ETA of at least two more days at sea, it will be dicey as to whether we can make it without requiring outside assistance. Of course, we will wait until help is absolutely needed. With a little help from the wind gods, we should be able to hang in there and arrive without the need for a water drop, thirsty for sure, but comfortable with our decision to go for it.

NOTE: Wednesday morning the communications vessel Alaska Eagle contacted Locomotion through a relay from another race boat, Alsumar, and asked, 'How is your water situation?' After some delay the answer came back: 'Water sufficient.' Later, Locomotion was asked, 'Are you into your emergency water supply?' Another race boat, Skylark, repeated the question to be sure Locomotion received it. The single-word answer: 'Negative.' Skylark confirmed the response.

Pegasus 101 (Philippe Kahn): There are flying fish everywhere. I bet that they see the winged Pegasus as a giant predator. Amazing little critters. You can find their delicious eggs at the Sushi bar if you order Tobiko.

Psyche (Bill Wright): We jibed our way toward Molokai all morning. We barreled through a particularly long and rainy squall, and when it cleared, viola, there was Haleakala, the volcano of the island of Maui, rising up out of the clouds. We are presently sailing down this amazing coast. Charlie says that it has the highest sea cliffs in the world, even higher than the cliffs of Dover. Far Far DID take a flyer. She is