Relentless Leads First Group of Starters on Transpac '09

by Lynn Fitzpatrick

After sailing through wind ranges of 8 to 15 knots immediately following Monday's start and making a number of headsail changes, Divisions 6 and 7 Transpac crews went over the top of Catalina Island and settled into steadier conditions. Relentless leads and is 2,100 nautical miles from the finish line off Diamond Head and Lynx, the 114-ton tall ship, is finding difficult to get the momentum going. Lynx has 2,165 nautical miles left to go on the 2,225 nautical mile racecourse.

In Division 6, Relentless, the One-Design 35 being doublehanded by Tim Fuller and Erik Shampain, has a ten-mile lead over the crew on Narrow Escape. This is the second time that Fuller and Shampain have sailed double-handed from Los Angeles to Hawaii. During the 2007 Transpac, they were 4th in their division. Before leaving the Transpac Pier at Rainbow Harbor, when asked about their watch system, Shampain looked at Fuller and said, "He said he'd take the first three days on so that I could take the first three off." As for Narrow Escape, two of the crew were aboard her during the 2007 Transpac. The entire crew was supposed to sail the Santa Cruz 50, Lawndart, to Hawaii this year, but when it was clear that the SC 50 would not be ready in time, they looked for their Plan B, as they have been referring to Narrow Escape.

Charisma, one of nine foreign yachts in this year's Transpacific Yacht Race, is off to an early lead in Division 7. Alejandro Perez Calzada and his crew of 11 are racing this 57-foot Sparkman & Stephens design. Aside from one German, the entire Charisma crew is Spanish. All crew members are sailing their first Transpac. Their goal is to have a good time and have a respectable finish within their division.

While Charisma is taking a high track, Between the Sheets is splitting the middle among all of the Division 6 and Division 7 boats. Between the Sheets, Ross Peralman's, Jeanneau 50, which won the Aloha A division in the 2007 Transpac, is approximately 15 miles behind Charisma.

Nineteen boats comprising Divisions 3,4 and 5 start on Thursday, July 2nd at 1300 off of Point Fermin. Five Santa Cruz 50's, including hull #1, Roy's Chasch Mer, constitute Division 5. Half of the boats in Division 4 are Santa Cruz 52's. Reinrag2, the overall winner on corrected time for the 2007 Transpac, is also in Division 4. Division 3's entries include two Japanese and one Mexican boat and Bruce Anderson's comfortable and fast, Free Range Chicken.

Transpac Race