Transpac
2005 - Disney's 15th Transpac Will Be His Last
April
1, 2005
LONG
BEACH, Calif.---Roy E. Disney, a Transpac fixture
long before he became the record holder, says
his 15th race this summer will be his last. He
is retiring from racing, selling his fourth Pyewacket,
a Reichel/Pugh maxZ86, and planning to go cruising
with his non-racing wife, Patty.
This
is not an April Fool's gag.
Disney,
75, said, "I just had sort of a momentous
birthday in January, and when you finally get
to where you say, 'I can't do this like I want
to do it,' there you are. This boat is a thrill
beyond belief to sail, especially in a breeze,
but at some point you have to draw a line. I figured
now is the time."
Disney
still owns a small racer-cruiser, Shamrock, a
smaller namesake than the 52-footer he sailed
in his first Transpac in 1975 when, he said, "I
didn't have a clue about what I was doing."
He had never even sailed s a crew member.
A
nephew of Walt Disney, he said his decision had
nothing to do with the ongoing dispute he and
partner Stanley Gold have pursued with the Walt
Disney Company's leadership over the last two
years.
"It
had nothing to do with the company," he said.
"It has nothing to do with anything but me
getting too old to be doing it anymore."
The
only Transpac Disney missed since 1975 was 1997
after he shattered his right leg in a car accident
near his vacation home in Ireland. While Disney
waited in Waikiki, his leg in a cast from hip
to ankle, his son Roy Pat took over as skipper
and led the team that broke Merlin's 20-year-old
record.
Disney
returned in 1999 to beat that record with a time
that still stands and later recalled the experience:
"I remember a jibe in 18.8 knots of wind.
That was interesting . . . and loud . . . and
profane. And when I was driving down to the finish
it was so dark and we were making so much spray
that all I could see was the instruments. We had
the most wind and our top speed of the race: 35
and 22 knots."
Disney's
various Pyewackets also set records in the Bermuda-Newport,
Chicago-Mackinac, Pacific Cup from San Francisco
to Hawaii and the Victoria B.C. to Maui race,
among several others.
_/)
Transpac
Trivia Quiz
Which
was the first boat to break Merlin's 20-year-old
record (fastest elapsed time by a monohull) of
8 days 11 hours 1 minute 45 seconds in 1997? Answer
below.
_/)
Magnitude
80 Twice the Fastest Finisher
A
tired old adage says, "To finish first, first
you have to finish" – but it's still
true, because it's made Doug Baker's Magnitude
80 a winner twice this year in events leading
up to Centennial Transpac 2005.
When
Disney's Pyewacket dropped out of the Puerto Vallarta
race with a cracked mast in February, Baker's
smaller Andrews 80 picked up the lead and line
honors.
And
when Randall Pittman's larger Genuine Risk abandoned
the Newport-to-Cabo San Lucas race with a canting
keel problem, Mag 80 was there again to lead a
three-boat assault on the race record.
"The
key word today is finishing," Baker said.
"These boats are so high-tech that anything
can happen. In the Cabo race when the wind hit
30-35 knots we had the big spinnaker up and we
knew it was too much. We didn't take our fractional
spinnaker, so we went with a masthead jib. It's
hard to back of when you're racing, but you gotta
finish to win anything."
Merlin,
the modified former Transpac record holder, also
had bad luck in the Cabo race when its mast crumpled
less than an hour after the start. But the canting
keel system installed by the previous owner came
in handy to keep the dangling rig from damaging
the boat until it could be cut free.
Merlin's
new owner, Trish Steele of Maui, said, "It
saved our tails once the rig went over the side.
We canted the keel so the mast would fall away
from the boat."
_/)
May
1 Sailors' Seminar Filling Up Fast
Response
has been strong for the sailors' seminar Transpac
has scheduled for all participants Sunday, May
1, at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, from
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Even entrants from out
of state have indicated interest.
Experts
will lecture on subjects including communication,
weather information, provisioning, rigging, ratings,
insurance, return boat delivery and ratings.
The
event is free. Lunch will be available. Those
interested are asked to contact Commodore Jerry
Montgomery at mmmont@aol.com
_/)
Defibrillator
Training Dates Scheduled
Instruction
in the use of the Welch Allyn AED defibrillator
units offered free to Transpac competitors by
the AED Institute of America is scheduled at five
sites from San Francisco to San Diego.
The
dates:
May
7 at Los Angeles Yacht Club in San Pedro;
May
15 at St. Francis YC in San Francisco;
June
5 at Long Beach YC;
June
11 at San Diego YC;
June
12 at Newport Harbor YC.
Each
session is scheduled from 1 to 6 p.m. A minimum
of two crew members must be trained in cardiopulmonary
resuscitation (CPR) and the safe use of the AED
for a boat to qualify for the offer. This training
will be an American Heart Association two-year
certification course.
The
training fee is $55 per person. All reservations
and deposits for the AEDs must be made before
June 1.
This
is the first time any race organization has been
able to provide this important lifesaving equipment
at no cost to the race competitors. The AEDs will
be distributed on July 9 at the pre-race dinner
and will be collected on July 29 in Hawaii at
the post-race dinner.
Reservations
and information: ( 714) 488-0454.
_/)
Trivia
Answer
Trick
question. Disney's third Pyewacket was the fastest
of six boats that broke the record in 1997, but
Bob Lane's Medicine Man got there first. The Andrews
56 got a three-day head start in Division 3 and
hooked into constant 20-knot trade winds to clock
8:06:31:00, surfing past Diamond Head at 19 knots.
But 2 1/2 days five later five faster sleds (including
Merlin) beat that time, led by Pyewacket in 7:15:24:40.
Related
photos and other information: www.transpacificyc.org
