The Story of the 1999 Transpacific Yacht Race

With the Dow Jones Average hovering around 10,400 and with the memory of the record shattering ’97 race fresh in peoples memory, one would have expected a great turnout for Transpac ’99, but the sale of most of the sled fleet to the Great Lakes and the growing interest in one design inshore boats kept the fleet size down to 33 starters. Using staggered starts, as has been the case since 1991, eight boats in the Cruising Division and two Double-handed boats started on June 29, and eight 40 footers started on July 2. On July 3, Divisions I, II and III got underway in a light southeasterly that carried the fleet out on port tack to well beyond Catalina Island before the wind clocked and the fleet tacked to starboard with the majority of the July 3 starters leaving Santa Barbara Island and San Nicolas to port.

The July 4 roll call found most of the fleet sailing in 18-20 knots of wind with some of the July 3 starters reporting wind in the 25 knot range. At about 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, M PROJECT, a Division III entry, withdrew with rudder problems and headed back to the coast.

The only multihull in the race, DOUBLE BULLET, started on July 5 and for the second time in as many races failed to make it beyond the first day as she flipped over and was towed back to the mainland with her crew being rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter.

When the fleet clustered near the midway point, most of the boats were experiencing winds in the 20-25 knot range and reeling off big 24 hour runs. On July 7 the Division I Turbos reported day runs of from 325 to 330 miles, the 50 footers were in the 270-285 mile day range, the 40 footers made about 200 to 225 miles, and the cruising boats were moving well in the 160 to 190 mile range. Even the 30 foot double-handed entry, TWO GUYS ON THE EDGE, had a 200 plus mile day.

July 8 found a lightening of the wind, and PYEWACKET, who had trailed ZEPHYRUS IV up to this point in the race, moved ahead of the other turbos by taking a bite south, while ZEPhYRUS worked above the rhumb line. Among Division II sleds, GRAND ILLUSION, who had moved into first place overall on corrected time the previous day, continued to dominate. The Division III leader was GONE WITH THE WIND, a highly modified SC 50 from the Bay Area. Among the 40 footers, the battle was between GREAT SCOT and TOWER. The Cruising Division leader was HURRICANE with ESPRIT second in class.

The next couple of days saw good winds combined with squalls and very dark nights. There were great opportunities for gains by playing the favored gybe, and the boats that worked to the south seemed to fare better.

On the night of July 10 at 9:41:27 p.m. Hawaiian time, PYEWACKET crossed the finish line off Diamond Head light for a new elapsed time record of 7 days, 11 hours, 41 minutes and 27 seconds, shaving 3 3/4 hours off the record she set in 1997. MAGNITUDE finished a little less than 2 hours later, also breaking the old record and ZEPHYRUS finished another 3 hours later. Along the way, MAGNITUDE broke the 24 hour run record with a new record of 353 nautical miles.

The winner of the Governor of Hawaii Trophy and the King Kalakaua Trophy for fastest overall corrected time was the Division II winner, the 13 year old Santa Cruz 70, GRAND ILLUSION, that finished shortly before 1:00 p.m. on July 11. GRAND ILLUSION sailed the last 150 miles with a large horizontal rip in the mainsail with the sail being held together only by the leech cord.

Among the other class winners were GONE WITH ThE WIND (Division III), GREAT SCOT (Division IV), HURRICANE in the Cruising Class and TWO GUYS On THE EDGE in the Double-handled division. The last boat to finish, VAPOR, finished in 18 days, 8 hours after having been out of radio contact for virtually the whole race.

- Written by Jerry Montgomery, J/C Commodore