Pegasus fastest of Transpac fleet
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Traveling across the Pacific Ocean like the mythical winged horse it is named after, Pegasus 77 once again recorded the fastest time in the 42nd Transpacific Yacht Race.
Pegasus 77, a 77-foot sloop, arrived off Diamond Head at 2:31 yesterday morning, completing a 2,225-nautical mile journey from Los Angeles in 7 days, 16 hours, 31 minutes, 17 seconds.
Despite light winds the entire week, it was the fourth-fastest time in the history of the race (which is staged every two years). Pyewacket, which came in almost five hours after Pegasus 77 yesterday, set the course record of 7:11:41:27 in 1999.
"With an ounce of luck, we could have broken the record," said Pegasus project manager Mark Christensen. "The only frustrating part for us was that there was very little wind."
Pegasus 77, the longest yacht in the fleet, also won the last Transpac race in 2001. As the yacht with the fastest elapsed time, Pegasus was again awarded the coveted "Barn Door" — a 3 1/2-by-4-foot slab of carved koa wood that serves as the first-place trophy.
Pegasus is owned and skippered by Philippe Kahn, a computer software developer who maintains part-time residence in Hawai'i. The crew of 14 included several professional sailors from around the world.
"We felt like we were strong in all areas," said team member Jeff Madrigali. "But the one area that really came through in this race was navigation."
Only two yachts — Pegasus 77 and Pyewacket — entered the Division I class for the longest and fastest designs, making for a one-on-one showdown.
Pyewacket, a 75-foot sloop owned and skippered by Roy E. Disney, held the lead for the first two days before Pegasus made a dramatic move that worked wonders.
As Disney put it: "We went right, they went left; and they were right and we were wrong."
In an effort to make up ground on Pyewacket, Pegasus followed the wind along a southerly course. Christensen estimated that Pegasus was about 15 degrees off Pyewacket's course, and about 40 degrees off the straight line to Honolulu.
"That's a big difference," Christensen said. "By the second day, we were 100 miles to the south of (Pyewacket)."
But the wind proved to be just a little bit stronger on the south course, and Pegasus was able to pass Pyewacket by the end of the third day.
After that, Christensen said the goal of the crew was "not to break anything and keep an eye on (Pyewacket) to make sure they stayed behind."
It helped that most of the crew remembered the experience of winning two years ago. But it also helped that they were sailing aboard a longer and leaner Pegasus this time.
In the two years since the 2001 Transpac victory, Pegasus went through several design changes.
"Essentially, it's the same hull," Christensen said. "But it was made more powerful by getting longer and lighter."
It showed on the seventh day, when Pegasus set a one-day Transpac record by covering 356 miles to erase any existing drama with Pyewacket.
"The crux of the race happened early on, in day two and day three," Madrigali said. "That was the key stretch for us."
Pegasus has already secured the fastest elapsed time and the fastest time in Division I, but its chances for a rare sweep of three honors appears unlikely. Alta Vita, a 52-foot sloop, is expected to beat Pegasus on corrected time (faster "handicap" times are calculated for the smaller yachts to compensate for the design differences).
Alta Vita, which is entered in Division II, is expected to finish early this morning.
As of 6 last night, 14 of the 54 boats in the fleet had completed the course, including B'Quest, which featured a crew of disabled sailors representing an organization called Challenged America.
