Flash Skipper and Crew Comment On The Transpac 2009
Flash at the Start of Transpac 2009 (Photo courtesy of Transpac 2009)
Tom Akin had a lot to say about sailing Flash, a TP 52, to Hawaii. His initial comments were, “I found out what is its like to be in a TP52 for seven days. You sit in water, you eat in water, and you sleep in water. It’s wet. The beast is not as luxurious as my Santa Cruz 52. I was looking for a creature comfort and couldn’t find one.”
Akin, his crew and Jeff Thorpe, Criminal Mischief’s navigator, worked non-stop over a very short period of time to get Flash into racing condition. From the time the boat arrived in Long Beach, two weeks before the start, until the evening before they took off, the deck was strewn with rigging materials, sealants and tools. The work that they did paid off. With more than half of the Transpac fleet safely docked in Honolulu, Flash sits second in class and second in fleet.
Akin had nothing but praise for each and every individual who sailed Transpac 09 on Flash. As their Aloha party wound to a close, Akin rose to the occasion and thanked them. He started by saying, “You’ll always have a special affinity for a boat that takes you 2,500 miles. It’s a bond that we’ll never forget. We did a lot of really good things and we have to be happy with that. If someone had told me that we would be sitting in the second in class, second in fleet position a few months ago, I would have told him he was crazy.”
Flash held the lead on corrected time for much of the race while Samba was “zigzagging all over the place,” said Paul Cayard. “We were pleasantly surprised to be in the lead. During the last two days, they got it sorted out and put on the afterburners and put 40 miles a day on us.”
Flash at the Dock (Photo courtesy of Transpac 2009)
Allie Cayard, the youngest and the only female on board said, “There was never a dull moment. There was always something to be fixed.” Allie sailed with her brother and father, Paul. She also noted how calm it was dockside compared to out on the Pacific Ocean sailing the world’s most enduring and greatest ocean race
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Posted by admin on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Filed under Boats, Flash TP52, Latest News, Race Teams, Skippers, Boats and Records, Transpac · Tagged with 120, 2009, 7122, 77890, Aburatsubo, Acapulco, Addiction, Aichi Japan, AK, Akela, Alaska Eagle, Alchemy, Alejandro Perez Calzada, Alfa Romeo, Allure, Andrew Rasdal, Andrews 53, Andrews 56, Andrews 63, Andrews 68, Andrews 80, Artemis, Bad Pak, Barcelona, Bekris, Bengal 7, Between the Sheets, Bill Turpin, black, Bloodhound, boat, Bob Barton, Brack Duker, Bruce Anderson, Bruce Orisek, CA, CAN, Can 69102, Catalina 38, Catalina 42, Cazador, Charisma, Chip Megeath, Chris Welsh, Cipango, Club Waikiki, Corpus Christi, Criminal Mischief, Dana Point, David Lee, Doug Backhouse, Doug Baker, Ernie Pennell, Far Niente, Farr 46, Fast 40, Flash, Free Range Chicken, george bekris, Gib, Gordon Leon, Grand Illusion, Hassle, HI, Holua, Honolulu, Horizon, Hula, ID, j, J / 125, J / 35, J World, J-120, Jack Taylor, James McDowell, Japan, Jeanneau 45.2, Jeanneau 50, Jeffrey Woods, John Kilroy, Jorge Ripstein, Kaneohe, Kazumasa Nishioka, Laguna Marina, Larry Malmberg, Leglus, Lindsey Austin, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Louis Bianco, Lynx, M.D.ph.D., Magnitude 80, Marina Del Rey, Maury Myers, McCall, Medicine Man, Mex, Mexico, Mighty Tongaroa, Mirage, Mod, mstrsail, mx 555, Nanaimo, Naples Island, Narrow Escape, Neville Crichton, New Zealand, Newport Beach, NH, Norikazu Hatsukano, NZL80, OEX, Ohashi 46, Ohashi 52, One-Design 35, Open 50, OR, Paranoia, Passion, Patrick Hearne, Pegasus 50, Per Peterson, Perry 59, Peru, Peter Tong, Philippe Kahn, Portland, Pyewacket, Ragtime, Rancho Santa Fe, Reed Bernhard, Reichel Pugh 100, Reichel Pugh 45, Reichel Pugh 78, Reinrag2, Relentless, Ricardo Brockmann, Rick von Heydenreich.Long Beach, Robert Lane, Roche Harbor, Ross Pearlman, Roy P. Disney, ROY's Chasch, Ruahatú, sail, Samba Pa Ti, San Diego, Santa Cruz 50, Santa Cruz 52, Santa Cruz 70, SC52, Scott Abrams, Seattle, Silent Running, skipper, Spain, Sparkman & Stephens, Sparkman & Stephens 65, Spencer 65, Steve Hastings, Tachyon III, Tall Ship 78, Thomas Hogan, Tiburon, Tim Fuller, Tom Akin, Tom Garnier, Tom Holthus, transpac, Transpac 52, TX, US 59707, USA 4, USA 7960, USA 88, Valkyrie, Wasabi, Wayne Zittel, Westerly, William McClure, yacht, Yakutat, Yoshihiko Murase
