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The Ed's TransPac Picks The '03 TransPac is history, and the only thing left (besides being forced to listen to endless stories from someone at the yacht club who did the race and wants to be sure that you understand what a great sailor he is), is for me to review my picks (see Picks Across the Pond). I was pretty spot on this time, and where I wasn't, I have great excuses as to why I wasn't. Good Times. Aloha The only people who think that this is racing are the same people who think the WWF is real. I don't begrudge that folks wanted to sail across the pond, but call it something besides racing. I picked lady Bleu to win, and since they were indeed first to finish, that constitutes a win in this class. One for one. Truthfully, this one was easy, but I truly proved my true genius by saying that Illusion would "win their class by half a day, if not more". Final corrected time win delta? 12 hours. Thank you very much. Two for two. Division IV Catalina 42's rule, man! They rule! Three for three. Double Handed When you only have two starters and one finisher, the odds of picking the right one are pretty good. This one would have been fairly easy no matter how many starters here were. SA friends Dan Doyle & Bruce Burgess on Two Guys On The Edge not only won, but also were doing quite well in Div IV right up to the end. Nice job boys. Four for Four Division IV The biggest class with eleven boats, I correctly called for the ID 35's to win and then further picked the winner: "On paper the OD 35's should be the boats to beat. Chris Busch sailing his wife's Wild Thing should beat Tabasco.." I thought Paddy Wagon and Krakatoa might contend, and they ended up 4th and 5th. And I missed with Terra's XL, as they ended up a fine third in class. Still, a win is a win for me. Five for Five. Division III Here I was dramatically let down by the withdrawal of The Cone of Silence. Damn, it would have been fun to see what they would have done. The star of this class was Reinrag2, the J-125. They had some early adversity and came from well back to win this class quite handily. A well deserved congrats from us! I also thought the Schock 40 should have been a factor, but I think their navigator confused North for South. They finished 30 hours after Reinrag! Jesus, dude, better do some homework next time. And of course I said that the J-160 Maitri would spank sister ship Innocent Merriment, which they did. Even that partial credit doesn't get me much. Five for Six. Division II The Ed said; "Smart money says the TP 52's blow 'em away..." And they did, so let's just leave it that, shall we? Actually I also said that Beau Gests should "win this class rather handily", and that they did not do, ending up 2nd in class and overall to the other TP 52 Alta Vita. BG did beat them boat for boat by about 45 minutes however. I also said "The poor "standard" sleds, Vicki in particular, will likely be left in the dust, wondering what the hell happened." I think Vicki only needs to look at the nav station to find out what happened. To their credit however, the SC 70 Grand Illusion sailed well to finish 4th in class and ninth overall. I didn't pick the right one, but I said the TP 52's would win, so I'm giving myself a half credit. Five and a half for seven. Division I I thought this was an easy pick. I said; "Pegasus beat them (Pyewacket) last time to Hawaii, beat the snot out of them in last month's Coastal Cup, and will beat them again in this year's Transpac." They did, and once they got in front they stretched to a convincing win. I bet the Disney bunch is glad to be getting something bigger. They better hope Kahn doesn't follow suit! So the end result is that according to my new math, I got six and a half right out of eight. For me, a notorious predictor who would be broke if I bet on my calls, this was a good day. It was fun and I hope you enjoyed it. |
