Disneys 15th Transpac will be his last
by Rich Roberts 1 Apr 2005 09:42 BST
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.