Crew aboard sinking boat in Transpac race rescued by competitor

Rule No. 1 in the sailboat racing handbook: Save lives.

That’s just what the crew aboard the 68-foot Pyewacket did in the dark, early-morning hours Monday, July 15, when another boat, the Orient Express, started to sink during the 2,225-mile Transpacific Yacht Race.

“There were no other choices for us, it was the obvious thing to do,” Roy Disney, captain of Pyewacket, said in a video interview with race officials after the rescue. “I don’t think any of us could live with ourselves if we sailed on. We did the things we had to do.”

It was the first time in the history of the Transpacific Yacht Race, which goes from San Pedro to Hawaii, that a boat has sunk during the race, according to the race’s staff commodore, Bo Wheeler.

John Sangmeister, aboard the Orient Express, a Santa Cruz 70 out of Long Beach Yacht Club referred to as “OEX,” recalled hearing a loud boom. Water started rushing into the boat through a hole in the stern where the rudder post would be, according to a recount on the Transpac website. “It was blowing as if it were a geyser.”

Unable to get a handle on the rising water the crew deployed emergency life rafts and made a distress call over the radio.

Disney, the grandnephew of Walt Disney, said in the video posted on the Transpac site that he heard the plea for help over the radio. “You could just hear something urgent in the sound of the voice.”

Then, the Pyewacket crew realized it was OEX, longtime rivals in the tight-knit, offshore sailing world.

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They approached to see two lifeboats next to each other with lights shining in the darkness. It was an eerie sight seeing the boat going under waves, Disney said in the video account. Disney was sailing the biennial Transpac for what he said was a record 23rd time. This was Sangmeister’s eighth Transpac.

“There was no panic, there was no distress, other than guys getting into a lifeboat in the middle of the night in the dark in the middle of the Pacific,” Disney said. “But everyone handled it perfectly. This is a tribute to sailors in general and our groups that it worked out the way it did.”

Seeing Pyewacket approaching was a welcome sight in the dark of night, Sangmeister said in the video. Sangmeister, the owner of Gladstone’s waterfront restaurant in Long Beach, had sailed with Disney, and his father, also Roy Disney, in 1987.

“I’m really sorry we ruined your race,” he said to Disney. “I felt really confident that Roy and his remarkable crew would look after us once we got into the boats.”

Which they did, welcoming the crew aboard with ribs and wine before heading back to dry land.

The Pyewacket returned to the Windward Yacht Center with 19 people aboard, 10 more than it had departed with on Saturday, July 13, at the start of the race.

“We are reminded that sailing across vast oceans is not without peril,” Long Beach Yacht Club Commodore Camille Daniels said in a statement. “The Pyewacket crew exemplify the true Corinthian spirit of the ocean racing community. On behalf of the Long Beach Yacht Club, I would like to extend our sincerest gratitude and appreciation to Roy Pat Disney and the crew on Pyewacket for their swift response in coming to the aid of their fellow competitors.”

The biennial race dates back to 1906, and the race, still underway for some boats, is celebrating its 50th race.

Susan Hess heard of OEX’s troubles and said she worried for her nephew, Daniel Geissmann, who is a spinnaker trimmer aboard the Destroyer, more-so than the previous two races he’s competed in.

“Reports of lots of debris that no one can see at night until they hit it,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Hope and pray everyone makes it to the finish in good shape ... They’re doing pretty well right now, but these accidents demonstrate how quickly it can all go wrong.”

Transpac Yacht Club Commodore Tom Hogan on Wednesday, July 17, said the race organizers are planning something special for Disney and the Pyewacket crew at the trophy presentation.

“It will probably get pretty emotional,” he said.

Hogan said he sent Disney an e-mail after the incident, writing that “seamanship and respect for fellow yachtsman in a race like that is what our sport is all about.”

“That’s what makes the sport,” Hogan said. “The racing aspect is competitive, but taking care of everyone in the middle of the race and rescuing someone, that’s really neat.”