'Justin Ferris,' says Kilroy, 'is world class. Bob Wylie is also and 'a world class trimmer who can fix anything.' Robbie Naismith, 'has a great energy around him and a great numbers and optimization oriented trimmer.' Of course, Kilroy had tremendous praise for his bowman, Mikey Joubert. Eric Arndt, did an impeccable job putting the boat together and trimming. Nick White, who developed the Expedition navigational software program that a majority of the teams used, shared his virtual race analysis with the team for weeks before the start so that the team could make final adjustments to the way they managed the details of sail selection, ballast, crew number, waterproofing and provisioning. 'Stu Bannatyne is the best of the best and the most complete tactician and underrated sailor on the ocean,' affirmed Kilroy several times during the interview. It is the same team that sailed the 2007 Transpac, although in optimizing the boat to account for the light conditions that they experienced in 2007 and their assessment that there was a high probability that they would encounter 'normal' Transpac Race conditions this year, they sailed with eight rather than 10 crew members. Kilroy can not give enough credit to his crew. Says Kilroy, 'we spend a lot of time planning the 90-100-footer that we’re going to be sailing when I am 90 and they are 70.' Kilroy believes he has created an environment in which the best of the pros sail better because they love racing together. In Hawaii, where all of his crew and their families were guests of Kilroy for the two weeks of activity surrounding his wedding some years ago, the Samba feeling is akin to 'Ohana', or family spirit. He went into the race knowing he had an excellent grandprix boat, was well prepared and had a terrific group of people but the quality that he feels distinguishes his team from others is that special 'Samba feeling.' They simply love being together. Kilroy prides himself in putting great teams of people together. For navigating Samba Pa Ti to the First Corrected Time Overall and the Best Division I Corrected Time, navigator, Nick White, collected the Chuck Ullman perpetual Trophy. Steward Memorial Trophy the Harry Uhler Memorial Trophy and the trophy for the Shortest Elapsed Time Under 73 Feet. Additionally the eight-man team won the Governor of Hawaii Trophy the W.H. The team also won the King Kalakaua Trophy, for the best corrected time in the entire fleet. The team was first to finish in Division I and won the coveted Barn Door for having the fastest elapsed time of all of human powered traditionally designed sailboats. Kilroy’s Samba team racked up a clean sweep. John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti, a modified TP 52, is the big winner of the Transpacific Yacht Race.
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