| Bill Merrick ERGO Ericson 35 MKII |
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 TransPac rookie, Bill started sailing in Annapolis, Md. After meeting Nance Frank, skipper of the 1993 Whitbread crew, the US Women's Challenge. In exchange for fundraising advice, Nance made Bill a part of her crew and he raced with them for about a year. They raised enough money to get in the race but Bill thinks he got the better part of the deal: great training and a profound love of sailing.Bill has been restoring his boat for the past five years and converting it into a singlehanded racer for the past two. "Getting involved with the Singlehanded Sailing Society (SSS) has really made a big difference in my sailing experience." Bill said recently. "The races SSS conducts are a great prep for the Transpac. The Farallons race last year showed me that my boat just wasn't set up for singlehanded racing and the Longpac a few months later gave me the confidence to think seriously about the Transpac."
"I'm sure that, regardless of where I end up in the standings, this is going to be a big win. But seriously, I do want to win."
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Bill maintains that getting ready for the race has turned out to be a much bigger job than he'd imagined but a great experience nonetheless. "I've made some great friends and am having more fun with this than I ever would have imagined. There's no other choice, really. Not doing this would have been an all time big regret."
