Posted on: Monday, July 9, 2001
Transpac race promises to come down to wire
Associated Press
The 41st Transpacific Yacht Race was shaping up to be one of the closest ever yesterday morning, with three boats a day away from finishing the 2,225-nautical-mile trek from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
At yesterday morning's roll call Philippe Kahn's Pegasus had sailed 335 nautical miles in the past 24 hours and was 404 miles from the Diamond Head finish line. Roy E. Disney's Pyewacket was eight miles behind, and Bob McNulty's Chance was another six miles back.
The three yachts, which are expected to finish today, could provide a finish even closer than in 1973, when Ragtime edged Mark Johnson's Windward Passage by a record 4 minutes and 31 seconds.
A recent surge along the normal track of trade winds carried the trio past Seth Radow's Bull, a Sydney 40 ID-T competing in Division 4, into the 1-2-3 positions for overall corrected time honors, despite their near-scratch handicaps.
None will approach Pyewacket's elapsed time record for a monohull of 7 days, 11 hours, 41 minutes and 27 seconds, set in 1999. But the winner could be only the fourth to achieve a triple honor: the Barn Door trophy for fastest elapsed time, first in class in Division 1 and first place on handicap.
In other classes, James McDowell's Grand Illusion, the '99 overall winner, held on to first place in Division 2, although David Janes' new Transpac 52 J-Bird III held a 16-mile lead boat for boat.
Brent Vaughan's Cantata took over first place in Division 3 from Yoshihiko Murase's Bengal II, which was starting to pay the price for the extreme northerly track it has followed above the rhumb line from the start.
Although slipping to fourth, perhaps temporarily, Bull retained its lead in Division 4, boat for boat and on handicap.
Wendy Siegal's Cal 40 Willow Wind strengthened its first-place handicap position in Aloha-A Division over the 75-foot Shanakee II, which finished early Saturday, although the 65-foot schooner Bonaire took an eight-mile lead in the class 218 miles out.
Those boats and Barry Ruff's Aloha-B entry Axapac from Canada, all of which had a six-day head start, could finish today close to Pegasus, Pyewacket and Chance.
