Hasso Plattner's high-tech Morning Glory sailed past Diamond Head in the early morning moonlight yesterday to smash the record in the Transpacific Yacht Race.

Morning Glory, a maxZ86, left Long Beach, Calif., on July 17 and traveled the 2,225 nautical miles in six days, 16 hours, four minutes and 11 seconds, taking nearly a day off the 1999 record of seven days, 11 hours, 41 minutes and 27 seconds set by Roy E. Disney's previous Pyewacket.

Disney's new Pyewacket, also a maxZ86, crossed Diamond Head 2 1/2 hours later.

At one point in the race Morning Glory was able to put Pyewacket behind by as much as 71 miles, but then Pyewacket cut that lead in half over the last few days.

"It was great fun until the last minutes when we had a little adrenaline rush with Pyewacket," Plattner said.

Two boats actually finished before Morning Glory, but they were Aloha A class boats that had a six-day head start on the big boats in Division I.

Ross Pearlman's 52-foot Between the Sheets, based in Marina del Rey, Calif., which started July 11, was first at 10:22 p.m. on Saturday. The oldest boat in the race, the 68-year-old yawl Odyssey skippered by Cecil Rossi, finished 54 minutes ahead of Morning Glory.