Montgomery Street Handicap Winner

Montgomery Street, a modified Cal-40 sloop skippered by David Denning of Richmond, Calif., finished the 2,225-mile Los Angeles-to-Honolulu race Wednesday at 7:31 p.m. PDT to claim the Transpac’s overall handicap victory.

It was a nail-biting finish for Denning and his crew as they had to wait until 9:12 p.m. to find out if they had saved their time allowance over the 36-foot sloop Sweet Okole, skippered by Dean Treadway, also of Richmond. Montgomery Street had to give Sweet Okole 1 hour 31 minutes on the time allowance scale. Both are Class D boats.

It was a gratifying win for Denning, sailing his eighth Transpac. It was also the first time the Cal-40s, designed by Bill Lapworth of Newport Beach, had finished in the money since the 1960s, when the then-revolutionary boats had dominated the Transpac as well as other long-distance races.

At 9 p.m. PDT Wednesday, 46 of the 65 starters had finished the race, which started July 4 and will go down in Transpac annals as one of the slowest ever.