Sorcery Sets Elapsed-Time Record in Manzanillo Race

Sorcery, the 82-foot Mull-designed “maxi yacht,” drifted across the finish line at Manzanillo, Mexico, at 12:59:43 p.m. Friday to set an elapsed-time record in the 1,100-mile race from San Diego.

Sorcery’s elapsed time was 6 days 59 minutes 40 seconds, surpsassing the old record of 6 days 2 hours 16 minutes 40 seconds set by the 67-foot yacht Merlin in 1978.

Pat Farrah’s 62-foot sloop Ragtime finished at 1:47:37 p.m., also ahead of Merlin’s old record. Sorcery and Ragtime fought a see-saw battle for line honors (first to finish) almost from the start of the race. It was only in the final two days that skipper Jake Wood and his 18-man crew were able to move ahead of Ragtime to stay, mainly by virtue of a 215-mile run across the Gulf of California two days before the finish. The winds died again near Manzanillo.

As the first yacht to finish, Sorcery has a chance for a sweep--first in Class A and first overall. As of late Friday, the only yacht capable of beating Sorcery’s corrected time for fleet handicap honors was Dick Knoth’s 39-foot Class C sloop Encore, which was 215 miles from the finish at the 8 a.m. Friday roll call.