Los Angeles-to-Honolulu Race : Leaders in Transpac on a Record Pace

Strong northeast winds Tuesday were causing blown sails, gear failures and lost gear as the 54-boat Transpac Los Angeles-to-Honolulu yacht race sailed nearer to Hawaii.

All of the 11 Class A boats were reporting positions less than 1,000 miles from the finish at Diamond Head at the 8 a.m. Tuesday roll call.

Barring further breakdowns, it appeared that several of the Class A leaders would break the elapsed-time record of 8 days 11 hours set by Merlin in 1977. Yachts that finish before midnight Friday will have beaten the record.

Closest to Honolulu was Roy Disney’s Nelson-Marek 70 Pyewacket out of California Yacht Club with 935 miles to go. She was being closely pursued by two Santa Cruz-70s out of Los Angeles Yacht Club, Citius with 937 miles to go, and Bob McNulty’s Blondie, 940 miles from Diamond Head.

Others in contention included Pandemonium (954 miles to go), Hotel California (964), Drumbeat (975), Prima-68 (975), Cheetah (981), Merlin (985), Ragtime (992) and Swiftsure III (992).

The winds were strong throughout the fleet. Class A boats were reporting winds of 26-30 knots with six-foot seas. Class B boats were sailing in 22 knots with four- to six-foot seas. Class C was under 24 knots with six- to eight-foot seas, and Class D had 20 knots with six-foot seas.

Most serious damage was reported by the 48-foot Sangvind, a Class C yacht sailed by Joe Mello of Richmond, who reported a broken boom. The crew was jury rigging a boom and the boat was continuing.

Blade Runner-47, skippered by Bill Twist of San Francisco, reported a blown main and staysail, but repairs were being made on board.

Rudy Choy’s 62-foot catamaran Aikane X-5 is virtually flying on her way to set an elapsed-time record in the Multihull Transpac race from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

The race is being sailed simultaneously but is separate from the Transpacific Yacht Club’s monohull Honolulu race.

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Choy reported that he was 731 miles from Honolulu and expected to finish Friday morning about 12 hours ahead of the elapsed-time multihull record of 7 days 7 hours 30 minutes set by the 65-foot catamaran Double Bullet in 1983.

Choy said Aikane had logged 339 miles in the previous 24 hours and was averaging 14.73 knots with surges up to 20 knots when surfing down huge seas.

The 48-foot catamaran Wind Warrior, skippered by Steve Shidler, San Francisco, was sailing about 100 miles north of Aikane and making less speed. Wind Warrior logged a 279-mile day’s run, the first day under 300 miles, and was 840 miles from Honolulu.

Three trimarans started in the multihull race and one of them has been disabled, according to reports. The 27-foot Killer Frog, skippered by Mark Robson, Chula Vista, reported a broken rudder Monday and was dead in the water. There was only one other person aboard.

Coast Guard operations at Long Beach said they had been advised that repairs had been made and that the vessel was continuing to Honolulu.