Prima Leading Race to Cabo San Lucas

Strong northwest winds Sunday were pushing the 37 boats toward the finish line at near-record speed in Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s race to Cabo San Lucas.

At the 8 a.m. Sunday roll call, the Nelson-Marek 68 sloop Prima, skippered by Burton Benjamin of San Diego Yacht Club, was the leading the Class A fleet of ultra-light displacement boats, showing a distance of 193 miles from the start in 19 hours of sailing. Several of the big sleds were sailing within sight of each other.

Elapsed time record for the 790-mile course is 2 days 22 hours 2 minutes 40 seconds, which would mean the lead yacht would have to finish by 11 a.m. Tuesday to eclipse the record held by the Santa Cruz-70 Blondie.