Strong Winds Pushing Transpac Fleet Toward Record Time; Taxi Dancer Leads

Strong northwest winds Sunday continued to push the Transpac yacht race fleet toward an elapsed time record in the 2,225-mile Los Angeles-to-Honolulu race after 43 hours of sailing.

Leaders in the Class A fleet reported winds of 16-20 knots for the second day in a row with seas of 3 to 6 feet.

The 44-foot sloop Illusion, sailed by David Fell of Pasadena, became the third yacht to drop out of the race, reporting mechanical and electrical problems.

Pacing the fleet on elapsed time was Mitchell Rouse’s Reichal-Pugh 70 Taxi Dancer, which had logged 516 miles since the Friday start with an average speed of 12 knots. (Merlin’s average speed when she set the current record of 8 days 11 hours in 1977 was 11.25 knots).

Most of the yachts were sticking close to the Great Circle course, the shortest distance to Honolulu.