Cheetah Still Setting Pace in Yacht Race

Cheetah, sailing a knot faster than any other boat, continued to dominate the 13th biennial race from Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas Monday, and organizers projected that the Peterson 66 ultralight would finish the 820-mile race before dawn Thursday.

While the rest of the 32-boat fleet struggled in light wind close to shore early in the race, Cheetah co-skippers Dick Pennington and Phil Murray got a jump when they found stronger wind farther out. The gamble paid off, because they were then able to consolidate their advantage by returning to a more direct course with a lead of 42.4 miles over Pat Farrah’s Santa Cruz 70 Blondie, also from the sponsoring Long Beach Yacht Club.

The wind inshore remained light--six knots from north-northwest--but Cheetah, averaging 7.1 knots, was expected to overtake Gitane, leader of the IMS fleet that had a day’s head start Friday. The Columbia 52, sailed by Ron Ricker of the South Bay Yacht Racing Club, was 356.4 miles out to Cheetah’s 312.7 but was averaging only 5.2 knots.