SAILING : Holua Takes Official Watts Lead

The ULDB 70 Association title contenders sailed the first two races of the Watts Trophy regatta Saturday as if the winner would move into a higher tax bracket.

As the big maxi sleds struggled in light and shifty winds outside Los Angeles Harbor, only Davis Pillsbury’s Holua from the Newport Harbor Yacht Club--among the title contenders--managed a respectable showing with a first- and a fifth-place finish. That left Holua second in the event to Brack Duker’s Evolution--which is ineligible for the title--from California YC, which scored a second and a first. Both are Santa Cruz 70s.

The Watts is one of only five points events for the sleds. Evolution is ineligible because Duker bought the Cal Cup winner from Bob Doughty at midseason.

The points are more important to Hal Ward’s Nelson/Marek 67 Cheval, which leads the season standings but sailed a third and a ninth (last) on Saturday. Even worse were Ed McDowell’s runner-up SC 70 Grand Illusion (sixth and seventh) and the Reichel/Pugh 68 Taxi Dancer, which didn’t find the strong winds it likes and took a seventh and eighth.

The first race was sailed in only three or four knots of breeze. Holua, steered by Pillsbury’s son Patrick, took advantage of a timely shift near the first leeward mark to leave the fleet behind and win by two minutes.

Sailing at a better angle, “We were able to aim right at the mark, and they just stopped,” Patrick Pillsbury said.

In this event only, the owners or members of their immediate families are required to steer. Pillsbury was at the helm in the second race, but his other two sons, Peter and Taylor, will do the last two today.

The wind settled in at 12 knots before the second race was over, but Duker had taken Evolution off by itself while the rest of the boats battled in less favorable wind. He finished a minute ahead of Les Crouch’s Maverick.

Duker indicated that rather than bringing a world-class skipper on board he would probably continue to steer the boat himself.