‘Illusion Wins Close Cabo Race : Sailing: McDowell’s boat takes series over Cheval with better performances in three of five events.

Ed McDowell’s Grand Illusion scored the narrowest of victories and won the closest of championships at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Friday.

After six days of slow, agonizing sailing, the Santa Cruz 70 from the King Harbor Yacht Club finished 1 minute 22 seconds ahead of Mitchell Rouse’s Taxi Dancer to win the 870-mile race from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas, around Guadalupe Island.

The victory, in the last of five point-scoring events for the ULDB 70 Assn., gave Grand Illusion the season title over Hal Ward’s Cheval. With Cheval finishing sixth, each had 55 points, but Grand Illusion placed higher than Cheval in three of the five events.

If Taxi Dancer had beaten Grand Ilusion, Cheval would have won the championship.

McDowell, a retired petroleum executive, wasn’t there for his boat’s big moment but was in Chicago for a speaking engagement. The sailing master was Bill Peterson, with Joe Buck the navigator.

Grand Illusion, Taxi Dancer and Peter Tong’s third-place Blondie, the defending champion, all passed Davis Pillsbury’s Holua and Brack Duker’s Evolution on the final day, after the one day of good wind Wednesday died to a zephyr Thursday.

Tom Leweck, tactician aboard Evolution, said: “We passed Holua (Thursday night) and thought we had won. Then, when the sun came up this morning, we saw Grand Illusion and Taxi Dancer in front of us. The first six boats were in sight of one another.”

Grand Illusion and Taxi Dancer, taking advantage of stronger breezes inshore, were virtually even the last few miles and managed to finish just as the wind died, leaving the others to drift in more than two hours later.

Nine of the 21 boats had finished by late Friday afternoon. Seven others dropped out along the way because of the light winds.

“Some of them may not make the awards banquet (tonight),” Leweck said.

Officials of the sponsoring Los Angeles Yacht Club indicated that they would not try to sail around Guadalupe Island in future events because the November winds are too light. That would cut about 60 miles off the distance and allow boats to sail closer to shore in stronger winds.