SAILING : Taking Chance, McNulty Steals Transpac Start
Bob McNulty’s Chance took a big one and stole the frantic start of the 36th biennial Transpac race to Hawaii off Point Fermin Saturday.
The dark blue Santa Cruz 70 from the Los Angeles Yacht Club led 31 boats off the line as a westerly wind built to 15 knots. The line was set directly into the breeze, promoting a traffic jam at the favored south end of the 300-yard line nearest Catalina Island.
Although they had 2,216 nautical miles to go, the fleet was so anxious that virtually all of the contenders approached the line early and had to luff their sails to avoid crossing before the gun.
Not all were successful. Pat Farrah’s Ragtime from Long Beach YC, first to finish in 1973 and ‘75; Barbara Colville’s 55-foot Harmony from Newport Harbor YC, and Fred Kirschner’s SC 70 Kathmandu from Coronado YC all were hailed by radio to restart.
It appeared that others may have been over, but those were the only boats the race committee caught.
Chance was in position early at the head of the pack near the press boat, where some observers thought it was at least half a boat length past the flag buoy when the gun was fired at 1 p.m.
However, Chance wasn’t recalled and kept sailing on a close-hauled course past the west end of Catalina.
The wind increased from 10 to 15 knots during the 10-minute starting sequence, and at least one boat--Peter Tong’s SC 70 Blondie from LBYC--changed to a smaller headsail after the five-minute gun.
Target time is midnight (PDT) next Sunday to beat Merlin’s record of 8 days 11 hours 1 minute 45 seconds set in 1979. The modified Merlin, a three-time winner, is competing in IMS-A class.
Among 11 smaller IOR-C and IMS-B boats that started Thursday, Fred Hibberd Jr.’s SC 40 Solution from San Francisco was in front Saturday’s at 8 a.m., reporting 5 knots of wind 2,023 miles from the finish at Diamond Head.
Takashi Takamura’s J-44 Tak from the Seabornia YC had sailed more nautical miles, 213 to 202, but was on a more southerly route in search of better wind--7 knots.
