SAILING : Pyewacket Leading Silver Bullet in Transpac

Roy Disney’s Pyewacket held about a one-mile lead over John DeLaura’s Silver Bullet at the first position reports Sunday morning for boats that started the 37th biennial Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii from Point Fermin on Saturday.

Good northwesterly winds of 17-20 knots allowed the leaders to average 9.7 knots along the rhumb line, the direct course for the 2,225 nautical miles to Diamond Head. Blake Quinn’s Holua was sailing slightly faster but on a longer, southerly route in search of better wind. Starship I, a Saturday starter from Long Beach, dropped out the first day after its mainsail was torn beyond repair.

That left 40 boats from six countries in the race after the withdrawal of Harlequin because of steering gear failure a day earlier.

Jerry Montgomery’s 40-foot Patriot from Alamitos Bay continued in front, 672 miles after four days at sea, with Bob Lane’s 56-foot Medicine Man from Long Beach at 411 miles and closing at the rate of about 60 miles a day.

Good winds were reported over most of the course, giving the faster boats a chance to beat Merlin’s 1977 record of 8 days 11 hours 1 minute 45 seconds.