It’s Lady Bleu II in Line First

Lady Bleu II sailed across the finish line off Diamond Head on Sunday behind the power of a 30-knot wind, atop a turquoise sea illuminated brilliantly by the noontime sun.

Helga Kuske, watching from aboard the official escort boat, told her son via radio that it was “absolutely the most thrilling day of my life.” To which her son, skipper Roger Kuske, replied, “It’s a pretty good day for me too.”

Indeed, while the prestigious Barn Door trophy and other top honors in the Transpacific Yacht Race probably will be awarded to Pegasus 77, which started five days later and was bearing down on Honolulu late Sunday, the captain and crew of Lady Bleu II had ample reason to celebrate.

They had won a huge personal victory simply by arriving before anyone else. They were the first to cover the 2,225 miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu, first to take their wobbly first steps on the creaky Ala Wai Yacht Harbor docks, first to be adorned with leis, and first to drink their celebratory Mai Tais.

“It’s a relief. We’re finally here,” said an emotional Kuske, beaming as he received a hug and a kiss from his wife Brenda. Their cutter was entered in the Aloha A Division of generally heavier, bulkier and far more comfortable cruising boats, which started July 1, three days before Division III and IV yachts and five days before the longer, sleeker and much faster Division I and II racing sleds.

Because of a handicap system that requires vessels of various weights and designs to give up time to others, much as better golfers give up strokes, it seems as though Lady Bleu II won’t even win its division.

But that’s OK with the captain and crew of the San Diego-based Dynamique 62, as they made believers out of the many who thought it only a matter of time before they relinquished a distance lead they had held from the outset.

“We got here, and the rest are still out there. What more can I say?” navigator Barry Ault said.

His formula for success was to take a more northerly route than the others, which worked as the vessel built a considerable lead until the wind it had found eventually fell to a whisper. A sharp left turn to the south caused them to relinquish much of the lead, but not enough to keep them from sliding into the No. 1 dock on Transpac Row.

Meanwhile, the much-hyped match race between Division I rivals Pegasus 77 and Pyewacket had by the weekend become one-sided as the Philippe Kahn’s Reichel/Pugh 77 had widened an already sizable lead over Roy E. Disney’s Reichel/Pugh 75.

Pegasus 77, which had secured a tactical advantage in the early stages by traveling well south of the direct “rhumb” line, and finding more wind, ultimately cut back up in front of its rival and was able to maintain and even build on its lead once the trade winds finally kicked in and the boats began to surf toward Oahu.

Pegasus 77 set a Transpac record by sailing 356 miles in the 24-hour period leading to Sunday morning’s roll call.