Friday, July 6, 2001
LOS ANGELES >> Sailing in light winds, Chance moved into first place yesterday in the 41st Transpacific yacht race. Pegasus slips to third
at the halfway markStar-Bulletin wire services
Owned by Bob McNulty of Corona del Mar, Calif., Chance was 1,313 nautical miles from Honolulu, five miles ahead of Roy E. Disney's Pyewacket.
Philippe Kahn's Pegasus, which started the day in first, slipped to third -- eight miles behind -- not quite halfway through the Los Angeles to Honolulu race.
The speeds of Division I boats had slowed by about 1 1/2 knots from the previous 24 hours. Pyewacket had the best day with 265 miles to Chance's 261 and Pegasus' 248, but Merlin's Reata closed distance on all three with a 279-mile run.
Also yesterday, Seth Radow's New Bull, a Sydney 40 OD-T racing in Division IV, took over the overall lead on corrected handicap time from Brent Vaughan's Cantata, an Andrews 53 from Oceanside, Calif., competing in Division III. Bull also leads boat-for-boat in Division IV.
In Division II, pharmacist Bob Lane's Medicine Man from Long Beach jumped two spots in the standings to fifth place with a 273-mile day and was three miles behind the legendary Ragtime, which is under charter to Trisha Steele and Owen Minney of Honolulu.
In the Aloha Division, Jim Warmington's 75-foot performance cruiser Shanakee II from Balboa, Calif., blessed by a five- and six-day head start over the other boats, slowed slightly to 190 miles for the day but was only 405 miles out and projected to finish this afternoon.
Transpac Web site