Merlin Fails to Beat Her Record but Finishes First for the Third Time

Donn Campion’s 67-foot sloop, Merlin, from Santa Cruz Yacht Club, led Class A yachts to the finish line off Diamond Head Saturday, taking first-to-finish honors for the third time in the 2,225-mile Los Angeles-to-Honolulu Transpacific yacht race.

Merlin finished at four seconds after 1 a.m. PDT but missed her own elapsed-time record of 8 days 11 hours 1 minute 45 seconds by 1 hour 3 seconds.

The next Class A finisher was Don Ayres’ 68-foot Drumbeat, from Newport Harbor Yacht Club, which finished at 2:10:15 a.m. The five boats after Merlin finished within 49 minutes of each other.

All of the Class A boats had finished by 9:18 a.m PDT Saturday. In order of finish they were:

Merlin, 01:00:04 PDT Saturday; Drumbeat, 02:10:15; Pandemonium, 02:45:38; Blondie, 02:51:18; Hotel California, 02:53:30; Pyewacket, 02:59:06; Citius, 04:16:36; Prima-68, 04:49:04; Cheetah, 06:48:30; Ragtime, 06:51:11; Swiftsure III, 09:18:39.

The handicap standings were scrambled when Racy II, the previous overall leader, discovered that she was about 180 miles off on her navigation.

Technically, Merlin is the overall handicap leader until a lower-rated boat finishes with a better corrected time. Based on 8 a.m Saturday position reports, the handicap leader would be Roderick Park’s Jazz, from Richmond Yacht Club.

Winds in the Molokai Channel at 8 a.m. PDT Saturday were clocked at 17 knots.