Pyewacket Takes Transpac’s ‘Barn Door’ in Record Time
HONOLULU — It has been a race for the record books.
Hours after Explorer set a record for multihulls in the 39th annual Transpacific Yacht Race, Pyewacket became the first monohull to finish the 2,225-nautical-mile race from California to Hawaii in less than eight days.
With owner Roy Disney watching from dockside--he had to skip the race because of a broken leg--the Santa Cruz 70 turbo sled crossed the finish line at Diamond Head at 10:24 Saturday night PDT, completing the race in 7 days 15 hours 24 minutes 40 seconds.
Bruno Peyron’s catamaran Explorer set the race record for multihulls when it finished earlier Saturday, completing the journey from Los Angeles in 5:09:18:26.
The run by the 86-foot Explorer broke the record of 6:16:07:16 set in 1995 by Steve Fossett’s 60-foot trimaran Lakota.
Pyewacket will take home the “Barn Door” trophy, awarded annually to the boat with the best elapsed-time finish. None of the yachts still racing can beat Pyewacket’s time.
Medicine Man was the first to break the record for the race set by Merlin in 1977 when it crossed the finish Thursday in 8:06:31, bettering Merlin’s mark by about 5 1/2 hours.
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