Stars & Stripes Is the First Boat to Finish but Is Way Off Record for Race to Ensenada
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ENSENADA — Even Dennis Conner’s 60-foot catamaran Stars & Stripes can’t sail fast in almost no wind--especially if the zephyrs are on the nose.
The two-time America’s Cup winner steered his soft sail catamaran across the finish here at 4:15 a.m. Saturday for an elapsed time of 16 hours 15 minutes, about 5 hours 59 minutes short of the record of 10:22 set by the catamaran Double Bullet in 1983.
Even so, Stars & Stripes was the first yacht to finish, about 5 hours 16 minutes ahead of John DeLaura’s ULDB 70-rater Silver Bullet, California Yacht Club.
Rudy Choy’s 65-foot catamaran Aikane X-5, first to finish in the last two Ensenada races, was the ninth boat to finish, about six hours behind Stars & Stripes.
By 6 p.m. Saturday the race was shaping into another slow affair with 150 of the 520 starters finishing. By noon only 50 boats had finished.
The top 10 finishers were Stars & Stripes, Silver Bullet, Taxi Dancer, Cheval, Ragtime, Grand Illusion, Swiftsure III, Evolution, Aikane X-5, Maverick.
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