History

The Wind Gods did not smile favorably on our racers this year, and as a result the first boat to finish took more than twenty-one days, and the last, over twenty-seven. The first slow period was within about 400 miles of the start and was so bad that one day the greatest distance traveled by any racer was only sixty miles, and this lasted for several days.

The results of the race indicated that the Technical Committee did equate the yachts better than ever before, but still not enough to prevent CHUTZPAH from repeating her ’73 performance and winning first overall by over four hours from MAMIE. Also, the handicap did not prevent RAGTIME from being the first yacht to finish, but did place her 52 overall.

The 1973 running of the great Transpacific Yacht Club Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu will be remembered for what old salts agree was the most exciting elapsed time finish since the races started in 1906.

The past three Transpacific Yacht Races have been dominated by the small easily surfed Cal 40’s. 1971 turned out differently, at least partially because of unusual weather conditions, leading to victory by the Class A yachts. WINDWARD PASSAGE first-to-finish was also first overall and first in class. In addition she set a new elapsed time record of nine days, nine hours, six minutes and forty-eight seconds.