Los Angeles (July 9, 2009) - Alfa Romeo and Pegasus have picked up the pace.  They are flying along and could smash monohull, multihull and doublehanded records.

During the night Alfa Romeo was trucking along at over 20 knots.  Extrapolating her ETA, she could arrive as early as Friday evening.  If she crosses between the Diamond Head LIght and Buoy before 7:18:28 pm HST, it looks as if she will set an all-time Transpacific Yacht Race record.

Philippe Kahn managed to take one hand off the helm during the middle of the night and post video of Pegasus' cockpit instrument panel showing her prancing along at close to 15 knots.  Pegaus could annihilate the doublehanded record by three days.

Only nine boats have held an elapsed time record for the Transpacific Yacht Race since the first race in 1906.  The names of the boats are inscribed on the Clock Trophy, a 55" tall, several hundred pound trophy that is on permanent display at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum.  Half models of the hulls of the record breaking yachts are also mounted on the trophy.

Each time a course elapsed time record is set, the new record holder turns the analog clock back to show the current record using dials to adjust the days, hours, minutes and seconds of the newly established record.

All time Transpacific Yacht Race course record holders:

Lurline, H.H. Sinclair , 1906, 12:09:59

Mariner, L.A. Norris, 1923, 11:14:46

Morning Star, Richard Rheen, 1949, 10:10:13:09

Morning Star, Richard Rheen, 1955. 9:15:05:10

Ticonderoga, Robert Johnson, 1965, 9:13:51:02

Blackfin, Kenneth DeMeuse, 1969, 9:10:21:00

Windward Passage, Mark Johnson, 1971, 9:09:06:48

Merlin, Bill Lee, 1977, 8:11:01:45

Pyewacket, Roy P. Disney, 1997, 7:15:41:27

Pyewacket, Roy E. Disney, 1999, 7:11:41:27

Morning Glory, Hasso Plattner, 2005, 6:16:04:11

Fair winds and a safe passage to all.

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