Cheetah Takes Long Route to Lead Long Beach-to-Cabo San Lucas Race

While rivals drifted because of the light air closer to shore, Cheetah gambled and found faster sailing far off the coast to lead after the first day of the 13th biennial Long Beach-to-Cabo San Lucas race Sunday.

Whether the longer but faster route will result in victory over the 820-mile distance will not be known until the Peterson 66 ultralight, skippered by Dick Pennington and Phil Murray of the Long Beach Yacht Club, has to come back to the rest of the 32-boat fleet.

Cheetah reported her position at 129 miles from Long Beach in Sunday morning’s roll call. Roy Disney’s Pyewacket from Los Angeles YC was next at 94 miles.

Roy Ricker’s Gitane of the South Bay Yacht Racing Club, among the eight smaller boats that started Friday, was the overall leader at 201 miles out but reported only two knots of wind.