Grand Illusion screams toward the finish line and a new record in the Victoria to Maui Race. (photo courtesy of PriceWaterHouseCoopers Victoria to Maui Race organization).

MAUI, HAWAII — About 11.09 a.m. HST, Jim McDowell's Grand Illusion crossed the finish line under spinnaker to break the previous record in this 2,308-mile race by a huge margin. McDowell and his crew sailed a near-perfect race in conditions that fit the same description. Though exact finish times weren't immediately available, the 70-foot sled beat the former record (set by Roy Disney's Pyewacket in 1996) by almost 17 hours, logging a race time of approximately nine days and two hours.
Grand Illusion and her crew aren't strangers to Maui. McDowell sails the boat out of Lahaina Yacht Club, and the boat's hailing port is Redondo Beach, CA. He and his crew have built an impressive racing record in the Eastern Pacific with five Transpacs (First Overall in 1999) and more than 20 Mexican races (with First Overall in the San Diego-Puerto Vallarta Race 2000). The boat was also the first ULDB 70 in the 1999 Ensenada Race, and ULDB 70 Season Champion in 1990 and 1992.
When asked how they were able to take such a slice off the record, McDowell responded: "Well, the weather was good and we were able to sail close to the rhumb line. The first half of the race, we didn't think we would make it, but when the trades picked up, it was just incredible. We were in 25 to 35 knots of breeze for three days straight and we were doing incredible miles, like 350 a day, and after two days of that, we realized we could beat the record.
"Everybody just pushed together so hard," continued McDowell, "...we are all instinctively really hard sailors. The other night we blew up our spinnaker ... it was just too damn windy ... but we had another kite up and we were back in our bunks in five minutes."
The remaining boats in Class A and Class B have jibed onto port tack after over 1,000 miles on a starboard reach and run. At roll call yesterday, Dan Sinclair's Renegade had logged 309 miles (averaging about 13 knots) and was 217 miles from Lahaina. She was expected to finish by early a.m. on Friday. For more information on the race and precise positions of the racers still on the course, log on to www.vicmaui.org.