The Cone - not fast enough!!
by Rob Kothe on 27 Jul 2005
James Neill and his Cone crew Walt Niemczura
The Australian entry, The Cone of Silence, finished the 2225 nautical mile Transpac race this morning, but Sail-World was not fast enough to get to The Cone crew before the Mai Tai's kicked in.
It was a happy and thirsty crew, from all accounts, by the time they made it from Diamond Head to the dock in Hawaii.
We will talk to them this afternoon, as arranged, after they have had a little sleep and are ready to party again.
They never did see the trade winds they were looking for, but still stormed home over the last 24 hours, winning Division III on line honours.
The Cone of Silence, the smallest of 75 boats in the race, reeled off some of the largest daily mileage numbers over the final week---223, 210, 255, 246, 263, 216---and finished well ahead of everybody in Division III Tuesday, but it wasn't quite enough to eclipse Reinrag2 on handicap time.
The Garnier family's J/125 from Portland, Ore., finished about two and half hours later to save the six hours owed by the Down Under flyer, which wound up second overall. It was the third division win in four years for Reinrag2.
Here are some dockside pictures - look at bottom for more.
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