The start of the 42nd Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii yesterday produced very little wind leaving competitors struggling to cross the line off Los Angeles.

Palo Alto’s Stan and Sally Honey, veterans of many Transpacs sailing their Cal 40, Illusion, were the first to nurse their boat across the line. They were followed six minutes later by William Boyd’s Beneteau 47.7, Beautiful Day, from San Diego, at the pin end of the line, a couple of lengths in front of Robert Rice’s Tripp 40, There and Back Again, from Long Beach. After 45 minutes Kirby Coryell and Neil Weinberg, sailing Beach Music from Lafayette, Calif., doublehanded, willed their red Tayana 52 across to complete the exercise in agony.

The group consisted of 10 Cal 40s, 11 Aloha class boats in four racing Division 5 boats. Divisions 3 and 4 will start Friday, the Fourth of July, followed by the largest and faster Division 1 and 2 boats Sunday.

The prospect of sailing 2,225 nautical miles on a liquid treadmill did not seem appealing, but most of the teams appeared to be taking the frustration in good spirits. Fortunately a south-west breeze started to fill and Santa Catalina Island became visible through a haze 23 miles offshore.

The Honeys went west along the Palos Verdes Peninsula for 15 minutes, looking for relief from the current, but as they tacked to starboard their early lead was threatened by B’Quest, the San Diego Tripp 40 manned by a crew of disabled sailors representing Challenged America in Division 5.

If there was one crew happier than B’Quest’s, it was the team on John Harrison’s Cal 40, Seafire, one of four Hawaiian entries in the race. Harrison isn’t sailing because of a back problem, but the crew was all smiles as it sailed past a press boat and one exclaimed, ‘We’re going home!’