Thursday evening to become the first finisher in the Transat Daytona-Bermuda ocean race.

Skippered by Mac Smith of Ormond Beach, Florida, Quailo recorded a time of 126 hours, 11 minutes and two seconds for the crossing. She was given a corrected time of 108 hours, 41 minutes and 02 seconds.

The winning yacht was competing in the double-handed division.

Quailo was followed over the line by Critical Path , skippered by William Dooley of Sarasota, Florida.

The 50-footer competed in Division A and crossed the finish line at 5.30 yesterday morning with a time of 135 hours and 65 minutes. The corrected time was 117 hours, 55 minutes and 50 seconds.

A fleet of 27 boats, double the size of the previous race two years ago, started out from Daytona Beach last Saturday, experiencing varying weather conditions that featured both calm and stormy seas.

Quailo sailed through two days of calm and then two days of rough weather during the five-day voyage. In addition to riding into a storm, the first yachts also experienced difficult conditions as they neared Bermuda and headed up the south shore.

Of the starting fleet, two dropped out early on and headed back to the east coast while the remainder were yesterday reported to be weathering varying conditions as they neared the finish line.