Miscellany

The Newport-to-Ensenada has been called the world’s largest international yacht race, but it will have a much smaller fleet than usual today for the noon start of the 45th edition off Newport Beach.

There are 430 entries, compared to about 540 last year and 700 in other years.

There will be two starting lines, with boats in 16 classes going off at five-minute intervals. The fastest classes--multihulls and ULDB 70s--will start first, followed by the slowest classes and then progressing up to the next faster classes. Usually, the faster classes have started first, working down to the slowest classes.

The record is 9 hours 8 minutes, set by Dennis Conner with the soft-sail Stars & Stripes catamaran last year.