Ride like the wind

Alex Coolman

It all comes down to the wind.

The 53rd annual Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race begins at

noon Friday and ends in Mexico whenever Mother Nature allows.

Typically, the best racers can make the 125-mile sprint in about 11

hours, but the unpredictable nature of sailing means that huge variations

are possible.

Back in 1947, when the first race was held, only a little more than half

of the boats in the contest finished. On the other hand, favorable

breezes helped Steve Fossett sail the catamaran Stars and Stripes through

the course in less than seven hours in 1998.

But if sailing conditions are unpredictable, the sheer spectacle of the

event never seems to change.

This year, in fact, a third starting line has been added to the first two

lines to accommodate the burgeoning ranks of competitors.

Organizers say about 450 boats will run in this year’s race -- a field

that’s not as massive as the 675 boats that sailed in 1983, but which

will still take a long time to get across the starting line.

For race aficionados, the boats to watch are the 70-footers: sleek,

skinny “sleds” that can support massive spinnakers and cruise like an

oceangoing version of a Ferrari.

“They’re the ones that have the potential to set a record,” said Jim

Mahaffy, the commodore of this year’s race.

These boats are stripped down and race-tuned, Mahaffy said. They are

vessels whose interiors hold little more than a primitive galley and

bathroom, and space for high-tech sails.

Particularly noteworthy competitors, he noted, are Roy Disney, who will

be sailing his sled, Pyewacket; Don Hughes, skipper of Taxi Dancer; and,

on a historical note, the boat Ragtime, a 62-footer that was instrumental

in encouraging the current trend for long, light racing yachts.

For Newport Beach, which is hosting a series of parties to celebrate the

race, Saturday’s kickoff is a moment of particularly high visibility in

the sailing world.

Rosalind Williams of the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau

said the prestige from the event -- one of the biggest international

yachting regattas in the world -- derives from its being “as old as it is

and as large as it is and for being such a colorful sight to behold.”

But it’s in Ensenada where much of the most bacchanalian aspects of the

event are scheduled to unfold.

Several blocks of Ensenada’s tourist area will be closed down for the

revelry that typically ensues. Events such as the creation of an enormous

dish of paella should encourage a festive atmosphere.

Race organizers are “trying to play down the old reputation of the

Enchilada Derby and the Tequila Slide,” Mahaffy said.

But legends of sailing excess don’t die easily.

“There’s an awful lot of people who take this race very seriously,” he

said. “That doesn’t mean they don’t take their partying seriously once

they get there.”

Tillie Foster, a spokesperson for the Cancer Assn. of Baja, has lived in

Ensenada for 20 years and has seen many a crowd of post-race sailors

stroll through her town.

Her assessment?

“They’re not too bad,” she said. “The race people are a pretty good

crowd. They’re serious people.”

But both the hard-core racers and the hard-core partyers have one thing

in common: they can’t even get out of Newport Beach without a little help

from the wind.

Mahaffy said preliminary predictions showed current weather patterns --

sunny, with moderate northwest winds -- holding through the weekend.

“All we can do is hope and pray that it does,” he said.