Newport
To Ensenada - From Start To Finish
By
Sean Downey
APRIL
26, 2004[Ensenada, Mexico] - If you've ever raced
the Newport to Ensenada race, you know that it
never goes as planned. I crewed on my usual ride,
"Expresso" an Express 37 owned by Bob
Moore out of Shoreline Yacht Club of Long Beach.
Bob has put together a great group of sailors
with wonderful attitudes (which is extremely important
on any offshore race).
 |
Bob
Moore, owner of "Expresso" during
the start. Photo © Sean Downey / Yacht
Racing .com
|
Below
is an account of my weekend, if you care to read
it.
Thursday
saw me down in Long Beach photographing Congressional
Cup (see image gallery HERE).
After a long, uneventful day of racing, I jumped
in the car and headed down to the pre-race party
filled with uplifted spirits and enough saline
to fill an olympic-sized swimming pool (Insert
imagination here). The only problem found at the
event was that most of the Mount Gay Rum cups
were of poor construction and quickly drained.
After repeated attempt to correct this problem,
I left for some much needed sleep before a long
day.
Friday
I awoke to a beautiful day. The crew assembled
at the dock, stocked the boat and we shoved off
to head down from Long Beach to the starting line
off of Newport Beach. We checked in about 11:15am
and milled around with the other (+-)450 boats.
It was a very uplifting site to see the "big
boys" out in force: Magnitude 80, Alchemy,
Medicine Man, Victoria 5, Taxi Dancer, Ragtime,
Stars & Stripes(with Dennis at the helm),
etc. Even better were the hard core regulars on
the small boats.
The
first starts saw the ULDB's, ORCA's, etc. rocket
off the line in 15-20 knots of breeze. By the
time of our start (PHRF G, rating of 72) the big
boys were a speck in the distance. It was good
for them as we started in 2 knots of breeze playing
see-saw.
After
getting into some fresh breeze, we launched our
new ASym and began reaching at 11-13 knots. About
an hour into the race somebody kicked the power
plug off the big fan in the sky and with no indication
that it was going to happen, we hit a hole. It
wasn't big, but enough to trap us for about an
hour. Boats about 100 meters away sailed by as
we did penalty turns for things we didn't do.
We set up the wind seeker and finally pulled out
of the hole into fresh 12 knot winds.
Finally
free, of our prison, we set out reeling in boat
after boat to get back into the race. The wind
stayed solid until sunset when it clocked 30 degrees
on us forcing us to peel to a symetrical chute.
Peeling kept us entertained the rest of the night
while the light winds shifted all over the place.
By
1:00am we were passing the Cornodo's doing about
3 knots and sunrise saw us about 40 miles out
of Ensenada. As the wind shift once again to an
offshore, we peeled to the ASym and hot gybed
across the course to wherever the wind was. We
finished at 1:15pm on Saturday to the sound of
a horn (not a gun).
We
started the engine, motored to the dock and headed
off to the Bahia and Mexico's open arms. After
dodging cheap trinckets, chiclet and cheasy T-Shirts,
one which was being widely purchased with huge
letters spelling "Ensenada YATCH
Race"(We're not really sure what it meant,
but it had a boat on it...) we arrived to peer
over the finish board for out time. It was favorable
as there was only one boat's time recorded in
our fleet.
We
walked upstairs to the Shoreline Yacht Club hospitality
suite to the open arms of our supporters who had
driven down to celebrate with us. It didn't take
long before our hands were wrapped around cold
beer.
Notice:
I will now skip Saturday night and go right to
Sunday...
After
a late start in the morning Sunday, we headed
back up to the Bahia to check the boards. It seems
that the organisers of the race, NOSA, aren't
the fastest to relay results, as we found ourselves
down in the middle of the pack in a very short
time. The crew exchanged shoulda's, woulda's with
each other and went about having fun and congratulating
our fellow sailors for jobs well done.
I,
on the other hand, couldn't be down there with
my camera without putting on my YR.com hat (although
I was already wearing it) and doing some talking
with racers.
I
sidled over to Steve Brown for a while. For those
who don't know him, Steve is a very active sailor
in Southern California. He races Star boats and
just competed in the Star Olympic Trials in Miami,
FL about a month ago. He just purchased "Guiness"
another Long Beach Express 37 which he renamed
to "Fast Chance". Since he didn't have
sails for the boat, he used old sails from a different
boat and took a 10% rating hit racing with a 66
rating. He found himself with a second place finish
with the boat out of the box after filing a redress
with the race comittee. It seems they remembered
checking him in and finishing him, but they forgot
to look up at his sail number at the start and
had him listed as DNS initially. After a hearing
with a witness, they were cleared and awarded
the trophy.
I
also spoke with Bill Gibbs, owner of "Afterburner".
I hadn't seen the results for his fleet so when
I asked him how he did, he humbly snickered and
replied, "Pretty good.". Pretty good
is an understatement when you take home 6 trophys:
#1 Tommy Bahama first place corrected overall
trophy, #1 Gill Knudson award for overall 1st
place on actual elapsed time, #1 President of
NOSA 1st place ORCA handicap award for first on
corrected in class, #1 Alice Pursell award for
1st on elapsed time in class, #1 Stern -Choy ORCA
award for 1st catamaran on handicap, # 1 Jeff
Deaver award to Pierpont Bay Yacht Club- This
award is given to the club who's members won the
most perpetual trophies in all classes in a given
year. AFTERBURNER was their sole entry to the
500+ boat fleet.
 |
Bill
Gibbs looks on as a NOSA member indicates
how many trophies it seems Gibbs won. The
number was actually 'only' 6. Photo ©
Sean Downey / Yacht
Racing .com
|
Bill
also told me that just days before the race, they
broke one of their rudders. After scouring the
planet for a replacement he finally had one overnighted
from New Zealand, which arrived Thursday, about
24 hours before the start.
The
most interesting conversation I had was with the
crew of Challenged America. These guys ROCK! If
you don't know who they are and what they do,
you need to see their website: www.challengedamerica.org.
They are a group of disabled sailors racing against
regular sailors. I say regular because they truly
exude the Corinthian spirit and far excede any
other sailors I've met.
As
we spoke I was informed that part of the crew
was down at the marina showing their boat and
speaking to a group of junior olympic sailors
from Mexico. Their message was that no matter
what happens to you, no matter what anybody says,
you can do anything you set your mind to if you
have the conviction to follow it through. My hat's
off to this wonderful group! We will try to keep
you up to date with what they are up to in the
future.
 |
The
"McGyver Trophy". Thirsty supporters
get drinks any way they can. In this case,
they built a makeshift sling out of crew
shirts.
Photo © Sean Downey / Yacht
Racing .com
|
After
rubbing elbows, it was off to take "tin and
grin" photos. A common chant was heard around
the Bahia, D...P...Y...C! (Dana Point Yacht Club)
The club scooped up trophy after trophy as the
afternoon went on.
Off
to the side, I witness two classic Ensenada events.
The "McGyver" award goes to a group
of people who tied their crew shirts together
with a couple of belts to create a sling to grab
beer from the lower level up to their balcony
(See photo).
The
spirit award went to two men locked in serious
battle. As red Mount Gay Rum hats flew out to
the crowd, one came down held by two people. Their
eyes locked, each gave a gentle tug(the hats are
very precious) and seeing as neither would let
go, they jointly placed the hat on the bar. An
intense round of rock-paper-scissors erupted resulting
in the victor holding his prize aloft and the
defeated left to congratulate him.
It's
amazing how quickly that place to empty, but empty
it did as the trophy presentation came to an end.
W e headed down to the boat to prep it for departure
at 2400, then went to dinner.
Monday
saw the boat on the way to Long Beach and me in
the car driving home. I'd love to say it was uneventful,
but it wasn't. First there was the crazy guy in
the pickup who pulled up along side us gestering
and yelling at us. We were going to let him go
by but he didn't. It took us a while to realize
he was trying to tell us something. We had a flat.
Chagrined, we pulled over and put on the spare.
 |
The
crowd goes crazy when the Mount Gay Rum
hats go flying. Photo © Sean Downey
/ Yacht
Racing .com
|
Back
to the road and our second toll booth. A I have
one word to describe it. Federalis.
We
crossed the border into San Diego after surviving
another round of dodge the road kill and crazy
drivers, and headed home.
If
you haven't done this race, you need to, it definitely
adds to your story collection.
Thanks
for giving this a look.
Sean
Downey
Editor
YachtRacing.com
