During the weekend of April 25, 26 and 27th almost 400 of the finest racing and cruising yachts under sail in Southern California gathered in Newport Beach to race in the 61st Annual Newport to Ensenada Sailboat Race. Billed as the "Largest International Yacht Race in the World" approximately 2500 sailors and yachtsmen gathered for their 125 mile annual trek down to Baja to start off the summer season.
Reports of drug related crimes and mayhem occurring in Tijuana and other border towns did not deter these yacht club members or approximately another 2000 wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and other merry makers from greeting the fleet as they arrived at the finish line beginning Friday night on into Sunday morning..
As in other past years, the Bahia Hotel was host for the Awards Ceremony and acted as party central for the festivities surrounding the event. The Mayor of Ensenada attended and welcomed the fleet back for another year.
More wind was anticipated this year compared to the two previous years noted for light air. The law of probability was against three straight years of light air. During the two previous years a number of boats simply dropped out and took a DNF (Did Not Finish) status and pull in to San Diego rather than to simply bob around off the Coronados Islands all night.
This year Doug Baker of Magnitude 80, one of the largest boats in the race and estimated at a value of "seven figures" entered the race hoping to beat the fasted corrected speed record for a monohull held by Ron Disney aboard his Maxi Sled "Pyewacket". Other large ultra light displacement hulled boats included "Stark Raving Mad III" and Akaela. About 25% of the fleet are serious racers, and for the rest, it`s sailing adventure.
Leading the 75% of "non- serious" entries is John Haupt and Steve McLaren`s "Fantasma De Navidad", a 36 foot schooner purchased in February of this year on EBay for the high bid of $780.00 Haupt stumbled upon the Ferro Cement schooner, built in 1974, while looking for a model boat to decorate the fireplace mantle of his house in Cantamar, here in Baja.
The boat was donated to a non-profit organization and bidders were not permitted to view the actual boat. You had to rely on photos only. The boat was offered "AS IS-WHERE IS with NO guarantees and the description also stated the motor did not turn over, but that didn`t stop us. After placing the high bid and wiring the funds, we immediately headed up to Oxnard to see what we had purchased. We were pleasantly surprised to find sails in good condition, rigging well maintained, a surf board, wet suit, Stainless bar-B-Que, stereo, TV with DVD player, Ship to shore telephone and a unch of other gear. So we attached an outboard motor to assist getting in and out of harbors and sailed the boat from Channel Islands Marina down to Puerto Salina Marina south of La Mission. We later discovered the only problem with the diesel engine was the starter being locked up. When we bought the schooner, she was named "Ghost of Almustafa". We attempted to Google "almustafa" and found som relevance to Mohammed. So to prevent a jihad from greeting us at the dock, we decided to rename the boat. But changing the name of a boat is supposed to be bad luck. So we agreed to just `modify` the mane
A week later, having breakfast at the Cantina at La Salina, we got the bright idea of entering our $780 schooner into the "Largest International YACHT Race in the World".. Someone at NOSA (Newport Ocean Sailing Association) contacted the person responsible for press releases who contacted me saying" I`m so tired of writing about these million dollar yachts, this seems like a fun fresh perspective. So, the website became almost dedicated to this low budget floating artificial reef. Next, the LA Times contacted me, then The Orange County Register. Then the Log, then a magazine in Europe that wanted to write about our "Adventure". Next we decided it would be fun to have crew Tee shirts (we still didn`t have a crew), and contacted the Marina at Puerto Salina for assistance. The agreed to pay half for the 48 custom shirt prining minimum order. Great! Now we have a canvas to work with just like an artist. So we approached other local businesses with our somewhat whacky idea and found they were receptive to helping us.
Included among our friends and sponsors are The Marina at Puerto Salina, The Cantina at La Salina, La Fonda Hotel+ Restaurant+ Bar + Spa, The Palm Grill Restaurant, Bahia Cantiles Amigos Cantina, Virgins Gentleman`s Club, Diane Gibbs & Associates, Fausto Polanco Hacienda Collection of Fine Furniture and Accessories and Minney`s Ship Chandlery of Costa Mesa.
Unfortunately due to a last minute discovery of water inhaled by the diesel through the exhaust, we again strapped the little outboard motor to the stern of the 18,000 schooner and attempted to get to Newport primarily under sail. We had light head winds and also had to clear customs as a foreign vessel in San Diego at which time we realized that making the starting line on time in Newport was a physical impossibility.
We enjoyed a Cinco de Mayo party at Southwestern Yacht Club before eventually having a nice sail back to Puerto Salina Marina.
I was asked by a reporter: "Am I bummed we didn`t make the start of the race?" I replied, "Of Course" but I had spent a month rebuilding the cockpit, working on the diesel, rewiring the boat, painting the hull red, adding pulpits and lifelines and other safety gear, so now I have a much safer and more seaworthy boat.
Besides, with our sponsor`s backing, the Tee shirts, boat graphics and the total cost of the initial investment of $780 were all paid and we still had enough to make a donation to charities in Ensenada during the award ceremony.
My condolences go out to Doug Baker on Magnitude 80 who spent much more time, money and effort to attempt breaking the existing record held by Pyewacket.-but it was not meant to be this year.
So, next year, if God keeps the bilge water to a minimum, there will be another Newport to Ensenada Race and hopefully Doug Baker of Magnitude 80 and the crew of Fantasma de Navidad will both achieve their goals next April.
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