Sailing : First Two Finishers Are Five Seconds Apart

Fred Preiss’ 84-foot custom-sloop Christine out of Pacific Mariners Yacht Club finished at 8:26:47 a.m. Sunday to claim elapsed-time honors in the 38th Newport-to-Ensenada yacht race. Christine finished five seconds behind the 62-foot sloop Ragtime but was awarded first to finish honors because she started in another class 10 minutes behind Ragtime, skippered by Dick Deaver of Los Angeles Yacht Club.

The finish between the two yachts was one of the closest in the history of the race. After a jibing duel from Todos Santos Island to the finish, Ragtime managed to cross the line first on a right of way starboard tack, forcing Christine to take her stearn.

Considering the difference in the starting times, Christine’s elapsed time was 20 hours 16 minutes and 47 seconds. Ragtime’s elapsed time was 20:26:42. Ragtime was sailing in the ultralight displacement Class A, which started 10 minutes ahead of the International Offsore Rule class boats in which Christine was entered.

Christine also finished first two years ago with the elapsed-time record for monohulls.

The first four boats finished within 35 seconds of each other. Third to finish was Saga, co-skippered by Doug Baker and George Writer of Long Beach Yacht Club and fourth was Prima, sailed by Keith Simmons of the Fort Worth, Tex., Boat Club.

On the whole, it was a light-weather race. The lead boats reported running out of wind Saturday night between Point Loma and the Coronados Islands. The wind filled in from the west early Sunday and went light again the last 20 miles from the finish.

For the first time in 18 years, a catamaran was not among the first 10 finishers. The first catamaran to finish was the 62-foot Aikane, co-skippered by designer Rudy Choy from Honolulu and Warren Seaman of Los Angeles. Aikane was the 11th boat to finish.

Winds remained light in Todas Santos Bay throughout the day. By 6 p.m., less than 200 of the 551 boats that started Saturday at noon had finished.

The first 20 boats to cross the line in order of finish were Ragtime, Christine, Saga, Prima, Cheetah, Pandemonium, Drumbeat, Joss, Cipius, Lone Star, Aikane, Cheval, Rocket, Minette, Merlin, NewsBoy, Anthem, Elusive, Valiant and Whistlewind.