555 Sailboats Begin Newport-to-Ensenada Race Today

The waters off the Newport Beach jetty will be obscured by Dacron at noon today when 555 yachts jockey for the start of the 39th Newport-to-Ensenada race, the biggest international sailing race in the world.

Officials of the sponsoring Newport Ocean Sailing Assn. (NOSA) are hoping for brisk westerly winds that will speed the vast fleet down the coast in an event that is also called the Enchilada Derby, the Race to Hussong’s and the Tequila Derby, but weather forecasts indicate that this year’s race could be as slow as last year’s.

The slowness of that race, plus the increase in entry fees are reasons given by officials for the decrease in entries, which have been slowly declining since 1982, when a record 704 boats turned out for the festive event.

But fast or slow, this year’s race should provide another close contest for first-to-finish honors. A dozen ultra-light displacement boats will be competing with 13 ocean racing catamarans and trimarans for line honors.

Last year, Fred Preiss’ 84-foot sloop Christine won line honors, even though she finished two minutes behind Pat Farrah’s 62-foot Ragtime, which had started in a class 10 minutes ahead.

Most coveted prizes will go to the handicap winners in the various classes. The President of the United States Trophy goes to the overall winner in the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF), and the President of Mexico Trophy is awarded to the corrected-time winner in the International Offshore Rule (IOR) fleet.