Southland Sailing : 558 Boats in Newport-to-Ensenada Race

The ocean off the Balboa Peninsula will be blanketed with Dacron sails today at noon when 558 sailboats answer the starting signals for the 41st yacht race from Newport Beach to Ensenada.

Thousands of spectators are expected to line the beach and the bluffs at Corona del Mar to watch the antics of the craft in 15 classes in 5 divisions as they jockey on dual starting lines at 10-minute intervals.

The annual event will not be a match race between Dennis Conner’s catamaran, Stars & Stripes, and Rudy Choy’s 65-foot catamaran, Aikane X-5, as anticipated. Stars & Stripes, with Conner and his Ensenada crew aboard, was dismasted off Newport Beach Thursday afternoon in a moderate 18- to 20-knot breeze.

It was the second time Stars & Stripes, a 40-foot catamaran, had lost her stick in a week. She was dismasted a week earlier while sailing on San Diego Bay. No one was injured Thursday when the 75-foot aluminum mast buckled and became an A-frame at a point just above where Conner and his crew had added 10 feet to give the craft more power.

Conner said that there was no way the mast could be repaired or a new one installed before the start of today’s race. Aikane was the first to finish the race last year with an elapsed time of 14 hours 26 minutes.

First class to start will be the Ocean Racing Catamaran Assn. catamarans and trimarans.

The fleet is composed of three classes of International Offshore Rule (IOR) ratings, two classes of Ultralight Displacement Boats (rating 70); 10 classes of Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) ratings, one class of ORCA, and one class of Ancient Mariner--old wooden boats.

Depending on wind velocity and direction, the first yachts are expected to cross the finish line off the Ensenada jetty by mid-morning Saturday. Deadline for finishing under sail is 10 a.m. Sunday.

Thirty-four trophies are at stake in this year’s race, which is considered as much a party as a race by many sailors. It is climaxed by the colorful trophy presentation on the grounds of the Bahia Hotel at Ensenada.