SAILING : Conner Proves Fastest to Ensenada
Dennis Conner couldn’t contain his excitement as he stepped off his boat late Friday night in Ensenada, Mexico.
In his fourth attempt, Conner, sailing the 60-foot soft-sail version of his Stars and Stripes America’s Cup catamaran, broke the record for the 125-mile Newport Beach-to-Ensenada race, finishing in 9 hours 8 minutes.
The previous record of 10 hours 31 minutes was set in 1983 by Bob Hanel in his 52-foot catamaran Double Bullet.
“I am very happy and very excited,” Conner said. “It was one of the best rides we’ve ever had on the boat. I don’t care what else happens, I’m happy.”
Conner’s crew included co-designer-builder Gino Morelli, Bill Trenkle, John Wake, Mickey Munoz, Joe Gallego, Norm Reynolds and Steve Shindler.
Conner averaged more than 14 knots throughout the race with top speeds of more than 20 knots in no more than 17 knots of wind. Stars and Stripes had to drift throughout the last quarter of the race, taking four hours to make the last 25 miles when the winds died Friday night.
Conner’s first attempt at the record was in 1988 with a Formula 40 catamaran, but the boat was dismasted before the race. Wind conditions in 1989 and 1990 prohibited him from breaking the record, although he won in 1989.
Shortly after winning Friday, Conner hurried back to San Diego to continue preparing his new 75-foot Stars and Stripes for next week’s America’s Cup Class World Championships.
Geri Conser, sailing the 40-foot Mistral, was the 14th to finish the race and third in the ORCA class. Conser was the first female skipper to finish a Newport Beach-to-Ensenada race.
The first IOR boat--and second boat overall--to finish was Roy Disney’s Santa Cruz 70 Pyewacket early Saturday morning.
The victory also is a point-winner for Disney because the Ensenada Race is the fourth of nine in ultra light boat competition. Thirteen boats were competing in this class, with tight competition between the three top point-winners in the series: Pyewacket, Peter Tong’s Blondie and Mitchell Rouse’s Taxi Dancer.
There were about 550 entrants in the 44th annual race, which is the largest international yacht race in the world. The race got under way Friday morning, and boats were required to finish by this morning.