Racers Are in the Same Boat : SeaFest: Speed isn’t as important as efficiency in this scavenger hunt. But even the losers had fun along the way.

Hundreds of revelers tested their nautical skills and knowledge of local history Saturday in a boat rally that wound under bridges and into local lagoons.

Powered only by batteries and with a little help from a light wind, about 50 small crafts set off at 1 p.m. from the Balboa Bay Club in the sixth annual Great Electric Boat Rally, part of the 10-day SeaFest, which ends today.

The boating event, which required participants to use clues to find six predetermined checkpoints before finishing at the club, was a fund-raiser for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.

Following the 1960s beach party/Hawaiian theme, the five-person crew of the 20-foot Coconuts tacked palm branches to the sides of their boat, threw shells around their necks and strapped a bikini-clad mannequin atop the little craft while Beach Boys tunes blasted from a yellow tape player.

“I just love getting dressed up, doing the decorating, getting people excited,” said Judy Barry, who won the “Electro-Cute” award for best-dressed skipper. “I love costume parties.”

Before the race began, Barry paraded before the crowd in a black bikini top, wreaths of yellow carnations wrapped around her wrists, neck and head. Her crew followed in grass skirts and straw hats, carrying a stuffed boar’s head and a large pineapple.

Though Coconuts lost the race, finishing 12 seconds under the two-hour limit, the crew garnered second-place honors in the creative-energy competition, and the boat won third prize in the “electrifying” decoration contest.

“Just put it on ‘fast, “‘ Louise Smith urged Coconuts crew member Bill Barry, as other boats cruised past. “I’m on ‘fast, “‘ Barry replied, explaining that the boat, which operates like a golf cart, almost never tops 6 m.p.h.

Speed was not as important as efficiency in this scavenger hunt, however. Given rhyming clues, the crews first had to determine the location of each checkpoint and then chart courses that allowed them to stop at each without spending too much time waiting behind the other boats.

“This is the way to go, or maybe it’s not, only you know,” taunted the clue sheet. “Pass the stake boat, then port we head, the beach is on the left--don’t you dread.”

Rushing toward the main turning basin at the crack of cannon fire starting the race, Coconuts followed the pack toward the inlet between Evening Star and Morning Star lanes--”at the end of the street they call Star,” according to the clue sheet.

Grabbing a plastic yellow lei from volunteers stationed on a dinghy, the crew set off for Harbor Island in search of a home that was built in New England in the early 1900s and then dismantled and installed on the opposite coast. Next they headed for Bay Island, armed with knowledge that the tiny island was the one for which two Tustin residents paid $350.

Coconuts, whose crew members recalled last year’s competition--when the clues were so tough that some participants used cellular phones to call the public library for assistance--followed a route that led it past the Cannery, Rusty Pelican restaurant and the Elks Lodge. Finally, the crew members swung by their own homes on Linda Isle to collect the last lei and pushed toward the finish line.

Relations among the boats were fun and friendly. Barry spent most of the ride waving to rival crafts Electric Exultation, which featured a front engine hood to look like a 1960s beach car, or Tommy’s Toy, decorated with a pastel beach umbrella and beach ball tacked to its top.

Near the home stretch, though, when Our Electric Bill nudged Coconuts into a dock full of yachts, crew members took revenge. Ray Lipper tossed a grapefruit toward the neighboring craft, hitting one person in the head. The skipper of Our Electric Bill promptly squeezed the grapefruit into the bay and tossed an asparagus spear at Lipper.

“This is a fun deal,” said Bill Barry. “It’s a fun way to end the summer.”

Other activities Saturday included a kite festival in Peninsula Park, sailing races near the Newport Pier, and the Taste of Newport, a gathering of 40 local restaurants selling samples of their specialties. The food and kite festivals continue today, along with swimming contests near Newport Pier, a health and sports exhibition, and the Huff and Puff bicycle, running and walking races.