One of the largest and most historic yacht races on the Left Coast, the Newport to Ensenada race is a Southern California sailing mainstay. The 125 nautical mile course leaves from the quaint affluence of Newport Pier, inside of Southern California’s offshore islands, across the imaginary International Border, and finishes inside Bahia Todos Santos by the jetty protecting Ensenada Harbor.
This year’s race participation suffered from higher entry fees and largely groundless fears of drug violence once across the Border in Mexico. It was the smallest turnout in years, with a mere 175 boats making it to the starting line.
We were on the Shelter Island, a Vessel Assist safety vessel for the race, having run from San Diego in the wee hours of the morning. With such a large fleet, the starts are according to class. The first was the mulithulls, then the maxis, then down through the list, with fleet after fleet of increasingly small boats. Unfortunately, the wind steadily decreased, leaving the smaller boats with a dying breeze just off of Newport, while the larger boats rode the wind from their earlier start down the coast.
- Stars & Stripes to leeward of It’s OK! with Taxi Dancer out in front.
- The smaller boat starts were more of a disorganized driftaround.
As Vessel Assist’s Captain Eric drove the Shelter Island, we kept track of the boats, idling through the fleet at an idling 5 knots, passing much of the smaller boats in the light breeze. Toward evening, he pushed the throttles forward and Shelter Island’s two 900 horsepower diesels sped us through the fleet at 25 knots.
- The Perry 56 Stealth Chicken races the sunset to Ensenada.
Without sufficient daylight to catch the fastest boats before dark, we went as far South as Mexico’s Coronado Islands, then headed back to San Diego for the night.
- It’s OK! rolling inside of Coronado Island.
- It’s OK! trying to squeeze the last bits of daylight out of the race.
The next morning, we refueled and headed out early, sweeping well North of the Coronados and doing a sweep for sails. We found a bunch of boats that decided to keep well offshore (at times over 30 nautical miles) which kept them in the wind for a while, but did them no favors considering the extra distance they had to travel back to the finish line. After the first night of sailing in no wind, most of the fleet was in fairly good spirits, and we did see the occasional can of Tecate beer opened quite early.
- Some of the cruisers even brought their own dinghies
- Sly McFly looking wry as the guys try to fly by
- The all-female Santa Cruz 27 “Cruz Control” were having fun on day two
As day two went on, the breeze came up a bit, which gave hope to the vast number of boats that had gone far outside. Unfortunately, there were still a great many boats still very far from the finish line in Ensenada. We blazed down to the El Corral Hotel in Ensenada, and found a slip, hotel room, and some fish tacos. We checked in with the race committee and reported the positions of the boats we had recorded.
- When staying at El Corral Hotel, I can’t recommend the Spanish check spelling Omelette enough
We were up again early Sunday, which was gloomy and overcast after a windless night. The next day was Captain Eric’s birthday, so we picked up some balloons that someone had conveniently left in the ocean, and had a celebration aboard Shelter Island as we recorded more positions.
- Captain Eric enjoys balloons
By Sunday morning, many of the boats had pulled out of the race and either motored to San Diego or down to Ensenada for the party. We were charged with finding the ones still in it, but time was fleeting with an 11 am deadline. The remaining boats were struggling after two full nights in the light air. Now with a mild Southerly wind, progress was very tough. Unfortunately, our friends aboard Cruz Control were mere miles from the finish when time ran out, so we towed them into Ensenada, where they proceeded to win the party at the Yacht Club.
- Cruz Control wishing for more wind on day three
After all the boats were accounted for, we headed back to the Yacht Club for the awards ceremony, which unfortunately consisted of not many people, as so many had dropped out of the race.
We hope to be back next year, with better wind and more boats, so we can keep this part of International sailing history alive and well.
